Cubase Pro 9 rant/Reason 9 love

[chimp_spanner]

I'm in a weird place right now; I've always considered Cubase to be my main DAW, with Reason not far behind. And the last few updates to Cubase have been pretty substantive. But version 9 has really left me kinda cold, and more importantly, left me wishing I was working in Reason (I'm having to work in Cubase for the purpose of training videos). I mean for a start there just isn't much new. Okay there are zones now, which means I can arrange while I mix...erm, been doing that in Reason for years now!

I know there are a lot of things that people ask for around these parts, but we've got it good in a lot of ways. Cubase is up to version 9 and I still can't undo plugin tweaks. Automation is still a *nightmare*. If a plugin doesn't have its own mod sources, you can't modulate any parameters any other way than with automation points (which can't be moved between tracks, or reversed, or put into parts). There's a built in MIDI LFO but it's pretty much only good for hardware. It can't be routed internally.

And the sampler track (which tbh is what I paid the £80 upgrade price for) is BAD. NN-19, it's safe to say, is a far superior sampler. It has multiple zones, for a start. Cubase's Sampler Track only loads one sample at a time. And you literally can't do anything with it. It has audiowarp which is good on paper, but terrible in execution.

I'm telling you...if Reason got just TWO things;

A Media Bay equivalent
Some sort of VST wrapper with an EMI/Combinator style device to bridge CV to host automation and handle audio I/O

I would drop Cubase like a bad habit. It just isn't fun any more

Of course I could be saying this because I've spent the last few hours trying to make a tutorial video out of a new feature I hate and I'm cranky and I wanna sleep and just stop for Christmas now.

But yeah. If it's flexibility *and* VST I need, I'm thinking maybe Ableton is the way to go...

[Revise]

Every time there is a Cubase update, I look over the fence to see what it's like, but in the end I love Reason and Ableton for how fun they are to make music with. If the Props updated the sampler and sequencer I wouldn't even need Ableton anymore.

[QVprod]

It's interesting, while watching that video about the new sampler track. I noticed that the NNXT (and pretty much any other decent software sampler) could do most of what was being presented minus 1 or 2 things.

[yeahright31]

I've been cheating on Reason with Ableton, nothing to do with VST. Well maybe a little to do with Vst. Although I have way more sounds in Reason then I ever could have in other software, just feel I'm not getting along with Reasons mixer and no matter how cool my jams may turn out my mastering lacks and the templates and such Reason provide are limited and require tweaking I'm failing to like anything I try. Who knows maybe a tutorial on the mixer would help me some, but in the meantime I'm mastering better with Ableton and feel I know what i'm doing with a few mastering plug ins.

My favorite mastering plug-in would have to be BeatSkillz -Slam Dawg, it's a one window mastering plug-in.
Music Radar said don't put it on the Mastering channel, I disagree because with a bit of tweaking beats sounds phat.

http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/tech/ ... awg-630434


Beatskillz-Slam-dawg is on sale at the moment too.

http://www.pluginboutique.com/product/3 ... oC-bXw_wcB

[pjeudy]

I agree with what chimp_spanner said to a certain extent. I also cheated on REASON with Studio One. And I haven't been home to Reason Since..sure I pass by once and a while But S1 is perfect for my brain.
I had to put things on balance...

here's what I meaning:
Reason completely Kills Presonus Studio One when it comes to Instruments!
Studio One completely destroys Reason when it comes to Utility devices.

Reason Kills Presonus Studio One when it comes to 300 Undo History and Undo all parameters. Block Automation,patch saving,license sync!
Studio One is GOD to Reason when it comes to Features,workflow options!

Reason Native instruments have the best look and feel and who can forget CV
Studio One being a VST host has access to the cream of the crop FREE Instrument, Dynamic and special effects devices that would cost you Money in Reason Shop.

Now lest's flip it:
Reason sequencer/MIDI editor and edit window is horrible and outdated.
Studio One Sequencer/MIDI editor is feature packed,modern and flexible as hell.

Reason's Mixer looks pretty but lacks in flexibility big time.
Studio One Mixer doesn't look as pretty but should basically be a roll model for an updated REASON mixer, if Propeller head was ever in need of inspiration for Mixer feature.

I have notice a small handful but good devices/instruments for Reason these past Holiday months. And some cool sales.
I have notice an avalanche or Tsunami ... of new but good devices for none REASON DAW...Never mind the sales. They where incredible, with killer discounts (by the way Xpand2 is still on sale for $1 dollar !!) And recently SONiVOX Orchestral Companion Strings joined the club at $1 also
*UPDATE* ARTURIA just released a MiniFilter V for FREE.

REASON was built with devices in mind...meaning how they can best emulate them with the most precise hardware looking UI and functionality.
STUDIO ONE was built to be an advanced modern day feature packed works/music station.



There are many more smaller example to add, but the point is ...Both REASON and other DAW have things about them that one might praise over the other. At the end of the day it''s all about what works for you.
For me after using REASON exclusively for years...I find Studio One feature/workflow option extremely powerful.

I've been using S1 for ..about 4 months or so and just a couple of days ago I was floored about a feature that I discovered. This is my experience with the Software these past months.... Studio One allows me to work much faster then Reason (meaning the way the software allows you to access Menus, Archiving files and also in saving many different file types etc..) of course it will still take you time to composing your musical ideas, that's just the nature of making Music. But now, when I do open REASON I feel like I went back in time !? some things feel very Slow and clunky and outdated.

