anyone own cubase se ?

Nothing to see in my studio - I've got a "hand-rolled" Dual-Core PC and a Line 6 TonePort.

Apart from my instruments and Shure SM-58, that's all I need.


My co-writer has the PC, plus Line 6 POD Xt guitar and bass + floorpedals, small Akai mixer and sampler, a rack of effects we never use, and around 15-16 keyboards ranging from Korg X5 to Novastation. Oh, and a few mikes including a rather nice AKG condenser for vocals.

And it's always in a mess, so no, we don't have any photos!


But you can have a look at my mate Barry's studio here;
http://www.thedoghousestudio.co.uk/


Note: I haven't tried ACID Pro with VSTi's, but I thought they just plugged into any audio sequencer that supports VST - or at least, output into the PC's audio stream, so you could record it that way (although I'd suspect there would be a high price in CPU to pay!).
    
    

Edited by Certif1ed - November 29 2006 at 08:36

Pro Tools is/can be serious expenditure - yes, it is industry standard, but that doesn't make it easy to use either. I installed it, then de-installed it a few weeks later, when I realised that I just wasn't going to use it.

Cubase is notorious for being user-unfriendly, but the industry has been using it even longer than Pro Tools (if my memory serves me correctly), and those who know how to use it love it. It lasted longer on my system than Pro Tools, but only because I forgot I'd installed it...


Some alternatives that I've actually used are;

Sonar (formerly Cakewalk). I used this for years in preference to Cubase, and a pro studio I worked in invested in it and ran it alongside Pro Tools. They always went back to Pro Tools, because of the strain on CPU if you do anything half serious with multiple tracks, but found that you could layer up tracks successfully and easily, then dump them into Pro Tools - so it had a use.

I now use Sony ACID Pro 5 exclusively - it's fantastic, although it does struggle with multiple VSTs on multiple tracks. Every time we get a bit ambitious with our mixes, we find that we have to upgrade the PC... which is only a minor inconvenience really, but it does tend to happen annually.

The BIG advantage of ACID is that you can try it free - Sony provide a downloadable version called ACID Express. You can pretty much do all the basics with it - and it's not time-bombed, so you can get a good feel for whether you get on with it or not.

I find it very intuitive, and the more I use it, the more I find I can do with it.


At the real entry level, though (obviously, it depends on what you are trying to achieve), I'd recommend the bargain-basement priced MAGIX.

It's drag and drop audio-editing for those who are technically challenged, but want to crack on and write music NOW rather than waste time learning software.

I have a freebie trial version (limited to 16 tracks) that I can put onto YouSendIt for the curious. It supports VSTs, and MIDI plug-ins like Virtual synths - and even has its own drum machine.

The weaknesses are;

Beat-mapping can be an issue, so dragging a large WAV file into an existing project is a bit of a mare.

Can't buss up the tracks like you can with ACID, so walls of sound become labourious as you work on each brick in turn, and double-tracking becomes a black art.

Looks a bit Noddy - hardly a weakness, but I like my audio sequencer to feel like a serious bit of studio kit.

A bit fiddly to work with the finer details, such as correcting individual bum notes. OK, the answer is play it right the first time, but sometimes yohu just want to prototype rather than go straight to the finished product.

In other words, not suited for a full-blown studio, but ideal for getting into the art of audio sequencing without fussing about or spending a huge wad of cash.


If all you want to do is edit individual tracks, which is what CoolEdit does, then there are loads of alternatives, my favourite being WavePad - which you can still get a free download of, if you hunt for it.
    
    
    
    

Edited by Certif1ed - November 27 2006 at 08:40

mystic fred wrote: Well Cubase seems to be the most popular music recording/editing software out there, but i really couldn't get on with it - i'm not stupid

- well ... i'm not feeling quite as intimidated with cubase now

mystic fred wrote: I suppose you can have too many music programs...

agree.


...thanks for this info mystic fred...






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slightly disssimilar theme,well sort of.

A'swepe wrote: I've been using SE for about 2 years. Yes, the learning curve can be steep. I've gotten used to th program. It does what I need it to do & it doesn't require a dongle (don't know about SE3).   It has most of the features of SX & more than what I require. 99% of what I do is in the MIDI realm.

yea, se 3 does require the usb "key" (dongle).

have you had any problems with the asio drivers or any hardware issues ?



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Edited by utah_man - August 11 2006 at 19:01

utah_man wrote: yea, i actually have two m-audio cards in my pc (the 24/96 models).  so you'd recommend pro-tools then ? big "learning curve" ? is the user-interface easy to navigate ? it'll do multi-track recording i assume.

What I've learnt is from assisting people on sessions who really know how to use it; I don't know how good the documentation is but there's nothing madly confusing about it; as with anything so powerful, it'll take some learning to get used to all the functions. The interface is pretty sensible; in some ways I prefer Ardour's but I haven't used that enough to really get a feel for it. If you are going to buy it, make sure it's the M-Powered edition, since nothing else will work with your hardware!    

edit: now I'm not sure if Pro Tools will in fact support these; it turns out it only supports a specific and quite limited range of cards, I guess you'll have to check that first.

Edited by goose - August 09 2006 at 05:39

goose wrote: utah_man wrote: goose wrote: If you're doing audio editing, Cubase isn't the best choice. For MIDI perhaps, although I don't really have much experience. what would you recommend for audio recording (multitrack) and editing (non-MIDI) ? been using cool edit 2000 for several years (it is not available anymore unfortunately), but on the advice of an "expert" decided to give cubase a try with the understanding that it would do much more... btw, thanks for the reply . If you already have an M-Audio card, then I'd definitely recommend getting the M-Powered Pro Tools, since it's only about £150, and while both it and LE are limited compared to the professional versions, it should be quite enough outside of a big studio, and to use it's basically the same as the pro version, which is the industry standard for good reason.

yea, i actually have two m-audio cards in my pc (the 24/96 models). 

so you'd recommend pro-tools then ?

big "learning curve" ?
is the user-interface easy to navigate ?
it'll do multi-track recording i assume.

utah_man wrote: goose wrote: If you're doing audio editing, Cubase isn't the best choice. For MIDI perhaps, although I don't really have much experience. what would you recommend for audio recording (multitrack) and editing (non-MIDI) ? been using cool edit 2000 for several years (it is not available anymore unfortunately), but on the advice of an "expert" decided to give cubase a try with the understanding that it would do much more... btw, thanks for the reply .

The best home recording package is an Mbox 2, which costs about 300 pounds but comes with Pro Tools LE and a few other little bits of software (I haven't ever used these). You can also buy Pro Tools M-Powered and an M-Audio interface; I don't know exactly how much this would set you back but I'd guess around £200. If you already have an M-Audio card, then I'd definitely recommend getting the M-Powered Pro Tools, since it's only about £150, and while both it and LE are limited compared to the professional versions, it should be quite enough outside of a big studio, and to use it's basically the same as the pro version, which is the industry standard for good reason.

If you're on a Mac or prepared to try Linux, there's a great and free DAW called Ardour - very minimalist interface but from what little I've used of it seems relatively intuitive; you also have the advantage that you'll never have to pay for an upgrade . I don't know how easy to set up it is on a Mac though, and it's certainly no walk in the park on Linux.
    

Edited by goose - August 08 2006 at 06:43

goose wrote: If you're doing audio editing, Cubase isn't the best choice. For MIDI perhaps, although I don't really have much experience.

what would you recommend for audio recording (multitrack) and editing (non-MIDI) ?

been using cool edit 2000 for several years (it is not available anymore unfortunately), but on the advice of an "expert" decided to give cubase a try with the understanding that it would do much more...


btw, thanks for the reply


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