Heartily Sick Of Cubase

MrBump · March 2023

I don't record much, but when I do it usually starts with f**king around with Cubase to try to get it working. Usually I've left it so long that the licensing mechanism has stopped working, so I need to reauthenticate that. I've just done that this morning, and now my Steinberg profile is showing that I've got no products currently licensed, despite having paid £hundreds over the years in outright software costs, plugins and upgrades.

It's just tiresome and messes with the creative process of a person seriously lacking in creativity.

I used to use Cakewalk, now defunct I think. I've tried Reaper - cool, but very primative.

Is there anything out there for a hobbyist, something that doesn't eternally piss about with upgrades and license managers, something that will just let me buy the bloody thing and allow me to fire it up once a month or so without all the associated Cubase grief???

monquixote · March 2023

I would have said Reaper, but Studio One seems like a good option

I love Bitwig, but it's very Electronic oriented and you have to renew every year.

Stuckfast · March 2023

If you're used to Cubase then Studio One is the obvious way to go as it's operationally very similar (it was created by the same team that originally developed Cubase SX back in the day).

distressed · March 2023

Reaper is full-fledged DAW, fast, efficient and highly customizable even for professional work. How did you find it primitive?

Winny_Pooh · March 2023

distressed said:

Reaper is full-fledged DAW, fast, efficient and highly customizable even for professional work. How did you find it primitive?

Same, unless you're using midi features I don't work with it's just as capable as anything else.

distressed · March 2023

Winny_Pooh said:

distressed said:

Reaper is full-fledged DAW, fast, efficient and highly customizable even for professional work. How did you find it primitive?

Same, unless you're using midi features I don't work with it's just as capable as anything else.

The only downside I'm aware of is that it doesn't come with loads of midi presets and banks like the others, but i'ts tradeoff for being lightweight and capable to run efficiently on any old machine. You can always use 3rd party solutions with it.

IMC1980 · March 2023

You can still get Cakewalk, it is now free: https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk - I use it and it works like to old version except with less bugs.

MrBump · March 2023

OK - my experience with Reaper was a few years ago, and the UI felt primitive - kinda like an old version of Windows.

octatonic · March 2023

MrBump said:

I don't record much, but when I do it usually starts with f**king around with Cubase to try to get it working. Usually I've left it so long that the licensing mechanism has stopped working, so I need to reauthenticate that. I've just done that this morning, and now my Steinberg profile is showing that I've got no products currently licensed, despite having paid £hundreds over the years in outright software costs, plugins and upgrades.

It's just tiresome and messes with the creative process of a person seriously lacking in creativity.

I used to use Cakewalk, now defunct I think. I've tried Reaper - cool, but very primative.

Is there anything out there for a hobbyist, something that doesn't eternally piss about with upgrades and license managers, something that will just let me buy the bloody thing and allow me to fire it up once a month or so without all the associated Cubase grief???

I'm on Nuendo, rather than Cubase (they are very similar), but I find it very stable.
Which version are you using and are you using the new licensing system (ie not with the physical dongle)?

distressed · March 2023

MrBump said:

OK - my experience with Reaper was a few years ago, and the UI felt primitive - kinda like an old version of Windows.

There's a wide user community and practically unlimited number of skins and customizations for it.

https://stash.reaper.fm/tag/Themes

monquixote · March 2023

distressed said:

Winny_Pooh said:

distressed said:

Reaper is full-fledged DAW, fast, efficient and highly customizable even for professional work. How did you find it primitive?

Same, unless you're using midi features I don't work with it's just as capable as anything else.

The only downside I'm aware of is that it doesn't come with loads of midi presets and banks like the others, but i'ts tradeoff for being lightweight and capable to run efficiently on any old machine. You can always use 3rd party solutions with it.

Indeed, there are plenty of pros who use Reaper.

It comes bundled with a lot less stuff in terms of Plugins, but if you were going to buy Fabfilter and Pigments anyway it pretty much does everything you need.

MrBump · March 2023

octatonic said:

MrBump said:

I don't record much, but when I do it usually starts with f**king around with Cubase to try to get it working. Usually I've left it so long that the licensing mechanism has stopped working, so I need to reauthenticate that. I've just done that this morning, and now my Steinberg profile is showing that I've got no products currently licensed, despite having paid £hundreds over the years in outright software costs, plugins and upgrades.

