Using Cubase the first time today

[Ambientdave]

Hi Everyone
Ok so I have Cubase Artist installed,today,install went ok
checkout of the audio input etc,etc.Manged to record my voice,Sound is coming through my headphones.
My keyboard is responding to various Vsti’s

I noticed the note editor keyboard actually matches my 49 key,Akai MPK249 which makes a nice change
Firstly I might ask some dumb questions as we go along,but bear with me,ok,ha,ha

OK,So my first question is how can I make the whole Interface more appealing colour wise,or customization.Have to look through the manual.but though I would ask you nice people
At the minute its a dark grey colour and too much clutter,but I did find the circle of fifths selector thats really cool
Going to read through the manual and take this a step at a time

Thanks for your time.

[Puma0382]

@Ambientdave

Hi Everyone
Ok so I have Cubase Artist installed,today,install went ok
checkout of the audio input etc,etc.Manged to record my voice,Sound is coming through my headphones.
My keyboard is responding to various Vsti’s

I noticed the note editor keyboard actually matches my 49 key,Akai MPK249 which makes a nice change
Firstly I might ask some dumb questions as we go along,but bear with me,ok,ha,ha

OK,So my first question is how can I make the whole Interface more appealing colour wise,or customization.Have to look through the manual.but though I would ask you nice people
At the minute its a dark grey colour and too much clutter,but I did find the circle of fifths selector thats really cool
Going to read through the manual and take this a step at a time

Thanks for your time.

Good going…! Welcome and have fun Dave…

About the interface - you need to look under File → Preferences → User Interface. Its not the most intuitive set of tools; in essence, what I did was to click through the first item and its set of Colour Schemes, see if there’s a good starting point I liked (those horrible ‘boxes’ don’t give any real clue as to what’s actually going to happen - just have to ‘trial and error’). Then, I clicked the second item ‘Custom Colours’ to fine tune various elements. Though in typical SB fashion, watch out - this whole interface/set of controls means you will quickly find yourself chasing your tail, trying to get what you want…!

As to screen ‘clutter’, you do have quite a bit of control over what/how many things are displayed, as you desire (things such as toolbars/buttons, Transport items, Track Header controls, Left/Right/Lower zones). I think this is all true of even the Cubase Artist edition.

Online manual is generally quite helpful; but like any new environment, its actually knowing what ‘terms’ you need to type in the search box, to find the info you need, that can be frustrating…

Cheers,
Bob

[Ambientdave]

@Puma0382

@Ambientdave

Hi Everyone
Ok so I have Cubase Artist installed,today,install went ok
checkout of the audio input etc,etc.Manged to record my voice,Sound is coming through my headphones.
My keyboard is responding to various Vsti’s

I noticed the note editor keyboard actually matches my 49 key,Akai MPK249 which makes a nice change
Firstly I might ask some dumb questions as we go along,but bear with me,ok,ha,ha

OK,So my first question is how can I make the whole Interface more appealing colour wise,or customization.Have to look through the manual.but though I would ask you nice people
At the minute its a dark grey colour and too much clutter,but I did find the circle of fifths selector thats really cool
Going to read through the manual and take this a step at a time

Thanks for your time.

Good going…! Welcome and have fun Dave…

About the interface - you need to look under File → Preferences → User Interface. Its not the most intuitive set of tools; in essence, what I did was to click through the first item and its set of Colour Schemes, see if there’s a good starting point I liked (those horrible ‘boxes’ don’t give any real clue as to what’s actually going to happen - just have to ‘trial and error’). Then, I clicked the second item ‘Custom Colours’ to fine tune various elements. Though in typical SB fashion, watch out - this whole interface/set of controls means you will quickly find yourself chasing your tail, trying to get what you want…!


As to screen ‘clutter’, you do have quite a bit of control over what/how many things are displayed, as you desire (things such as toolbars/buttons, Transport items, Track Header controls, Left/Right/Lower zones). I think this is all true of even the Cubase Artist edition.

Online manual is generally quite helpful; but like any new environment, its actually knowing what ‘terms’ you need to type in the search box, to find the info you need, that can be frustrating…

Cheers,
Bob

Hi Bob!
Thanks a lot, I managed to find some info about changing colours.I got Cubase set as a nice green colour.I saw that the grid lines change with the colour scheme which is cool.And saved the colour
I won’t change anything else.But was surprised to see the nice collections of brownish colours to begin with (almost like my local decorator centre store ,ha,ha

[Stephen57]

Glad to hear things went well with the install.

When I first started with Cubase I’d separate “learning sessions” from “creative sessions.” However, sometimes a session starts out as “learning” but it would end up be more “creative.” Other times it works the other way. This is still my process. I also now have “assignment” sessions when I’m working on projects for others.

Good luck with it and let it take time it takes.

[Ambientdave]

@Stephen57

Glad to hear things went well with the install.

When I first started with Cubase I’d separate “learning sessions” from “creative sessions.” However, sometimes a session starts out as “learning” but it would end up be more “creative.” Other times it works the other way. This is still my process. I also now have “assignment” sessions when I’m working on projects for others.

Good luck with it and let it take time it takes.

Hi Stephen57
Thank you,very good advice .
Although I have some experience in other Daws,and one I am currently using,which I shall not mention,ha,ha
But found Cubase to gel with me
Really enjoying the learning/discovering process!I will be looking through the Groove3 Cubase tutorials, as well as spending time (as I have been doing)getting used to the layouts etc
Really nice surprises I have discovered such as the note editor keyboard actually matches my one,which is great!

The circle of fifths is cool as is the chord pad editor(wish I had learnt more theory and keyboard after I left school),many years ago,oh well
I have a couple of odd things going on,but have posted onto this forum ,see if anyone can help or advise.

Really appreciate the help and advice

[Stephen57]

@Ambientdave

@Stephen57

Glad to hear things went well with the install.

When I first started with Cubase I’d separate “learning sessions” from “creative sessions.” However, sometimes a session starts out as “learning” but it would end up be more “creative.” Other times it works the other way. This is still my process. I also now have “assignment” sessions when I’m working on projects for others.

Good luck with it and let it take time it takes.

Really appreciate the help and advice

You’re very welcome. I started with Voyettra Seq+ and then moved to Cakewalk, which itself became Sonar. After looking at the available DAWs around, I decided on Cubase and I’m very glad I did. You will find your past DAW experience will leverage learning Cubase. Enjoy it and remember to get some sleep. LOL, my first Cubase “session” lasted, literally 24 hours. Don’t do that.

[Ambientdave]

Ha,ha OMG! 24hrs thats on par with a deep session with Omnisphere2!!.
No I won’t do that,in fact I am about to dive into bed,as I got work in the morning,here in the UK
But as I work part time,I will be limiting myself to say 2hrs with Cubase,or a bit less,until I get a proper feel,for what Cubase has to offer.
Then as I get more settled and understand how things work,I will be starting to make actual tracks,(but slowly of course)
Cheers