SX3 more intuitive and user friendly?

[Sascha Franck]

OK, would you say that SX3 is more intuitive then, and why?

No. I would say that Cubase in general has lost quite some of the intuitivity which it has been wellknown for over years (and rightly so, IMO).

Partially this has got to do with each and every program getting more complexed - so it wouldn't make me wonder at all (and that's all OK with me too).

On the other hand (strictly IMO, but *some* people seem to agree with me), Steinberg has spoiled a good portion of the "intuitive fun" themselves too.
E.g., setting up FX routings just isn't as intuitive as it has been in VST, the same goes for track assignments (no way to change existing tracks anymore) and probably a lot things more.
There's even some highly illogical things that got thrown in before they were thought out properly, for instance all the "E" buttons that sometimes just don't do what you may think they would do.

Bottomline: SX has become a very complexed program that you most likely won't be able to master without some *serious* manual reading.

[stag]

[TeeLangSun]

On Cubase i don´t have to rigth click on anything to control an instrument , just select the track and the midi controller just takes charge.

LOL. Right.

I´m able to select bettwen record cc or not,if i want to edit them later on.
On more complex VSTi they have midi learn too.

That's cool, and we are all fully aware of this, but the VSTi is not the point here. I can control for example, Stylus RMX thanks to it's midi learn feature, but I just wanted to simply control a mute or solo on a single track in Cubase, any track. I've read this section in the manual and followed it as closely as I could, but it just didn't work. But without a manual and only a copy of Sonar demo, I was able remote control anything and everything in Sonar within seconds. In other words, I'm not stupid, but the way Cubase is set up is ridiculous. I believe that if what you say above is true, then you must be using one of the specific midi controllers which cubase is specifically set up to work with. But I have a generic Edirol keyboard. No problem for Sonar, Reason FL Studio, but Cubase is "too professional" I suppose.

I´m sorry to tell this but this whole thread has the subtle scent of Piracy or plain rip off to be accurate.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have Cubase System 4 which has the audio interface and Cubase SL2. If I wanted to pirate it, I certainly wouldn't have stopped at SL2. I'm agonizing over the fact that I will probably be upgrading to the fully dongled version of Cubase. System 4 considers the audio interface to be the dongle which I'm not too bothered by since the audio interface is useful for all my other software as well.

I think you're just being silly to accuse people of using warez simply because we don't know how to do something, if it's even possible as you pretend it is. In the future, you should try to just say something constructive or nothing at all.

[Sascha Franck]

Is that you, stag?
Well, guess that's what plastical surgery is for...
And don't forget asking for a lobotomy while you're at it.

[Twigg]

The Midi assignment feature in Cubase is tragic and pathetic. A proper midi learn feature is not difficult feature to implement (I've done it myself on a mixing tool I wrote in a week).

It disrupts the workflow to assign the midi controls in the way you want.

Ex. If you want to assign a VST Cutoff to a midi controller, why must you go to the Menu->Device Setup-> Generic Controller->(find your Midi CC) ->Mixer->Vst insert 1->cutoff (7 clicks and lots of searching) to assign a feature that is probably under your mouse cursor as we speak. Likewise with features internal to Cubase (Volumes, Mutes).
It should be Midi Learn->Move VST Knob->Move Midi DONE

There are tons of examples out there to copy.

MIDI LEARN IS POORLY IMPLEMENTED IN CUBASE SX2

I assume it's equally poor in SX3 (correct?)

It's sad that Steinberg goes 9/10's of the way there. These are the things that count.

[stag]

What about this for pathetic:
Preferences/MIDI/Check MIDI Controller Input to Automation Tracks.

You owe me a lobotomy ,i like mine cool,stupifying cool.
BTW Cubase manual is available for free at Steinberg ftp.

[TeeLangSun]

What about this for pathetic:
Preferences/MIDI/Check MIDI Controller Input to Automation Tracks.

You owe me a lobotomy ,i like mine cool,stupifying cool.
BTW Cubase manual is available for free at Steinberg ftp.

When I read it, I hoped that you were right and that was the silver bullet, but no such option under Preferences/midi in Cubase SL 2. Maybe this is something new for Cubase SX 3. Thanks anyway.

[Sascha Franck]

MIDI LEARN IS POORLY IMPLEMENTED IN CUBASE SX2

Amen! Finally someone to agree with me.

I assume it's equally poor in SX3 (correct?)

Almost. It's slightly less buggy - but still as complicated (oh well, and still buggy too).

stag: You just don't seem to know what we're talking about.

[stag]

It was there since SX1 ,the demo it´s available you can see for youself.
remember SL is a striped version of SX ,but to be fair i think Steinberg took away at least one too many things.
Are you sure you check this well on SL???

