Cubase SL3

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astoebe

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Hey, I am going to upgrade from my very cheap "Powertracks Pro Audio" recording software to a better program. I was wondering how you all felt about your Cubase software. Do you think it performs better than Pro Tools, Cakewalk, etc. Someone told me I should get cubase which is why I'm asking. Also, can I just buy SL3.....it is significantly cheaper than SX3 and doesn't look like it's missing anything I'll need terribly. Do you think that I would need SX3 or is SL3 ok? Lastly, I record mostly real instruments, so I need to know usefulness for this not for midi (although I may get a yamaha mu100 for keyboard/string sounds).....I currently am running my condensers/sm57/sm58 through a m-audio mobile pre for my recording. Thanks for any help you can give!

Andrew
 
I just switched from SL3 to SX3. There are a few differences, but not many. I am pretty much a "power" user and run SX3 about 60 hours or more a week. I also switched so that I could make use of the added outboard insert feature, which most people do not use. SL3 is a very complete, powerful and fairly priced program. As to which is "better", that is very subjective. In my opinion Pro Tools LE is a fairly crippled program, and many times something else will better suit an end user. Pro Tools HD is a completely different story (and price). As far as Sonar goes, it too is a very powerful application. I prefer the look and feel of Cubase, but i am also very well versed and experienced in Steinberg applications. If however you are already used to Cakewalk applications, than Sonar may be a better way to go. At least an easier way.

On a side note, my Cubase SL3 is going up for sale. I did not purchase an upgrade, but rather I bought a new unregistered version of SX3 for the same price as the upgrade from a friend.
 
Boy Xstatic you hit that right on the nose...I got rid of my Digi002r for some of the same reasons mentioned above. I like SL3 much better.... Astoebe you better jump on that copt that Xstatic has for sale :)
 
astoebe.
I dont want to incur the wrath of cubase users, and i am a devoted
fan of powertracks as a lot of people on this bbs know.
And for those cubase users reading this ..
i AGREE SL is nice as is nuendo, sonar, samp, saw and many other packages.
But i think , if cubase,sonar,samp etc users were HONEST - they would
agree with the following observations....
If you dont know how to engineer songs properly and write good songs.
Then no software will help you.
A recent traktion ad in the music mags about how easy traktion is to use..
makes a similar point. The software is but one small part.
There are many others.
Engineering songs properly can take years and years of recording to build skills in things like mic positioning, eq usage, fx usage etc.
nothing to do with software.
Ive been doing it 20 years ....and still have tons to learn.
A top studio engineer once told me ...forget the tools.
If you cant do it with a 57 and a condenser (ie...a good song) then you need to spend a lot of time working for and studying under a senior recording engineer with yrs of experience.
As well as addressing other issues like your mic/mixer/mic pre/sound card convertor quality.
As well as the quality of your recording room.
For example - if you use a cheap sound card the tracks will still be noisy whatever software you use.
I make the above points purely because ive seen newbies buy all the leading software, (powertracks included) and build a huge software audio collection and still be frustrated and searching for that magic gizmo that they believe will do it for them. when - in fact they should have been focusing on learning audio engineer skills instead of getting more tools. As ive been told many times by very experienced snr folks in the music industry at AES shows i used to attend.
ie....no magic gizmo exists.
No magic mic pre, no magic mic, no magic plug in ,etc etc that will pluck a magic hit out of the air.
The one thing i learnt early on years ago is doing songs is darn hard work, and there are no magic short cuts.
a magic song has more to do with how you assemble the different instruments, your choices of how you engineer recording
those instruments etc. And i'm STILL LEARNING.
I hope many people agree with me whove been around the recording block a few times like i have.
so my question is - given the foregoing - what are your current problems astoebe ?
just curious.
 
Hey, no problems really. I am very happy with the sound I have been able to produce on my songs.....maybe i can post one here or something and see what you think. I am definitely a newbie, so I'm sure it's not top notch or anything. My tracks are relatively noise free. I use a cheap MXL 990 for my vocal and acoustic and I really think I get a good sound after the EQ. The powertracks active EQ really works well I think. My one complaint is that I have to record the drums through a mixer into one track, kinda hard to EQ and mix, but that's not a software issue. One thing I hope to get in a new software is some better midi sounds. The midi sounds in powertracks are pretty cheesy i'd say....but admitted, I do have a ton to learn about midi. I really want to get a more "professional" program so that I can learn how to use something like cubase or cakewalk. It's not that I'm unhappy with powertracks, I would just like to move on to the next bigger, better thing. That being said, I know that I have a ton to learn.......who did you learn from? I don't really know anyone that does recording/sound engineering, so I am left to discover things by myself. Ummmm.......I think that answers your question, thanks for your thoughts, any more?
 
hey manning1, one more thing.....if you don't have time/don't want to do this, don't worry about it but if i send you a song idea I am working on, could you criticize the music/sound part of it, tell me what i'm doing right and what i'm doing wrong? don't worry about if you don't want to do this, i just thought i'd ask. thanks!
 
astoebe.
if your midi sounds are cheesy they will sound as cheesy in any other program. midi sound quality has nothing to do with software.
are you using an on board sound card in the pc ?
its purely a function of your sound card midi sound quality.
not software.
if you want great midi sounds try some expensive external midi modules.
i think to be fair to cubase users this should be carried on in the pg off topic forum. i'll see you there if you wish.
ps...to do drums you need a multiple input sound card to record to seperate tracks.
 
astoebe.
well - lets use the recording techniques forum on this bbs if you wish.
i'm going to post there now.
look for the post TO ASTOEBE.peace.
 
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