The CUBASE 5 thread.. pros and cons. stay on topic!

[Raylai]

Originally Posted by jbird327

I put a new system together to run 64 Ultimate. 8 gig ram, duo 2.0, motu 896 and 828. All I loaded into the system was the Motu 64 drivers, Universal audio drivers and C5. So far, no luck. It won't play the demo song, the Motu freaks out and Cubase freezes. I'll start troubleshooting tomorrow.

Just start testing 64bit, same story here.
I am using MOTU traveller, with 3.6.8.1400 64bit driver, i can never get that installation completed ! The process went through 98% then Hang. the new driver showed up in the hardware manager, but never got that work. The Traveller freak out, all the in/out put LED light up , few little crack. Then i wanted to uninstall that, however, "Mr. Vista ultimate 64 bit" telling me "not able to run uninstallation", i have to resolve that by system restore. WTF

[AjD]

I'm hearing lots of good things about Cubase 5. The relative stability so far is most encouraging. Even so, I'll upgrade to it eventually - probably sometime after they release a maintenance fix - as they always do. I'm cautious that way.

One thing that's sticking in my craw though. Why can't I comp multitrack audio with it? (Easily?) Obviously it's a terrible pain when working with a mic'ed up drum kit, but it's a problem even with simple stuff. After all this time, I can't believe that a feature improvement in this area hasn't been implemented.

I'm sure everyone who uses Cubase/Nuendo knows the problem, but I'll offer an example anyway. Yesterday I was doing a simple acoustic guitar overdub. We did five takes - I had a close mic going, a shoulder mic, and a room stereo pair (thus, I recorded three tracks for each take - two mono tracks and one stereo track). After we finished the five different takes, the client and I sat down at the computer to make a comp. As I always do, I converted each of the three tracks to "parts" (for slicing/dicing/ease of comping - one of Steinberg's best features, IMHO), and put the three tracks in a folder. Then I double-clicked the folder track, and started slicing and dicing the perfect comp.

And there's the problem.... if I want to, say, use take 1 for the first chorus, and take 3 for the next verse, I have to make that identical change THREE TIMES (because I recorded three tracks). It's almost comical to watch. Click, repeat. Click, repeat. Click, repeat. Just about every single one of my clients asks why I have to keep repeating the same action over and over, every single time I have to do this. Even the clients who know next-to-nothing about computers notice the problem. It's almost embarrassing - they often ask, "Are you sure there isn't a workaround? There must be. Have you checked the manual?"

My standard answer to this question (I swear, it's asked by almost every client whenever we comp something) had been, "Believe it or not Mr. Client, there aren't any pro audio software programs that offer that feature! They all make you repeat your comping steps on every microphone." But recently, I heard that Pro Tools 8 added just this sort of functionality. So... it's becoming harder to explain why I went with Steinberg over Pro Tools when clients inevitably ask, "What about with Pro Tools?" - which really means, "If I was at that 'other' studio across town that uses Pro Tools, would it be three times faster (and thus, three times cheaper) just to do a simple guitar comp?".

I really hope Steinberg addresses this in the next upgrade. From where I'm sitting, it sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise excellent piece of software.

Aj

[stag]

Alt+Click on the bottom handle of the Audio file and drag

[Yutaka]

Originally Posted by AjD

I'm hearing lots of good things about Cubase 5. The relative stability so far is most encouraging. Even so, I'll upgrade to it eventually - probably sometime after they release a maintenance fix - as they always do. I'm cautious that way.

One thing that's sticking in my craw though. Why can't I comp multitrack audio with it? (Easily?) Obviously it's a terrible pain when working with a mic'ed up drum kit, but it's a problem even with simple stuff. After all this time, I can't believe that a feature improvement in this area hasn't been implemented.

I'm sure everyone who uses Cubase/Nuendo knows the problem, but I'll offer an example anyway. Yesterday I was doing a simple acoustic guitar overdub. We did five takes - I had a close mic going, a shoulder mic, and a room stereo pair (thus, I recorded three tracks for each take - two mono tracks and one stereo track). After we finished the five different takes, the client and I sat down at the computer to make a comp. As I always do, I converted each of the three tracks to "parts" (for slicing/dicing/ease of comping - one of Steinberg's best features, IMHO), and put the three tracks in a folder. Then I double-clicked the folder track, and started slicing and dicing the perfect comp.

And there's the problem.... if I want to, say, use take 1 for the first chorus, and take 3 for the next verse, I have to make that identical change THREE TIMES (because I recorded three tracks). It's almost comical to watch. Click, repeat. Click, repeat. Click, repeat. Just about every single one of my clients asks why I have to keep repeating the same action over and over, every single time I have to do this. Even the clients who know next-to-nothing about computers notice the problem. It's almost embarrassing - they often ask, "Are you sure there isn't a workaround? There must be. Have you checked the manual?"

