Is Studio 1 the only realistic alternative to Cubase ?

[Bartone]

The more time I spend with it, the more I like it. Once you get your head around it, and make it work the way you want it to, the better.

You can lay it out exactly as I am used to with Cubase.

It's definitely the only direct replacement for Cubase.

I am just glad too it actually loaded this time.

There are MANY many helpful Macros for S1. Some of them are easy to find… some are a bit hidden gems. But I’ve found some very helpful for my workflow by watching some YT tutorials and thought “wow so you can have all those things in ONE macro?!”

[syntonica]

Just make a new account with a different email address to try the demo.

I just tried that with a different account and it still says that your demo has expired. So whether the license is tied to the computer or maybe a persons IP address I do not know. Maybe I will have to dig out my old laptop and see if it works on that.

It's probably in your Windows registry. I'd contact them and ask them for another demo period. They may have a tool to easily remove the keys.

A note to devs who do this: just don't. If somebody installs the demo, but for whatever reason, doesn't buy the software, and they haven't fully demoed it due to life getting in the way, they are far less likely to want to buy your software. I've come back like two years later on something where my priorities have changed, or the software has seen a major update, and reinstalled the demo only to be told that my demo period has expired.

[BONES]

Where do you get this stuff from? Battery life on intel laptops is farcical. People might be disappointed with M1 that once you have multiple browser windows open and a bunch of background tasks going on you're not going to get battery life on par with the marketing claims, but you can run Logic maxed out for a couple of hours with no throttling on a MacBook Air.

Not according to battery life tests run by reputable websites, that use standard tests so that you get a good comparison. e.g. Engadget, where they said in their review - "... it lasted 16 hours and 20 minutes during our battery benchmark, which involves looping an HD video. That's around five hours more than the last Intel-based MacBook Air, and it puts the system among the longest lasting PCs we've tested." Note that it is says "among the longest lasting PCs", not "better than". It's excellent but it's not the slam-dunk I'd have expected. Maybe it has a smaller battery?

Plugged in it throttles due to heat, whereas the Air with no fan generally doesn't.

I've never had that problem with any of my laptops (and I've had a lot of 'em). Are you sure you just don't have it set up correctly? By default it won't run at full power on battery, you have to create a power plan for it.

[EnGee]

OK well Presonus are a pretty cool company so far, they gave me a new demo period and Studio One FINALLY loaded with no issues.

First impressions are not good, the piano roll / midi editor is god awful and that's important for me. It reminds me of Reasons and that's the only reason I dont USE Reason, I hate the MIDI editing.

Rest of it is something i'd learn quickly I guess, doesn't seem too far away from Cubase, but it's definitely not a straight swap out.

I like the layout and feel of it, and if I HAD to I could swap to it. But I think i'm staying with Cubase. I've found a solution for the VST2's I can't be without, and when Cubase eventually drops support, I should be covered.

Come on man! You can’t be serious! Either you have never used a DAW before (really newbi) or you are trolling!

I suggest you search how to use the piano roll in S1 or if I were you, I would buy a tutorial from Groove3 or macprovideo for example. Many users don’t need it even as one of strongest advantages of S1 is ease of use.

[LeVzi]

OK well Presonus are a pretty cool company so far, they gave me a new demo period and Studio One FINALLY loaded with no issues.

First impressions are not good, the piano roll / midi editor is god awful and that's important for me. It reminds me of Reasons and that's the only reason I dont USE Reason, I hate the MIDI editing.

Rest of it is something i'd learn quickly I guess, doesn't seem too far away from Cubase, but it's definitely not a straight swap out.

I like the layout and feel of it, and if I HAD to I could swap to it. But I think i'm staying with Cubase. I've found a solution for the VST2's I can't be without, and when Cubase eventually drops support, I should be covered.

Come on man! You can’t be serious! Either you have never used a DAW before (really newbi) or you are trolling!

I suggest you search how to use the piano roll in S1 or if I were you, I would buy a tutorial from Groove3 or macprovideo for example. Many users don’t need it even as one of strongest advantages of S1 is ease of use.

I have to be a newbi because I don't agree with you ? And trolling ? lol please, do me a favour.

So hush up yeah, S1 fanbois aren't going to help the situation. And if you bothered to read beyond what you wanted to see, you'd notice I worked out the playlist better and it's not that bad, but initially it was awful. Too many clicks from what I am used to.

[EnGee]

I have to be a newbi because I don't agree with you ? And trolling ? lol please, do me a favour.

So hush up yeah, S1 fanbois aren't going to help the situation. And if you bothered to read beyond what you wanted to see, you'd notice I worked out the playlist better and it's not that bad, but initially it was awful. Too many clicks from what I am used to.

I'm sorry if you are offended! There is nothing wrong to be a "newbie"! We are all newbies in something!
I thought you are an advanced user in Cubase, my bad! So that I thought you would be at home with S1.

Anyway, S1 is much easier than Cubase but in some areas it's less advanced. That doesn't mean it is a toy DAW! It is very capable and almost perfect.
I like both S1 and Cubase and have no problem switching back and forth between them. The only thing that makes me prefer Cubase is some "weird" glitches in S1 when I play and record midi and some weird latency from my hardware synths. It doesn't happen all the times, but when it happens, I feel not trusting S1 in this matter.

I'm not a fan of any DAW or software or OS! I just use what is working for me. These days I'm using mostly Ableton Live and sometimes Bitwig. Their simple and clear design and the excellent workflow helps me concentrate on my initial ideas better. They are however very different from Cubase so that I didn't recommend any of them to you.

