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Another thing I desperately need is to have more nameable markers to be able to set up as intro, verse, chorus, outro, etc! This will definitely help so much to create Multitrack stems for backing tracks.
Praise for Cubasis3 @LFS! I've just finished my 44th CB album. Can't ask for more than that.
But... I would love to be able to open a AU instrument or effect on top of the track slider screen. Could that ever happen? Best to you, Lars, for the new year to come!
Same here
True, every 6-8 months there is a new major release and minor releases with bugfixes and smaller features soon after. Ticking like a clock. Looks like Cubasis has a sustainable business model at this pace. According to this pattern 3.4 is a major release and I think it will really contain some bigger features. I’m really excited. I also really enjoy the videos with Dom.
Any ‘experts’ can give their comparison on Desktop DAWs and Cubasis, can Cubasis compete?
BTW, I use Sonar for mixing on DT..
Honestly, more interactivity with keyboards would go a long way for me. Like using the arrows to scroll AUs. I know this is a touch-first DAW but it really feels like a missed opportunity for a lot of DAWs not to provide more robust keyboard interaction. I'm not sure how hard that is to implement though so the squeeze may not be worth it.
I’ve heard that the new Cubasis3 update is so big - that it would actually also bring new features to NanoStudio2! 😛
In my opinion, it is the closest thing to a desktop DAW that iOS has at the moment. I say that having tried GarageBand, NS2, BM3, and AEM as well.
That being said, no, it is not competitive with any desktop DAW I’m aware of. As you can see in this thread, there is quite a bit missing that I believe all of the major desktop DAWs have.
It would be great if it could get some sort of drummer, either like Groove Agent or GarageBand’s Drummer…
On the other hand many of the requests popping up 'now' are 1-2 years old already...
I don't want to defend that essential features are not being implemented for a long time but honestly it's not unusual that this happens even if you have the resources of a big player. See Ableton's implementation of comping. AFAIK it was implemented in 2020. Quick google search for voices demanding this feature:
20.03.2013 — Ableton does not have 'takes' or that ability to comp things together. WTF is that!? Ableton guys, how do you get around this?
https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/822570-ableton-live-9-takes-comping.html
And I think the Cubasis team is much smaller than the Ablteon Live team. It's also normal that we as users want to have all our needed features - immediately!
This is when wishful thinking hits reality.
Hmm... AFAIK Logic and Garage Band are the only DAWs that have a drummer. Honestly, as a product manager of a DAW I would say let the customers get a plugin for that. You need to leave some room for an ecosystem to develop.
Hehe, when I just now searched the forum for "time-signature cubasis" I find discussions on the topic far older than that too. From 2013 and onwards there are multiple threads mentioning it.
I have requested it myself via the official channels at least 2 times over the years, with no luck of even getting a reply that isn't "it is on the secret roadmap, but not for now". It has taught me not to purchase an app and all it's IAP's based on a promise again though (which is a wise strategy in general), so there is that.
On their old forums (they use a different forum software these days so can't find original posts) I pretty consistently got 2 replies (always polite and concise it should be noted) to 3 questions, where the reply regarding time-signature/tempo track always was the one missing. It is like it disappears when they read it, and they simply don't address it, at all. Even a "no, we will never do it" would be better than the silence (or a "sure, it will come...some time in the unknown future..." which is almost worse) on the topic.
I have hardware bought in the 80's that have it. It is bread-and-butter functionality in desktop DAWs, including Cubase. I honestly don't see why it isn't a regular (nigh-on mandatory) feature on this flagship iOS DAW. As a few other apps have it I have to assume it can't be impossible to do. If they had wanted to add it I would say 9 years (since 2013) probably is enough time to do it. Therefore the only conclusion becomes that they choose not to add it.
I feel your pain. I think everyone of us has got such features that exist for a long time in other products and are essential to our workflows but probably are not much used by the majority of users. Cubase for Atari in 1988 had got time-signature/tempo track and it also had got groove quantize and ghost parts - which I miss badly. Honestly, in all those years I never used tempo track. probably you never used groove quantize. It is very subjective what is an essential feature.
No worries, things do take time...
It's just that some relatively basic features seem to be like totally impossible to add year after year after year...
Tempo/Signature/Chord Track, Halfway Decent built-in sampler, Audio & Midi routing, Date-sorting and search in the media bay.
One thing GarageBand (And Logic for that matter) got right is the non-destructive quantize which is really useful.
Scale support in the midi-editor/on-screen keyboard is another one which makes transposing midi and stay in key a LOT easier.
