cubase and midi help

[Al Heeley]

I'm struggling to get started in cubase and all the midi settings, its doing my head in. I need advice about where to start.
I upgraded my soundcard to a creative X-fi Elite Pro (it was really cheap)

with external interface so I could use the PC to record multitrack, with guitar, drum machine, synth and bass input.
the soundcard came with Cubase 4 LE and IK's Amplitube.
I also have EZdrummer installed.
I can't find the right settings within cubase to get the drums, keyboard, guitar (via Amplitude) fired up and recording, I have no idea which of the myriad of settings I need to choose - is there a good tutorial site that could take me step by step thru the process so i can start making music?

[Eight]

Um... where to start answering this one.

I don't know about tutorials - but I'd imagine if you search Amazon you'd find some sequencing with Cubase type beginners books which will usually cover everything you need.

I guess the first thing is to get your interface up and running. Forget about Ampltiube, EZdrummer etc. until you know this step is covered.

If I remember rightly, the X-fi is a consumer soundcard not an audio interface but should still work. Is the card enabled for input and output in Cubase's device settings?

IMHO Cubase is 'orrible. I know people disagree but I'm entitled to my opinion. If it was me, I would consider changing to a version of Cakewalk Sonar or Ableton Live.

[Eight]

Assuming it is enabled, are you able to import an MP3 (or wav file or something) and play it out of the card?

[Al Heeley]

I clicked around wildly and got not only the bass to play thru the X-Fi but also to register on Cubase as a recording level, which is greta progress. Yr advice about getting a How-To book off Amazon is sound, thx. Not tried to import an mp3 yet (i didn't know you could..!)
Others have also said Cubase is 'orrible. All the decent packages seem to cost an arm and a leg though.

[edit] mp3 imports and plays fine. Geez this is progress!

Edited March 19, 2009 by Al Heeley

[Eight]

Ok cool. So you've got input and output. That's usually the first hurdle with Cubase. I had a dodgy copy (as a trial honest) and after setting it all up and getting sound in, it locked and forever refused to talk to my audio interface. That's when I bought Sonar and life became a little sunnier.

Have you tried creating an audio track and actually recording the bass? Again, don't worry about the plugins yet.

[Kiwi]

I know its not very helpful but at least Cubase comes with MIDI drivers. I had a similar experience using M-Audio Pro Logic M-Powered until I eventually understood that MIDI drivers needed to be installed (unlike my previous experience with Cubase which was a lot simpler). I'd like to help out but my experience of Cubase is probably out of date.

However, these sites may be of some assistance perhaps?

[url="http://www.pdf-search-engine.com/tutorial-cubase-pdf.html"]http://www.pdf-search-engine.com/tutorial-cubase-pdf.html[/url]
[url="http://pdfdatabase.com/download_file_i.php?file=4240172&desc=cubase+.pdf"]http://pdfdatabase.com/download_file_i.php...esc=cubase+.pdf[/url]

Good luck with it.

[Al Heeley]

thx guys, yes the bass records, but the midi keyboard attached does nowt.
Is it worth trying to get hold of a copy of Ableton? My brother has a big library of such software as he works in the business.

[lowdown]

Al....
The help menu in Cubase is great..
Or go to you tube - there is plenty of videos on setting up and getting started in Cubase.
If you are using [b]XP[/b], you might want to go to this site..you will have to sign up [ free ]
[url="http://www.musicxp.net/dnn/"]http://www.musicxp.net/dnn/[/url]

It will help you turn of the sh*t you dont need.
Your Audio card will not be doing you any favours,
I should imagine you will get poor performance,and latency problems, but [b]XP tweeks [/b]will go along way to helping.

A lot of the problems folk get with Cubase is usually down to poor system set up,
Otherwise you should really not have orrible problems.
I run the newer Sonar 8 and the older Nuendo 3 [ Cubase really ]
They both have good and bad points - but that is down to user preference and work flow.

Once you have Cubase up and running, i would invest in a decent audio card, if you are going to get serious.

