Cubase 6 vs Pro Tools 10

Steinberg Lounge
21

I’ve been using PT for 12 years (have a HD3 system and will upgrade to HDX3 as soon as it’s available) and I just came over to Cubase for composing. In PT I could only run 3-4 instances of Kontakt (for example) and in Cubase I load up 30 and it doesn’t even hiccup. (running 64 bit.)

My workflow has increased nearly 50%. I do miss all the crash breaks and frankly it’s been odd working day after day without a single crash, hang up, spinning beach ball etc.

The mixer in PT is far superior to Cubase, better lay out, more intuitive etc. Same with editing audio, there simply is no comparison. PT it geared for audio and especially post production. It’s very “1998” in it’s midi functionality.

A earlier poster said ‘use the right tool for the right job’ which, is exactly what I’m doing now.

As for the cubase plugs…they are weak for the most part so I stick to Fabfilter Q for eq mainly. For Delays, Fabfilter wins again. It’s great.

Okay…there is my little opinion on things.

22

[slightly OT]I must be the only one who actually likes Cubase’s delay plugins. I think they sound really good! However, I need to take a second look at Timeless 2, cause I do love FabFilter (can’t live without Pro-Q, Pro-L, Pro C).[/slightly OT]

23

I had been using another program entirely as my main DAW. Then, after years of working with only digital music composition, I needed to get into some ProTools projects to work on a couple projects. I took a look, and thought ProTools had evolved a lot, and I would make the switch back to ProTools. This was at the same time they anounced the new 3rd gen MBox line. So, I was lured in, and I decided to buy the new MBox. I’m not going to go into the whole story, because it’s kind of lengthy. Short version; the hardware is great, and worth the money I paid for it IMO. However, in order to get a fully useable system, AVID was asking me to fork over more money in upgrades to PT9 (which came out the exact day I got the MBox I ordered a few weeks before, that shipped with version 8) than what upgrading my old SL3 version of cubase would cost me.

End result; I was suckered in once again, and had the same experience with ProTools that I had when I first bought it 6 years ago… buying into the whole ‘industry standard’ BS, and realizing later that I would need to spend an extra ton of cash right off, to get a system that works the way I need. I opted to upgrade my Cubase instead, and gave AVID the finger (after quite a bit of back and forth with AVID’s customer service). ‘New Features’ in PT9, were standard features in almost every single other DAW, including the other program I was using before all this. Why would I pay extra to ‘modernize’ PT, when I could upgrade another program that’s already had the features I need, and is looking forward instead of just ‘keeping-up’?

Cubase may have some issues, as every program… BUT, I think Steinberg is more on the customer’s side than AVID ever will be. Everytime I’ve tried dealing with DIGI/AVID it’s always amounted to the same thing-------> money drain in order to pay for extras. I may upgrade PT in the distant future if I have projects I need to work in that I can’t do otherwise, and I’m getting paid enough for the projects to do that. However, I won’t be suckered into an upgrade because the hype says it’s the latest and greatest.

I looked over the new features in PT 10, and forking over $250 for an upgrade from 8 seems stupid to me. Cubase does pretty much everything I need, and I don’t feel steinberg is trying to invent ways to take my money. I think they try to make products as useful ‘out-of-the-box’ as they can, and continue to make updates after, which aren’t attempts at capitalizing on my needs. I was very unhappy with all the crashes I was getting with the 6.03 update, but I was very satisfied with the 6.04 update. Steiny may not update Cubase quite as quickly as something like Reaper, but they are still faster at fixing major bugs than some. I don’t feel a customer vs. company paradigm that I felt with AVID… and to me, these issues are something to consider when chosing a product you will use every day.

24

I must agree on all counts. Just to clarify for the previous poster, free routing does not exist a la pro tools.
I’d also like to add some constructive criticism in the hope that ears are open. The floating windows thing is a
real workflow killer, resizing endlessly even when you’ve pieced together your own workspace templates.

Also I think a lot could be learned from ableton lives ultra quick and mostly highly accurate tempo matching, in previewing of loops, a lot more fun and creative than opening the dreaded media bay.

Any producer with a finger in the waters of DAWs knows all the most excellent features of them all that they’d like to see integrated into one. I’ve only scratched the surface here, but I for one would love to see cubase be the most progressive in absorbing ideas and implementing them, and Cubase will still be my no 1 for now.

