Cubase 7 or DP8? Why?

[James Steele]

Magic Dave has been a tremendous help over the years.

Dave is da man!!

[bayswater]

Cubase 7 is currently a nightmare on Mac (there's a very small bit of coding you, the user, must do to achieve no CPU spikes).

Coding !? Really??

magneticnorth: Jonathan Meades fan?

[buhardilla]

I have just moved to DP from Cubase (Steinberg user since Nuendo2&CubaseSX) .. why? Because is obvious that mac platform isn't a priority. Some examples: in the official Steinberg forum there are an active thread about "unknown" Cubase 7 performance issues on OSX (http://www.steinberg.net/forum/viewtopi ... 75&t=39738); is known that Cubase isn't CoreAudio native application and has less performance on mac than VST/PC version; at the same time of Cubase 7 release Steinberg just recommend HP/windows as "perfect combo".... Cubase is a great DAW on PC . But I want&love mac and under no circumstances I'm going to PC. At the moment I'm in the learning DP process (translating what I got used to do in Cubase), I hope soon to answer if move to DP was a good choice

[ChrisByrd]

I emailed MOTU with a pre-sales question and got an almost immediate reply from Magic Dave with an offer to answer any other technical queries. I was very much impressed, and pretty well decided there and then to go for DP.

Personally, even without the performance issues in Cubase, I'm coming to realise that switching to Digital Performer is probably one of the best things I've done. It's a different way of working, but one I'm coming to find very comfortable. For fellow switchers, I'd recommend getting Magic Dave's 'The Power in Digital Performer', which acts as a sort of front end for the manual and gets you into the DP way of thinking.

[wvandyck]

It was for me, too. I have a distrust of people who don't like animals. Even more distrust of people animals dislike!

Both points became evident to me as a very young person, especially, the the latter.

[magneticnorth]

Cubase 7 is currently a nightmare on Mac (there's a very small bit of coding you, the user, must do to achieve no CPU spikes).

Coding !? Really??

magneticnorth: Jonathan Meades fan?

Yes the coding is very, very small. But it leaves you wondering if their coders know the ins/outs of the Mac OS. And I forgot to mention Steinberg "support" is THE worst.

I have not heard of Jonathan Meades until now - from what i am reading he sounds interesting. I am however a Coil fan; my user name comes from their Winter Solstice EP.

[tellurian]

I have just moved to DP from Cubase (Steinberg user since Nuendo2&CubaseSX) .. why? Because is obvious that mac platform isn't a priority. Some examples: in the official Steinberg forum there are an active thread about "unknown" Cubase 7 performance issues on OSX (http://www.steinberg.net/forum/viewtopi ... 75&t=39738); is known that Cubase isn't CoreAudio native application and has less performance on mac than VST/PC version; at the same time of Cubase 7 release Steinberg just recommend HP/windows as "perfect combo".... Cubase is a great DAW on PC . But I want&love mac and under no circumstances I'm going to PC. At the moment I'm in the learning DP process (translating what I got used to do in Cubase), I hope soon to answer if move to DP was a good choice

Agree!

[ChrisByrd]

It was for me, too. I have a distrust of people who don't like animals. Even more distrust of people animals dislike!

Both points became evident to me as a very young person, especially, the the latter.

Yes, I totally agree

[rthorderson]

I really liked Chris' reply to this question, and just want to add a thought. I've been using MOTU's products since the beginning, 20+ years ago. I have often been asked this question and have responded with a similar "give the top ones a try" answer, but added that usually one of those DAW packages will "speak" to you intuitively. It will just make sense regarding its workflow and layout...even during first experiences.

This is important because the goal really is to get to where you can be completely free of obstacles while you are creating. Ideally, using your DAW should be so easy, so intuitive, that it becomes part of your unconscious competency...allowing your brain to swing completely to the right side (instead of the left, trying to figure out something technically).

For me DP is that...but I have met people who inexplicably don't "get it". Then they try a different package, and it clicks for them. That was when I realized that the software needs to interface with the user...and users can be different.

Certainly, key features play a part in the decision process, but if the DAW makes sense to the user from the start, they will usually have a much better experience with it.

[Shooshie]

For me DP is that...but I have met people who inexplicably don't "get it". Then they try a different package, and it clicks for them. That was when I realized that the software needs to interface with the user...and users can be different.

Certainly, key features play a part in the decision process, but if the DAW makes sense to the user from the start, they will usually have a much better experience with it.

That's true, and I respect that. But users who start on Logic (or Garageband, moving up to Logic) are often affected in such a way that other approaches are very hard for them to grasp. That's a generalization, possibly stereotyping, and there may be people here who started just that way and found it easy to switch to DP, but it's been my experience helping people here that those who started with Logic simply have a much harder time of it. The other DAWs tend to work in a more natural way.

It's no secret that I'm not fond of Logic's methods. I own Logic Studio and spent a good bit of time learning it and preparing to switch if something happened to Digital Performer and MOTU. (There were lots of bad rumors out at the time, none of which turned out to be true, thank goodness) At the time I was using it, the top Logic users were themselves complaining about its instability and sometimes the difficulty of getting things done. Nobody doubts its superiority to most DAWs in terms of sheer numbers of commands and the menus and windows that allow for some very interesting tricks. But really, just doing the basic and simple rudiments of recording, editing, assigning I/O, aligning, and so forth were so much harder to do in Logic that I could not understand why anyone would want to.

But I should shut up and stick to the point: sometimes the DAW speaks to you and you just feel that it's a good match. Other times you grow up with one, such as Garageband, which leads you to its big brother, and you learn things that make it hard to understand the simplicity at the core of most good software.

Shooshie

[HCMarkus]

As an old analog studio guy, I have always loved the parallels between DP and the studios of my younger years. Those time-tested paradigms are touchstones for me. Call me old fashioned, then watch me fly beyond archaic boundaries with DP!

[ChrisByrd]

This is important because the goal really is to get to where you can be completely free of obstacles while you are creating. Ideally, using your DAW should be so easy, so intuitive, that it becomes part of your unconscious competency...allowing your brain to swing completely to the right side (instead of the left, trying to figure out something technically).

This is a good way of putting it and something I felt very early on with DP. I only partly felt this with Cubase and never really with Logic Pro (having to dive into the environment seemed very alien to the process of creating music). The Getting Started guide quotes the design philosophy as combining clarity with depth, which sums it up perfectly for me.

Chris

[bayswater]

This is important because the goal really is to get to where you can be completely free of obstacles while you are creating.

This is a good way of putting it and something I felt very early on with DP. I only partly felt this with Cubase and never really with Logic Pro

I had the same experience. I did get there with Cubase now and then, but Steinberg had a habit of dropping features in version upgrades, making you reset your workflow.