Homebase for Sonar users

Cubase
#72

Cakewalk/Sonar user here 20+ years. Never used another DAW and slowly finding my way around Cubase.

Question
I have three midi tracks (or parts? I can’t wrap my head around “parts” and “events”…) showing in the Key Editor.
I want to move five notes on midi track 1
However when I select the five notes by drawing a rectangle around them there’s a couple of notes from track 3 that are also selected.
When I move the intended five notes on track 1 the notes on track 3 get moved too which I don’t want.

So there’s probably a way to do it, but I’m not finding it: I want to lock tracks 2 and 3 such that the notes aren’t affected if they’re included within a selection rectangle for track 1.

#73

This is how I see the terms … I’m pretty sure this is close if not actual

Track = Configuration and main Routing container…
Part = a Container of MIDI Events
Event(s) = The actual MIDI message data

You probably have what are called “shared copies”. If you look at the top right of one of the parts that is moving when you are editing in another part, it will have an equal “=” sign in the top right. Goto MIDI->Function->Convert to real copy.

#74

Another Cakewalk Sonar user here since the good ole DOS days. So far, so good. Just wanted to say Hi to all. With the Holidays here, I have not had a lot of time to play with CB95 other than to just get used to the GUI.

Happy Holidays to all and a Solvent New Year! :smiley:

Clint

#75

I don’t have “MIDI->Function->Convert to real copy” as a choice (?)

Anyway someone in another forum explained it to me. (The info is in the “Handling Several MIDI Parts” in the manual.)
You have to select a part in “Currently Edited Part” menu and then activate “Edit Active Part Only” to restrict editing operations to the active part.

And I think I’m at One with the “Parts” and “Events” terms now. :smiley:

#76

OH … yes … sorry I didn’t realize you had all the parts open. That person was correct. Glad you got it.
EDIT: It’s only in the menu if it is a shared copy.

#77

Hey everyone!

I just ported over from Sonar and have a question. Am I suppose to have access to Halion? When I load up Cubase i get an error message saying i do not have the proper eLisenses for a bunch of plugins I dloaded from the Cubase assist after I got Cubase up and running.

I’m thinking Sonar crossovers might not have all product access due to the discounted price and we should be able to use our Sonar plugins to get started.

Anyway, thanks in advance and I’m really, really liking Cubase…I should have jumped here long ago.

#78

Hi and welcome! With the crossgrade you get a regular and in no way stripped down Cubase Pro 9.5 license. But it is just the Cubase Pro 9.5 including the SE versions of HALion and Groove Agent.
The Steinberg Download Assistant includes more products that require additional licenses indeed - like HALion Sonic (without the “SE”) and HALion. If you downloaded these and get a license error, you can either request a trial activation code for them or uninstall them again. Trials are available here: https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/steinberg_trial_versions.html#c362267

#79

I have a couple of questions, hopefully not too involved.
When you freeze an instrument track, is there any representation on the time line of the rendered audio?

I guess in this case it’s taking some getting used to the way Cubase handles VST outputs.

2 I’m using a Yamaha MU100 and the patch script for it seems to be working great. Cubase limits drums to channel 10. I understand it’s a convention, but is this due to a [mode 10] statement in the patch script? Its not a big deal, but the MU really doesn’t care what channel you put drums on as long as get the proper bank/program data sent to it…

#80

Is there a setting somewhere that will make playback stop automatically at the end of the project? I looked through preferences but didn’t see anything.

I did a search of the forum and found a thread that suggested a few workarounds such as adding an arranger track and/or somehow defining the length of the project. But those workarounds are, well, workarounds. Does the function exist or are workarounds the only option at this point?

#81

Woohoo!

I am now officially a Cubase user - I went ahead and purchased the crossgrade from Sweetwater. An early Christmas for me!

I’m finding that the major differences that need getting used-to are UI/mouse clicks and stuff. Sonar was firmly wedded to the windows platform and thus had a rather consistent conventions, where Cubase seems a bit different. This isn’t something that muscle memory won’t quickly conquer though. I’m really impressed with Cubase’s capabilities. I really like the control room - it solves a lot of monitoring issues that Sonar was lacking.

