I spent 2 days in training with a sound engineer in his private sudio to record a pop/rock band. He works on Protools 10 with an Orpheus Prismsound interface on a MAC PRO.
I use Cubase since it exists on ATARI ST ! so I think I can say that I know a bit Cubase.
Now, regarding the Cubase 7 vs Protools 10 and having seen Protool in action, I can tell all of you that Cubase 7 is far far ahead of Protools, specially now with the new mixer in cubase that allow the same features as Protool mixer.
Certainly because I know well Cubase, I find the way of working and editing the tracks more simple in Cubase than Protool.
All new functions in Protools 10 show to me by the sound engineer was already existing since Cubase 6 !
But, this is only my point of view with my little experience in a professional recording studio.
OK, for the time being Steinberg ecounters a certain number of problem with the C7 version, but I’m pretty sure all blocking issue will be corrected soon and will give C7 as robust as C6.
The sound engineer said me something I found absolutely right: “The best DAW tool is The one you master the best !”
Be patient and trust Steinberg team that I’m sure are doing the best effort to satisfy the users.
I just sold pro tools 10 after having it for 3 weeks. I have a 2008 8-core mac pro and could not even get 4 instruments running without getting clicks, pops and cpu errors. WTF is that ? I have delay compensation on max etc in Pro Tools. Did not help.
So then i bought cubase 7 after selling pro tools 10 and I am very happy that i did because no more clicks and cpu errors and running many instrument tracks now.
A good cubase version for me (sounds cliche) is a cubase that does not crash. I’ve had major problems in the past with crashing cubases. But now Cubase 7.01 does not crash on me. I did 2 times but that was caused by a beta of Alchemy synth and then browsing presets too quickly.
I can imagine a Protools 10 HD will work better than native but i don’t have the money to pay thousands of $ for it especially now that i have Cubase, Logic and Studio One (I am a beta tester of studio one).
What really surprised me is the soundquality of cubase 7. It really sounds good in my ears.
If you wish you can check out my soundcloud page where the 10 most recent songs were done in Cubase 7
i wish Cubase allowed you to set a unique/independant quantize setting for the track view and the key editor like Pro Tools does.
after teaching Pro Tools in lectures to students i discovered this animality and really miss it in Cubase.
it makes high performance editing in Cubase so much slower because the switching back and forth constantly of quantize settings every time you open the Key editor to micro-edit is very frustrating.
But really theres not much else i miss…theres a lot of other clunkiness in Pro Tools that is just as frustrating that Cubase excels at.
I agree that Cubase offers an interesting feature set. I use for mostly for music creation. Doing sound editing/mixing in post, I have to say that I don’t think I could be as fast in Cubase than in PT for editing. Working with video and time code is easier, for me, in PT. It’s also easier to make multiple outputs at the same time to print down mixes and M&E, due to its bussing capabilities.
I use and enjoy both for different reasons, trying to not be confused in keyboard shortcuts
I don’t get to use PT too much, but when I look over the shoulder of a PT power user I still think I could edit quicker in Cubase. But I run both, a lot of my projects go to PT in the end because that’s the industry standard for mixing in most commercial studios. With the advent of the much improved midi tools in PT9 (or was it 8?) some of my colleagues moved entirely to PT and they’re happy with that. I still prefer Cubase in most respects, especially now they’ve added some of the killer PT features like hiding channels in the mixer.
The DAW is mostly so quick as the user is (normally But in the case of Cubase 7 (also older versions) is the speed in my case very depending on Keyboard shortcuts. Also I work with Logic Studio 9 on Mac and other tools… I make my own shortcuts and try do like for many years the same shortcuts for different programs… I would like to test Pro Tools 10 and all the others, but the Money don’t fit to get it all ))
from my experience…old timer recordists with grey hair that complain about the good ole days of Tape and keep forgetting where their car keys are placed use Pro Tools…and creative younger electronic producers that are not just capturing a live performance but actively producing midi and notes tend to use Cubase.