My standard answer to this question (I swear, it's asked by almost every client whenever we comp something) had been, "Believe it or not Mr. Client, there aren't any pro audio software programs that offer that feature! They all make you repeat your comping steps on every microphone." But recently, I heard that Pro Tools 8 added just this sort of functionality. So... it's becoming harder to explain why I went with Steinberg over Pro Tools when clients inevitably ask, "What about with Pro Tools?" - which really means, "If I was at that 'other' studio across town that uses Pro Tools, would it be three times faster (and thus, three times cheaper) just to do a simple guitar comp?".

I really hope Steinberg addresses this in the next upgrade. From where I'm sitting, it sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise excellent piece of software.

Aj

I guess you are talking about the edit grouping on PT, and yeah, that would be good to have.

Meanwhile :

1) Instead of creating parts and opening edit window for seeing multiple takes, just use "Lanes Fixed" for viewing the tracks.

2) Select multiple tracks at once, edit them at the same time. I'd do track selection with mute tool first, then do "delete overlaps" to erase bum takes (save new version of the song before). Turn off "Lanes Fixed" and do crossfades.

It should be much faster and easier than how you do it.

[saxsiarz]

Hi Guys,
I own cubase 5 for few weeks. Still missing few things. I like the way in protools where you can put 2 mono tracks into stereo track and use 1 plugin insted of 2. I know you can mixdown them but its time consuming....
Also I like in protools hide tracks (not only in mixer window C5),moove tracks in mixer in protools-in C5 in arrange window.
Still think time strech is better in protools 7.4. (and you can choose different like pith'n'time....)
Would be great if steinberg could sort those thing in a feature.

[carma]

Originally Posted by saxsiarz

Hi Guys,
I own cubase 5 for few weeks. Still missing few things. I like the way in protools where you can put 2 mono tracks into stereo track and use 1 plugin insted of 2. I know you can mixdown them but its time consuming....

Use groups, works the same way, only you arent limited to two tracks only

[Mongoose]

Cons so far (migrating from SX3):

Colour scheme for the main mixer channels - seems harder to differentiate between types of tracks now: I know you can adjust brightness and contrast for the mixer, but I wish you could make the channel strips completely different colours for the various sections so they stand out more.

Graphic display bugs (recognised) Little diamonds left editing in the drum editor drives me up the wall, and faint lines left standing after you've adjust velocities of hits. Ah - it's the little things!

Drum maps - once loaded in v5 then aren't loadable in v3.

And that's it so far! Everything else looks pretty good, and no crashes or weird behaviour.

[DNR]

migrating from Nuendo 3 and have used Nuendo since version 1. Here are my thoughts:

1. why isn't there a 'snap cursor to selected event' function/toggle (Edit Mode)? Nuendo works beautifully with this and for myself it is the easiest way to navigate and edit super fast. Man it drive me nuts using the damn mouse to click on the ruler. lame. If someone can set me straight i would LOVE to know.

2. noted redraw issues, especially when comping takes in 'lanes fixed' mode. awful artifacts hanging around that clutter and confuse until i click on events or refresh the screen in some way.

3. like Mongoose said, the colour scheme is going to take some getting used to

4. vari audio is cool and flows nicely but i've found it sluggish

5. startup has failed to recognize the dongle more than once

6. ctrl S - i'm obsessive compulive about that and i save with each edit. Cubase hangs each time, not for long but enough to impede my workflow

7. transparent events preference- this isn't a bug so much as a gripe but it would be nice to have the borders of events visible even when not selected. Maybe i have to get used to the slightly different appearance/paradigm of Cubase and use the colour blocks at the bottom of each event. Still IMHO Nuendo looks and flows a little smoother when you don't have to stare at that extra crap

8. Stationary cursor is cool. Way less jarring than the screen flipping over all the time. NICE! (EDIT: Just checked in Nuendo- wow, i've been using it for YEARS and didn't notice i could switch that on. i feel like an idiot! lol)

9. Forgot this too: follow toggle bypassed when editing. been waiting for that!

peas

[Arturo00]

This may be minor, but it's annoying as all hell...

the center (0dB) line in the audio tracks is faaaaaar thicker then it used to be (or at least what it is in Nuendo). So if there's a tiny signal (shuffling, breathing, etc), the line is so thick that you can't visually see if there's actually audio recorded. of course, a good listen later on will definitely help, but being able to see these small signals is pretty helpful.

i haven't played around with Cubase 5 a lot as it's not my system that's running it so I actually don't know if that can be changed. Can anyone confirm whether or not that's user definable?