I’ll continue to post my observations as an Sonar user transitioning to Cubase.

#82

Hi. I tried to run pro, but found I need to buy an eliscense to run the demo. So I tried to run elements but it keeps asking for a key. I uninstalled everything starting from scratch now. If I dl the dl manager and then only dl elements, will I be able to install it without a key? Thanks.

#83

I’ve been a user of the Absolute Collection for some time and I used it in SONAR Platinum.
I found the Cubase Pro crossgrade interesting and decided to give it a try. I got used to the workflow pretty quickly and found all the features corresponding to the ones I used most in SONAR.
However it seems to be impossible for me, who live in China, to get the crossgrade. The distributor of Steinberg here is Yamaha music & electronics (China). They have very outdated information on their website: https://i.imgur.com/8ziuQc4.png (I have no idea why the list on the right duplicates itself).
The product page of Cubase 9.5 is (even worse than) machine translated and does not provide any means to purchase.
Does that means users in China won’t be able to get the crossgrade? My trail is expiring in a few days. Could someone here help me?

#84

You can download through the Steinberg Download Assistant but you’ll still need the correct activation code (license) to run Cubase Elements.
You can get it here: https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/steinberg_trial_versions/cubase.html#c387940 (a re-download of the software is not necessary. You need the activation code only).

#85

I am sorry for that rather bad experience! I have forwarded it to our sales department.
If you can access our webshop, it should be possible to order the crossgrade from us directly as a download product: https://www.steinberg.net/en/shop/buy_product/product/cubase-pro-95.html (last entry in the list)

#86

Thanks for your quick reply!
I can find the crossgrade in the webshop this afternoon (it wasn’t there several days ago). I’m pretty sure that I’m able to get the crossgrade now!

#87

Hi Cubasers! I don’t know if that’s the correct term but I’ll use it until corrected.
Well I’m another refugee from Cakewalk. Started there in 1993 when the impending closure of Amiga forced me elsewhere namely PC.
Now that I’m running Cubase 9.5.1 I figure that’s about all the PC DAWs I’ve tried except Digital Performer.

I’m looking forward to being as involved here as I was over there and excited to be trying a DAW I haven’t tried before. My signature should give you an idea of how serious I am about my gear (still building my new PC),
The Cakewalk forum was a bit of a second home so I hope I can get that feel here and make new friends. I think there’s a few of us coming over. I’m not trying things out, I’ve jumped in.

#88

Let me come back here and sing the praises of Ed Doll, who helped me patiently and resolved my query.
On another note: A few days ago I did some MIDI-editing in the Key Editor and I was very pleasnatly surprised by the ease with which this is done. Especially the right-click pop-up of the tools right under your cursor is a simple but magnificent extra, which makes a big difference compared to Sonar.

#89

Discovered the 'logical" editor the other day. Wow - it made for some short work in the list editor. VERY handy!

#90

Hiya transitioners!

I have to say I’m pretty delighted with Cubase, despite using only Cakewalk/Sonar for nearly 30 years. I use Cubase exclusively now.

I just thought I’d share something with you that helped me out a lot. When I bought Cubase, I also got a Black Friday deal on Groove 3’s Cubase 9 Explained. Turned out to be a great buy because although it doesn’t go very deep, it helped get very comfortable with my new DAW in a hurry. Since then, I found this which I also bought (they even reduced my price a little due to the course I already purchased!)

Groove 3 Power User Bundle

Some of the courses are based on previous versions of Cubase but I still think mostly apply. It’s 8 courses that–at the bundle price of $48–cost $6 each.

The bad news is the sale runs four about 4 more days, so get in if you want it.

#91

Thanks, Ed. Got it running, liking it. Couple questions.

In sonar, I could access an asio control panel to change buffers from 128 to 256… how to in cb?

In sonar, I can select a midi clip and its associated instrument and bounce to track to write to audio. How to cb?

Quick way to duplicate like ctrl-drag in sonar?

Much appreciated.