[Eight]

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='439866' date='Mar 19 2009, 11:11 PM']thx guys, yes the bass records, but the midi keyboard attached does nowt.
Is it worth trying to get hold of a copy of Ableton? My brother has a big library of such software as he works in the business.[/quote]
The midi keyboard probably won't do anything at this point. Have you created a midi track (I think Cubase makes a distinction between audio and midi tracks but I could be wrong here, running from vague memories) and told it to use the midi port as its input? Then you record midi data (probably won't sound anything but you should see notes appearing).

Amplitube is normally inserted as an audio effect. So you have your audio track (which the bass records to) and then you add Amplitube in as an effect to that track. Inserting it will possibly create other tracks for the outputs but that depends on the sequencer.

I'm not going to lie to you - there are a lot of happy Cubase users. I happen to disagree strongly with their point of view but that's just me. Ableton is easier to use and is more inventive; personally speaking as you're not attached to any software yet then I'd switch to Ableton Live.

Edited March 19, 2009 by Eight

[Mottlefeeder]

One of the differences between Win98 and WinXP was that we lost the facility to define which interupts (IRQs) would be used by which parts of the PC. My sound card never worked properly until I understood this, and phisically moved it from slot to slot within the PC until I found a position where it was not sharing an IRQ with anything else. It now works well, so I would recommend that you check that.

Other sources of help that have not been mentioned are the two cubase forums, one official, and one independent - cubase.com and cubase.net

[Bilbo]

I am perfectly happy with Cubase so go for it.

A lot of the trouble you are experieincing is very common - its all about the technology. I found that an interface prolbem I had was around the ISO drivers. Like I knoew what and ISO driver was. I didn't know what an ISO was, never mind how to drive it (can you drive it on a standard licence?). Find someone local that knows about this stuff. Most people will help if they can. I got a techy piano player friend to tell me what to do.

[Al Heeley]

I'm a vista user here. I'll have a go with Ableton - I have a demo copy (live 5.1). One problem is trying to work out which settings I should use - I have Asio4all, also creative asio, then theres directx options, creative multimedia full and half duplex and another one like wmp or something.
[quote]Once you have Cubase up and running, i would invest in a decent audio card[/quote]Oops, just spent £80 on this top-of-range X-Fi Elite pro creative audio card, I was running of an on-board soundchip before, I thought this was a significant upgrade!

[Low Down Dave]

I am not really sure what the problem is but assigning a midi track output to your keyboard or anything else is very simple, you just create a midi track then assign the output to what ever device you want, there really is nothing complicated about it and in any case it is covered in the help files.

The only complications I can see is if you don’t have the drivers installed for your midi output or keyboard drivers if using a USB port. But you will have the same issues with any computer based sequencer.

Generally speaking on a basic level Cubase is very easy to use, it is not until you get deep into all the really advanced features it gets tricky.

The settings with regard the audio drivers are nothing to do with the midi side, but you want to use the Asio drivers as these will give you the lowest latency for recording/monitoring and also any VSTi instruments like EZ Drummer.



David.

[lowdown]

One other thing to consider.
Cubase has a score and notater window,
Which is great for midi editing.
Having a visual reference can be very helpful when
having lots of midi tracks.
Or if you have limited keyboard skills, you can write the bits in.
Also helpful if you import midi files [ for that Bassline you want to learn]
Thats bringing up the whole sight readinging thing again... But saves getting a scoring package.
AFAIK...Ableton and Reaper do not have this option.

Garry

[Eight]

[quote name='lowdown' post='440045' date='Mar 20 2009, 09:55 AM']One other thing to consider.
Cubase has a score and notater window,
Which is great for midi editing.[/quote]
Tis a good point if you're a reader. You might find the lack of staff view irritating.

Because I use Live and Sonar (Sonar has a lovelyish staff view/editor) I can't say I've ever missed it in Live but it is definitely something to consider.