[Lawrence]

Originally Posted by AjD

And there's the problem.... if I want to, say, use take 1 for the first chorus, and take 3 for the next verse, I have to make that identical change THREE TIMES (because I recorded three tracks). It's almost comical to watch. Click, repeat. Click, repeat. Click, repeat. Just about every single one of my clients asks why I have to keep repeating the same action over and over, every single time I have to do this.
Aj

Hmmm.... I think this is *partly* operator error. Let me explain...

No you can't do this with audio takes that have been converted to parts (can't group in the part editor) but you can do this with individual takes across different tracks on the timeline. In your case above you should not (until they add that feature) convert those takes to parts if you know you'll be comping across tracks. Shooting yourself in the foot?

Stay on the timeline and simply group the takes (across tracks) before you start to comp, and comp on the timeline instead of the part editor. It works fine that way. Split one, they all - in the group across multiple tracks - split, mute, size etc, etc.

Select all the "take ones" on the three tracks and hit menu Edit | Group. Do the same for the other two takes.

Originally Posted by saxsiarz

Still think time strech is better in protools 7.4. (and you can choose different like pith'n'time....)
Would be great if steinberg could sort those thing in a feature.

Cubase's realtime stretching / pitching is not very good but the result of the flatten is as good as any. Why they can't get that done with the "realtime algo" is beyond me.

But once you render (_flatten_ *before* you render) it's as good as any.

[jbird327]

Originally Posted by Raylai

Just start testing 64bit, same story here.
I am using MOTU traveller, with 3.6.8.1400 64bit driver, i can never get that installation completed ! The process went through 98% then Hang. the new driver showed up in the hardware manager, but never got that work. The Traveller freak out, all the in/out put LED light up , few little crack. Then i wanted to uninstall that, however, "Mr. Vista ultimate 64 bit" telling me "not able to run uninstallation", i have to resolve that by system restore. WTF

I was unable to get the system running with any stability using the Motu hardware. Blue screens after running for a few minutes. The internal routing using 1400 drivers is all screwed up - Main outs now become channels 1-2 out. Using just the 828 the system will run for a while (took an hour to blue screen) but I was unable to get any audio output.
I went back to my 32bit drive and can run C5 using the directx ASIO and the system soundcard without incident (the Motu under 32bit still crashes the system). I have a new interface on order (Steinberg hardware) and will resume my 64 setup once that arrives.

[Alex Specht]

Originally Posted by jbird327

I was unable to get the system running with any stability using the Motu hardware. .

Sounds like the only users in this thred who are using 64 bit with more than 4 GB of RAM are having problems.

That being said, it is likely a problem with the MOTU interface drivers as you were unable to even install the driver.

Anyone usind RME 64bit drivers on Vista? how about RME, VIsta 64 and C5?

Vista ...... But its worth a shot

[SANDS]

Mac OS 10.5.6
Apogee Maestro
Novation AutoMap 3

Midi editor especially the drum map editor craps out all the time. Doesn't matter if it's groove agent one, included vsti's synths, ezdrummer etc...

I will move one of the diamonds to a different beat and an artifact from the last location remains, sometimes it will still play the sound, sometimes it will not. Sometimes no sound at all, meaning nothing no matter if it's a kick, snare, note from piano, synth etc...

Reverence reverb is awesome, but it will bring my cpu to it's knee's in no time. At 24/96, forget about it. 24. 44.1 it can work with your session ok.

Media bay is cool, but it is a little glitchy. Sometimes when I collapse the screen it won't come back up. I can see it when I minimize all the window views but I click it and nothing happens. I close Cubase and reopen it and it begins to work again. Seems to happen whenever it feels like it. I have had it do this with only a couple tracks to sessions with many tracks and plugins running.

I had better luck with 4 and even better luck than that with SX3. Reminds me of the early SX days before 3. I would say if you want to use Cubase and not deal with headaches, use SX3.

Give 5 a little more time and I think it will be nice, no huge crashes with mine yet, but not stable yet.

[h4nc0]

Cubase v5.0.1 maintenance release just came out.

Cubase 5 :: Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH :: www.steinberg.net

[Leon EA]

Originally Posted by DNR

1. why isn't there a 'snap cursor to selected event' function/toggle (Edit Mode)? Nuendo works beautifully with this and for myself it is the easiest way to navigate and edit super fast. Man it drive me nuts using the damn mouse to click on the ruler. lame. If someone can set me straight i would LOVE to know.

Edit mode is a post feature, even though it can be used for music editing as well. But just press [L] and you get what you want.

6. ctrl S - i'm obsessive compulive about that and i save with each edit. Cubase hangs each time, not for long but enough to impede my workflow

Not a fix for this, but if you are a backup kinda guy use ctrl-alt-s to save incremented files for safety.

8. Stationary cursor is cool. Way less jarring than the screen flipping over all the time. NICE! (EDIT: Just checked in Nuendo- wow, i've been using it for YEARS and didn't notice i could switch that on. i feel like an idiot! lol)

Manuals are your best friend. At least the good ones.

