Cubase4 or something different

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 7:20 am

I want to buy a new audio/midi sequencer. My requirements are

1. Mac and PC, since I have both.
2. at least 24 ch simultaneous inputs + 24 ch simultaneous outputs, more is OK.
3. samplerates 44.1 - 96KHz, bitdepth 16-24bits.
4. mLAN compatible (so forget ProTools).

It is for tracking live bands and making my own music. None of my stuff is really loop based. It's mostly "hand crafted", though I will be using BFD for drums on my own stuff.

I was thinking Cubase 4, but I am not really sure still. Does it work well on a Mac? On the cheap there is Mackie Tracktion 3, but I wonder why it is so much cheaper than Cubase. It's really a shame that Sony does PC only. Budget is enough to actually buy Cubase 4.

Can any of you give me some advice? Perhaps a few things to consider would also help. I heard that Cubase4 compressor plugins do not have a side chain. Bit of a bummer, but I can work around that with an external digital compressor.

Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 3:59 pm

i've got C4 and love it... very high quallity all around... that side chaining issue should be fixed in next release... which is due... well basiclly now.... so hold off for C4.1... it's currently 4.03...

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 3:01 am

Hi dc, thanks for your reply. Do you work on PC or Mac?

I am quite fond of SX 3.1, it somehow looks familiar.

I'll keep an eye on the Steinberg site for that next release. I've got time still Wink

Anybody else with suggestions?

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 2:01 pm

i'm PC dude...

Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:10 pm

On the Mac side Cubase is a CPU hog, it has the highest system requirements of all the Mac DAWS. I own both platforms and cubase runs much better on PC.

From my experience you can use 40-60% more instances of virtual instruments and effects using Logic or DP.

Currently the only cross-platform DAWS that have decent performance are Live and PTLE.

I'm also not sure if the mLan drivers have been sorted out on the Mac side.

If you want to run C4, I suggest a mac pro. For the other DAWs it's no big deal. ( I'm currently running Logic Pro on a Core Duo mini, no problems with sessions of 32-48 tracks, cpu meters rarely go over 30%)

Cool

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:40 am

Thanx GW,

It just so happens I got my MacBook included in the schoolfees at SAE. The MacBook w/ external FW HDD will primarily be used for live-tracking. I do not need any plugins at that time. Being a resource hog, shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as it is stable.

Any mixing will be done on my PC.

I never really considered PT when I bought the 01v96. It will cost me an arm and a leg to get the 32 inputs/outputs in PT that I have with my current setup.

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