It's just tiresome and messes with the creative process of a person seriously lacking in creativity.

I used to use Cakewalk, now defunct I think. I've tried Reaper - cool, but very primative.

Is there anything out there for a hobbyist, something that doesn't eternally piss about with upgrades and license managers, something that will just let me buy the bloody thing and allow me to fire it up once a month or so without all the associated Cubase grief???

I'm on Nuendo, rather than Cubase (they are very similar), but I find it very stable.
Which version are you using and are you using the new licensing system (ie not with the physical dongle)?

10.5 - no physical dongle, it's an e-licenser.

MrBump · March 2023

monquixote said:

distressed said:

Winny_Pooh said:

distressed said:

Reaper is full-fledged DAW, fast, efficient and highly customizable even for professional work. How did you find it primitive?

Same, unless you're using midi features I don't work with it's just as capable as anything else.

The only downside I'm aware of is that it doesn't come with loads of midi presets and banks like the others, but i'ts tradeoff for being lightweight and capable to run efficiently on any old machine. You can always use 3rd party solutions with it.

Indeed, there are plenty of pros who use Reaper.

It comes bundled with a lot less stuff in terms of Plugins, but if you were going to buy Fabfilter and Pigments anyway it pretty much does everything you need.

Maybe I'll have another go at Reaper... Doesn't sound like I have much to lose.

blobb · March 2023

Mixbus

Jalapeno · March 2023

Thought Studio One was also a bit "licence centric".

Reaper is fully featured.

There's also a path less travelled too - Tracktion's Waveform.

thermionic · March 2023

MrBump said:
Maybe I'll have another go at Reaper... Doesn't sound like I have much to lose.

Don’t Fear The Reaper

Musicwolf · March 2023

MrBump said:

I don't record much, but when I do it usually starts with f**king around with Cubase to try to get it working. Usually I've left it so long that the licensing mechanism has stopped working, so I need to reauthenticate that.

That's probably a large part of your problem. I use Cubase whilst my bandmate uses Logic. I use my DAW almost every day whereas he's an infrequent user. I spend many a happy hour, either on the phone or via Zoom, talking him through stuff and it seems that I can quickly get things working on his system, despite me not knowing Logic, whilst he struggles.

It's not technical ability so much as familiarity.

Snap · March 2023

Get Cakewalk - completely free, updated every month, and pro level specification. You won't need anything else

MrBump · March 2023

Snap said:

Get Cakewalk - completely free, updated every month, and pro level specification. You won't need anything else

Interesting - I thought Cakewalk was dead and gone.

LastMantra · March 2023

monquixote said:

distressed said:

Winny_Pooh said:

distressed said:

Reaper is full-fledged DAW, fast, efficient and highly customizable even for professional work. How did you find it primitive?

Same, unless you're using midi features I don't work with it's just as capable as anything else.

The only downside I'm aware of is that it doesn't come with loads of midi presets and banks like the others, but i'ts tradeoff for being lightweight and capable to run efficiently on any old machine. You can always use 3rd party solutions with it.

Indeed, there are plenty of pros who use Reaper.

It comes bundled with a lot less stuff in terms of Plugins, but if you were going to buy Fabfilter and Pigments anyway it pretty much does everything you need.

Long time since I done any recording but I came to the conclusion that once you get used to the more basic look the plugins were very good and there's all the stuff you should ever need really, unless you are maybe wanting to do something very specific maybe but even then...

I've tried loads of free stuff too and kept a few that IMO are excellent. The only thing I've bought really is EZDrummer.

monquixote · March 2023

LastMantra said:

monquixote said:

distressed said:

Winny_Pooh said:

distressed said:

Reaper is full-fledged DAW, fast, efficient and highly customizable even for professional work. How did you find it primitive?

Same, unless you're using midi features I don't work with it's just as capable as anything else.

The only downside I'm aware of is that it doesn't come with loads of midi presets and banks like the others, but i'ts tradeoff for being lightweight and capable to run efficiently on any old machine. You can always use 3rd party solutions with it.

Indeed, there are plenty of pros who use Reaper.