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='440004' date='Mar 20 2009, 09:00 AM']I'm a vista user here. I'll have a go with Ableton - I have a demo copy (live 5.1). One problem is trying to work out which settings I should use - I have Asio4all, also creative asio, then theres directx options, creative multimedia full and half duplex and another one like wmp or something.
Oops, just spent £80 on this top-of-range X-Fi Elite pro creative audio card, I was running of an on-board soundchip before, I thought this was a significant upgrade![/quote]
In general, you'll use which ever one seems fastest. Ideally you'll want to use your Creative ASIO drivers. However, if they are pish (a lot are) then try Asio4All.

Unfortunately mate, whilst its a definite upgrade and you might be fine with for a while, the X-fi is a high-end soundcard for gamers and media players. Not really for audio production. Not your fault you didn't know though - if you're just getting started with sequencers and computer audio, there's a hell of a lot to learn before you can do anything. Mistakes will be made.

[leprechaun]

Hi Al,

Don't know if you're going to stick with Cubase or not but there is a great resource with video tutorials [url="http://www.steinbergusers.com/vids/XML_players/cubase/cubase_videos_content.html"]here[/url].

Cubase is pretty much at the top of the tree when it comes to DAWs along with Pro Tools, Pyramix, Logic et al. They're all good and each have their pros and cons, I would suggest that those telling you to avoid it simply don't like the GUI or maybe have never put the time in to learn how to use it (something you're going to have to do with any DAW incidentally). I use Cubase (Nuendo), Pyramix and Pro Tools at work and once you know them they all do the same thing.

For more help with learning the software you could do worse than browse through the many Cubase Notes articles available on the sound on sound website. [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/search?url=%2Fsearch&section=%2F&Keyword=cubase&Keyword=cubase&Year=+&Month=+&Words=All&Summary=Yes&Section=8&Subject=14&ShowResults=yes"]Here[/url] are 112 of them to get you started!

Good luck and enjoy..

Cheers, Sean.

[lowdown]

[quote name='Eight' post='440076' date='Mar 20 2009, 10:30 AM']Because I use Live and Sonar (Sonar has a lovelyish staff view/editor) I can't say I've ever missed it in Live but it is definitely something to consider.[/quote]

I upgraded to SPE 8 a few months ago.........
And the Midi editing thing has really come along.
The Sonar Score editor is a lot easier on the eyes than Cubase [ but i think Cubase 5 has improved that ]


Garry

[Eight]

[quote name='leprechaun' post='440086' date='Mar 20 2009, 10:38 AM']I would suggest that those telling you to avoid it simply don't like the GUI or maybe have never put the time in to learn how to use it (something you're going to have to do with any DAW incidentally). I use Cubase (Nuendo), Pyramix and Pro Tools at work and once you know them they all do the same thing.[/quote]
Then you would be suggesting wrong. I do know how to use Cubase, I just don't like it. You're right in that I don't particularly like the gui but that's just a small part of it. I don't like its quirks, I don't like its manufacturer and I don't like its support forums which I've had the unfortunate pleasure of needing at various points. But as you said, there are pro's and con's to all of them, and they all basically do the same thing.

None of them are sufficiently "better" than any other to argue about. Its personal preference all the way here.

But what's the one piece of advice I keep seeing on BC regarding beginner purchases? - Try a few and see what takes your fancy. Not buy the first one and learn to use it. I suggested trying something else is all, before the guy invests hours and hours in one particular package.

Oh, I recommend Live to a lot of people on the basis that its very easy to use (even more so than my beloved Sonar) and its session view is great fun. I wish Cakewalk would steal that damn idea.

[Eight]

[quote name='lowdown' post='440091' date='Mar 20 2009, 10:42 AM']I upgraded to SPE 8 a few months ago.........
And the Midi editing thing has really come along.
The Sonar Score editor is a lot easier on the eyes than Cubase [ but i think Cubase 5 has improved that ][/quote]
I'm still on 6. Had 5PE before that and when 6 came in with all the extra time stretching stuff it pretty much ticked the last remaining boxes I could have asked for.

