Aloha guys,
I started this thread a couple of years ago.
and had some interesting responses.
Two years later and now that C8 has been released.
I am wondering if anything(s) have changed for you in the last four years. (good or bad)
Major TIA (thanks in advance) and mahalo.
{‘-’}
I’m doing some things differently… which in the world of pseudo art-engineering is not a bad thing, IMO. 
The biggest step changes was using Variaudio over my Celemony plug-in for vocal and general quick-pitch fixes. I was slow to get excited about VA… but now its 2nd nature.
Also the ability to mess around with harmony ideas - my door for experimentation has been kicked wide open.
Track and window management - there’s a return to that familiar, feeling less-like-a-work-around, sensation.
I was doing a lot of pre-work in Studio One V2, as it simply allowed me to manage the visual aspect of tracks and versions when brain-storming easier, but now this is happening less and less.
Mine is better, but that’s due more to me being more knowledgeable rather than the actual capabilities of the solution. I’m still on 6.5.5 and don’t use 50% of the features. There’s no way that 8.0 is going to really improve that by much.
Agreed, I’m beginning to think that CP8 is an upgrade too far…
How so?
The Circle of Fifths tool for MIDI is yet another great innovation from SB and well worth the money in my view.
Saying that, I am more than content with Chord Editing in C7 but as it (Chord Tools) are included in V8, why would any aspiring composer or songwriting want to rely solely on their ears alone.
Not sure the circle of fifths thing is worth 82 quid
I use this Interactive Circle of Fifths and it’s free
I know there are some other bits and pieces in CP8 but from a songwriters point of view it’s just starting to get in the way…I’ve spent the last week or so trying to figure out what’s wrong with CP8 on my puter then suddenly realised I don’t need it, I’ve got C7.5 which is no problemo…so I should be making music on that instead of trying to figure out why CP8 doesn’t work…
I did a total clean re install of W7 and then installed CP8 and it is unusable, dunno if you saw my post regarding this but if I touch the project window it just fly’s off the end of my screens and makes a project window around 3 meters long and 20cent’s deep and is unresponsive after that so gotta close down the puter…re open and the same thing happens…this is on a total clean re install don’t forget… full aero etc…
what foolomon say’s is on the button really
cheers, Kevi
I believe the version of Cubase, Cakewalk, or any other DAW software you use has little to do with your music sounding better, and work flow as far as I’m concerned is something you learn to make & do the best of with ‘whatever’ you’re using at any given time.
Is MY music sounding better than it was 4 years ago? In some ways yes, in some ways no. Yes, my music is tighter because of my growing use of midi & VSTi’s…I’ve become a much better ‘producer’ now. My older stuff is much more loose, and I’ll even say sloppy, but it’s recordings of actually ‘played’ instruments, untouched by quantize, which is not sterile like my more current ‘produced’ tracks.
I’ve been rethinking things lately. But in my quest, especially with midi & VSTi’s, and to be a better technician…I’ve immersed myself, forcing myself to learn more. At the same time I’ve also reduced my role as an actual musician. With acquiring more technical skills to getting to a point where I can reasonably use them comfortably, it’s now time to reintroduce more my musicianship skills… or more so, find the best balance of the two.
Howdy, Curteye.
My top changes for the better (for me) over the last couple years, in no particular order:
Building a dedicated DAW for music only.
Switching from Mac to PC so that I could upgrade the parts easier and more cost effectively.
I take a template-based approach, possible because my music is for myself, only. Even Group Channels can be identical from song to song. So I decided to move my stereo buss processing, pre-mastering and mastering to a secondary computer. It’s a real-time chain via optical cables.
This was a huge step forward for me. Freed up CPU on my DAW, freed up space on my screens, Cubase projects are therefore smaller and load faster, provides good decoupled-ness between my project and the mastering chain.
Also, it means my Cubase mixdowns are free from stereo buss processing (buss compression, etc.) being printed into them, which gives me more flexibility when mastering or remastering later.
Going to K-14 for tracking / VSTi sound design. This has been the best thing, sonically, I’ve done. Making sure I don’t hit input-modeled plugins too hot has really open up my soundstage and avoided mud in the low-mids. It also allows me to sum without any limiting or compression so that my mixdowns have the most flexibility. This is because I actually have my final stems, at K-14, pulled back to -18 rms so that they can sum without any clipping.
Creating K-14, K-12 and iTunes spec’d LUFS -16 endpoints in my mastering chain, as well as the obligatory “Beatport Loud” DR6/DR4 level at the end, has allowed me to make better mixing decisions because I can make sure the mix sounds good loud as well as more dynamic. There are times when it would sound good loud, but fall apart when at K-14 or K-12. By being able to quickly monitor between all of these dynamic ranges, it’s made my mixes better. Bonus is that if I needed to have someone else master, I have K-14 mixes I’m confident about, ready to go.
