I tend to agree that this forum doesn’t handle the enquiries from newbies very well. Responses are full of put-downs, jargon and impatience. That came as a bit of a shock to me as my previous experience with foruims has been much more supportive and positive.
Further, the Steinberg manuals are pretty hard going. I figure there’s a cultural element of the German background to the product that has had a strong influence on the layout, content and language of the manuals.
Truth be told (OK, so it’s only opinion), software such as Cubase is high-end in its capacity and is not made for beginners… nor is the manual, nor is this forum. It reminds me of my early terror trying to learn Word Processing on my first-ever computer.
The other difficulties for cubase (digital multitrack) newbs is that they are usually also new to the hardware interface they are using and they don’t know where their problems lie (software, hardware, physical connections and setup, configuration etc) and where to get support. (BTW, I’ve since looked at the Zoom forums and they are a wealth of support, with all sorts of great support re digital recording in general). Many of these people have high expectations of their own ability and aren’t accustomed to being so overwhelmed by the chasm that has suddenly appeared before them. In the absence of even being able to understand or describe their problems well, they get hammered by highly proficient Cubase users
I found the best help for Cubase by far was from borrowing this book http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Idiots-Guide-Recording-Cubase/dp/1592574998 from the local library. (It was written for Cubase 4, but most of the information translated quite well for LE5. How much it can help with Cubase 6, I can’t answer.) You’ll also need some time, no pressure, and a healthy supply of anti-anxiety tablets!
Once you get the basics figured, you’ll have enough of a framework to make some progress. There’s still so much to learn about the whole process, but take heart and one day, you’ll be recording and editing just as well as you are Word Processing (note that you don’t know how to use half the functions on that software either!)