[TeeLangSun]

It was there since SX1 ,the demo it´s available you can see for youself.
remember SL is a striped version of SX ,but to be fair i think Steinberg took away at least one too many things.
Are you sure you check this well on SL???

There's not a whole lot to check actually. Under Preferences, there are 2 "midi" headings. I looked thoroughly through both and neither lists any such thing. I certainly wish it were there. Like I said, even with this being the way it is, I'm still prefering it over Sonar. There are some thing about Cubase which I'm very happy with. Mapping controllers is so incredibly simple in I guess every other application i've ever used, Reason, Orion, FL Studio, Sonar, etc. But in Cubase I managed to get a single fader mapped once but couldn't map another one. I tried to map the mute switch on a single channel, but it mapped the global one instead and nothing else worked after that either. I was reading about Cubase SX3 on the Steinbergand I saw that there's been a lot of improvement in this area so, maybe it's different now. Once I convince myself to start screwing with dongles, I guess I will find out.

[stag]

On the MIDI side of SX3 the major improvemments over 2 are IMO the inplace editing,retrospective recording ,the automatic change to pencil when we want to edit note parameters ,new and incredible midi plugs and more.
I have to say that i have checked SL2 and the afore mentioned function doesn´t exists ence taking full advantage of a MIDI controller cannot be done aside inputing notes ,you may also fidle with ADSR ,LFO and FX but automation doesn´t get writen to tracks.
Albeit on SX3 even audio Fx parameters can be changed in real time thru MIDI.
it´s a damn shame that Sreinberg did not include this feature on SL ,i think that essential to capture the feeling of a performance and after tweak it via mouse if one feel like it.

[johnmorales]

I just BOUGHT a copy as a crossgrade. (Steinberg sells it for $299 to any owner of a competitor program. I own Sonar 4 Producer)

I find it extremely intuitive. It's almost like I have used it previously, but I never have.

It's simple, it's smart. Everything makes sense.

If you have a problem with it, NO OFFENSE, then that is more likely a sign you are not up to par with sequencing software in general. It does what it says it does pretty reliable (so does Sonar for that matter)

[metamorphosis]

Basically, it can take care of most needs. But for example pitch shift, several audio editing/processing functions, efficient time stretching, and notation is unfortunately not available in the forseeable future of Tracktion (to my knowledge, at least).

Pitch shifting is a plugin in tracktion.
Audio processing/stretching is assumed to be done in better apps (like goldwave or audition/soundforge) and tracktion is specifically set up to let you do this, rather than offering a half-arsed editor like most daws...
Notation is not done well in anything except for notation-specific software (e.g sibelius for example) from what I've seen, so I welcome it's disappearance in tracktion.
Efficient time-stretching is planned for future versions of tracktion (not too far off). For the moment the time-stretch that is in there is okay, not great.
Cheers,
M@

[amenbrother]

well, i refuse using any other host, and settle with something just half-good just for the sake of it.
until something thats just as good as _or_ even Better than Logic turns up, i'll stick to it!

I acctually used logic before, but changed to SL a year ago. After the initial struggling with pushing the wrong shortcuts etc Ive found myself really enjoying Cubase for what it has to offer. It not much that I miss from Logic, and when Im on Logic 5.5 I find myself missing more from Cubase than the other way around.

One big thing I would like to see in Cubase is better, easier SC capabiltys though.

[TeeLangSun]

With Tracktion, I think it's a no-brainer that it's a whole lot less cluttered and more intuitive. Of course, for some it may not be. And you also have to realize that T is still technically in the early stages. There's only one developer and that's pretty much it(unless Jules has a secret team). So you won't find some of those features in T, but you will find the workflow. I don't think that can be disputed. Plus, T is a whole lot cheaper at the moment. Try the T2 demo when it comes out. It may just have some of the features that you mentioned, as the full list hasn't been disclosed yet. Good luck with your search for a host. Let us know what you find!

Koolkeys

I definately like SX better than Tracktion or any of the "one window does it all" sequencers. I find that in Tracktion, I have to do a lot more mousing, scrolling, and resizing windows. I don't want my piano roll to be shared with 3 other windows. I don't even want to see 3 rows of toolbar at the top like in Sonar. Just a nice large piano roll. With the excellent tool setup in SX, I never change tools. Cubase does have the potential for clutter, but also the option to instantly clean it up with it's window sets. In Cubase the clutter comes from multiple windows. In Tracktion, the clutter comes from multiple partitions crammed into a single large window where no part is large enough to do anything without scrolling or resizing. If you enlarge one partition, you shrink another. Enlarge that one, and shrink the next. This begins the endless cycle of scrolling and resizing windows, with a mouse, instead of making music. That's just my opinion though.