Which version of Cubase/Cubasis would you recommend for my setup?
My computer is a 1.3Ghz Athlon T-bird, 256mb, 40gb hd, Hoontech ST Audio DSP 24 value, with scsicard (used with my akai s3000xl), Win98SE.
Which version would suit my computer if I upgraded ram and win98 to win xp/win2000?
I will mostly use whatever cubase I buy for midi/softsampler and mixing my songs. Not for recording sessions with guitar, mics etc..
Which version of Cubase/Cubasis?
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- KVRian
- 593 posts since 14 Apr, 2005
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- KVRAF
- 6097 posts since 5 Jul, 2001 from Just about .... there
They all run about the same as far as performance. It's only a matter of needing the additional features vs. paying the additional $$
You really need to swap to XP and upgrade the ram. Especially if you are going to use a sampler. 256mb just won't cut it for that.
You really need to swap to XP and upgrade the ram. Especially if you are going to use a sampler. 256mb just won't cut it for that.
If you have to ask, you can't afford the answer
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- KVRAF
- 8712 posts since 24 May, 2002 from Tutukaka, New Zealand
Yeah....I used to get by with 512MB, but I don't think I'd like to have less than 1Gig any more. 256 is not enough.
Some of it lies in what else you use your computer for also. If it is solely a DAW, then Win98SE was pretty stable - I had very few problems with my old setup on Win98SE. Of course the trouble is that SX won't run on Win98 - it needs XP. Older VST versions will, but I'm not even sure you can buy them now (although I'm sure you can 2nd hand). But possibly other hosts will run on Win98 still. But Win98 DAWs were less stable if used for other things than music as well.
So, realistically speaking, you pretty well need to upgrade to XP. There are now more and more plugins that don't work well with 98.
As for which version...If you're still going to predominantly use your Akai, then I actually see no point in spending the extra on a full blown SX. You'll probably do most of your filtering and editing within the Akai. Certainly SX has now got some great features for manipulating audio, but h/w samplers still have an edge in some areas, in which case you don't necessarily need all of SX's features.
Having said that, if you're used to fiddling around with a decent h/w sampler, then you'll be used to having a good set of options and parameters, and maybe you'd expect that in a host as well...which means SX.
Actually...bugger it, just go for SX - even if you don't use all of the features immediately, one day you will. There's nothing worse than having too many limitations put on you by your host, especially when you know you could have bought the better one. And once you start getting into soft samplers, I strongly suspect you'll get rid of your Akai. Manipulating audio is a whole lot easier on a large screen. And the audio editor on SX is now pretty strong. As far as I know, Cubasis etc doesn't have the full audio editing features of SX, and that'd be your focus rather than how many inserts/sends/channels etc you can use.
Some of it lies in what else you use your computer for also. If it is solely a DAW, then Win98SE was pretty stable - I had very few problems with my old setup on Win98SE. Of course the trouble is that SX won't run on Win98 - it needs XP. Older VST versions will, but I'm not even sure you can buy them now (although I'm sure you can 2nd hand). But possibly other hosts will run on Win98 still. But Win98 DAWs were less stable if used for other things than music as well.
So, realistically speaking, you pretty well need to upgrade to XP. There are now more and more plugins that don't work well with 98.
As for which version...If you're still going to predominantly use your Akai, then I actually see no point in spending the extra on a full blown SX. You'll probably do most of your filtering and editing within the Akai. Certainly SX has now got some great features for manipulating audio, but h/w samplers still have an edge in some areas, in which case you don't necessarily need all of SX's features.
Having said that, if you're used to fiddling around with a decent h/w sampler, then you'll be used to having a good set of options and parameters, and maybe you'd expect that in a host as well...which means SX.
