Hi James,

https://new.steinberg.net/cubase/compare-editions/ That should answer your question. On a personal note, I’ve never used 100% of any program, but, it’s that one time I want to do something and find I can’t because it’s restricted that drives my purchases :).

Tony

Thanks for the reply but I wasn't really after a Steinberg chart (seen it too many times) I was more asking people who have actually used Cubase in the past and know it more extensively than casual users and know the changes from 8.5 to 10 and know the changes from 8.5 to 10 using Artist and Pro. It's fine for me to look at the chart just for comparing Artist and Pro but has stated, I don't know what half the internal stuff does and what I could be using or should be using or maybe shouldn't use at all. If someone's upgraded every single time they will know what changes they have had and if the upgrade to Pro is worth it or not. Don't forget moving from 8.5 to 10 means I missed 9 and 9.5 so I've no idea what was in those and if they were carried over to 10.

James,

I guess I should have said, I’ve been using Cubase since way back. In recent times I went through 6, 7 and onwards. My lack of extrapolation probably didn’t help. Like most people, unless you’re a deep dive user, I use specific things for specific songs.

There are a lot of videos on YouTube that’ll help you. Huge improvement has been made in the mixer and some of that is Pro only for example. I just guess I’m not that into it to be more help sorry :(.

Makzimia, post: 461157, member: 48344 wrote: James,

I guess I should have said, I’ve been using Cubase since way back. In recent times I went through 6, 7 and onwards. My lack of extrapolation probably didn’t help. Like most people, unless you’re a deep dive user, I use specific things for specific songs.

There are a lot of videos on YouTube that’ll help you. Huge improvement has been made in the mixer and some of that is Pro only for example. I just guess I’m not that into it to be more help sorry :(.

No need to apologise and I don't want you to think I'm having a go at you. If it is something you don't know, you just don't know. That is why I'm being pretty specific with my questions. I have no idea what the improvements are and what extras have been put into cubase over the years. Upgrading 8.5 to 10 was going to be expensive but the 50% sealed the deal and I heard it was now pretty stable. Since its gotten an overhaul I thought I would just question a few things that have happened from then and now. Prior to 8.5 I was a vst32, SX and 5 user. I was never one of those that updated every year but this seems like a massive step forward. And like you, I use specific stuff too but it would be nice to know what I may be missing over the years. You never know, someone might say something and it may help you too. Always something new to learn no matter how good or how long we have been playing/recording.

I bet if we took the entire Cubase specification or even just a list of menu items, none of use would score highly in the "I use everything" category, and I also suspect we would all have completely different lists. Like time warp. I've never used this until two weeks ago. I'm now kicking myself, because it does what I have wanted many times - but I just never got around to even seeing how it worked.

paulears, post: 461159, member: 47782 wrote: I bet if we took the entire Cubase specification or even just a list of menu items, none of use would score highly in the "I use everything" category, and I also suspect we would all have completely different lists. Like time warp. I've never used this until two weeks ago. I'm now kicking myself, because it does what I have wanted many times - but I just never got around to even seeing how it worked.

That's a good point. I'll hold my hand up at not using everything but if I don't know what I have or what it does, how will I ever know? Steinberg do tutorials on YouTube which are very in depth but personally I would prefer a list of what's available and what it does. I did hear C10 pro had a vocal alignment or something? I know it's a feature only in pro and that sways a few people.

Last year I spent weeks producing some Carpenters tribute band tracks with huge numbers of stacked vocals and this vocal alignment feature that wasn't available then would have helped. This year I've been doing some more similar stuff and used the new feature and saved hours and hours. Record the same track three times - select one as master, and watch as the other two are stretched and shrunk to make the syllables match up - works brilliantly. I never do anything with loops or beats but there are stacks and stacks of features for this. There are loads for people who deal with sequenced backings with MIDI, and there are loads of audio only functions. When I want to do something - I find I simply google cubase vocal alignment or cubase merge tracks it always works. Cubase tutorials on youtube go from pretty useful, in fast forward to simply terrible.

paulears, post: 461161, member: 47782 wrote: Last year I spent weeks producing some Carpenters tribute band tracks with huge numbers of stacked vocals and this vocal alignment feature that wasn't available then would have helped. This year I've been doing some more similar stuff and used the new feature and saved hours and hours. Record the same track three times - select one as master, and watch as the other two are stretched and shrunk to make the syllables match up - works brilliantly. I never do anything with loops or beats but there are stacks and stacks of features for this. There are loads for people who deal with sequenced backings with MIDI, and there are loads of audio only functions. When I want to do something - I find I simply google cubase vocal alignment or cubase merge tracks it always works. Cubase tutorials on youtube go from pretty useful, in fast forward to simply terrible.

Is it safe to assume VariAudio 3 and vocal alignment are auto tune features but more in depth at less cost? Antares Pro is $399 so around £314. Surely that's worth the upgrade to Pro alone? Unless it's not has good?

VariAudio is very good by all demos. Paul has personal experience maybe he’ll share his process?. I found it fiddly still. Logic Pro X has a similar thing with flex audio. Greg Ondo does amazing YouTube videos for Cubase. He’s a Steinberg person. Including live feeds usually at least once per month.

After my first test, I used it for real the day later - basically what we had was four voices, each one a separate harmony line for some sections. Not all the voices were as good as each other, so in the end we had three separate takes for each one. Normally I'd repeat the recordings until the waveforms looked pretty matched - I'm sure we all do this, hearing, but importantly, seeing, the problems, the good take but has the word change just a bit early or late. Once I have two almost identical ones, you can double track them, or maybe if it's really needed, add an extra one - but this takes a lot of time. This time, I just recorded three takes, and only re-recorded if there were real issues - much, much quicker - even though some were too long, or had the word breaks quite wrong! It really is just a few clicks and you get success, or a warning. This might be when Cubase just can't make a match, or perhaps one of the takes has no gap, or obvious change for it to lock too. I've got a feel now what kind of take just can't be fixed. I love it.

Tuning in the past for me has been using the pitch correct for gentle stuff, which works pretty well, but where a singer accidentally pitches say an F, when it should have been E, I've usually gone into the editor, highlighted the wrong note and pitch shifted it there - down a semi-tone, or sometimes less than that if they were just pitchy. Now, from the editor panel where the waveform shows, you can click and cubase analyses the take and identifies pitch tracking exactly what it is, and how it gets from note to note, and you can simply use the mouse to fix things - it's actually quite handy with those singers who move from note to note a bit sharp, then immediately realising and dropping. you can simply fix each instance, or not depending on how it sounds - and the pitch shifted quality is pretty good. Does great on solos on guitars too. I'll be honest and say it's also handy for fixing my double bass playing when I mess up and don't notice.

This process is still fiddly and mouse intensive - and easy to overdo, or wreck, so I always save lots so I can go back. The alignment tool is not at all fiddly and works brilliantly on 95% of the stuff I've done. With the harmonies and 4 people, you can decide who got the delivery spot-on, and then apply their timing to everyone else really quickly. Too quickly maybe as from time to time, I've then had problems with bringing in other instruments playing the same rhythm but not the same as the track I used as my master track for the alignment. You then have to decide if the bass part needs aligning with the harmonies, or if the bass is right and the vocals are all wrong. With that in mind, I now take more care selecting the right track to use as the master.

These features I discovered on Google - I'd read about them but what they could do for me I had not picked up on.

Thank you Paul!.