STEINBERG Cubase SL (Windows)

Rating:
Summary: Superb Workhorse
Review: When I decided to add digital and MIDI recording facilities to my wired together mish-mash of electronic and acoustic instruments, it was a daunting task. Other than an old MIDI Express and a Mackie mixer, most of what I owned was hopelessly prehistoric. Having decided to go about it in an organized fashion, I purchased a new computer (a Mac) and a fairly sophisticated 12-track analog to digital recorder (MOTU). Now it was time for the scary part. With my few remaining dollars a set about selecting the right software. All my research and trials led me to believe that Cubase was the package that provided what I wanted the way I wanted to use it. The availability of the (relatively) inexpensive SL version decided me, and I took the plunge.

Much to my surprise and delight, I turned out to be right.

Cubase is a fully featured package - including both audio and midi recording and playback facilities. In addition, it provides a mixer, timeline editor, and the ability to manage MIDI automation as well. It accepts the line of VST plug-in and virtual instrument add-ons that have made it a popular standard in the industry. As I discovered, it can interface directly with a host of peripheral equipment and instruments. My experience was that I hardly had to tell it that the equipment was there - it found everything and interfaced seamlessly.

The test of a package as rich and complex as this is what happens when the user undertakes that first project. After a minimal amount of fiddling I decided to start out by transferring some of my old tapes to CD. Basically a simple process, but not one that is trivial. I set up a marker track and a stereo pair of input tracks and ran in the digital signal from the A-D - keeping levels to where I was getting the whole dynamic range while sampling at 48K. Going out I used UV-22 dithering, a tube distortion simulator, some dynamic processing, and a touch of reverb - all provided with the software. The results were excellent.

To be honest, I later found that things work best if you maximize your buffers and your system memory. This wasn't a surprise but keep in mind that your disk drive speed is a critical factor, and that the more memory you have, the less often you need to write things out.

These are the primary differences between Cubase SL and the SX version:

1) In the SX version you can use the 'Truetape' technology uses the 32-bit float recording facility processes the sound a bit to emulate the performance of a professional analog tape recorder. A slightly warmer sound and digital normally produces. this can be emulated by post-processing as well, but it lacks the quality of high sampling.
2) Both a Spectrum Analyzer and a Statistical Reporter are provided to help in project management and sound analysis.
3) Cubase SX has good facilities for score layout and printing. This can be important for a midi-based composer. Less so for audio work.
4) Cubase SL cannot import CD tracks, nor can it output to MP3 files.
5) Cubase SL has only one automation mode, SX has 3.
6) There are only 4 Master effects slots in Cubase SL (8 in SX).
7) Channel/Mixer views can be customized in Cubase SX.
8) Cubase SX has some additional plug-in facilities..

There are some other differences, but these are the ones that are most likely to affect a buy decision. In retrospect I probably should have bought Cubase SX, since it better suits my long-range plans. But the SL version is most certainly not a toy, and I expect to get many miles out of it before finally upgrading to its bigger brother. The good news is that you can upgrade - for a fair price.

Rating:
Summary: Superb Workhorse
Review: When I decided to add digital and MIDI recording facilities to my wired together mish-mash of electronic and acoustic instruments, it was a daunting task. Other than an old MIDI Express and a Mackie mixer, most of what I owned was hopelessly prehistoric. Having decided to go about it in an organized fashion, I purchased a new computer (a Mac) and a fairly sophisticated 12-track analog to digital recorder (MOTU). Now it was time for the scary part. With my few remaining dollars a set about selecting the right software. All my research and trials led me to believe that Cubase was the package that provided what I wanted the way I wanted to use it. The availability of the (relatively) inexpensive SL version decided me, and I took the plunge.

Much to my surprise and delight, I turned out to be right.

Cubase is a fully featured package - including both audio and midi recording and playback facilities. In addition, it provides a mixer, timeline editor, and the ability to manage MIDI automation as well. It accepts the line of VST plug-in and virtual instrument add-ons that have made it a popular standard in the industry. As I discovered, it can interface directly with a host of peripheral equipment and instruments. My experience was that I hardly had to tell it that the equipment was there - it found everything and interfaced seamlessly.

The test of a package as rich and complex as this is what happens when the user undertakes that first project. After a minimal amount of fiddling I decided to start out by transferring some of my old tapes to CD. Basically a simple process, but not one that is trivial. I set up a marker track and a stereo pair of input tracks and ran in the digital signal from the A-D - keeping levels to where I was getting the whole dynamic range while sampling at 48K. Going out I used UV-22 dithering, a tube distortion simulator, some dynamic processing, and a touch of reverb - all provided with the software. The results were excellent.

To be honest, I later found that things work best if you maximize your buffers and your system memory. This wasn't a surprise but keep in mind that your disk drive speed is a critical factor, and that the more memory you have, the less often you need to write things out.

These are the primary differences between Cubase SL and the SX version:

1) In the SX version you can use the 'Truetape' technology uses the 32-bit float recording facility processes the sound a bit to emulate the performance of a professional analog tape recorder. A slightly warmer sound and digital normally produces. this can be emulated by post-processing as well, but it lacks the quality of high sampling.
2) Both a Spectrum Analyzer and a Statistical Reporter are provided to help in project management and sound analysis.
3) Cubase SX has good facilities for score layout and printing. This can be important for a midi-based composer. Less so for audio work.
4) Cubase SL cannot import CD tracks, nor can it output to MP3 files.
5) Cubase SL has only one automation mode, SX has 3.
6) There are only 4 Master effects slots in Cubase SL (8 in SX).
7) Channel/Mixer views can be customized in Cubase SX.
8) Cubase SX has some additional plug-in facilities..

There are some other differences, but these are the ones that are most likely to affect a buy decision. In retrospect I probably should have bought Cubase SX, since it better suits my long-range plans. But the SL version is most certainly not a toy, and I expect to get many miles out of it before finally upgrading to its bigger brother. The good news is that you can upgrade - for a fair price.