CYBERMIDI MUSIC and MIDI Blog

Having used Cubase since before the inception of V.S.T instruments (version 3.4) i look upon myself as an above average and experienced user.

When I heard about Cubase 4 being released I was jittery with excitement regarding all the new features and advanced tools which were promised. After eagerly awaiting its release I went out and purchased the product hot off the shelf.

I have now been using Steinberg’s Cubase 4 for over 6 months and have to say it’s superb. The new mixer functions alone blow me away, the way the routing is set up is so intuitive that it feels almost too simple, as if you have missed something.

The new VST3 technology is a godsend to anyone with a less than powerful computer. The VST3 plug-ins only use CPU when there is actually audio passing through the device which means, if you have a section of audio on a channel, and you have it running through the Steinberg Cubase 4 VST3 delay, the delay plug-in only uses CPU when the audio is ACTUALLY playing. It’s almost as if the plug-ins turn them-selves off to save CPU intelligently, it’s like they know they don’t need to be on until the audio passes through them. Cubase 4 is great leap forward in technology and has left all other D.A.W`s far behind.

The Media Bay itself is pure genius! This tool allows you to search, manage and categorize any type of media file. This includes audio files, midi, V.S.T plug-ins, track presets, project files and video files. It`s like having a super efficient secretary or PA who knows where everything is in an instant, it’s just such a time saver and it’s so easy to use it saves you so much time that you can almost work twice as fast as you normally would.

The final section I wish to talk about regarding Steinberg’s Cubase 4 is a feature I love but you don’t see mentioned anywhere (which seems odd to me). The V.S.T Plug-in rack! It’s pretty much the same as it always has been, you still open it with F11 and you still insert the V.S.T`s by clicking on the insert section and the plug-in is inserted into the appropriate slot. Now imagine this, you have a small monitor or multiple V.S.T instruments in your rack, your mixer fills up extremely quickly and you have to keep moving your mixers slider to see all the channels (which can be a real pain on a small monitor) you are using. Now, in the V.S.T rack there is a little arrow next to the instrument that you can press which then brings up the multiple outputs for that instrument. This allows you to activate or deactivate any amount of channels for the plug-in which means that instead of having multiple outputs open on your mixer (which you may not use) you have only the ones which are being used open. This is fantastic! It means you recover space and CPU due to your system not having to use extra ram to show unused channels. To me this is an unknown and underutilized function which should be admired and used to its fullest.

Steinberg`s Cubase 4 represents the cutting edge in digital audio workstations and is number 1 in the D.A.W market in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are other great tools out there, most notably Apples Logic 8, however if you are a PC user then you are out of luck as Logic is for Apple Macs only whereas Steinberg’s Cubase 4 is cross platform. The only gripe I will mention is on behalf of the Mac users, the manual is based on PC users so it can be a tad tiresome and difficult for Apple Mac users to get their head round and Steinberg’s Technical support leaves a lot to be desired.

In the end, Cubase is a flexible, extremely advanced and highly intuitive D.A.W. (Digital Audio Workstation) application which ticks all the boxes and only continues to improve at a lightning pace and helps keep those of us who love the program happy and productive.

About the Author

Cubase 4 discussed and Reviewed a href="http://www.webproductreviewer.com/steinbergcubase4″>http://www.webproductreviewer.com/steinbergcubase4. Reprinted at CYBERMIDI.com by permission.

Did you know that you can record a CD using your home computer - with very basic equipment?

Did you know that you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to get a demo recording done? and you shouldn’t need to spend your hard earned dollars on equipment either!

When I was in my first band and we wanted to have a demo recording done we would spend hundreds of dollars going into studios and getting tracks laid down.

It would take hours and they’d have these huge 24 track analog recording machines and enormous mixing desks that looked really impressive.

The reality is that it is the music that you produce that’s the important thing… not how flashy the equipment is!

After a few times in the studio, like many others before me I decided to start my own home studio. I went out and bought mixing desks, microphones and software for my computer. I was constantly playing and fooling around.

I spent thousands of dollars on all this equipment - I had mixing desks, data machines and the works!

