Silly cubase question

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jeffgreenlee42

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Hi, I'm just starting with Cubase LE... Already feeling the pinch. Forgive this potentially lame newbie question:

So I'm a little confused by something. So you really can't patch the audio output of a MIDI VST (or combination thereof) into an Audio track internally in Cubase? Is that just a limitation of Cubase LE? or cubase in general?

If that is so... Wow! they really don't give you much. 2 VST instruments and all you have left are audio or external sound sources? am I missing something? Guess i HAVE to upgrade...
 
Why do you want to patch it to an audio track? The MIDI track should already be routed the VST instrument, whose channel can do everything you can do to an audio track. Or you can send the output form the VST instrument channel, and other tracks, to a group track. If you want to make it into an audio file, just do a mixdown.

You can download more VST instruments for free (and legally) from www.kvraudio.com
 
Years ago I worked with good ol Analog 1/4 inch tape on 8 and 16 tracks... it was routine to bounce tracks when you needed more.. Now I got all these MIDI tracks but I have hardly anything yet to use on them! Even my keyboard is just a MIDI controller.

The reason I want to bounce it onto an Audio track is because they only give you 2 VST instrument "slots"! Ok fine.. So I put down a drum track.... and then I put down a bass track .... and .... then...... what? That's 2 midi channels.... and That's IT???? the software comes with simple little drum vst (grand total of 30 general MIDI quality sounds) ? and a Bass emulator. No keysboard sounds, no pads, nothing. They give you nothing else in LE.

Even if you wanted to put down more tracks using those two instruments You would need more VST slots to do them all at the same time... right? Maybe bouncing Midi to Audio is not the best thing to do... at least it opens up the ability to add another VST!

At least thats the way Cubase LE works... Is it any wonder they stopped making it? Guess I was hoping for a LITTLE more to play with! Not exactly mind blowing for a guy just starting out. (I'm watching Ebay for a deal on Cubaes IV studio.)
 
Also, I understand you can use those VST's multiple times but ... how many basses do I need? And what if I want to get something melodic in an upper register? I have a banjo and a voice.. ... heh... :) Thats it till I get some more more software.
 
Ahh yeah, I get you now... Yup, you either have to dump vst's to an audio track or upgrade. It's been so long since I've seen LE, didn't remember the limitations. They give you just enough to get your feet wet and wanting more so you'll buy the upgrade.

To dump VST's to audio, use the mixdown function and save them to Pool and as another Track. Be sure to Solo just the VST Midi tracks if you have other tracks recorded. Once in they are in audio, you can go back and reassign the VST slots to other VST instruments.

Here's a comparison page I found.

http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/cubase/cubase.html

It's my understanding that the upgraded versions have a better audio engine than LE. You might find that reason in itself to upgrade.

Hope this helps....
Peace,
 
Isn't Cubase LE the version that comes free with many different soundcards and such? If so, thats why it is so limited. Just a limited demo basically to get you familiar with the Cubase environment. Moving to Cubase studio 4 would be leaps and bounds better than LE in that case. For most people, the additional features of moving all the way to the full version are overkill.
 
Ok.. They got me!

Sheepish grin! ;p I went on to Ebay and gritted my teeth and bought the bullet. I was originally going to try to get Cubase Studio... but after looking on line for pricing... I found that I might as well just go for the whole enchilada! Its a curios thing! They have "upgrades" to studio but they don't mention Cubase LE as a legitimate upgrade platform. But I found a "Crossgrade" to the Full cubase 4 that did explicitly mention Cubase LE as a valid upgrade. (apparently until the end of July 2008) ... and that ended up costing about as much as a straight purchase of Studio!

And Your right chilli! I was playing around the other night with importing random audio tracks off of my PC and I noticed some issues. Clicks and pops were noticable ... And thats using the Firewire ASIO... Even bumping up the latency didn't make a difference. Also, sometimes the tracks seemed a little warped... I swear the tempo seemed a tad faster and the vocal sounded like the track was slightly higher pitched. I've got a pretty beefy machine.. 3 gigs ram ... Intel Quad Core - so I know it shouldn't be straining. I read somewhere today that you can fix that by upping the buffer sizes in the (windows) devices panel. so Maybe I'll check that out.


So yes.... sound engine.. ...... long story short - thanks guys! I'm waiting for for the real thing to arrive in the mail.
 
Cool. Have fun with it.

Be sure to check the multi-processor box when you're up and running.

Device menu -> Device Setup -> VST Audio System -> make sure "Multi Processing" box is checked.

Peace,
 
Ah nuts

Ok.. my brain cells are dated.. maybe it was 1/2 inch then? It was way back in College..Western Washington University ... in the 80's .. It was the college Stuidio with a 16 track Teac I believe. And then there was also an Electronic Music studio... they had An ARP 2600 but my favorite was an old EMU Modular Synthesizer - It looked impressive! with lots of patch cables and some amazing sounds .. and often times I'd find a really great sound and then I'd never seem to be able to reproduce it a second time! Anyway they had a big reel to reel 8 trak there. :confused:
 
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