Cakewalk vs. Cubase - Please, no holy war!

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mumeh

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I am a neophyte who needs some balanced advice on the differences between Cubase VST 5.0 and Cakewalk Pro Studio 9.0. I have more or less settled on these two products. This will be for a VERY small home studio, and I intend to use both MIDI and wave editing, and will live in the dance/hiphop arena. Still, I would like to become a sophisticated user and intend to thoroughly master whichever product I buy. I have an engineering background, so complexity is not much of an issue, but usability is. My beginner gear - Yamaha SY77, Roland/Boss DR660, EMU ESI 2000, etc. (I know, I know! Rookie stuff. but cheap used starter setup). What I know: Cubase - less stable, more goodies. Cakewalk - Very stable, less advanced features. Could someone help me find my way with a SOMEWHAT objective comparison? Thanx in advance.

MU
 
The first thing to consider is that Pro Audio 9 is about to be replaced by SONAR in the very impediate future (they don't even sell PA9 on the Cakewalk website anymore). SONAR will be more expensive than PA9 off the top of my head I want to say somewhere around $500.
I just put in my order to upgrade my PA9 to SONAR and it sounds like it is going to be a fantastic product. Check out SONAR and if you are interested try doing what one of my friends did: first get a NEW copy of Cakewalk PA9 or PA9 Deluxe off Ebay, register it and then order the SONAR upgrade. The programs are going for around $200-$250 and the uprgade is $99 going from the Deluxe version and I think $129 from the standard version. Either way you save a buttload.
I have no experience with Cubase so I cant answer your question, but I just wanted to let you know about SONAR and let the rest of the board know about this great way to save money.

Carter
 
Well Mumeh, my experience was this.

Like you, I have an engineering background and wanted to mix MIDI with Guitar (acoustic and electric) together with drum loops and vocals.

I downloaded/obtained demo Cubase and Guitar tracks. I could get going immediately with GT but needed a degree in nuclear physics to start with Cubase. And I just ain't got the time. Now the Guy who helps Saturdays in my local music store is learning Cubase at College (thats an English College, not a US University) where he studies sound engineering. And he confirms the same thing, Cubase is very versatile but relatively unstable compared to CW but miles away in the difficulty league. I am well impressed with the results I have got from CW so far and I will upgrade (I only have the basic CW8). Mr Simcoe also has some good advice there for you to consider.

So you pays your money and takes your pick.....

Best of luck!
 
It is strictly a matter of taste.... I have used both and am quite devoted to Cake (I only used ubase briefly and really disliked it). However, a LOT of it has to do with how you work, what you like and what you are used to. It pays to think carefully in the beginning because what you are used to does make a big difference in what you like (hmmmmm, I wonder if it ultimately shapes the way you work). Anyway, download the demos. Both products do a lot... and SONAR is coming for the Cake fans. They both take getting used to and both crash a lot when you get pretty complex set-ups going!
 
I've played with both but let me say - I respect Steinberg a lot cos they started it all. They developed the scrolling tracks system we are used to today whern they bought out the original cubase on Atari. At the same time emagic had Notator which was weird to say the least.

Since then everyone has copied the cubase layout including emagic with logic.

I have found that the midi system in cubase is still superior to cakewalk operationwise, the options like keep note, delete note etc in the editor give it much more versatility.

On the other hand I have found the audio engine in Cakewalk to be the better of the two, the right click options and driver systems available in cakewalk really are more user friendly plus I have found cakewalk to be more stable on the windows platform than the others that have come over from the Mac with the possible exception of Nuendo.

So it boils down to your needs. I am looking forward to see the midi functions on Sonar to see if there are improvements there.

cheers
John
 
John,

I thought Nuendo was a post production multimedia tool for mastering?

I'd love to know more.

Rusty K
 
yea - that sonar looks good - but what's up with these deluxe versions? i got the cakewalk pro audio 9 deluxe and barely use any of the extras it came with. i kinda felt ripped off - it's just a bunch of loops and crap - in the musician toolbox.

what do u all think?
 
I heartily agree, the deluxe version of PA9 is a rip off. Nothing on the extra CD is worth a damn, I guess it could make a great drink coaster though.
 
The Deluxe even makes a poor coaster, it is too
flimsy. The deluxe Sonar looks pretty cool, but
I think Cakewalk should refund money to the folks
who bought Pro 9 deluxe, it is the biggest ripoff
of all time.
 
try using it as a frisbee then.

I agree, Sonar XL looks cool but it will be interesting to see if it is really $260 better than Sonar
 
Well, one advantage of the delux is that it is cheaper to upgrade to the upgraded Sonar!!

I do want to disagree with John a bit, althought I have read him many times and do respect his opinion. In terms of PC (Cubase was originally a Mac program)... Cakewalk was the big PC sequencer for many years. At least in the early days, Cubase PC was trying to catch up to Cubase Mac. Also, several companies I have contacted (e.g., soundquest and others), reported that the midi stream in Cakewalk was better and easier to work with. I have not done programing etc. so I am just passing on their opinion. In any event, compared to what was available-even 2-3 years ago- both are terrific.
 
cool - i thought i was crazy or something! i want my money back CAKEWALK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Just to add my two cents, I use CW Pro 9 on a PC and the singer in my band uses Cubase on a Mac. Both of us use the programs exclusively for audio rather than MIDI. While I have no real hands-on with Cubase I have watched him at work. I think it is a real case of apples and oranges, both programs seem to offer similar features and have similar performance. While I have seen Cubase crash it seems to be a rare event. I have only had Cakewalk yak maybe 3 times in the last year, so I have no complaints about it either.

Because Cubase runs on both PCs and Macs, I would say buy it if you live/work in an enviornment with both. Otherwise I am happy with Cakewalk, but you could flip a coin....
 
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