Hazy

25

resizing endlessly? all my windows (sample editor, key editor, pool, etc…) always open in the same place I left them (just like if they were docked). but I’m almost 100% sure we’re see an option to dock windows in cubase 7 just like in steinberg’s other apps wavelab and halion…

as long as you’re not trying to preview rex files, cubase’s media bay is ultra quick with highly accurate tempo matching when previewing loops. I personally can’t even imagine the nightmare my workflow would be if it weren’t for the media bay and its ability allow creation of custom searchable “tags”/“key words” for every sample, loop, vstpreset, midi file, etc…

26

At least for me too, some of the windows in Cubase (like the project and Key Editor windows in my case) do resize slightly. They don’t stay exactly the same size you had them in the beginning. The other thing I’ve noticed is the Video window moving from one monitor to the next. Try this:

1- Press F8 to bring up the Video Window.
2- Right-click on it and select Fullscreen mode.
3- Press F8 again (closes Video Window) and then move the time line.
4- Press F8 once more to bring Video back.

You will see that the video window moves from one monitor to the next, instead of staying in the same monitor. I need to report this before I forget, but those sort of things are what Cubase needs improvement on. It’s actually not a deal breaker for me personally, but improvements are always welcome :slight_smile:

Take care!

27

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28

Ok. Than this: Create two FX channels (delay for example - left and right ) and send one to another. It’s very popular way of controling feedback of the delay without going inside of efect. This is just small example of free routing that doesn’t exist in Cubase… thought
:wink: :wink:

29

The man behind the tools is the best tool.

15 years ago I worked with a midi-sequencer and 4 track audio. The functions where limited and it was essential to be creative if you wanted to accomplish something. Nowadays the daw’s have so many function/tools that it seems that everyone wants to do his thing with one function. In the early days you had to do maybee 10 things to accoplish that.

So it’s your craftmanship that will make it work or not, not the tool!

Even when protools had many more funtion it would not matter to me becuase I first must learn them, that said I think I use maybee 30 to 40 percent of Cubase functions.

30

Steinberg is still weak in marketing. It’s like semi-professional.
Cubase and Nuendo has many wonderful tools, much better than Pro Tools, but the look of DAWs, Steinberg plugins, and other things are still very poor. It seems that Steinberg wants to invest only in Home and semi-professional studios.
Avid on the other hand, invests heavily in professional studios, makes a great advertisement for a simple upgrade (real-time Crossfade, Clip gain). The look of the Pro Tools is great, the workflow is better than Cubase and Nuendo. This attracts professionals.
I work with Cubase 6, but I feel an attraction for Pro Tools 10. Whenever someone requests my work, always ask me if in my studio has Pro Tools.

31

Hello Robert,

The look of something is a for everybody different regarding taste.

If you don’t like the onboard plugins, then ofcourse (thanks to our open free VST standard) you can use other plugins. Still it has to do with taste. I can name you allot of people who work with the “build in stuff” and make money. Perhaps you have a much closer look regarding Cubase 6 and what Cubase can do.

In Europe Cubase is more spread then the region you come from, and no we don’t make only advertising only for the bedroom artist. That Avid is making advertising if they invented something totally new for functions that most other software can do for years…
It is cool that everybody can have a full studio at home. 15-20 years ago that was not possible. We have because of this now much more music to hear and to choose from.

Cheers,

Chris

32

Cubase 6 has the potential to be the leading DAW.

It needs from my perspective.

  • Proper VCA style grouping in the mixer (like Logic and PT)

  • Linked automation editing again like Logic and PT so that when you adjust one channel of automation any linked channels also reflect these changes, a huge time saver.

  • Swipe to select channels in the mixer view and then selected channels all reflect any changes made to sends plugins etc both in terms of initiating them and then and level adjustments then made (Logic’s mixer works perfectly in this regard)

The rest is perfection from me - Cubase 6 is so easy to use, the cognitive load is the lowest of any DAW I’ve ever used, and is such a pleasure to use on long sessions.

The audio pool in Cubase 6 is a marvel in it’s own right (the audio pool in Logic is so terrible I cannot face doing audio in Logic anymore) and on the whole I actually prefer the look of the mixer in Cubase over other DAW’s it just lacks some professional mixing functionality.

With the above features added I will never look at another DAW again with longing eyes.

I have my fingers crossed Steinberg will add these important mixing features.

tmy

33

yes themarqueeyears you are right,
im a hard logic user and im really tiered editing audio on logic, pro tools 10 have few new features but cubase 6 lot easer to use and editing window is really good for eyes, logic is really hard always to read small fonts and other stuff, i love cubase 6 editing windows its save my eye for more years, pro-tools 10 have pro look but its really pain when we do long session (im not yet use pt10 im a pt9) , im really planing to buy cubase 6
but logic pro x soon coming as i found on net, not sure, protools 10 is pro bt as a film music composer i need fast audio midi editing DAW, i think cubase 6 is still rock for that… :bulb:

34

Oh yes! Plus 100 to what you’ve said, my friend. I love Cubase as it is, but there’s always room for improvement and those features you just mentioned would be amazing to have. Steinberg, please add these soon :slight_smile: