Cubase 5 Upgrade Now Shipping

[braincell]

I guess the title says it all. I ordered mine .

[braincell]

I have been using Cubase 5. So far it is somewhat disappointing. I will have more to say when I test it further.

[katano]

[alfonso]

I have been using Cubase 5. So far it is somewhat disappointing. I will have more to say when I test it further.

Looking forward to it. I have SX3 now and I thought the upgrade could be convenient....I'm mostly interested in not loosing any functionality I have now and that all the new stuff work as advertised.

[valis]

At least the bits advertised with v4 should be mostly functional by now

[braincell]

The Convolution was one of the first things I went for. It doesn't sound that great as a reverb but I will try it with random imported wavs.

I'll write a long Cubase 5 review in a week or so.

[valis]

Unless they're really scrimping on the length of the impulse response that it uses, it should sound as good as the impulses you provide. Perhaps it just needs better impulses?

I know I prefer my IR plugins to have some in-plugin control over the impulse. Envelopes for eq or lopass & hipass, and volume envelopes help a TON, and aren't the same as using a similar process on the output at all. Algorithms to stretch the length of your IR sample is an added bonus but not as necessary imo unless you're using one of the 'experimental' libraries and have a response that has some sort of rhythmic effect (where you'd have to stretch the IR sample to get the rhythm into some semblance of time).

[braincell]

I have no idea why but I just compared it with their normal reverb and I can tell you that nobody is going to use their convolution for reverb. It's all hype. Maybe for special effects as we have mentioned earlier. I loved the sounds I got out of SIR but they always sounded muffled and this one is no better; maybe a little better. I will have to test it further but it does not shine as a reverb. If anyone has a high quality impulse you want me to try post it here.

Tonight I tested the RAID 0. It is amazing! I can not get any clicks on the QL Pianos no matter how hard I try. It also loads much faster (took forever before) and I can see from the hard drive light that it is working much less than before. I also wanted to see how many other instruments I could layer since Valis said that might be a problem. It is not. This is simply twice as fast no matter how many instruments you play. I am attaching my test from tonight with piano and 16 tracks of Vienna Symphonic Library. It's not intended to be great music. It's just a test of my computer's performance. I am really happy now as I can finally do whatever I want to do!!!

Note to self: back up RAID array within a year

Edit: I am not using the convolution reverb in this mp3. It sucks.

[Shroomz~>]

Braincell, try some of the reverb samples that were posted in the Scope development forum (2nd page) on the thread called 8 bus DSP hardware effects (or something like that). There were samples from the Bricasti M7 as well as some others from various classic/highly regarded reverbs.

[dawman]

It sounds clean with no pops....excellent, glad you got it to do what you wanted.
BTW, there are some good sounding IR's that appear to have some editability based on the Bricasti M7.

http://www.studiodevices.com/

[braincell]

Maybe I just like the sound of fake reverb more. Nothing is as good as Sonic Timeworks for me. I will probably route an effects send and return to my other computer.

[valis]

I also wanted to see how many other instruments I could layer since Valis said that might be a problem..

Just fyi I didn't say it would be a problem, I said that RAID 0 (and spanning in general) doesn't improve seeking in the way that RAID 1 does (& other modes do that do mirroring do). These are technical considerations and not "it sucks" or "it doesn't suck", but we covered all that already Glad you're happy with your progress...

As for Impulse Reverb, most IR responses ARE quite muddy, that's why it's important to have some control over the IR sample itself and not just the reverb's output. If you envelope the volume a bit (so that the 'trail' is customized to your liking) and then do the same for the EQ or hipass/lopass (so that the end of the IR sample is very bandwidth constricted) you'll notice it muddies the mix a LOT less, and you can still do additional processing of the reverb's output if you're using it as a send (ie, returning only 100% wet).

The way IR reverb works, your entire IR file is multiplied to each sample of your input (up to the limits of the processing buffer that the IR reverb uses). That means that if your IR file is 2 seconds long (and your reverb's buffer can accommodate that), each input sample generates 2 seconds of 'trail' from that single sample. Imagine these as overlapping sample by sample and you'll get an idea for why IR verb can be so 'muddy'. It's late so apologies if that explanation is as muddy as your experiences with the new cubase verb...

[braincell]

I will start posting reviews and examples soon.

Valis, I will fiddle with the parameters. If it doesn't sound great right away with the preset impulses, I am skeptical that this will improve it. I will post a comparison between the two reverbs. Today I plan to explore the new loop and beat features, vocal pitch correction, vst expression and improved tempo track.

[valis]

I have no idea what parameters they've given you to muck with in that IR verb, just making conversation really...but feel free to report back. There's nothing wrong with preferring the 'delay line' forms of reverb you have (Sonic TimeWorks etc), IR verb can certainly sound very 'clinical' even with good impulses. Where IR really is useful though (imo) is for small spaces.

I prefer Voxengo Pristine Space (the Light version is good enough for stereo uses) myself for control over IR applications, as it has multi-point envelopes for hipass, lopass and a 'notch' eq, as well as volume, stereo width & panning. SIR2 only has lopass & "amplitude" (volume) as an envelope, the EQ section is usable but not quite the same thing. Waves IR-1 and Altiverb's both only have volume envelopes, and dampening controls that fall somewhere between a simple eq (which Altiverb also has) and the envelope, as they seem to be progressive across the duration of the impulse, but not quite as surgical as Voxengo's envelopes still.