I poked around an evening with Karlette a while back when they were re-released. It was fun and worked just fine
But it’s also just a plugin making 4 copies of a signal and delaying the playback separately, in or out of sync with the tempo. Comparing the stuff like Wunderverb and Karlette or VB-1, Neon, LM-9, Universal Sound thingie (Module?) and CS40 (is that a half Yamaha CS80? naw, not really ) and the no names like “distortion” and “compression” with REVerence, HALion Sonic SE, Groove Agent ONE, Pad Shop, VST Amp Rack or even Mod Delay, Tonic, A1, Embracer, and Monologue seem kind of futile?
The new ones are all included in Cubase and do a really good job. They don’t sound bad (apart for those SX3(?) synths that came with poorly tuned presets ). You can get some spectacular 3rd party VST/VSTi plugins on top of that, but not for free! So in an imperfect world the balance of what’s in the box and what you have to add yourself is OK-ish?
That´s just wild speculation. Let me speculate as well…
I think Steinberg would become the king of DAWs and their profits would at least double, if they would offer Cubase without any bloat for half the price. And all those whistles and bells would be add-on purchases. I can´t tell you how many people have thought about purchasing Cubase, but haven´t because it´s expensive = Expensive because all those below mediocre whistles and bells that only few people use rarely.
That´s why Reaper is so popular, ´cause they offer the meat and potatoes for a really cheap price. No tricks! They are the new thinkers and innovators. Steinberg seems more and more like insidious dinosaurs everyday with their business tactics. People don´t like that.
They have the meat and potatoes right, but they are forcing these soft synths, amp racks and whatnots down our throats and making us pay for them, even when we have zero use for them.
(Nothing personal in quoting you, I’m just using you as a launch pad, if that’s ok. )
I don’t use soft-synths at all but I don’t mind having them because there may come a time. Besides, those who do use them are waxing lyrical about the latest offerings. As for the AmpRack, it’s bloody marvellous. It may not sound exactly like the real thing but neither does the real thing once it’s been worked into a mix (says he, sounding like an expert). Just listen to some of those Classic Albums programmes, when they get on the desk and start soloing stuff. It almost sounds rough and I find it very encouraging that even great records start off with very basic sounds. There is however a genius - who is/was also still learning - at the controls.
The way I view it is - after asking and listening in around the forum for a while - is that the supplied widgets do a very solid job indeed but anyone who is expecting to find the magic preset is going to be disappointed. You still have to learn how to use them and they are all capable of great variety if used correctly and in the right combinations.
This comes on to another point. Combinations. I have never been in a position to throw money at gadgets for this, that and the other, so I’ve always had to rely on taking some pretty basic gear and see if you can get it to do unbasic things. I’m very much of the opinion that restricting yourself is a spur to creativity and will result in you coming up with something no one else will. The music of the 60s and 70s comes to mind and some of those old ska records are just great, even though sonically they sound like biscuit tins at times. In one band I was in all I had was an organ, ring modulator (home made) and a knackered old flanger with the back hanging out. But it had a feedback knob and that’s where the fun started. You didn’t even need the organ.
To wrap up, there is so much to Cubase that I haven’t even gone near yet. Good. Plenty to get my teeth into that should keep me going a while yet, even if most of the time I’m using at as a glorified tape-recorder.
Well, I’m off to do some work as I think I may have just inspired myself…
[muppet shoe geezer rant mode]
Yeah! There was a time when you picked up a musical instrument in the music shop and it sounded like crap! I took up a bass and it didn’t have steel strings (like my guitars at home that I actually took the time to learn to play, not properly, but kinda interesting haha), it had STEEL RODS (like … totally unplayable)! I took up a sax an all I heard was air pfffffffffffff. I sat down at a drumkit and could make it go “bink, bink, bink”.
Now there is a instant gratification button on everything. All instruments are tidily on screen synced to the host clock, rhythms play when you hit start and all you need to do is to hold down a few chords and you have half a moviescore
And listen to the radio …
[/muppet shoe geezer rant mode]
) and the no names like “distortion” and “compression” with REVerence, HALion Sonic SE, Groove Agent ONE, Pad Shop, VST Amp Rack or even Mod Delay, Tonic, A1, Embracer, and Monologue seem kind of futile? 
). You can get some spectacular 3rd party VST/VSTi plugins on top of that, but not for free! So in an imperfect world the balance of what’s in the box and what you have to add yourself is OK-ish? 
