A newbie here. My name is Dan and I started to produce music some 1 and a half year ago with Magic music maker, then decided to go to higher level and bought Reason 7 and AKAI LPK 25. Now I have Reason 8.3 with almost all Rack Extensions (Reason plugins), Novation Launchkey 61, digital recorder, mixer, external USB audio card, KRK Rokit 5 monitors and some more equipment. Recently I bought Cognitone Synfire so it looks I take it seriously ha, ha. Invested a lot of money this year into music production [just don’t tell my wife, please ].
Like it’s not enough, 2 days ago I ordered Cubase 8 Pro + Steinberg UR 22 USB Audio Interface.
There’s still much to learn for me. I guess the best way is to do as many songs as possible. So I have made a song approximately every 10 - 14 days (beside I have full time job). And every new song sounds better than the previous one (I hope). I would remix and remaster all my older songs if only I had time but it’s an endless story I think. One is probably never 100% satisfied I think every producer feels it similar way.
Concerning Cubase, everything is new for me and also ¨plugins world¨ because Reason has its own devices. I would like to kindly ask you to point me to some useful websites there I can watch / read tutorials for Cubase and suggest me good plugins - both effects and instruments. What you think is necessary to have to achieve good sound. I think that it’s more important to have good effects / compressors / EQs and other stuff that improve the sound than dozens of instruments.
Though I really love Reason, the absence of VSTs usage and especially impossibility to rewire it to Synfire is limiting me. I have spent many hours comparing other DAWs and Cubase has won this game.
So if you find a minute I will appreciate you post some useful links or advices for me. Thank you in advance.
Dan, when you receive Cubase 8 you will find upon opening it the first time a thing call The Steinberg Hub. Within that you will find lots of video tutorials that will help you become familiar with the capabilities of Cubase.
You will also find that you will be able to use Reason and Cubase together via Rewire.
Steinberg has a YouTube channel which is worth subscribing to - lots of great tips and ideas, as well as instructional videos.
Cubase 8 Pro has awesome plugins as standard. Don’t get sucked in to thinking that $$$ of aftermarket plugins will make your recording’s awesome. Don’t get me wrong - there are some great aftermarket plugins out there, but take the time to learn C8 first. There is sure a lot to learn, but there is a lot of help and information available if you search for it.
Don’t be afraid to ask ‘dumb questions’ on the forum (we’ve been newbies at one time) - just take the time to research first!
Thanks mate. Looking forward to this new challenge. I’ve already subscribed tu YT channel and watched about 20 videos. I’m surprised what Cubase is capable of and how deep one can go. Tough months ahead
ClubCubase channel on YouTube is also very helpful.
Some great work-flow tips from Greg Ondo, the guy’s a genius.
There’s is a Google Hangout live every month which is uploaded there
Thank you. I’ll check it. Already working with Cubase and it’s not that much different than Reason (thought it will be harder). Just need to get used to it. Only one thing drives me mad - whole computer world uses Ctrl (Command) + click to copy, but not Steinberg. You must use Alt (Option) + click. Still confused ha, ha
That also irritated me when I started using Cubase maaaany years ago after the Logic/Apple takeover, however the answer is quite simple, in preferences go to Modifier keys and you just change the Alt entry to Cntrl. I think it’s under select or drag or… It IS there though.
Also another thing that bothers me: why I cannot apply Undo command to anything? I accidentaly clicked on bus slider in Mixer and it jumped at the position I clicked. I didn’t remember where it was before and Undo didn’t work in this case. Is that normal? You cannot undo in Mixer?
And one more question: I added 2 (String instrument) buses and later more other buses. Then I grouped those 2 Strings buses together to be able to control their volume at once and add some effects to the group bus but the group bus has been created far right from these String buses. When tried to move it to have all 3 together it seems that it just copies the bus parameters but not moves the bus where I want to have it. Buses cannot be moved to organize them as I want?
That’s correct there is no mixer undo. However lots of folks have requested it. You can search the Features Request forum and give it a +1 if you like.
Another great source of Tutorials are on a website called Macprovideo.com Although they cost money, they are invaluable and cover so much! I believe one of them is called Core Cubase and is a huge near 400 minute collection of Cubase tutorials!
Yes, I know that already and use it often but I found that it behaves strange for midi parts. When copied and changed some notes in the copy it has changed in original also! Does it mean it’s clones and every change reflects to the original and vice versa? How can I switch it off? I don’t want clones but rather independent copies.
If you want to copy an Event and edit the copy so the Original doesn’t change, select Event, press Ctrl and K and It will ask how many times you want to repeat Events. Once you choose how many, they appear and you can Edit each one separately.
That means you are creating shared parts. This is indicated by an “=” in the upper right corner of the part. In Edit/Functions you can covert these to regular parts. Ctrl+D doesn’t normally create a shared part. According to the Ops Manual the only way to create a shared part is to Alt+Shift+drag it (Alt+drag creates an regular non-shared part). However after poking around I discovered if you select a shared part & hit Ctrl-D the new part will also be shared. So I’d guess that you somehow inadvertently created a shared part and then copied it.
Yes, I found already that I can organize my devices/tracks in sequencer and the order is reflected in the mixer then
When copied some midi segments I probably held Shift key + Alt which I thought will constrain the move but it cloned the objects. Still struggling with it because it’s different than in Reason
It’s about getting used to a different logic of control and behaviour. I have got Cubase 1 week only so it needs some time. Anyway I managed to set all up and almost finished my first song in it and it sounds much better than in Reason. I’m really surprised and amazed over Cubase. When I wanted to get good sound from Reason it meant a hell lot of processing and tweaking and had to buy many new devices to improve it. In Cubase it sounds great immediately. Great DAW. Happy I’ve chosen it.
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