Used Cubase at school (7 - 8 yrs ago) what to get now?

[Cromulent]

I used to use Cubase at school (I believe it was Cubase VST 4 or 5) and I am now just starting to get a hankering to get back into music production, but I am stuck on which DAW to get.

I have looked at Cubase Studio 4, but I have heard some negative feedback about it regarding the Mac OS X version. I've also been looking at Logic Express / Pro 7 and really have no idea where I am nowadays when it comes to music software.

Basically I will be looking at making drum and bass style tracks mainly and would like to be able to expand my system later. Does Logic Express still support using plugins in the same way as Logic Pro does? Or does it limit you in some way?

Basically I liked working with Cubase VST on Windows 95 eek and am looking for something that follows the same kind of system or at least one that I would feel fairly comfortable with. I understand that a lot has changed since then but there must be some similarity at least in workflow to Cubase VST, if I remember correctly it was still one of the most widely used audio programs at the time.

 

[krimedog]

Ableton Live

Ableton Live is the best production tool I have used. I'm completely addicted to it. The audio is completely elastic and everything is in real-time. I use it on a PC but its great on the Intel Macs. www.ableton.com

Enjoy. Just make sure you have an ASIO compatible soundcard for low latency.

 

[zimv20]

I have looked at Cubase Studio 4, but I have heard some negative feedback about it regarding the Mac OS X version.

have you checked that out for yourself?

you should try out a few different DAWs and go with the one that agrees with your workflow. if that's Cubase, then make it work for you, even if you have to run it on a PC.

yeah, i said it.

 

[Cromulent]

have you checked that out for yourself?

you should try out a few different DAWs and go with the one that agrees with your workflow. if that's Cubase, then make it work for you, even if you have to run it on a PC.

yeah, i said it.

I guess your right. No, I have just based that on what I have heard, although I'll have to hunt round and see if there is a Cubase 4 demo anywhere.

I really did like VST, so I guess I'll be heading in that direction. Thanks for pointing out the obvious to me .

 

[quigleybc]

Ableton Live is where it's at for me these days.

At least for "creating and composing" tracks...nothing really is on the same level for Creating a track and being able to get an idea out of your brain and into a sequence.

it comes with a lot of nice VST instruments, and it works with Mac AU virtual instruments too. I like how it can trigger and play FLAC and Mp3 files.

I like Logic for recording, Peak for editing and I would like to get to know Digital Performer better.

but I guess on PC Cubase is a good one. There's also Sonar. Cakewalk.

 

[Cromulent]

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I'll be sticking to Mac OS X no matter what. I've spent too much on a Mac Pro and need to use other Mac only software (FCS) on a regular basis. So I guess the choice is between Live and Cubase 4. I'll have to do some research as I have never looked into Live before.

 

[JobsRules]

I was a huge Cubase nut - first used it on Atari and then briefly VST on a PC. When I had the funds to get a half-decent home-recording set-up together I wanted Cubase after feeling loyal to it. I learned that Mac OS X Cubase is much less optimised for Mac and I wouldn't get the same track counts so looked at Logic - bought Express then Pro.

I'm not the sort of user that uses every tiny feature, mostly using a DAW like any old multi-tracker and mixer but found I was up and running with Logic in no time at all.

 

[Cromulent]

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Hmm that's some useful advice. Logic was my next choice as it fits in with the rest of Apple's pro apps. Thanks, back to website research then I guess.

 

[bowzer]

Ableton Live 6 is frigging sweeeeetttt... i love how easy it is to edit wav files within the program, elastic audio is great. I used to always have to edit wav files in a seperate program when I used Reason 3, but since switching to ableton i haven't opened another audio program since.

It took me about two weeks to get the hang of ableton, but I haven't looked back since. I also like that you can use VST instruments in it, I felt really limited in reason before. Check out http://www.ableton.com/live6-showcase for some of it's features

 

[bwv1013]

I'm a Logic man myself. It's fairly easy to get started with but can keep you learning for a long time. I will say that I'm not super techie when it comes to digital audio, so I have no reference for comparing advanced features. For me it's an intuitive approach for recording audio/midi instruments that lets me focus on making music instead of being overwhelmed by the software.

 

[santangelo]

get both ableton and logic pro and re wire ableton to it so u have best of both worlds use ableton for audio and logic for midi

enjoy

 

[Cromulent]

Thanks for the advice. Getting both Logic Pro and Ableton Live is out of my price range I am afraid. I think I'll get Logic Pro as I'll be working with Midi mainly and it seems like the best bet of the bunch on that score.