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ChrisDuncan · Senior Member Joined: 17 May 2018 Posts: 389

Like a lot of guys here, my recording background started with tape (actually stereo sound-on-sound before multitrack). I don't miss tape even a little, and gleefully set all my tape decks on fire and roasted marshmallows when I bought three ADATs.

I was late to the party with ADATs as this was the mid 90s, and at that point I had one foot in each world of analogue and PC as I did all my MIDI stuff with Cakewalk, back when they were just MIDI and the best in that category. So, tracking and mixing was a hodge podge between the ADAT tracks and a Mackie 24 channel mixer + rack gear, but with keyboards being sequenced on computer and then feeding the JV-2080. It worked, and it was cool, but also a bit clumsy.

Eventually I ditched the ADATs for a 24 track Mackie HDR digital recorder running ADAT light pipe / Toslink to the D8B mixer. More convenient than ADAT. When native DAWs that didn't require Pro Tools hardware became a thing I went through a few different things and ended up on Cubase, at first tracking on the HDR and then FTPing the tracks to Cubase for mixing.

Cubase (and others) kept getting better, and eventually they were stable enough to track on even with a modest PC. By then their MIDI implementation was on par with what Cakewalk used to be, and I was finally integrated in the box for keyboards / sequencing, audio tracking, and mixing. No more rack gear with Polaroid-only recall, patch cables, twitchy patch bays, ADATs with $500 head stack replacements, etc. No more back and forth between various gear. It all happens in Cubase.

Preferences vary of course, but having been through all the other technologies I absolutely love being 100% in the box. Sure, computers have their own class of hassles, but the good outweighs the bad on most days. I've never used the Kronos sequencer because for me it's so much easier to use an all encompassing environment, and just use the Kronos as the world class keyboard that it is.

Tons of great YouTube tutorials on Cubase. Yamaha / Steinberg's Greg Ondo is legendary with his short 5 or 10 minute how to videos, always well done and to the point. And if you ever get wrapped around the axle, I'm just a PM away and happy to help. It's huge fun once you get a feel for the wheel.
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Studio: Cubase 13 | Windows 10 | Yamaha TF5 | Mackie MCU | CMC AI, QC
Keyboard Station: Kronos 2 88 | Fantom 7 | JV 2080 | Cubase 13 | Windows 10 | Focusrite 18i20 | CMC TP
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Chris Duncan
Atlanta, GA, USA, Earth

holdsg · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 2:51 pm Post subject:

and here I thought this thread was going to be about how to play well with others in a band (mostly RH). Sorry about your accident and injury Greg, here's to a complete recovery.
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Bass and keyboard player, not usually at the same time, but sometimes in the same song!
Boards: Kronos 2, and Hammond SK1
Basses: Fender, G&L

yeskeys · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 7:44 pm Post subject:

Chris - Is Cubase the DAW to get? I've been trying to live off the Kronos sequencer but I keep banging my head.

I go back to the tape days, graduating to an Otari 24 track before getting the very first Pro Tools. I used Studiovision in those days and it was wonderful, I never hand any serious issues like I've had ever since I left pro audio for a long time and came back.

I'm seriously looking at a DAW, but I hate having to use a computer after a long day of work (on a computer).
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Korg Karma module, Kronos61, SEQUENTIAL PRO3, DSI OB6, Oberheim OB8, XStation25, Yamaha MFC (for Karma Pads), Omnisphere, guitars by Tom Anderson, Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, D'Angelico, Parker, Line6, Guitar Processors by Fractal Audio, Amplification by Mesa, Carvin, w/Celestion V30(!)

ChrisDuncan · Senior Member Joined: 17 May 2018 Posts: 389

yeskeys · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 8:41 pm Post subject:

THanks for your detailed synopsis.

PS - I forgot to mention that I also went the Mackie HDR/D8B route as well. Both ended up in the trash, literally. I got my D8B from that cretin Pat Robertson's studio, they thought the mic pre's were broke but it was just a switch in the wrong position. I paid like 200.

I would never go back to ProTools for sure. I've tried several of the others. I just want the simplest one, as my scoring to picture and locking to TC days are over. I have a PC in my studio solely to run Omnisphere, I'd just like a simple sequencer on there too.
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Korg Karma module, Kronos61, SEQUENTIAL PRO3, DSI OB6, Oberheim OB8, XStation25, Yamaha MFC (for Karma Pads), Omnisphere, guitars by Tom Anderson, Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, D'Angelico, Parker, Line6, Guitar Processors by Fractal Audio, Amplification by Mesa, Carvin, w/Celestion V30(!)

ChrisDuncan · Senior Member Joined: 17 May 2018 Posts: 389

I gave my D8B and HDR to a good friend when I switched my mixer to a Yamaha TF5, which also serves as a 32 i/o USB interface. The Mackie stuff was rockin' for its day, but that day was in the 90s. But $200? What a deal! I try not to think of what I paid.

I don't believe that the word "simplest" can be used for any DAW. They all compete on the basis of complex feature sets.

For me the criteria was stability first, as I want to make music, not spend all night fighting with my computer. MIDI was the next big thing for me. Whether I sequence manually or play via a keyboard, there's a huge world of what you can do in that realm and I wanted a good imlementation. Lastly, which is highly subjective, I like the user interface in Cubase over the others.

Naturally because I prefer Cubase, that's what I recommend to friends (plus I can then help them because I know it better than the others), but I tried to be as objective as possible on the other stuff.

And since you've obviously been kicking around as long as me, you already know this - no matter which one you pick there will be frustrations here and there because it's a computer. And there is, I believe, an equal learning curve on each of them. But also lots of YouTube tutorials.

Hope the rambling helped. And next time I want to buy expensive gear you're the guy I'm calling because you obviously live a charmed life. Smile

nitecrawler · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 8:56 pm Post subject:

Greg, get well soon. By the way, "Karma Can't Wait" is cool. Cool

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Montage M7, Pa5x76, Nautilus, PA3Xle, Oasys 76, Mini-Moog, EMU Audity 2000, Motion Sound KBR 3D amp, Presonus and Reaper DAW W/Tannoy Reveal 501A powered monitors

GregC · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2020 5:18 pm Post subject:

dfahrner · Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2020 7:48 pm Post subject:

After an accident on a local bike path (broken collarbone, no two-handed piano playing, or cycling, for several months, long story), I asked my older brother, a corporate attorney in San Francisco, how I should select a local attorney to represent me in subsequent legal actions, and he said, in his best attorney’s voice, that I should pick a one-armed lawyer...What?...he replied, “Well, when you ask most lawyers what you should do, they say, ‘You could do this, or on the other hand...’ “

df