Cubase 5: Why I switched (headquest)

[v1o]

That makes better sense, but still doesn't explain the "special people who can afford special computers" comment.

Anyway, hope you're happy with Cubase 5, and that you inspire some of your students to make music.

Lol it can't be that difficult to understand that most people use PC's. And cost is a barrier of entry for most people onto OSX. Thus Mac's are the alternative computers (for those 'special people') and PC's are the standard used by the vast majority of people (for the povo). Cubase also has the advantage of being multi-platform and I can confirm it runs well in OSX.

[C-note]

Welcome to Cubase Headquest!

A feature I use all the time in C5 is the Global transpose track. Add a transpose track, set the root key, apply to unassigned tracks and all tracks including audio transpose to the new key. So nice when you have a zillion vsti orchestral tracks that would normally take forever to edit. Another plus is all the new beat/loop tools.

C

[Hink]

Fortunately, I'm in a position to be pretty much familiar with either platform, so I can always advice them regarding whatever choices in some private talk.

- Sascha

[Sascha Franck]

I meant that I don't have to take any platform discussion into any of my workshops. There's better things to do. In case any of the participants wants some personal advice on choice of platform, I always make room for such questions.

- Sascha

[bduffy]

I seem to tread a similar path:

After using cracked Cubase 3.7 for some time I bought Traction (before Mackie), upgraded to T2, had problems using UAD-1, sold it, bought Cubase 3 SL (Edu version, because I began working at school), upgraded to 4 Studio and now to C5 (I didn't really need it, but hey...).

I tried using Sonar 5, 6, 7 ... and hated it, EnergyXT - romance lasted a week or so, Ableton 5 or 6 for a year or so then sold it, couldn't really work in arrange view (my fault probably).

I still haven't upgraded Reason Adapted but recently got Adobe v2 (s/h - to be upgraded to v3 sometime).

btw, has anyone checked the Halion Symphony Orchestra that comes with C5? I just don't have the time to really explore it.

cheers

k

The HALion Orchestra's only a demo, so f**k that. HD space is precious.

[RawTheory]

Hey headquest, when you change tempo's in Cubase 5, does the pitch stay intact for audio like in Live. Or do you have to go through a few steps to make that happen? And if so, how does the quality of the time-stretching compare to Live 7?

[captain caveman]

Exporting either fxp/fxb is a no-go tho... can be frustrating if you're wanting to share a bunch of presets you've made. You'll need either a vsti that allows it's own internal preset import/export, or a different vst host. (tobybear minihost maybe?)

This was recently brought up at cubendo.com in and the guy found this site with it's .vstpreset to .fxb tool. I haven't used it mind you, but it solves the export problem if it works well.

[bduffy]

Cubase will default to keeping pitch intact - IF - you're using ACID/Rex/loop clips. Otherwise you have to take steps to get the results you want.

[Midi_Glider]

Even if the project audio is not defaulted to "elastic" mode its still dead simple to set globally:

1. go into the pool and select all.

2. check the "Musical mode" box


done...



Best,
midi.

[fgimian]

Hey headquest, when you change tempo's in Cubase 5, does the pitch stay intact for audio like in Live. Or do you have to go through a few steps to make that happen? And if so, how does the quality of the time-stretching compare to Live 7?

As mentioned, you just need to switch the clips into musical mode which is a single click.

The quality of timestretching is actually very good, but I think that Live 8's complex pro will indeed beat Cubase's mix algorithm.

Here's a summary of my findings:

Drums: I find Cubase's drum algorithm a tiny bit better than Ableton beats algorithm

Vocals: The Solo algorithm in Cubase uses Elastique Solo and sounds brilliant in Cubase, however Ableton Live 8 Complex Pro mode is Elastique Pro which also has formant shifting and sounds as good.

Mix: I think here Cubase's Mix algorithm is a Steinberg invention which is good but not as great as Elastique Pro 2 as found in Ableton live 8.

Sorry, a bit of sarcasm to enunciate that if a just-purchased piece of software gave me that much grief just to install and run I'd bring it back to the dealer so fast that the package would burn upon atmospheric reentry.

