Cubase 5 My Review(s)

[Shroomz~>]

I'm actually surprised that it's taken Steinberg so long to properly add an all singing & dancing ReCycle type technology into Cubase. They've had beat slicing in there for quite a few years, but only now seem to be getting their act together with it in proper conjunction with a sample based drum machine. ReCycle was first introduced & widely used way over a decade ago, certainly leading the field in beat slicing at the time, so it's a mystery to me why it's taken them so long to get it right in that area (assuming that they've now got it right).

[valis]

Probably because there were numerous 3rd VSTi plugins that gave .rex & .rx2 manipulation abilities, and their sequencer being the 'most compatible' with their own VST technology(ies). Plus the 'hitpoint' slicing in their track view (as of SX3? 2?)

Sonar has had several different methods of doing what it seems they've added now (including a loop browser). Some were 'external' applications from Cakewalk that had additional internal support for opening 'directly in' Sonar (Kinetic 1&2), others were plugins in their own right. Cakewalk's application is actually relatively powerful for electronic music production, aside from the 'gapping' issues and formerly poor ASIO support. They also have had the best native windows 'multiprocessor/multicore' support (until Reaper hit the scene that is).

Ableton Live 7 brought quite a few methods of doing slicing 'recycle style' that were based around its own file-detection format, going beyond its track-based format (simpler & sampler drag&drop actions for exporting midi to a track).

Logic's 'recycle' support is relatively poor these days, needing an update along with its aging EXS-24 sampler. Pro Tools has made inroads, both with its plugins & new sampler and with track-based loop & multitrack drum editing. Though I couldn't tell you exactly what from experience (having only read reviews on PT 7 & 8's newer plugins and 8's improved 'beat detector' functionality). No idea where MOTU's flagship stands in this regards either.

[braincell]

They didn't put enough electronic music loops in there, meaning analog synth loops.

I noticed a new driver which gives me 20 ms latency over my motherboard's s/pdif. I'm not sure if Steinberg installed it or if it is a part of Vista but I don't remember seeing it before.

[Zer]

Looks like elastic audio easy from the music maker.

[Zer]

well they all look the same as the original melodyne But as far as I'm concerned melodyne has the best results.

[braincell]

The pitch shifting and time stretching is much better in Cubase 5 than it used to be though.

[braincell]

Here is something they didn't mention in the Cubase 5 hype. The editing of midi sustain is much easier now in the Key Editor. This always drove me crazy before. Now there is one node at the top for sustain on and one at the bottom for sustain off and you drag them.

I like that you can see the tempo track in the Project Window but you can not cut the track with the scissors like all the other parts. Instead, you have to insert nodes in places you want to move, copy, delete along the tempo track.

[braincell]

Currently VST Expression isn't totally compatible with Vienna Symphonic Library but in an email VSL told me they are working with Steinberg to correct this.

I am still getting the message "A fatal error has occurred" once in a while but then I continue working and nothing bad happens.

Sometimes a VSTi stops sounding and I have to mute and unmute it to get it to sound again.

[braincell]

Those cards are in the old computer and I don't know if XTC mode worked in that computer plus there is no more room for another Cubase. I need to keep it as it is for now for when I want to use Scope; which reminds me I have another dongle I can Cubase 4 DRM on so mmm this could be used for networking.

It's too bad they didn't release a 64 bit patch for Scope in time. Some people think the Scope can not be patched but that is a lie because Ralf patched the Cubase ASIO bug. The needs of loyal long time users are no longer a consideration for SC apparently.

[alfonso]

Does anyone know if the SC patch for ASIO with Cubase 4.1 is also needed for Cubase 5?

[braincell]

I will play with "Loopmash". It might just be hype. It didn't seem too impressive in the video.

[braincell]

I just used it and it is not a toy. It is fun if you are a loop person. You will find it under VSTi/synths/Loopmash.

Load in one of the presets. It will match the tempo of your sequence but obviously for best results you want one that is as close as possible so the tempo is listed next to the loop. Next set the automation to write and go nuts with the sliders!

The loops are good (and loud!) but I wish it came with more exotic and original loops. I think it is better to make your own.

It seems to only work with audio and not midi loops.

Any word for loopmash ? Is it a toy or something serious ?

[braincell]

With UAD or with all cards?