When my wife and I had children we didn’t have the space for the home studio - so it had to go! I consolidated into one computer which I used for my internet business, and sold off the rest on e-bay.

The point of this story… you don’t have to spend money to do things!

Just a matter of two or three years after I sold all this equipment I’m now looking into what I can do with my current computer.. and free software that is available online… and I discover that I can do virtually everything I did with my expensive software!

You can get an audio recording program called Audacity - Its an Open Source program (which means its completely free, with no nag screens, optional upgrades, or spyware included) that will do nearly all of the audio editing I used to do on my big computers.

You can set up this software on your computer, and then borrow a decent quality microphone. Then set it up and start recording yourself, one track at a time!

If you play guitar and sing you’ll be able to do quite a decent job of recording yourself that way. Simply record the guitar first, and then sing over the top.

You can also create midi file accompaniments completely free using low cost or no-cost midi sequencers as well. So if you’re a musician my advice is to do what you can for very little cost, and concentrate on your music… not the gadgets!

Kevin Tuck is an internet entrepreneur and musician, and has several music related websites. One of his recent projects is to catalog and review low cost and free music software on a blog called the Music Software Guide

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Tuck
http://EzineArticles.com/?Music-Software-And-How-It-Has-Changed-In-The-Last-10-Years&id=1160506. Reprinted at CYBERMIDI.com by permission.

The Daily Vault Album Reviews: Random Thoughts (From A Paralyzed Mind)

by Jason Warburg, The Daily Vault

Here we go again. Halfway through the slush pile, tossing ‘em aside like pancakes at a Little League fundraiser, and allofasudden whoooaaa Nellie. Hang on, we got us a keeper.

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There used to be no substitution for a good recording job done in a professional recording studio. Now with the rising popularity of digital PC recording and the low cost of recording software, many people are re-thinking the idea of home recording. Plus with the ease of MP3 distribution, and the many sites that offer free web hosting and the ability to upload and download free music, the difficulty of promoting and distributing your band’s MP3s has been made very easy. The questions at hand are, what do I need to begin recording at home, how do I turn my recordings into MP3s, and what do I do with said MP3s after I am done creating them?

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Who knew MIDI could be extended to corn dogs

If you play the organ then you are probably familiar with bass pedals. They are also available as separate units and are known as MIDI bass pedals and you can use them with any keyboard that has MIDI ports. Just connect a MIDI cable from the MIDI out on the keyboard to the MIDI in on the pedal board and you can play any of your keyboard sounds from the pedal board.

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Author: Bob Miles

Once you have recorded your musical composition onto a MIDI sequencer, what next? Well, you may have noticed some mistakes in your playing that you want to correct. Or you may want to change the composition to make it sound better. Or you may want to copy your composition into another file and gradually modify it until it becomes a whole new song and you have
two compositions instead on just one. Whatever the reason, there are two ways that you can modify your original recording - real time or step-entering.

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Congratulations! Your singing has become amazing, and it’s time the world knew. You’ve also written some songs that are just kick you-know-what. They need to be recorded, MP3ed and put on the net ASAP. But you’ve got two problems. First, you can’t afford a studio, let alone a band for all this stuff. Second, you don’t play all, or any, of the instruments.

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Short loops, drum beats and sound effects, the kind often found on relatively inexpensive sample CDs, are basic tools for laying down most any kind of music track. While work like this is exactly what samplers were designed for, you don’t need to invest in one unless you’re doing a lot of work with chromatic instruments or strings. You can get the same job done using any Creative Labs soundcard that supports “SoundFonts” and a SoundFont editor program like the Vienna SoundFont Studio.

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Are you a songwriting prude? Do you sigh and shake your head when someone mentions “rhyming dictionaries"? Well, folks, I hate to break the news, but the information highway is plowing a great big road right through your creative process and perhaps it ’s time to jump on board.

So if you have been hesitant to use all these “new-fangled” tools or just haven’t been made aware of them, here ’s your chance to see what “high-tech” songwriting is all about. Don’t worry. It ’s not going to tell your creative side to go sit in the corner. Rather it will open your eyes to just what is available.

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