Another is 'Loop Event' which makes it easy to create a backing track that loops on forever to jam over instead of doing endless copy & paste, copy & paste (there's not even a 'Duplicate' option for extending an event with a single tap!).
Oh well, I guess we'll see the update before January ends or something
But somehow I feel that GarageBand will get comping before Cubasis does...
Cheers!
Unfortunately, all of Steinberg’s development efforts with Cubasis appear to have gone into making it multiplatform. Sure this is great for the Cubasis bottom line and I’m sure that keeps the bean counters happy. But iPadOS deserves something closer to Cubase Elements/Artist both of which are still gateway drugs to Cubase Pro.
Cubasis is a toy in comparison, even when compared to the Cubase Artist which retails for $85 on desktop OS's. iPadOS is more that capable of running Cubase Elements/Artist and neither are more complicated to use than Cusbasis, but Steinberg still views iOS musicians as nothing more than the bottom of the computer musician food chain.
I think the move to mobile multi-platform is already finished. I think they had working on it the past years until the release of Cubasis 3. There is simply no other important other mobile OS than iOS and Android and no other platforms will follow. I believe the ChromeOS version is just a small fork from the Android version. I think it was a complete rewrite of the codebase and now is harvest time and they will mostly be adding features. The only thing I can imagine is bringing VST to Android as it lacks a plugin standard and Steinberg did that years ago for desktop.
Don’t be so pessimistic. I believe in mobile music production. There are actually market research reports and forecasts but getting these reports exceed my budget
https://themarketgossip.com/2021/08/30/global-music-production-app-for-phone-market-by-type-daws-full-on-apps-to-create-songssynths-appbeat-machines-appeffects-processors-app-by-application-ios-system-phoneandroid-system-phonewind/
Hey @LinearLineman,
You've finished your 44th CB album... wow... that's massive output... congratulations!!
My best wishes to a happy and healthy new year 2022 to you and yours and everyone here too...
Best wishes,
Lars
@krassmann I don’t doubt iOS/iPadOS as a music production platform, I just doubt Steinberg's intentions to provide a product that’s closer to their gateway offerings on the desktop.
If I’m using a DAW on iPadOS, it’s Cubasis as all things considered, it’s the best DAW the platform has to offer right now. But when compared to Cubase Elements on the desktop (Steinberg's entry-level Cubase offering), Cubasis is a toy, and that for me is inadequate in 2022 after 10+ years of iOS audio production innovations. iPadOS has lifted many of the restrictions that made it difficult to match desktop DAW performance, but we're still waiting on a developer to up their game so as to make use of iPadOS to the full (Staffpad is the exception).
Whilst I'm sure that Cubasis becoming a universal app across both iPhone and iPad devices was a welcome innovation for many. That was a signal to me that Cubasis isn't ever going to become a product that closer matches Cubase Elements/Artist.
At this stage it probably makes sense for Steinberg to keep Cubasis as its entry-level product that works across both iPhone and iPad, but then also offer Cubase proper as a separate iPadOS only product line. Staffpad has shown that a $90 app is marketable (and profitable) within the music production category of iPadOS. And I'm sure Steinberg would find that Cubase Elements/Artist would be equally marketable to iPad Pro customers.
Yeah, it is subjective. But being able to adjust tempo/time-signature within the same tune* is, I think can be agreed upon, a vital function for a multitude of genres. Jazz, Rock, Classical, Cinematic and Ambient (and all the variations of either) spring to mind, but there are hundreds of famous "pop" or "hit list" songs/tunes that use more than 4/4 and which lets it vary during the song.
Most of the music I make, and aspire to make, needs to have it available as an option, even if I'm not using it in every tune. Truth to be told, I don't write all my tunes in 7/8 (or whatever) but when I do (and it is often enough) I most often have significant parts of the same tune in 4/4 too, as that enforces the feeling of the "odd" time-signature, when it shifts from one to the other.
What I am looking for is a tool/DAW that allows to make my music, not just only music-by-formula, but still stick to the same tool and not forcing me to have other tools for some tunes, because as we know, wrestling workflows steals a lot of creative energy. Sometimes when I start writing and recording a tune I don't even know if I wish for that tune to have a section that is 6/9 for a couple of bars, as I haven't written that part of the tune just yet. To change tools in the middle of writing a tune that is half-way written is a straight-up creativity killer.
I only did one mix to compare with my Sonar mix… As a matter of fact, comparing them now (Cubasis 2) .. I can really give up my desktop and focus on the iPad completely.. seems so ‘hands on’… AB Link would be so nice.. Don’t be an Imageline AHole, Mr Cubasis.. Let’s do this..
Thanks..