I still have my REASON license I have no plan to sale it. So If and when I'm in the Mood I'll fire up REASON. Or until Reason get's to a point that can feed cheating mind . But after experiencing Studio One, what I would prefer from a feature packed DAW is not what's in REASON today. Again it's all about preference not really a wrong and right choice but what ever works for the individual.

[Djstarski]

The way i look at this modern setup is , to compare the old hardware equipment to what we have available now . Think of a 24 track mixing console . one maybe two compressors , one EQ , one reverb and delay machine . Lets not forget Reel to Reel and/or Dat machine . One drum machine and a synthesizer and maybe a sound module . I won`t include the space you need to house all that stuff . Now let us come forward a bit to Reason unlimited track count , you can count the compressors , EQ`s , reverbs , delays , drum machines , you get my point . Most of you are comparing one software to another while i`m comparing old to new .

P.S Hope you produce a lot of tracks before your equipment broke down and you had money to repair them .

[gak]

Well, I don't know. Reason 9 left me cold.

Cubase isn't an option. Pretty sure I've heard most people simply complain (on a legitimate level) about cubey than anything else. I abandoned it years ago before I even went x64.

I'd rather have something I can make music in with deficiencies than something with so many things that don't work/crashing.

[chimp_spanner]

Don't get me wrong, Cubase is a capable DAW IMO. Of course I've been using it since version 2 back in the 90s so, gripes aside, I do have a fondness for it. I think I've just become spoilt by a certain way of working in Reason, and I now find it very hard to work outside of that because so much of what I want to do requires a freedom you just don't get in a lot of other software.

Of course I think Cubase still has the better MIDI and audio editor, by far. And for a certain kind of music, it's still my preferred environment. What are people's main complaints about Cubase, just out of interest? I know a lot of people using it who are happy with it. Hell, I'm happy with it...just not when it's like, 4am, a video is due in the morning and I'm not loving the new features I'm supposed to talk about for an hour haha.

[Bonkhead]

What are people's main complaints about Cubase, just out of interest? I know a lot of people using it who are happy with it.

I know a lot of happy cubase users too (as long as it isn't just right after an update that is, haha). A lot also went the studio one route last year(s).
I've been using cubase since the atari 1040st years (1990-2016) and stopped using it just months ago.
I switched my production to reason in 2008, holding onto cubase for my fabfilter mastering pluggins, but that was the only thing.
Now I do all my mastering in Reason too, although the fabfilter stuff is the best there is, I didn't want this split up setup and continue using cubase.
If i can get simular results (but with a massive faster workflow) why stick with Cbase ? That increased workflow to me is more important than the beautifull fabfilter layouts.

The main reason I used cubase was that it was the best hardware midi sequencer available at the time, and I really used it a lot, made a significant amount of releases (and money) so the love used to be there. But then the digital in-the-box revolution came for me around 2006-2007 and I struggled to transfer my hardware based mindset to the acountant styled vst enviroment, with all the menu's and screens. I got lost easily and I tried it for 2 years with lots of headache, because everybody else kept using it (and making good music with it too).

Reason had that hardware style way of working, even though I knew at the time (reason 4/5) that I could get better sound quality out of cubase and vst, I choose workflow to be more important. Then rack extensions and SSL came and the sound quality wasn't an issue anymore.
Now we have REQ131's, fets, synapse EQ's, band compressors and mid side routers (and darker backgrounds), i really love the songfile system and stability etc.

[rudiarii]

I ditched Cubase at version 6.5, some video in Reason would be awesome. Last month someone gave me their licence for Cubase Elements LE 8. I forgot how easy Cubase is to crash.

[chk071]

I've been using Cubase Elements, and then Cubase Artist, from, i think version 6 to version 8.5 now, but i'm using more and more Studio One 3 Pro now, which i got as a dirt cheap upgrade from my used Studio One 2 Producer (got it for $45 used i think), for 96 € i think. I really liked Cubase though, except for a few things, like the weird implementation of control surfaces (i consider neither the Generic Remote thing nor the VST and Track Controls as a good implementation), Studio One's Control Link is much easier to set up, and works for all plugins. I also like that it's all in one windows, opposed to Cubase's multi windows approach (although in version 9, they also have an option to display it all in one windows now), and the sidechaining is easier, and possible with all plugins, which allow sidechaining, too, not just VST3's, like in Cubase. There are also a couple of other few things, i think S1 does better, and, i also don't like to have to buy an upgrade once a year (ok, i don't HAVE to, but, you know how it is... the new features are tempting, and you will probably buy it anyway ).

Cubase is still a great DAW though. I don't think i could work in Reason alone. Especially, as it has become quite bloated, when i consider how slim and easy it once was. At least, when i owned version 7, it was quite confusing at first, and it always seemed to me that there were multiple ways to do the same thing, or, multiple devices FOR the same thing. I also dislike that, to have something that basic as a ping pong delay, you already have to go modular, and then still not have the same thing. And, IMO, also the stock device seriously need an overhaul. Mind that that is just my opinion, at least, i feel much more comfortable with the open VST system, opposed to have a format restricted to one DAW, with the restriction which comes with the SDK, and developers developing in it, and, the amount of (quality) VST's is really amazing. But, each to his like, i always followed the Reason development, but, to totally focus, and solely work with it, i think i would miss a lot that i have in my VST DAW.

[miscend]

Doesn't Cubase come with a lite version of Halion?

[chk071]

No, but it comes with a lite version of Halion Sonic.