[SANDS]

also what happened to the old click track volume fader in the mixer?

I was sad when that went away, super handy when tracking.

big sad face.

[SANDS]

Originally Posted by h4nc0

Cubase v5.0.1 maintenance release just came out.

Cubase 5 :: Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH :: www.steinberg.net

Good looking out, Looks like it has a fix for some of my issues.

Thanks for being geartastic

sands

[Scott Cairns]

Been using Cubase 5.0.0 for about two weeks now, no crashes here as yet.

Having said that, I haven't yet tried Reverence or LoopMash etc.

Mostly been using Cubase as i always do, (midi editing, tracking, mixing) have played with the VariAudio thats really cool.

quadcore PC 4gb ram
Win XP sp2

[Fredo]

Originally Posted by SANDS

also what happened to the old click track volume fader in the mixer?

I was sad when that went away, super handy when tracking.

big sad face.

It's in the Control Room section.


Fredo

[Solar]

Me to just upgrade not even a week or so to C5 and seems to work well with some bugs althought i'll be updating to the new update release.

Wanted to talk about Shortcuts, before in SX3 or N3 in the mixer, you were able to select tracks and simply click CTRL G to link them and CTRL U to unlink them, and in C5 they took those shortcuts out?

For witch reason? Why they had to take out some original shortcuts that were there and very usefull and handy and make the workflow faster?

Sometimes i don't get Steiny. But i guess i can go and create a HOT KEY for this back or reassign this function to it's precedent version?

Anyways, won't mentioned more because there is this Update fix, so i'll install it and see if things were fixed and report back!!

[George Necola]

I installed the fix and it seems to be more reliable with external plugins. before there were some of those crashes, with the round red button with a white cross inside, telling you, that cubase had this extraordinary crash, and you can press OK now...



seems to be more stable.

[KingDiamond]

I installed the update but now I noticed a bug I hadn't seen before. If I copy a track that is in solo mode, the new copied track has both Solo and Mute buttons enabled and the track is actually muted until I click Mute and Solo, then it acts normally.

[58lespaul]

How does Yamaha's Pitch Shifting plug in work for you guys? I imagine that one is good for vocals that aren't too badly out of pitch and Vari-Audio is bringing in the big guns, if you will... or is Vari-Audio hands down the only one you should use?

[carma]

Originally Posted by 58lespaul

How does Yamaha's Pitch Shifting plug in work for you guys? I imagine that one is good for vocals that aren't too badly out of pitch and Vari-Audio is bringing in the big guns, if you will... or is Vari-Audio hands down the only one you should use?

i would say Vari-Audio, if its just a little of pitch maybe there is no need to "tune" all the notes. to me thats one of the strengths of Vari-Audio and Melodyne

[stag]

Originally Posted by 58lespaul

How does Yamaha's Pitch Shifting plug in work for you guys? I imagine that one is good for vocals that aren't too badly out of pitch and Vari-Audio is bringing in the big guns, if you will... or is Vari-Audio hands down the only one you should use?

I like the YAMAHA plug a lot. One can pitch shift while retaining formant, which gives an incredible instant falsetto. Everyone can sing Staying Alive without having to make funny faces anymore.

Everything in between of course, harmonizing guitar parts et all.

[TanTan]

I've just "upgraded" from Nuendo 3 to Cubase 5 on my windows PC.

This is the MOST unstable program I've ever worked with, it has some great features but the system is just not working ! everything is crashing all the time ! I've installed it 4 times already and nothing can help it.. I'm pretty sorry I've bought it.. had to stick with my old Nuendo or moving to Pro-Tools 8.

My thought is they have released an unfinished program, i had to do much explaining to the clients today and not charging them for about half a day. embarrassing.

[norbury brook]

Originally Posted by TanTan

I've just "upgraded" from Nuendo 3 to Cubase 5 on my windows PC.

This is the MOST unstable program I've ever worked with, it has some great features but the system is just not working ! everything is crashing all the time ! I've installed it 4 times already and nothing can help it.. I'm pretty sorry I've bought it.. had to stick with my old Nuendo or moving to Pro-Tools 8.

My thought is they have released an unfinished program, i had to do much explaining to the clients today and not charging them for about half a day. embarrassing.

been running 12/7 no crashes at all :D

marcus

[Phaidon]

Originally Posted by TanTan

My thought is they have released an unfinished program, i had to do much explaining to the clients today and not charging them for about half a day. embarrassing.

Personally speaking I would avoid using a brand new version of any DAW in a pro-session.It's a big no-no for me.

[TanTan]

Originally Posted by Phaidon

Personally speaking I would avoid using a brand new version of any DAW in a pro-session.It's a big no-no for me.

you are absolutely right.

[George Necola]

Originally Posted by TanTan

you are absolutely right.

seems like they did a better job then in the past