Guitar Forums

As some know I am quite new to the recording game.

With my audio interface I got a version of Cubase LE (light edition). I am wondering what features I am missing out on here and at what point I should consider an upgrade.

I see there is also what appears to be an intermediate version called Studio - does anyone know what the main differences are?

Who here uses Cubase and how do you find it overall?

i use SX3 ... people upgrade for the sake of it
and get extra features which are about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike

start with SX3 cub4 or cub5 and stick with it dont try to be cool and upgrade everytime another version comes out..but if you must always go for the full version because if you go for the studio versions or less
they will definately have features missing that you got use to in earlier versions

if you use the ' full version' then 'i wonder what i am missing out on' does not become an issue

ive always used cubase since it started (pro24 on the atari)its as good as any other top end sequencer
..ive tried them all inc pro tools..they've all got their pros and cons .. so if you're using cubase stick with it

higher versions will always have more features, thats pretty obvious..or is it ..because sometimes earlier features are discarded ,so something you really got used to disappears .this is one of the reasons i am ( more than )happy to stick with SX3..theres nothing it cant do for me ( except write me a number 1)
and a few other things i dare'nt print

Hopefully your number one is just around the corner!

So I assume from this then that really LE will be limiting for me at some point. I am yet to find out exactly what I cannot do with LE.

I assume that when the time does come to upgrade it would not be wise to go for the studio version and I should go for the complete package and stick with it?

Cheers

in a nut shell ..yes
LE will be limiting only to the point of ' extras ' so if you get stuck in and learn LE it will be a real good stepping stone when you do upgrade to the full versions ( you'll know when that time arrives )..so carry on with LE ... cubase is a brilliant tool
for any musician
get yourself a cheap midi keyboard ( loads on the market )so you can use midi to input your drums basses and vsti

Great advice thanks. I was looking for a midi keyboard. I do have a keyboard which I use but not for midi. It would be too big to sit in front of my computer.

Maybe I will eventually not need this keyboard again as Ihave been hearding some remarkable sounds coming from VSTs these days.

in the mean time if its got midi use it to to get your head round midi....you only need ( at this point ) midi out

Ok what would you suggest I could try to get started? What do you primarily use midi for? I have never used it before!

assuming you have a midi port and can input midi data
and using 'help' to sort each step

start a new project in cubase --> create a midi track

go to -->menu-->devices-->vst instruments...and load a drum machine( hope LE has one)

go back to the project window and in the inspector make the output to that instrument

you should now be able to here the drum machine by hitting certain notes on the keyboard

if you press record cubase will record this data ..this is a very basic guide see help and other
documentation to get more detail

Within my Cubase I do not have the VST instruments section here. I have to load an instrument track I believe.

I do not believe that Cubase LE has a drum machine but I did invest in EZdrummer so I could see how I go with this!

Cheers for the advice.

cubase LE has the the drum vsti(LM-7) and the bass(vb-1)but if you've got EZdrummer that would be a better option
see http://www.steinbergusers.com/cubase/le_plugin.php

Thanks for this - I guess it is to the manuall for me to find out how to get these things loaded to give them a go!

Cheers