I hear the later versions have done a great job improving an already great user interface though.

[lowdown]

[quote name='leprechaun' post='440086' date='Mar 20 2009, 10:38 AM']Hi Al,

Don't know if you're going to stick with Cubase or not but there is a great resource with video tutorials [url="http://www.steinbergusers.com/vids/XML_players/cubase/cubase_videos_content.html"]here[/url].

Cubase is pretty much at the top of the tree when it comes to DAWs along with Pro Tools, Pyramix, Logic et al. They're all good and each have their pros and cons, I would suggest that those telling you to avoid it simply don't like the GUI or maybe have never put the time in to learn how to use it (something you're going to have to do with any DAW incidentally). I use Cubase (Nuendo), Pyramix and Pro Tools at work and once you know them they all do the same thing.

For more help with learning the software you could do worse than browse through the many Cubase Notes articles available on the sound on sound website. [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/search?url=%2Fsearch&section=%2F&Keyword=cubase&Keyword=cubase&Year=+&Month=+&Words=All&Summary=Yes&Section=8&Subject=14&ShowResults=yes"]Here[/url] are 112 of them to get you started![/quote]

Couple of good links for folks there Sean............
And you are right they do the same thing....
DAW snobbery always gives me a good laugh.
Its like the argument - MAC sounds better than PC.
About time that appeared again.

Garry

[Eight]

[quote name='lowdown' post='440108' date='Mar 20 2009, 11:02 AM']Its like the argument - MAC sounds better than PC.
About time that appeared again.[/quote]
Oh yes please, that's my favourite DAW related argument ever. Brainless fun all the way.

[Twigman]

[quote name='Eight' post='440102' date='Mar 20 2009, 10:50 AM']I'm still on 6. Had 5PE before that and when 6 came in with all the extra time stretching stuff it pretty much ticked the last remaining boxes I could have asked for.

I hear the later versions have done a great job improving an already great user interface though.[/quote]

The upgrade to 7PE is the best upgrade they've done.

In 7 they've improved midi editing and now incorporate proper sidechain routing ( Hurrah!!! about time)...these 2 enhancements are worth the upgrade price alone.

Do it - you won't regret it.

[leprechaun]

[quote]But what's the one piece of advice I keep seeing on BC regarding beginner purchases? - Try a few and see what takes your fancy.[/quote]

Good advice, unfortunately the ability to do this is becoming less common as the manufacturers are battling against software piracy and are reluctant to allow trial versions to be available for download. None of the manufacturers I mentioned in my post have demo versions available, Cakewalk and Ableton do I believe but unfortunately pirate copies of their software are all over the net. The phrase stuck between a rock and a hard place springs to mind...

[Eight]

Probably should.

Not totally sold on side-chaining; though thank god they did bring it in to stop people asking for it all the time. The sort of heavy duty mixing and mastering end of things isn't something I have much ability with. In the past, I've tended to focus more on arranging tracks and letting someone else worry about the white man's magic side.

Midi editing was always pretty good (better than most if you ask me) but yeah, there were improvements to be made and from what I know, they made them. I just decided to spend the upgrade money elsewhere at the time... but should probably review that decision again now.

[Eight]

[quote name='leprechaun' post='440121' date='Mar 20 2009, 11:18 AM']Good advice, unfortunately the ability to do this is becoming less common as the manufacturers are battling against software piracy and are reluctant to allow trial versions to be available for download.[/quote]
Yeah I can never understand that logic.

Al already has Cubase LE (guessing it came with the soundcard?) so if he downloads the trials for Cakewalk Sonar (or perhaps Project5 even?) and Ableton Live then he's covered three of the most popular sequencers for Windows guys.

For the others, well, to be perfectly honest, if they're not going to give you trial version so you can sensibly decide where to spend the money you work all day for, then I'm in support of downloading it illegally and trying it that way. I am not in support of keeping it beyond a reasonable period of testing it though.