Cubase has Arranger Track and Track Versions so a “Session” like view can be built in no time, it has the “MIDI Loops” to save your “clips” with all the settings (instruments, automation, effect chains etc.) so they can be reused in other projects (ofc. VSTi patches also can be saved and categorized independently and can be previewed with MIDI keyboards from the MediaBay)
if u need some Intrument Rack like solution (IMO modulation and modularity are the weakest points of Cubase) check MUX Modular from MuLab it has everything and more http://www.mutools.com/mux-product.html and drop it to Cubase
mmm not quite… think of Steinberg Sequel - that’s more what his referring to…
AL’s session view allows one to instantly drop in loops (clips) and “play” with them in a matrix - Cubase has nothing close to that … hence, Steiny birthed Sequel .
PROCEDURE
1.First launch Cubase.
2.Enable one or several ReWire channels in the ReWire Device dialog for the other application.
3.Launch the other application.
It may take slightly longer for the application to start when you are using ReWire.
Yea that was the first thing I tried. Track Version was disappointing. It shares the VST settings between versions. There is also no chain select, trigger clip, etc.
In Live you could create an instrument rack, load up 8 or so instances of Operator or whatever, Make 8 or however many up to 127 different Kick Drum sounds with different VSTs and effect chains. Then in the view you can write your main beat clip, a few fill clips, a build clip, a version with a crash. Set up the main clip to trigger the a random fill every 8 measures. Then assign chain select to a knob. And audition all of them against your other clips all in one track, hit the version with your crash whenever you felt like…I don’t see any way at all to do anything near that using track versions. The only thing I could do with track versions was rearrange the midi as far as I could tell. I might be missing something though.
What you describe is what AL is all about, which is not the aim of Cubase. Btw you’ve misquoted me… read that last post again
For instance you emphasise the ability to audition a no of different sounds for a kick drum, but what about a number of kick patterns that must interchange without messing up the main idea. . Cubase strength.
It’s not a contest, use both - I do. I’ll use whatever works for the situation, these are tools afterall.
I’ve used AL and do like it’s approach, but it seems like what it brings to the table could easily be a plugin in a resizable VST window, not the DAW itself.
Still looking for such a mythical plugin. I’d want it inside Cubase and not via Rewire, for sure.
Maybe someone like Twisted Tools could do something cool and ambitious like this as a Reaktor Ensemble product. Hmmmm. If I had infinite time, I’d take this on as a project myself.
this is why I’ve mentioned Mux, u can build almost any kind of device with it (so it adds all the Instrument Rack functionalities to Cubase(and more))
for example a random channel changer ( I’ve used the lfo -it generates random values which ones automate the pizmidi channelizer plugin channel selector knob- and channelizer from pzmidi package Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting. ) which can change the incoming MIDI note channel numbers randomly after every X bars and can reroute them to different instruments (Mux has a channel splitter module), fun … Cubase hasn’t got modular enviroment but with Mux(+ pizmidi) it’s more than a brilliant one, love it (I hated the look of the pre 8 versions but the 8 one has a supercool look)
I don’t own one, but had the opportunity to work with someone who does. I was amazed at the effort and cost people are willing to go through to satisfy a particular way of programming - ultimately this is still a MPC style (DJ) type of musical input machine.
In this case - simply playing and editing real audio and 'wav data (in Ableton) took a long time. I would have completed the same stuff in Cubase in half the time with much more details to boot.
It was a good experience though, and i can appreciate how unfamiliarity with a type of software can be counter productive, regardless of the hype/marketing/concept.
(I hated the look of the pre 8 versions but the 8 one has a supercool look)