who uses cubase?

[Cold Truth]

i just previewed some demos of the cubase vst plugins...............

all i can say is that these things blow my motif rack out the water. i am shopping for a pc for recording, but it looks like i may go the software route entirely, with a good midi keyboard being my only hardware, not including whatever i have to use to record vocals. does anyone here have these plugins? and how well does cubase work as a sequencer? will i need a seperate program for sampling?

 

[raider]

I've used Cubase, but only to lay the vocals on top of tracks. I haven't been able to find a non-midi sequencer so far, but maybe I just don't know my way around. As for VST plugins, remember that other progams like FruityLoops have support for these plugins.
Cubase is good for voice recording though, I will definitely give it that.

 

[Cold Truth]

yeah... i have a friend who just recorded two full length rock albums on it. about 35 songs total..... so i know it works well for live instruments as well as vocals. that plays a part in this, because i want to be able to produce anything i want without running into capability limits, and it would seem that this pretty well covers the bases. i was also thinking cakewalk sonar. that seems like its huge.

 

[raider]

I would look more into the sequencing capabilities before going and purchasing Cubase - you will be wasting a lot of time trying to copy and paste waves together if you try and do loop-based music without a sequencer (believe me, that's how I started!)
Before buying any software, see if you can get a demo version. I would recommend FruityLoops becuase that's what I use, but I'm sure other people will recommend Reason, CakeWalk, etc. But in the end, you can't trust somebody else's preference, you gotta get a hands-on tutorial.
Also, when you say "software route entirely", I would advise that you at least equip your computer with a good sound card. If you ever plan to record directly on your PC, you will want a 24-bit card that has low latency. The last thing you want to do is degrade the sound quality from all your expensive "non-computer" equipment. I'm no expert on good sound-cards - you can do a quick search on this forum and I'm sure you'll find some good suggestions. I use the Creative Audigy 2 Platinum, and it suits my purposes very well (it also comes with a copy of Cubasis, which is a 'light' version of Cubase).

 

[Cold Truth]

doesnt cubase have a sequencer?

 

[vitaminman]

Hey,

Cubase IS a sequencer, both audio and MIDI. A little history: Cubase started out as a 24 track MIDI sequencer on the Commodore 64 back in the 80's, moved to Atari, then Mac, then PC. Initially it only did MIDI because computers and hard drives weren't fast enough to handle audio. When computers got faster, they started doing simple audio, then audio with effects, then soft synths, and that's where we are today.

If you only do simple sampling, like taking a loop and repeating it over and over (like most hip hop), Cubase alone with suit you fine, you simply drop the sample into a track and loop-duplicate it. This is how I've done most of my music for the past few years.

However, if you want to take sounds and map them across a keyboard, you'll need some sort of sampler, either in hardware or software. You can get 3rd party software samplers to run in Cubase, but there isn't one yet included with the program.

I've been using Cubase since version 3.5 on the Mac (1998), I like it the most because it's what I've been using for so long. Currenly I'm running SX, but I may make the switch back to VST 5 because I prefer the way it handles audio and MIDI, SX is more like Nuendo and I still can't get my head around it.

What plugins are you talking about? There are literally hundreds out there...

Take care,

Nick

 

[MaximeRobin]

I use cubase and reason on my mac. The cool thing with some of the big sequencer (I think sonar does the same thing) is the rewire protocal that syncronyse the 2 software. I use cubase for mixing, adding vst effect, using vst instrument and reason for hardcore sampling and the synths. Other software are rewire compatible too, ableton Live is definitly the thing to have to do some loop based acid style stuff (in fact the stretching abilities of live are way better than acid...)

I think it would be a waste to not use your motif anymore. You can get cubase and a good sound card and do all your sequencing in cubase. Some midi tracks may be sent to the motif and the other to softaware. And then your record in audio whats coming out of the motif.

 

[Cold Truth]

hmmmm... mostly the Halion ones on the cubase website, specifically the strings, piano, both guitars and bass... and some b3 organ software from....? i dont know, i played some demos in American Musical Supply.com.... they were very nice, pretty much what i have been looking for. those are the main instruments i have been looking for anyways. the motif does them well, but not the b3 and the pianos bug me now... dont really know why. i always liked my Roland pianos. i am sure i can always find a good horn collection out there somewhere...

 

[inrctyhoodmusic]

I use cubase sx only for recording vocals and finishing a song I didn't now that it had all that I knew it had a sequencer but didn't know it synts in it

 

[Ash Holmz]

cubase s hot i like the vst and the fact that is very expnadable i like it better than pro tools because of the vst capabilities and its easily compatable w/ reason

 

[God]

Cubase can support a myriad of softsynth plugins, as well as great interoperability with Propellerhead products, like Reason. It is a powerful program that has great MIDI functionality coupled with advanced audio recording capabilities.

There are hundreds of great VST plug-ins, but how will you get them? Will you pay for them, or will you download cracks? Do you have enough money to pay for all the softsynths, or a GigaStudio addition that would give powerful sampler functionality in a software environment.

