Hi Folks,
My first degree was in Recording Arts from Full Sail and right after graduation, I did technical support for Pro Tools for 2 years… suffusive to say, Pro Tools was drilled into my brain and it’s made switching to any other DAW incredibly frustrating, largely because it’s intolerable to be so comparatively slow when I could just go use Pro Tools.
However, as my career has been shifting more from the world of audio to that of a film composer, now seems like the time to make Cubase my primary DAW, at least for my MIDI Orchestration work. Also, my primary notation software is Dorico.
I was wondering if anyone had any resources or advice for people who are way used to Pro Tools to become more fluent in Cubase. I’ve found this Moving from Pro Tools to Cubase - YouTube however it’s not entirely what I’m looking for. The problem for me with going through beginner materials is that I already know “the basics” of recording and digital audio and I’m just primarily looking to learn how to do what I did in Pro Tools in Cubase as well as take advantage of some of the features that make it a better software for MIDI than Pro Tools.
You can set the keyboard shortcuts to Pro Tools, it is one of the preferences. You may want to start there. The shortcuts are not 100%, but I think it might help you get started.
I have used both Pro Tools and now use Nuendo. I have always had problems with Pro Tools working on my systems and I have just gravitated more to Cubase and Nuendo. I can go back and forth between both now, but Nuendo is my work horse.
There are a lot of things that you can do with custom keyboard shortcuts and macros. These are some of the deeper features, but once you get used to doing them they become second nature and can really speed up whatever workflow that you want to use.
Sorry I don’t remember exactly where the setting for keyboard shortcuts allows you to use Pro Tools shortcuts, but there is a preference that allows this. That is where I would start and then you can get into the customizations of different keyboard commands. Some of the terminology is different as well because Steinberg is a German company. For instance, the bounce in place in Pro Tools is called render in place with Steinberg. All of the features are there and a lot more.
Welcome to the world of Cubase!!! I love it as a DAW and I am constantly learning something new. The things that you can do with MIDI is amazing. Take your time, there are a bunch of videos on YouTube showing how to do different things. I always keep Google open so that I can look ;up how to do something that I don’t know how to do.
Honestly, since you are already fully versed in the audio end of things and just need to learn the software, the best thing to do would be download the PDF manual and read through the whole thing. It won’t try to teach you stuff you already know and is probably the best way to get the info you need. I’m doing it right now after reading an SOS article where an interviewee stated you should know your DAW as well as a professional musician knows their instrument, so RTFM! I took his advice.
The PDF “Manuals” are actually Reference Guides and reding through the whole thing is a waste of time. They’re designed to have the applicable section “referenced” on an as needed basis.
Best way to learn the software is to use it for actual work. That will actually be more efficient, as the things you need to learn now do not encompass the entirety of the software’s functional breadth.
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