a big generalization of course but you get the idea… i can usually guess before i walk into a studio what they are gonna be using
I bought Pro Tools 9 (got the upgrade to 10) and run two i7’s with 24GB DDR3 Ram etc… win 7 -64 and -32 bit versions of Cubase 6.5 and 7…
I have to say, that as a guitarist, and producer doing many recordings, I’ve never liked Pro Tools… one of my friends when seeing it summed it up… " It looks like Shareware ! " well, for doing any kind of MIDI work, i still like to work in Cubase 6.5 still, as I prefer the old style mixer layout ( I am “dipping” into 7 more and more though) but I tried to work in Pro Tools, even mix with it, and to me, everything just feels… wrong. It’s as though everything works against you.
hey, if you love PT, then great, but the time is LONG passed that Pro Tools is an “industry standard”… IMHO. yes, LOTS of studios have it, including myself. but I can be working for many months with Cubase, and have gotten no complaints about the sound quality! (another big kettle of fish there!)
It’s days are numbered, Avid know this… even Fruity Loops is better lol. sorry, but PT is a complete nightmare to work with MIDI (and i would even go as far to say Audio!)
also, bear in mind, this is just “my” opinion. which, is worthless, as everyone works different. (thats my legal disclaimer LOL)
…
(whispers) but Pro Tools is still inferior to Cubase LOL
I’m that guy, started out with analog 4 track,then 8 then 16 etc. A whole bunch of skills gone by the wayside (punching, splicing, calibrating etc.) but I embraced Cubase in the Atari days and never looked back. I have Pro Tools 10 as well, mostly for comparability.
BTW I get a kick out of all the new anaolg emulation plugins now, although I use and love a lot of them, I spent the first 25 years of my professional career getting RID of distortion and noise and now…
I remember vividly the ever present problem of noise. Noise was the enemy. Crosstalk the foe. Distorted was usually a dirty word unless followed by another word like, “guitar”.
Now we can’t get enough of it. We call it saturation and we want it in abundance on everything.
Once we paid handsomely for good noise reduction, now we crave noise production. We even buy plug-ins that add hiss and crosstalk. What a strange industry we engage in
Still, truth be told, early digital recordings were rather sterile.
Been using PT (and still do) since the 90’s but as was posted:
mostly for comparability.
and for me it is also compatibility.
Let’s face it, PT IS the indusrty standard.
But score/notation was the breaking point for me.
Compared with Finale/Sebelius, PT could not and still does not compete.
From my POV of back-n-da-day:
ProTools started out as a ‘white coat wearing’ audio engineer’s programme
while Cubase/Logic/Notator started out as ‘dope smoking’ musicians
bedroom/garage creation programme.
(remember the old IPS? now it’s called: Loopmash)
Over the years each has grown, matured and stolen aspects of the other
and now both make lots 'o $$$$$$ for their parent companies.
I just sold pro tools 10 after having it for 3 weeks. I have a 2008 8-core mac pro and could not even get 4 instruments running without getting clicks, pops and cpu errors. WTF is that ? I have delay compensation on max etc in Pro Tools. Did not help.
So then i bought cubase 7 after selling pro tools 10 and I am very happy that i did because no more clicks and cpu errors and running many instrument tracks now.
A good cubase version for me (sounds cliche) is a cubase that does not crash. I’ve had major problems in the past with crashing cubases. But now Cubase 7.01 does not crash on me. I did 2 times but that was caused by a beta of Alchemy synth and then browsing presets too quickly.
I can imagine a Protools 10 HD will work better than native but i don’t have the money to pay thousands of $ for it especially now that i have Cubase, Logic and Studio One (I am a beta tester of studio one).
What really surprised me is the soundquality of cubase 7. It really sounds good in my ears.
If you wish you can check out my soundcloud page where the 10 most recent songs were done in Cubase 7
But in the case of Cubase 7 (also older versions) is the speed in my case very depending on Keyboard shortcuts. Also I work with Logic Studio 9 on Mac and other tools… I make my own shortcuts and try do like for many years the same shortcuts for different programs… I would like to test Pro Tools 10 and all the others, but the Money don’t fit to get it all 