Wow - in that case I am glad I am not so impulsive!! This was a brief problem which basically solved itself with a couple of reboots in under five minutes.

I could easily not have even mentioned it here, but I'm glad I did - the helpful advice others have given should prevent any future recurrence hopefully. So thanks everyone!

Full first impressions later, but for now I'm glad to say that Cubase 5 feels so much more solid and reliable than other stuff I have tried in my search (Reaper, Sonar, Tracktion)... this reallys seems very stable, especially for a v.0.0 initial release - so kudos to Steinberg for really getting it together

Also my biggest suprise - the workflow is just great. Amazing that such a complex programme is so easy to learn and use

You will find this with Cubase, it runs smoother than most other DAWs (especially with complex projects) and the workflow is just awesome! You will most likely not reach for the manual too often, even when starting out since most features are just logical. It is insanely advanced and deep, the more you get into it, the more useful stuff you will find (e.g. Arranger Track, Ruler tracks, Screensets .etc).

Please ignore the sarcasm in this thread, I personally have had 0 issues with Syncrosoft drivers myself. Issues like the one you saw are most likely due to newer drivers being required or too much USB activity going on. If you find that it continues to play up, then it's probably your motherboard's way of dealing with too many USB devices. In that case I would suggest a PCI(-e) -> USB card to be used for your heaviest bandwidth USB devices.

I simply do not comprehend the hostility towards Cubase on this forum, it is quite possibly the best DAW on PC and maybe even on all platforms (Logic doesn't have elastic audio or full vocal correction). Steinberg have lifted their game since Cubase 4 significantly, and the dongle is no hassle for most users (I certainly prefer it to challenge/response protection myself).

Cheers

[Midi_Glider]

+1

midi.

[fandango]

Oh! I meant to ask this but forgot.

One of the reasons I stopped using Cubase was because it didn't support VST Note Names for drum machines like RM IV, etc.

i.e., you add a VSTi that sends note name data and the piano roll actually shows the pad names on the graphical keyboard and updates automatically as you construct a drum set from scratch.

Has this appeared in Cubase 5, or is it still missing? I looked in the product brochure PDF that's available on the C5 product page but it didn't seem to mention anything similar.

[proletkult]

I simply do not comprehend the hostility towards Cubase on this forum, it is quite possibly the best DAW on PC and maybe even on all platforms (Logic doesn't have elastic audio or full vocal correction). Steinberg have lifted their game since Cubase 4 significantly, and the dongle is no hassle for most users (I certainly prefer it to challenge/response protection myself).

Cheers

Couldn't agree more. In the past, things were different. Cubase has gone through many drastic changes over the years and I think that has always reflected the 'poor cousin' status it has been trying to shake off. Logic looks fairly unchanged(if it ain't broke...). But with C4 a huge amount of issues have been overcome, not least stability and work flow(it stopped me going to Logic).

The next hotfix/update for C5 may just be the nudge that turns even logic fans around(I've read that automation tricks from Nuendo maybe in the next update).

I've worked with Logic in professional studios and was surprised how many times I wanted to do something with audio only to hear the engineer say..'we can't do that'. I know that's partly down to the way I work but I don't think the reasons for Logic being the 'industry standard' stand up the way they used to.

[hao nao]

for users who have tried Sonar but prefer Cubase, what tips the balance for you?

[soulata]

for users who have tried Sonar but prefer Cubase, what tips the balance for you?

well, let me say I started with a really old cubase so I find it easier to use than anything else (Traction excluded), I might be biased there.

I really want to love Sonar (dongleless, great featureset) but find it::

- extremely counterintuitive (IMO of course)
- ugly (too windows 95 like, though functional for those who get it, I don't)

I know it's really configurable but I don't even use much more than a few screensets in cubase to get the work done, I just don't want to spend time configuring something that's offputting the first time I start it up.

There's more, but I need to go right now...

And people around me mostly use either Cubase or Nuendo, some use Logic (I tried 5.5 on PC and 8 on a Mac, not for me either) and some use PT. No-one I know use Sonar.

k