changing from reason to cubase. teething issues.

[author]

hey there.

I'm slowly crossing over to cubase from reason 3. I'm currently rewiring my drums from reason to cubase and using plug in synths on cubase which i think sound better than reason ones.

I'm essentially using reason as a glorified drum machine, but now want to change over completely to cubase.

My problem is how to do drums/make beats on cubase. Do you guys just use wav samples arranged on the sequencer to make ur beats or do you use something similar to redrum but for cubase?

other questions:
are there essential production fx plug ins I'll need to get to use cubase or do the standard ones suffice ( i have sx 3)? i'm thinking mainly about compressors etc - stuff i'll need to get good drum sounds with. any recommendations much appreciated.

any other initial advice with regards to cubase would be much appreciated. Still feel uncomfortable with things like automation. I was also really reliant on that monster compressor reason had, the standard one in sx 3 seems awfully limited in comparison.

cubase seems to have tonnes of power if you can unleash it, are there any essential guides out there i need to get?

sorry if this is a bit longwinded.

BH

[Sharmaji]

3rd party plug-ins are your friend w/ cubase... which is why i made the switch to logic, where 3rd party plugs are still your friend but not a complete necessity.

for drums, battery and stylus rmx are great places to start. for synths, good old massive, absynth, and albino. there's plenty of freeware out there.

stillwellaudio.com has amazing compressor (rocket) and eq (vibe) plugs as shareware. the waves rennaisance collection is pretty much standard w/ the stock logic plugs. otherwise, the sky's the limit.

[elbe]

Have a search in this forum for future untolds thread on free vst/vsti's

check out KVR audio and find yourself a sampler, or if you got some money to spend get NI's battery.

load your samples into your sampler of choice. then create a new midi-channel. draw in a section, i.e where your midi part is in the main sequencer window. right click on this section, hover mouse over the midi tab and select open drum part.


KVR is also a good place to get compressers and equalisers etc.
Try Kajarhes (not the right spelling) Classics, free and good.

[manray]

IMy problem is how to do drums/make beats on cubase. Do you guys just use wav samples arranged on the sequencer to make ur beats or do you use something similar to redrum but for cubase

You can just import the wav's and arrange them in the sequencer window but I don't like working that way and prefer to use a drum machine.

I use Native Instruments Battery 3 which works like Redrum but you can load like 128 samples. It's got a ton of extra features that I'm always using too like controlling the attack sustain etc.. of samples and loads loads more. Well worth it.

are there essential production fx plug ins I'll need to get to use cubase or do the standard ones suffice ( i have sx 3)? i'm thinking mainly about compressors etc - stuff i'll need to get good drum sounds with. any recommendations much appreciated.

Depends on how you like to work really. I rarely compress my drums these days and when I do the default multiband compressor works just fine. The key to fat drums in my opinion is fat samples. So I just start with good samples and then usually just put a limiter on them.

Check out Voxengo SPAN, it's a free spectral analyzer, use it to see your frequencies and levels, it's very good to compare what you are hearing to what you can see especially if you need to produce on headphones / poor speakers. (http://www.voxengo.com/product/SPAN/)

any other initial advice with regards to cubase would be much appreciated. Still feel uncomfortable with things like automation. I was also really reliant on that monster compressor reason had, the standard one in sx 3 seems awfully limited in comparison.

cubase seems to have tonnes of power if you can unleash it, are there any essential guides out there i need to get?

Automation is really easy once you get the hang of it. Pressing CTRL+Down Arrow will expand the selected track so you can see the automation stuff easier (rather than expanding EVERYTHING) and you can press ctrl+up to close it up again.

My advice would be to learn the hotkeys for basic functions like cutting, copying, looping etc... Because those will really make your life quicker.

SX3 has a couple of compressors built in. You can also download free ones but honestly try to stay away from too much compression, especially sticking big fat ones ontop of your master output. Trust me your tracks will sound better.

Good luck, getting away from Reason was the best thing I ever did.

[author]

Thanks very much for your help guys, All seems really valuable advice.

I have been guilty of compressor on the master out on many occassions.

But god the more i think about reason, the more shit it seems, you can't even reverse sounds, which is standard in fl studio lol.

I'm going to investigate everything you've told me. The more i read and see the more logic seems to be calling my name as TeRek mentioned:

"3rd party plug-ins are your friend w/ cubase... which is why i made the switch to logic, where 3rd party plugs are still your friend but not a complete necessity. "
This seems to be the real virue of logic.

I can use it properly on pc though right???? for some reason i often think logic is mac only.

quick one on automation:

I have predator open in cubase (vst instrument inserted). I connect this to a midi track etc and draw the music with the midi "edit in place" option. To automate something specific to predator like it's cutoff or lfo what do i do?
I know how to automate; in the sense that i press + in the left hand corner of the track to open that grey automation tab set to volume. But how do i change that to the LFO or cutoff on the predator? I've looked through the various folders and files when i click on volume but could not find it.

Thanks again.
BH

[manray]

This is hard without pictures and I don't have cubase in front of me so it's all memory but try this :

At the bottom of the arrange window there should be an entry for the VST plugin that you want to automate. Hit the + sign and it should expand. Depending on the plugin you might have to hit the + again. (Battery for example has lots of outputs

Then hold your mouse down on the little box (for example it might display volume) and then you should get a pop up box where you can choose what you want to automate. From there you should get a full list of what you can automate.

[manray]

As for Logic... don't bother unless you have a mac.

I started with Reason 1 all those years ago and eventually got fed up and moved to Logic 5.5. After getting annoyed with it crashing all the time I finally got over to Cubase SX3 and I've been happy for the last 3 years.

I've also used Logic 7 extensively and whilst I like it a lot I've stuck with SX3 because it's not worthwhile buying a new mac when SX3 works just fine.

[pdomino]

Why switch, use both.

[elbe]

logic needs mac tbh.


Cubase is good. To automate a VSTi's parameters in SX3 you need to do it on the instument channel not the midi channel that the instrument is playing (get me?).

like Manray says, thee should be a tap in the track list on the main sequencer window (usually below any midi/audio tracks) for all your open VSTi's. expand using the "+", find preddator then expand using the "+" again, go to the drop down list like you did for the midi channel and you should find all the adjustable parameters on preddator.

top tip, if you can't find the correct parameter simply hit the "w" on the VSTi channel to activat write automation, start recording, bring you VSTi up and wiggle the parameter you want to automate. stop recording, go back to the main sequencer page and you should now be able to see the parameter you have just recorded automation for, if it doesn't apear open the drop down box and it will be the one with a star next to it (i think)

[rockersrevenge]

use both. If you have skills in one program, keep using them and add to it. Cubase would be your extension to reason. I still regret not using my Akai s1100 old style samplers which get outdated when when Reason came along. Some of the fx and time stretching were badass.