Any Ex-Cubase Users? Your Stories Please...

[Joel Kanning]

Hey there everyone,

I am currently running a Tascam US-428 w/ Cubase 5.0 and am seriously considering taking the plunge into a Digi 002 system - for all of the obvious reasons.

My biggest concern is learing a new program. I have been running Cubase in some form or another for about 5 years now, and although I very comfortable with it at the moment (limitations/bugs/irritations included) I have reached the point where I want a professional control surface/software package that work seamlessly together, and sound great - and the 002 looks like it just may fit the bill.

For those of you who have crossed over from Cubase-land (even those who are still Cubasers) - What is the transition like over to ProTools? Did you find it hard/frustrating/etc? Any more hard/frustrating than Cubase? Or just different?

I have messed around with quite a few programs - Cubase SX, Nuendo, Logic - even PT Free on my old system - but always went back to Cubase 5.0 because I was so comfortable with it. The Tascam US-428 sure made mixing a lot more fun, but the integration w/ Cubase isn't as tight as I would have hoped, non-motorized faders can be quite inconvenient on a large mix, and quite frankly, the thing just feels/looks like a toy.

75% of the work I do is with MIDI, and I'm using Reason for all of that, and the other 25% is recorded (acoustic/electric guitar, vocals, etc...) I know that Rewire 2 compatibility is coming later on in the year for PT - very cool indeed, I have been messing around with SampleTank and am really enjoying the results - a great-sounding module, although the term "Sample" in the name is quite deceiving.

What I'm really looking for are your experiences (good or bad) with moving over to PT from Cubase (or any other program, for that matter) - what are the strengths/weaknesses of PT in your opinion, and are you happy that you made the jump?

Thanks in advance to all who reply here, I am anxious to hear your stories. Speaking of stories, I seem to have written quite a novel of my own! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Joel Kanning

(My current system: P4 1.6Ghz, 512MB, WinXP Pro, 20GB Maxtor system drive, Maxtor 60GB 7200rpm audio drive)

[timmygrimm]

I stopped working with cubase around the time 4.0 came out, so this probably isn't fair but....

I hated cubase, I remember just to record a track I had to enable an input, enable a track, pick a folder for the audio file to go to, name the track and then finally I could record. The program was just a big headache. I didn't use much midi, but I found even the simplest things pretty difficult. My audio files would wind up mixed up all over the place... NIGHTMARE!

Pro tools is so easy to use, it's unbelieveable Simple and effective. Plus you know it'll be around in some form in ten years or so.

[Shan]

I used Cubase up to 3.5 and I will NEVER go back. ProTools was very easy to grasp.

Shane

[Joel Kanning]

So far all sounds encouraging. I just want to be ablsolutely sure that I'm making the right decision here. Don't get me wrong, Cubase has served me well over the years, and I've made some great sounding records with it, but I really get the feeling that PT is the yardstick that most audio software is trying to measure up to.

I remember just to record a track I had to enable an input, enable a track, pick a folder for the audio file to go to, name the track and then finally I could record. The program was just a big headache. I didn't use much midi, but I found even the simplest things pretty difficult. My audio files would wind up mixed up all over the place... NIGHTMARE!

Pro tools is so easy to use, it's unbelieveable Simple and effective.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Yeah, this is one of my big beefs with Cubase as well. There are so many steps just to record an audio track. Before I discovered Reason I was recording tons of audio tracks from my outboard MIDI gear, and I would get so frustrated with how painful the process was. At least now all the Reason tracks are Rewired into the mixer, which is quite handy. I'm sure PT users will be quite pleased when Rewire is supported.

How about MIDI? I know that MIDI was an after-thought in PT, but how well is it implemented? I'm not a MIDI "Power User" by any means, but it does play a major role in how I write.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Joel Kanning

[timmygrimm]

Midi is really simple to do in PT. Quantization and editing are quite easy. I hear MIDI is not quite as sophisticated as cubase, but I've personally never noticed anything missing.

[Jayman#9]

Originally posted by timmygrimm:
Midi is really simple to do in PT. Quantization and editing are quite easy. I hear MIDI is not quite as sophisticated as cubase, but I've personally never noticed anything missing.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I totally agree! I actually prefer Protools midi! I love the "view midi as regions" function. The advantages that cubase and other midi sequencers have over PT are totally useless to me. Like midi plugins and scoring. As far as midi tracking and editing goes, it's all there for me.

[Stone Knife]

It was Cubase's cheap cousin, Cubasis, that got me over here to PT in the first place.

After Software Audio Workshop decided to abandon all their software users and go with a Turnkey system, I started shopping-- then tried Cubasis with an Echo soundcard. Gawd, the latency, the dark looking interface... it was awful.

It DID sound good, but it would take forever for changes made in the mix window to occur.

I tried the PTFree for awhile, which was a POS on my machine, but during that time I started liking the PT interface so checked it out at GC. Wound up with a 001 Factory. For the money it's unbeatable.

You might want to get the printed manual, available here at the Digi 'site. The PDF is a bit cumbersome for my tastes.

[froyo]

Hello. Joel, here is another option. Use both! With ASIO and Rewire2 coming, why not use both. You can use Cubase for MIDI, Pro Tools for audio. Also, Cubase has some plug ins not available for Pro Tools. So, in my opinion, use both.

[Lalaman]

I don´t know why it is that way, but I have to admit that in PT it needs some efforts to make the audio as airy as it is recorded in cubase.

But for the rest of the story ... Cubase made me hate it and PT made me love it. And there seems to be no audo program that easy to learn like PT.

Lalaman

[anthrock]

I have been using Cubase VST & recently SX for the past 4 years. Just this past week, I have sold both on ebay. I've been using PTLE for about a year now. I do very little in MIDI with the exception of drum tracks and some airy effects. The one place that Cubase has an edge is with the drum editor -IMO. The defining moment came 2 weeks ago when I was using SX to record a single guitar track through Amplitube. The first time I did this, it locked my system. I restarted ... same results. I have used many rtas plug-ins including Amplitube in PT and have never had an issue unless I relentlessly pushed beyond realistic system limitations. Although this is certainly not a scientific evaluation of system performance and resources, it did make my mind up for me. Once Digi gets the rtas sampling/drum/click thing better integrated into PTLE, it'll be a slam dunk descision. Oh yea, 32 bit true tape would be nice.