Actually...bugger it, just go for SX - even if you don't use all of the features immediately, one day you will. There's nothing worse than having too many limitations put on you by your host, especially when you know you could have bought the better one. And once you start getting into soft samplers, I strongly suspect you'll get rid of your Akai. Manipulating audio is a whole lot easier on a large screen. And the audio editor on SX is now pretty strong. As far as I know, Cubasis etc doesn't have the full audio editing features of SX, and that'd be your focus rather than how many inserts/sends/channels etc you can use.
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 593 posts since 14 Apr, 2005
Thanx for advice!
Yes I think I have to buy more ram and new os. But the software is where I really dont know what to choose. These are basically my demands:
audio/midiseq (for vsti, mixing, GOOD midiquantization (choose strength, not just 100% 16th, 8th etc..) which you can turn off audioengine to free more cpu for h/w sampler
s/w sampler akaireadable:
Gigastudio version xxx?
Kontakt? - I´m not sure I need kontakt, since my akai together with buzz, vsti-synths still are pretty nice for making electronic sounds
Halion - which I dont know much about, maybe its as good as gigastudio?
any other good s/w sampler out there
Btw, the budget is: 1000-1400US$
Yes I think I have to buy more ram and new os. But the software is where I really dont know what to choose. These are basically my demands:
audio/midiseq (for vsti, mixing, GOOD midiquantization (choose strength, not just 100% 16th, 8th etc..) which you can turn off audioengine to free more cpu for h/w sampler
s/w sampler akaireadable:
Gigastudio version xxx?
Kontakt? - I´m not sure I need kontakt, since my akai together with buzz, vsti-synths still are pretty nice for making electronic sounds
Halion - which I dont know much about, maybe its as good as gigastudio?
any other good s/w sampler out there
Btw, the budget is: 1000-1400US$
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- KVRAF
- 8712 posts since 24 May, 2002 from Tutukaka, New Zealand
Certainly you can do all of that with SX. I don't really know SL, but I would imagine you can do it with that too...as far as I know, the midi implementation is the same in SX and SL (anyone else?)...it's some of the audio editing features that are missing, and more inserts/sends etc.audio/midiseq (for vsti, mixing, GOOD midiquantization (choose strength, not just 100% 16th, 8th etc..) which you can turn off audioengine to free more cpu for h/w sampler
I'm pretty sure all the main soft samplers can do that nowadays. Halion, Kontakt, VSampler, Giga, Sfz+ etc etc etc. But even if there is some particular sampler you like but that doesn't read Akai format - there are cheap and even free apps that can convert Akai to almost any other format. Extreme Sample Converter is one that springs to mind. You'd be hard pressed to not be able to use all and every sample you ever made on your Akai. There's even things like Audacity (which will convert almost any format you can dream of into any other format, and do some audio editing all for free - you can even convert from Mac to PC and vice versa).s/w sampler akaireadable:
Your budget should be able to get all of what you want...and probably more. For that, I would have thought you'd be able to get a separate audio editor too - Soundforge etc.
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- KVRist
- 323 posts since 2 Oct, 2002 from Finland, Europe
I do my MIDI sequencing on the Akai MPC2000XL, but I've used Cubase SX a lot (version 1.something) at a studio I work and it works perfectly. With the latest update it is very stable too. I had no problems with it whatsoever.
I've read about new features on ver 2 and 3, but I have seen no new features that would interest me, besides when possibly moving to 5.1 and then delay compensation. Freeze is a ok feature on the newest versions, but you can render midi tracks to audio with a macro nicely on the ver 1 too...
I have no idea where you can purchase a version 1.. Does anyone know?
I think you should be able to get it really dirt cheap now by ver 3 on the shelfs...
- Jesse -
I've read about new features on ver 2 and 3, but I have seen no new features that would interest me, besides when possibly moving to 5.1 and then delay compensation. Freeze is a ok feature on the newest versions, but you can render midi tracks to audio with a macro nicely on the ver 1 too...
I have no idea where you can purchase a version 1.. Does anyone know?
I think you should be able to get it really dirt cheap now by ver 3 on the shelfs...
- Jesse -