Cakewalk VS Cubase?

[Graymalkin]

Okay, being new to computer recording, I confess I need all the help I can get! I'm seriously considering a Gateway computer (but even that isn't carved in stone; I'm also debating the merits/disadvantages of PC vs Mac!), and thought I'd found the perfect software after reading up on Cubase VST (Score, or VST 24). Then (sigh) I started checking out Cakewalk (Pro Audio Deluxe 9, or Pro Suite). Geez!!! Decisions, decisions!!
So, I thought I'd turn to the forum for some advice from those who may have had exerience with both, and could perhaps point out some of the advantages and disadvantages of both!
Now that I'm finally departing the analog world and going digital, I'm really eager to hear about your experiences! Thanks!

 

[rjt]

This is an often (and sometimes hotly) debated topic on this BBS. To read more, trying searching past posts. The "correct" answer is that it depends on you, how you work, what you like etc. I have used both and prefer Cakewalk (hence I am reading this forum). It implements midi much better and is much easier to use... however, many others have a different opinion. You may be better served by downloading the demos and trying them for a bit.

 

[John Sayers]

Gray - I think its about what you want the programme to do - If you are a midi freak I'd say go start with cubase - if you are into recording audio I'd say go cakewalk - they both do both but one does each better. in my opinion
Cheers
john

 

[rjt]

Hmmmm... see, hotly debated. I would argue the opposite. If you are interested in midi, go to Cakewalk. If you need an "All in one" you may prefer cubase. In any event, I would definitely download the demos and play around with them. Good luck! (for what it is worth, a lot of people seem to like n-tracks now as well as cubase and cakewalk)

 

[Emeric]

I thought it was the other way around. Isn't the big plus of Cakewalk it's MIDI features? I don't do MIDI so maybe I'm wrong.

I've used both Cakewalk and Cubase. I tryed Cakewalk for about a month but could never get it to work properly, record for 3 seconds, stop. Great for real short songs. Not to slam Cakewalk. I know it works great for some people, but it just didn't work well with my hardware configuration. Does Calkwalk 9.0 have ASIO support yet? That was a big reason for me switching to Cubase, way lower latency (47mS) than Cakewalk (200mS +).

But as everyone else has said, they both have there + and -'s, Cubase is far from perfect and has it's own share of bugs.

Download the demo's - then decide.