I am not yet a user of Cubasis but should very much appreciate some advice and guidance on its use and functionality in terms of my own needs.
My 25-year-old brilliant Technics (top-end) digital piano has finally died and I am having to buy a new piano. One of the features in the Technics that I used continually was its four-track sequencer. As a church organist and choir master I was able to record all four [SATB] parts separately, put them together, accompany them or save them individually. I could also alter the tempo for playback and/or recording over once recorded.
Hardly any digital pianos, even the top-end ones that I am looking at have these sequencers any more and so I am having to look at third-party apps to act as a substitute.
My question, therefore, is ‘will Cubasis do what I need?’ .
The other thing I most definitely want to do is to record into Cubasis the voices from the piano and then play recorded tracks back through my digital piano using the piano’s voices and not Cubasis’. I also need to be Abel to use Cubasis alongside any other piano app such as Roland’s Piano App or Yamaha’s Smart Piano.
To summarise, I need to:
record and save several individual tracks using the piano’s voices;
play them back either individually or all together (with everything in between);
alter the tempo of the tracks on playback;
play the recorded tracks back through the piano using the piano’s voices;
use both Cubasis and the piano’s app at the same time.
I should be most grateful if someone could advise me as to whether Cubasis will give me what I need.
Hi amstaton,
Cubasis 3 will most definitely give you what you need and more, one thing I must add before I write any further - you can change tempo before and after you have recorded “Midi” only, it is not possible to change tempo with audio recordings.
I have added a link for the absolute beginner to Cubasis 3, it is a YouTube video and Doug explains and shows simple midi record tips. It can seem daunting at first, but you will soon pick it up, besides, if you get stuck with a particular part there is always someone on the forum who can offer help, if I see you have asked for help in anyway I will do my best to help, but first make yourself a cup of coffee, sit comfortably and checkout the video.
You can also set your own midi keyboard to play and record the voice within the keyboard and playback will still play your keyboard voice, more on this after you have watched the video.
A bit of my history………I used to play a three keyboard rig and use a 32 track hardware midi sequencer to supply all my own backing arrangements, since I started using Cubasis, I now only need one keyboard to handle all my all my arrangements. There is an app on the App Store called Layers by 4Pockets that I use with my keyboard that lets me play a single midi track or any number tracks in real time, Layers also allows for changing tracks mid song.
There is also a “Getting Started” video in the Cubasis 3 startup hub, you may find this slightly more technical than the video link below.
Hope this helps.
Mike.
Ps, welcome to the Cubasis family
I am most grateful for your response: thank you so much.
I understand about changes in tempo that need to be in midi rather than audio format. Does that still mean, though, that I can play these recorded midi tracks back through my piano using the piano’s voices and not Cubasis’?
Once again, thank you so much for your encouraging response.
Good morning Andrew,
Someone else asked this same question in July last year and I was able to help them achieve their goal by following some instructions and a photo, I have added a link to this particular subject below, just tap the blue writing to direct you to it, I have a photo attached showing how route your keyboard and to play external voices.
Some of my midi keyboards need a MIDI interface (in the photo I have listed mine as a Roland UM1), a couple of my other keyboard connect using just usb, but in either case, item 3 will show whatever device you have connected to Cubasis.
I hope this helps, but if you get into difficulties just shout
Mike.
Thanks to your help and advice, I am getting more confident that Cubasis will give me what I need with a Roland LX9 piano. My latest question is to ask whether Cubasis will work with other apps and with the piano simultaneously. I’m probably not explaining myself very well but I have been shown an app called ‘St Just Organ’. It has a brilliant library of authentic pipe organ voices that I might like to use rather than the native organ voices in the piano (which are limited). So what I would want to do is use the organ app to record the tracks I need to record through the piano and into Cubasis and then play them back through the piano but, again, using the app’s voices. I hope that makes sense.
Cubasis for iOS supports Audio Unit, Inter-App Audio and or Audiobus, which allows using 3rd party instruments and effects app with Cubasis.
Please take a look at our “Getting started with Cubasis” tutorial below, which shows how easy it is to create a full track with Cubasis, including demonstrating many options included in the app.
Hi Andrew,
Do you remember me describing a app called Layers by 4Pockets (9th May),
I will explain how Layers works and how I use it for my setup.
Think of Layers as a switched junction box that has one single input controller (midi keyboard). This junction box has 12 (or more) midi outputs that connect to separate AUv3/IAA plugins and also external sound modules (your keyboard).
I select Layers as a Midi Effect in track 1. I have NO INSTRUMENT selected for this track as it now a controller track only.
My external keyboard is connected to this track which must remain highlighted at all times during playback of a song so as to allow notes/pitch bend/modulation data to pass through Layers and into 4 tracks that I intend playing live, (track 2, track 3, track 4 and track 5), but in reality using this method results in all 4 tracks playing at the same time, so, at the start of my song I would do this: (I always start a song from bar 2 to allow control settings to have effect before the actual start)
I set up an empty midi track for track 1 for the length of my song. double tap to open this track and tap the bottom lane (Velocity), in the left column select CC0 Bank Select, using the pencil tool place a “+” at zero position at the very beginning of Bar 1. Now tap on the key editor above and place 1/8th notes on C#0, D0 and D#0 at the last crotchet position on this bar. Placing these notes effectively Mute’s track 3,4 and 5, no mute was added to C0 (track 2) to allow keyboard playing for this track only.
At the end of bar 9 (remember my song starts on bar 2) I need to change instruments, so at the last semi quaver position I now place a new note on C0 and a note on C#0, this action mutes track 2 and allows track 3 to play. This can sound complicated at first
Think of these switching midi notes as a double action switch in their actions ie - press to mute/ press to unmute like the old table lamps of old, this is me lol
In Layers each track can be set for any range on the keyboard, the bottom octave C0 -B0 (see photo) is usually too low for most instruments and when setting up a particular keyboard range you would not include this lower octave and reserve it for control switches only.
Also, any of the tracks controlled by layers can be connected to external sound sources by tapping the ROUTING tab in the left column of Cubasis and selecting your desired output device. You can also transpose any of the tracks, you can play them all at the same time, you can have as many tracks controlled by Layers as you want.
All I can say is this: only after using Layers will you appreciate the full potential of this great utility app……phew, I’m off for a cup of coffee after all that lol
If this is something that interests you, have a look at the App Store link below, it gives a load more information, but I have used it and offer my help if you need it
Mike.
BTW, the above “Getting Started” video suggested by Lars is very informative and is packed full of extremely useful information.
this is me lol