Stereo Buss Compression goes to a pre-mastering stage, which goes to K-14, then is gain reduced to K-12, then gets lowered signal-level-wise (but kept at K-12 dynamic-range-wise) to the iTunes spec (LUFS 16), then gets leveled back up and slammed to the typical DR6/DR4 territory. 
If I have to make things loud, it’s not going without a fight for wider dynamics. The first step of that is actually producing to those wider dynamics. The second step is releasing both mixes (one at K-14 or K-12, one at DR6/DR4) and letting the consumers choose which they want.
You can bring the horse to the water, but you can’t make it drink. The louder DR6/DR4 will still be the most downloaded, listened to, purchased, probably, but I’m at least moving in a direction to provide the option and to help educate the masses on why the loudness war is not a better listening experience.
Anyway, those are my top five.
Interesting, but I guess this is why SB put it out so soon.
Glad you could find some time to assist development.
True, but as a producer, you are also a writer and there are “musicians” and then there are musicians.
Great musicians often don’t write, as great writers don’t play.
It’s horses for courses me thinks!
Software really hasn’t changed my work flow much over the past few years, however, my ears and approach to air-born sound continues to refine (mic/pre/placement/big-picture view of an album from the beginning that determines the former of this sentence in prep for the end product, musician coaching, etc).
Software isn’t where it’s at for me. The band, musicians, scope of work and partnership made as a team is where it’s at.
fo ev ah and fo ev ah…
So does the Tool in CP8 alter the chords or merely make suggestions?
no need to be sarcastic my friend as you said …it’s horses for courses. I can alter the chords myself
and I really don’t like having to “help with development” as you say, I’ m not on the Steinberg payroll and have better things to do…
we should not “fall out” over silly things like this.
best, Kevin
Buyers’ remorse must always front-of-mind when purchasing product.
We should not “fall out” over silly things like this. >
I was asking a serious question as I have some money to spend on gear/software/computer tech.
Oh, I beg your pardon… don’t agree with buyers remorse thing, C7 is excellent and I expected CP8 to be a step forward but I can’t even open it…surely I should at least be able to open it…realising now why you get a demo.
maybe it wil be a step forward when it finally works, just think they released it to early…
regarding the fifths thing…it is an awesome tool and helps songwriting huge! apparently… 
just wish I could get to it… watched the tut on it…
best and my apologies for misunderstanding you…Kevin
I believe this is SB’s now modus operandi and personally I agree but as to your problems with opening the program, are you sure that it is not driver related?
regarding the fifths thing…it is an awesome tool and helps songwriting huge! apparently… >
So it is not just a visual tool but can help with chords, i.e. the Chord Track, or selected chords?
best and my apologies for misunderstanding you…Kevin
No worries
Hi regarding “driver related” I did a clean install of my OS and all drivers are up to date…
regarding the fifths thing, you really should watch the tut on youtube…it is a great addition to cubase,
I’ve spent more than a week making sure it’s not my fault…CP8 was the only thing on my new OS and it just wont work.
there is definitely something wrong with the GUI…as other people have testified and people are even having trouble with the metronome…can you believe that 
were off topic here so best refrain from this con or we’ll be in trouble…
cheers and have a good year in 2015…Kevin
Made a move to scuffham amps i was using a pod pro and amplitube 3.
Also finally demoed then bought softube bass amp room. i was using bass pod pro and amplitube for bass after an hour of trying it on older projects it was a no brainer this was what i was looking for.
Since then i sold both pods and rarely use amplitube for much.
I not saying they aren’t very good but i have had better results with both products and imho sound a million times better than the pods and amplitube. Bass amp room is very simple not many settings and effects to get consumed buy.
I highly recommend scuffham amps if your looking for a new amp modelling effects plugin give it a demo its excellent you wont regret it.
Since i made the change both electric guitar and bass tracking and production have sped up dramatically in my music creation.
Cheers
Andy
I will have to do that when my monthly mobile bandwidth is restored.
I’ve spent more than a week making sure it’s not my fault…CP8 was the only thing on my new OS and it just wont work.
there is definitely something wrong with the GUI…as other people have testified and people are even having trouble with the metronome…can you believe that >
Do you have a link to that thread?
we’re off topic here so best refrain from this or we’ll be in trouble…
cheers and have a good year in 2015…Kevin
Just change the subject line to “OT” and you can go off topic at any time.
Or, you can private message one another and stop polluting this thread with ot posts! 