Your Motif
I do not know how well you understand the power of your Motif, but Yamaha has been writing efficient algorithms for their processing engines for over two decades. Have you gone in depth and assessed the abilities and inabilities of your FX/processing chains in the Motif? Try to get more acquainted with the parameters that Yamaha lets you control the FX and other such processing options. Furthermore, you can manipulate the envelopes and filters on the multisamples that it uses for its subtractive synthesis protocol. I know that there are parameters upon parameters that you can control regarding sonic manipulation of the base samples that Yamaha uses for the Motif.

Many people get dissuaded from employing all the really powerful parameter manipulation capabilities that the Motif has to offer because of some counterintuitive technical complexities that it has in its interface. The Motif is a fully operable workstation. In reality, you don't need an external sequencer to utilise its capabilities, however, a sequencer like Cubase, and its native VST plug-ins, give you a very powerful platform upon which you can manipulate external MIDI sources, like your Motif, as well as making good-quality audio recordings using VST processing on the audio signal as you see fit.

So???

It would be my suggestion that you do follow through and get a sequencer like Cubase. However, strive to learn the really powerful capabilities of your Motif, as well. Deducing from what you've said, I don't think you've fully utilised the Motif as great subtractive synth with advanced editing capabilities.

If you do get Cubase, check out GigaStudio. It contains the best software sampler on the market. You can have samples as large 1GB loaded for triggering, all working through an ingenious stream method of aggregating information off the hard drive rather than RAM based sampling. BTW, your Motif should have great sampling capabilities as well.

Good luck.

Sincerely,
God

 

[Cold Truth]

my motif is the rack version, and so does not have the sequencing, but my mpc is a breeze to sequence with, and i know what it is capable of. this isnt the issue, at all. the issue is the $$$$ it will cost to make the recording aspect of my production half way decent. all i have now is the lorg pxr4, and while this thing is very powerful for its price range, i cannot do a stereo mix with my gear, as it is designed for the guitarist in mind. yeah, i know about bouncing and all that, virtual tracks, etc.... but when you consider around 16 midi tracks with pans and individual effects, and the fact that it doesnt accept a stereo input, i am very limited. the money it will cost to get this asect up to speed is roughly $1200- all low end gear. factor in my desire to do recording for others, as i have a few singers and guitarists, horn players, etc., i need something that does audio well... and by selling my mpc and motif, i basically have $1600 to play with, and toss in say, $700 extra and i have a rig that can handle anything i need, and it is much easier to shell out for plug ins that have the instruments i want SPECIFICALLY than (b3's, pianos, guitars, strings and "vintage" organs, think Van Morrison..) and perhaps a sampler at some point... but i will need a pc as well for various things (just a word processor and sometime internet access) and so going this route seems to make much more sense, because even if i wind up shelling out that same $1200, i will have a far more powerful setup than i do now, and since i know TONS of cats that play live, sing, etc... besides that i have made a few minor connections and one major one (a film composer... did The Perfect Storm, the only one i can remember off the top, a few indy film makers and a sometime animator...) and so i really am looking at the big picture here. at some point in the next year i plan on getting a new hardware rig, likely a tr rack/jv 2080/emu/mpc3000 type rig to compliment the pc stuff.... but for now, i think this meets my needs better.

 

[God]

Apologies. I overlooked the rather obvious allusion to you, Truth Told, owning a Motif-Rack, not the workstation. My mistake.

With your explanation of the economic variables that weigh into your decision, I can now better understand your judgement.

I do view a TR-Rack and a Motif rack as redundant, but you need the sale of your Motif to help you get a computer.

However, I would also assess the utility of your MPC-3000, since a non-linear sequencer like Cubase can do a lot more than the standalone AKAI. Perhaps the sale of the MPC, rather than a Motif rack (which you want to replace with a TR-Rack,) would be more advantageous in view of the bigger picture. Why do you prefer the TR-Rack better than the Motif rack? Cost? Functionality? Sample banks? Other variables, both personal or technical?

If you plan to record live musicians, assuming that you may pay them, a PC setup with a native based sequencer may not be so reliable under such live circumstances. That's why many individuals use ProTools, which has its own allocated resources on a proprietary DSP engine, thereby ensuring a greater probability of stability versus a sequencer like Cubase.

Best of luck.

Sincerely,
God

 

[Cold Truth]

the akai and tr rack would be add ons later- a year down the line, maybe two... just because i prefer the feel of hardware. i am selling both, and i am making the current switch based on financial circumstances, not because i prefer one piece over the other. the tr rack and jv modules would be complimentary pieces, not the core. of course, if the software winds up being a success, than i may just wait until i am making moves with all of this, and making the $$$ to match.... pro tools may be an option, but cubase fits the $$$ better. i do not plan to use this in performance applications, merely for recording purposes. i do have a freind who recorded two rock albums all on cubase recently, and the quality is very good. i hope to be introduced to the guy who recorded them so i can ask him some questions too....