It comes bundled with a lot less stuff in terms of Plugins, but if you were going to buy Fabfilter and Pigments anyway it pretty much does everything you need.

Long time since I done any recording but I came to the conclusion that once you get used to the more basic look the plugins were very good and there's all the stuff you should ever need really, unless you are maybe wanting to do something very specific maybe but even then...

I've tried loads of free stuff too and kept a few that IMO are excellent. The only thing I've bought really is EZDrummer.

It's a few years since I've used it, but it was a bit barebones compared to having something like one of the higher end Ableton, Bitwig or FL packages which are plugin central.

LastMantra · March 2023

monquixote said:

LastMantra said:

monquixote said:

distressed said:

Winny_Pooh said:

distressed said:

Reaper is full-fledged DAW, fast, efficient and highly customizable even for professional work. How did you find it primitive?

Same, unless you're using midi features I don't work with it's just as capable as anything else.

The only downside I'm aware of is that it doesn't come with loads of midi presets and banks like the others, but i'ts tradeoff for being lightweight and capable to run efficiently on any old machine. You can always use 3rd party solutions with it.

Indeed, there are plenty of pros who use Reaper.

It comes bundled with a lot less stuff in terms of Plugins, but if you were going to buy Fabfilter and Pigments anyway it pretty much does everything you need.

Long time since I done any recording but I came to the conclusion that once you get used to the more basic look the plugins were very good and there's all the stuff you should ever need really, unless you are maybe wanting to do something very specific maybe but even then...

I've tried loads of free stuff too and kept a few that IMO are excellent. The only thing I've bought really is EZDrummer.

It's a few years since I've used it, but it was a bit barebones compared to having something like one of the higher end Ableton, Bitwig or FL packages which are plugin central.

Ah, I've never used any of those to be fair.

For general guitar music type stuff there's certainly plenty to get you started though. When I first started I was told that I'd need to get some better ones but found that really wasn't the case.

monquixote · March 2023

LastMantra said:

monquixote said:

LastMantra said:

monquixote said:

distressed said:

Winny_Pooh said:

distressed said:

Reaper is full-fledged DAW, fast, efficient and highly customizable even for professional work. How did you find it primitive?

Same, unless you're using midi features I don't work with it's just as capable as anything else.

The only downside I'm aware of is that it doesn't come with loads of midi presets and banks like the others, but i'ts tradeoff for being lightweight and capable to run efficiently on any old machine. You can always use 3rd party solutions with it.

Indeed, there are plenty of pros who use Reaper.

It comes bundled with a lot less stuff in terms of Plugins, but if you were going to buy Fabfilter and Pigments anyway it pretty much does everything you need.

Long time since I done any recording but I came to the conclusion that once you get used to the more basic look the plugins were very good and there's all the stuff you should ever need really, unless you are maybe wanting to do something very specific maybe but even then...

I've tried loads of free stuff too and kept a few that IMO are excellent. The only thing I've bought really is EZDrummer.

It's a few years since I've used it, but it was a bit barebones compared to having something like one of the higher end Ableton, Bitwig or FL packages which are plugin central.

Ah, I've never used any of those to be fair.

For general guitar music type stuff there's certainly plenty to get you started though. When I first started I was told that I'd need to get some better ones but found that really wasn't the case.

I used to use Reaper for recording guitar music and other than Scuffam as an amp sim I didn't use anything else.

Now I've got it I probably wouldn't want to be without the Fabfilter set of plugins.

Snap · March 2023

MrBump said:

Snap said:

Get Cakewalk - completely free, updated every month, and pro level specification. You won't need anything else

Interesting - I thought Cakewalk was dead and gone.

No, bought by Bandlab and is completely free. I had the full paid Sonar Platinum (last paid version of Cakewalk) and the free new version is as well spec'd as the outgoing Sonar that cost a few hundred quid. You get plenty of mixing and mastering plugins and a few virtual instruments too.

Importantly it is much more stable. It can stand up next to Cubase or any of the other flagship DAWs IMO, and it's titally free, no catches, nothing.

swiller · March 2023

cakewalk is now completely free and is the last full fat sonar X3 edition , under a company called bandlab. Sounds perfect for your requirements.

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Heartily Sick Of Cubase

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