If you are still interested in learning S1, then you can watch the tutorials on macprovideo.com. For free you can watch 5 videos every 24 hours. Sometimes they do very good discount (75% usually). This is a good one to start:
https://www.macprovideo.com/course/quic ... K20K89KYnd

[jamcat]

The piano roll editor is a little different. It definitely looks flatter in Studio One. And it doesn’t support multiple midi channels in a single part like Cubase. The drum view is perhaps not as sophisticated as Cubase’s. If I recall correctly, the velocity/CC editing takes a bit of getting used to, but I can say now that it all becomes second nature over time and there’s not a lot that I feel I’m missing from Cubase. Using “Any” channel and sending different notes to different MIDI channels is probably the only thing. But Studio One has its own way where you just select and edit multiple channels together and they all appear as one track in the editor. If you’re working on a string quartet then you want to see all parts together for 4-part harmony arranging, but you don’t necessarily want them all on the same track, so that’s a point in Studio One’s favour. But on the other hand, if you’re working with a sample library that separates articulations into separate instruments, then you do want them all on one track with multiple MIDI channels, so that’s a point in Cubase’s favour. Of course most libraries do all of that through keyswitches now, and Studio One 5 introduced a special keyswitch lane in the piano roll editor which is pretty awesome.

[dellboy]

I've never tried Reaper, so how does that compare to the way Cubase/S1 works ?

I am amazed you have not tried Reaper yet, its not going to cost you anything other than time. Its a Marmite DAW, you either love it or hate it.

If your main concern is that you are going to lose your VST2s then Reaper is undoubtedly your best option as they are not likely to ever abandon that format. I just checked and they still support DXi plugins, so VST2 should be supported for a long time to come.

[ls1xxx]

Coming from cubase I really wanted to like studio one. It looks alot like cubase but is far from it. The problem for me is that I want to work like cubase. I've tried the demo and can't get used to how the midi editor works. Also the project page and how the mouse tools are set up I don't really like either in my opinion. I love the drag and drop functions though.

[LeVzi]

I have to be a newbi because I don't agree with you ? And trolling ? lol please, do me a favour.

So hush up yeah, S1 fanbois aren't going to help the situation. And if you bothered to read beyond what you wanted to see, you'd notice I worked out the playlist better and it's not that bad, but initially it was awful. Too many clicks from what I am used to.

I'm sorry if you are offended! There is nothing wrong to be a "newbie"! We are all newbies in something!
I thought you are an advanced user in Cubase, my bad! So that I thought you would be at home with S1.

Anyway, S1 is much easier than Cubase but in some areas it's less advanced. That doesn't mean it is a toy DAW! It is very capable and almost perfect.
I like both S1 and Cubase and have no problem switching back and forth between them. The only thing that makes me prefer Cubase is some "weird" glitches in S1 when I play and record midi and some weird latency from my hardware synths. It doesn't happen all the times, but when it happens, I feel not trusting S1 in this matter.

I'm not a fan of any DAW or software or OS! I just use what is working for me. These days I'm using mostly Ableton Live and sometimes Bitwig. Their simple and clear design and the excellent workflow helps me concentrate on my initial ideas better. They are however very different from Cubase so that I didn't recommend any of them to you.

If you are still interested in learning S1, then you can watch the tutorials on macprovideo.com. For free you can watch 5 videos every 24 hours. Sometimes they do very good discount (75% usually). This is a good one to start:
https://www.macprovideo.com/course/quic ... K20K89KYnd

Its all good, the S1 piano roll was just docked and tiny, and really felt like Reasons, but after detaching it, and making it a LOT larger (My eyes arent great) it works much like Cubase's .

I really do think I could get into S1 but I didn't plan on moving from Cubase tbh, only this whole VST2 thing left me thinking I might need to. But i've found a way to keep using the plugins and be able to stick with a more current version of Cubase.

Which I did, I upgraded to C12.

[LeVzi]

I've never tried Reaper, so how does that compare to the way Cubase/S1 works ?

I am amazed you have not tried Reaper yet, its not going to cost you anything other than time. Its a Marmite DAW, you either love it or hate it.

If your main concern is that you are going to lose your VST2s then Reaper is undoubtedly your best option as they are not likely to ever abandon that format. I just checked and they still support DXi plugins, so VST2 should be supported for a long time to come.

tbh I did try it once, but a LONG time ago, but I didn't spend a lot of time with it if I am honest.

Might be worth a revisit to see how it's come along and IIRC its inexpensive.

As for the VST2/3 thing, I think FL Studio will keep running them too, and I can use that for sound design and use Cubase for arrangement.

[Trancit]

Just a side question here...:

Does Cubase has an option to save clips with instrument or audio like S1´s musicloops and audioloops???

[dellboy]

Just a side question here...:

Does Cubase has an option to save clips with instrument or audio like S1´s musicloops and audioloops???

Apparently you can, but I am having difficulty in finding my loop after saving it in Cubase 12. I followed the instructions on a video and it is possible, but is not easy like it is in S1. In S1 you just drag your midi clip out and drag it back in along with the VST that made it. Its so simple. But Cubase always does things in a more complicated way. When I get some time I will have a look in Cubase for my missing loop.

[jamcat]

Reaper is undoubtedly your best option as they are not likely to ever abandon that format. I just checked and they still support DXi plugins

That makes me want to use Reaper even less.

[xbitz]

Just a side question here...:

Does Cubase has an option to save clips with instrument or audio like S1´s musicloops and audioloops???

just with instrument track https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro_artis ... ing_t.html



but just started to watch https://www.sonicacademy.com/courses/cu ... autoplay=1
... nothing related the https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro/v12/e ... d%2Cevents was demoed