Computer software is designed to encourage experimentation, and as software goes, cubase isn't that difficult to pick up, hence why it's popular in schools. However - for those people scared of changing things, pushing things they don't understand, then computers are a devil machine. Kids have no fear of computers, so they learn by fiddling with them. Other people need to be shown, others like following tutorials - but the learning curve if you learn like this is likely to get the computer thrown out of the window. My friend is a concert pianist and finds Cubase simply impossible. If you're like him, then frankly scrap the idea of using computers to make music, because it will drive you mad. Once you have Cubase set up, then you click record, plays something and it's done. Other people just can't do it. Some try to write down every step so they can follow it next time, but that usually fails when one small parameter gets missed or set unusually. The important thing is to understand what the buttons do so they work for you. So when you play the keyboard and nothing happens - is it something very annoying and technical, like windows didn't load a driver (so it's probably going to be shut down and start again) or that the channel you are trying to record on is set to record audio, not midi, or something really daft like a speaker turn off button is lit - or even worse, the volume is down on the amp. To do this you need to fiddle with things and experiment - you need to try the little icons to see what happens. You need to notice if little things light up when you play the keys, and then bit by bit you will start to recognise what is happening. As computers get cleverer, tracks in Cubase come in on one channel, get processed then cubase can stick them out on another. Common faults are not really even faults - Cubase sends your music out on channel 3 and 4, but you don't have those connected. Cubase has no idea. These set up functions can often be hidden, and bringing in a song from an old version of the software often results in no sound. You cannot write any of this down - YOU must discover how it works on your computer, which is different to everyone else's. If people can't cope with this, then they get stressed. This is why people still record on the sequencers built into keyboards - because it's the same each time. Computers are never like this. If you looked at my Cubase screen, you'd be lost, because things will be in different places, different colours, even different labels - but the basics will still be the same. You need to learn your own system. You will be either able to do it or not. If you can't then move on. Trying to get a non-computer brain around a computer is heartbreak time. Nothing to do with intelligence whatsoever. My wife struggles with really basic computer stuff, yet I just stayed with an old lady who has a computer and an iPad and is very confident. She knows nothing of what goes on inside - she just tries things. Other people are simply scared to try, in case they break it, or are afraid of bugaboos - what exactly are these? Sounds like something you scare kids with?
