KVR Audio

Kalamata Kid · Post by **Kalamata Kid** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 10:35 pm

Robert Randolph wrote:
Kalamata Kid wrote:One more item of interest to the midi adventuresome.

Cubase has note expression.
https://www.steinberg.net/en/company/te ... ssion.html
This is one of the few things that is actually unique to Cubase, and very cool.

This is part of the VST 3.5 I understand so any DAW can adopt it. I really like Cubase and all the other top DAWs but to me it counts not how many features the DAW has but which I need and can use and which are missing.

5Lives · Post by **5Lives** » Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:24 pm

That C_Brains app is pretty cool! Though, most of those functions are just as easy to do via the standard keyboard shortcuts...

The logical editor example of selecting downbeats is cool and interesting. I've always just manually adjusted the notes, but that's because I didn't know better. Would be great to understand how people are using the logical editor in other practical examples! Might give me some more good ideas to speed things up.

The Note Expression stuff is unique, but does anybody actually use it on a consistence basis? How? Why?

vespesian · Post by **vespesian** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 4:15 am

The various MIDI chord functions in Cubase 8 are also probably worth mentioning - I esp. like the voicing options built into chord tracks.

Kinh · Post by **Kinh** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 5:10 am

Just demo FL Studio and you wont look back. It has the best editor.

barryfell · Post by **barryfell** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 5:20 am

Kinh wrote:Just demo FL Studio and you wont look back. It has the best editor.

It's nothing compared to Cubase's.

untimelyman · Post by **untimelyman** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 8:41 am

Cubase.

Using Chord Track with Track Versions, you can make your entire project fit into different chord progressions within seconds.

Good luck doing that manually in other DAWs.

xbitz · Post by **xbitz** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:22 am

untimelyman wrote:Cubase.

Using Chord Track with Track Versions, you can make your entire project fit into different chord progressions within seconds.

Good luck doing that manually in other DAWs.

AutoTheory Melody Lock (connect chords with melody etc. lines) can be used nicely in other DAWs in the creative phase of song development

to trying out different progressions (and because FL Studio is pattern based DAW the song also can be changed quite easily in later phases), but it's offtopic so sry

xbitz · Post by **xbitz** » Tue Jul 14, 2015 10:25 am

oops double post

kelldammit · Post by **kelldammit** » Wed Jul 15, 2015 3:16 am

With so much depth on offer these days, it's hard to really test a daw to its limits in the allotted demo period, but i'd suggest at least trying to do so. Usually, you can get far enough to figure out if something works for you at least in a general way or not.
For arrangement, i've come to love working this way:
Open a midi editor, pick one track to view, then go through the entire arrangement showing/editing/hiding tracks at will, without ever having to leave the midi editor, or toggle away to change selections in the arrangement.
DP, PT and Studio One do this (i think Sonar may as well?). While S1 may lack some of the editing depth of the others, i found it pretty serviceable. I haven't used PT since v8, so I couldn't attest to its capabilities in newer versions.
Obviously, other people prefer other ways of working, so it's gonna come down to your preference, and kicking the available options around to see what suits you best.

I only demoed cubase again recently (was a vst3.x-nuendo 1-2 user many moons ago), and I did like the chord track, particularly for basic composition, but didn't get far enough along with it to see how it dealt with more advanced trickery (i.e. arranged music, versus simple block chord changes).

LawrenceF · Post by **LawrenceF** » Wed Jul 15, 2015 4:53 pm

"Best for heavy midi editing" is a pretty specific context.

To me, an example of what might otherwise be heavy midi editing (if you don't have functions for it) is transposing an entire song by musical key, selecting all the midi clips in a 40 track song and changing it from Eb to C in 5 seconds because the vocalist can't reach the highest notes. Not just a simple transpose but truly conforming to another musical key.

Or otherwise telling the singer to go take a short nap while you do it manually track by track, note by note. Maybe not the best example but you get the idea, making really large changes that otherwise take a lot of manual editing.

Otoh, if the question was "Which daw has the subjectively best methods for working in the piano roll"... in my limited experience, unless you ignore everything possible there which includes grouping notes (?), easy cc and velocity seeding, and all the other great stuff they built into it, it's probably FLStudio. There seems to be a generator or midi tool for everything one or two clicks away.

FLStudio's piano roll editor is great, imo. I haven't tried them all but I suspect you'd probably have to do some pretty good cherry picking to make it appear to be inferior to anything. I've never even personally seen another piano roll with note grouping.

5Lives · Post by **5Lives** » Wed Jul 15, 2015 11:31 pm

LawrenceF wrote:To me, an example of what might otherwise be heavy midi editing (if you don't have functions for it) is transposing an entire song by musical key, selecting all the midi clips in a 40 track song and changing it from Eb to C in 5 seconds because the vocalist can't reach the highest notes. Not just a simple transpose but truly conforming to another musical key.

Any examples of a DAW that does this well? I just tried it in Cubase and though they have the function...it doesn't work. The results are poor - you'll have to do a lot of manual edits anyway. Unless I'm using the wrong function.

SJ_Digriz · Post by **SJ_Digriz** » Wed Jul 15, 2015 11:36 pm

never mind, pointless argument ..

adamgrossmanLG · Post by **adamgrossmanLG** » Wed May 10, 2017 5:19 am

just saw this thread.... 10 year Cakewalk Sonar user here.... and I will say... it is TERRIBLE for MIDI editing and manipulating. I am jealous of other DAWs, just dont feel like spending more money as I have a lifetime license for Cakewalk.... but thinking about it.

Reason 9.5 will support VSTs, so with knowing that...it might blow Cubase out of the water as far as functionality.

Kalamata Kid · Post by **Kalamata Kid** » Wed May 10, 2017 5:45 am

Reason has no ARA for Melodyne so I will not bother with it.

As for Sonar for me it is only missing
1. A modular environment such as Multi-Instruments of S1 and Patcher of FL Studio
2. Midi editing comparable to Cubase but will settle for midi editing improvements.
3. Work flow improvement but then again all will be well if I only spend more time with it.

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Wed May 10, 2017 6:39 am

adamgrossmanLG wrote:just saw this thread.... 10 year Cakewalk Sonar user here.... and I will say... it is TERRIBLE for MIDI editing and manipulating. I am jealous of other DAWs, just dont feel like spending more money as I have a lifetime license for Cakewalk.... but thinking about it.

Reason 9.5 will support VSTs, so with knowing that...it might blow Cubase out of the water as far as functionality.

In terms of overall functionality, Cubase is the untouched at the top... no question about it.

Which of the following DAWs best for heavy MIDI editing & arranging?