In GarageBand:
In Cubasis:
Cubasis has everything on ONE screen. GB has separate views for tracks, instruments, Live Loops, Beat Sequencer, Sound Library, Drummer, Drums, Sampler, Smart Instruments... with fancy animations. Editing velocities per note in GB is a big hassle.
That is UI/UX choices made by 2 different apps. Apple doesn't know everything better.
I was referring to @Samu 's comment -
With 'duplicate' in this case I meant 'loop/repeat midi-event' so it doesn't have to be copy-pasted thus creating unique copies...
This is something I use all the time in BM3, NS2, Logic, SunVox(Clone) and GarageBand etc.
I don't always see Cubasis's 'one screen' as an advantage.
I prefer to use for example the Beat Sequencer in GarageBand in 'full-screen' same with the on-screen instruments.
Cubasis on the iPhone 8 is way too fiddly and microscopic to be usable...
...here GarageBand wins hands down in my very, very humble opinion
We'll have to wait and see what the new/next update brings to the table.
Cheers!
There won't be a Duplicate/loop option until there are loops/patterns in Cubasis. The point becomes relevant if there were loops in Cubasis with no option to Duplicate them. I’m sure there will be a Duplicate option when loops are incorporated. Loops come with behaviors, attributes/settings (like in GB) and they can be applied to MIDI and Audio. There is currently no audio-glue in Cubasis and maybe that is a blocker which is holding them back.
Apparently, as long as there are workarounds, Steinberg would prioritize them low on their list. How hard is it to single-tap Paste, Paste, Paste... or bulk-Paste? Sure, you get unique events and if we need to make changes to them, we have to edit the first event, bulk-delete the rest and bulk-paste the rest with the changed one (copy/paste 4 events, copy/paste 8 events... like Armin van Buuren does in Logic). Still no biggie. The listener would not know if you used loops or not.
There is a Loop option (not Duplicate) in GB which converts a region into a loop/pattern and repeats it until it encounters another region or until the end of the section/song. In GB, you can just drag the right edge of a loop (once it is converted into a loop from the popup menu) to repeat it if it is not of desired length - no need to tap for popup menu and then tap Loop. The loop region becomes a simple region once we reduce its length to one bar. All these behaviors, settings, etc. (and audio-glue?) need to be implemented in the new event loops functionality and it may not be a trivial task.
Some of the issues you mentioned (and many other issues mentioned by others here) like date-sort and search in Media Bay (including Loops and many more) are already on my list of 170+ issues/suggestions on Steinberg forum (there are more coming) - they've already resolved a couple of them like Track heights persistence, MIDI/Automation Editor zoom factor persistence, etc. UI issues are mostly trivial and quick to fix to get a BIG BANG (like keeping the open panels 'open' while opening new panels instead of replacing them - Mixer, Keyboard, Automation editor, etc. and letting the user to close them or move them up/down for visibility - this is just one example, there are a TON of UI suggestions in my list) and would make it a killer app, if resolved. UI fixes could be followed by bug-fixes and then enhancements.
When the team is tiny and they need to juggle with budgets and a ton of issues reported by a worldwide user-base and please everybody while generating revenue, staying afloat, sustainable, dodging Apple's breakneck updates that keep apps breaking and making sure the app works like a charm on most hardware and not to make any major boo-boos along the way, it becomes a huge challenge. Maybe that rock-solid STABILITY and PERFORMANCE are the reasons why Cubasis sells like a hot cake even though it lags behind the competition (just like Apple devices). Slow and steady wins the race. If they go at breakneck speed to desperately capture the market without adequate testing, batteries will EXPLODE!
You are free to like things differently.
I'm just a UI/UX guy who thinks single screen apps with popup windows but no hidden popup menus on tablet apps are ideal, graceful and contemporary way of doing things. Alan Cooper (father of Visual Basic) said, "If a friend comes to your place, you don't have to take him to your bedroom or bathroom to shake his hand. You can do that right in the hallway or living room. If something can be accomplished without opening a superfluous dialog, just do it without the dialog". Keeping the click-path as short as possible is the key to a successful software and it is one of the strengths of Cubasis. There are no hidden popup menus or modes in Cubasis (and Fantom, too) that result in fewer taps which shortens the click-path and makes it an easy-to-use app.
People who start on GB may get frustrated with GB initially as a lot of functionality is hidden inside popup menus and not obvious and they wouldn't know what menu is hidden where unless they read the manual or do a course. Where is the precious Redo?? Where is the...? Many of them may give up as they are not even savvy enough to know how to search for a tutorial video or read the manual (is anyone still reading books in this day and age?). Once they learn how to use it, GB is a fun app.
I haven’t used it much as I have an old iPhone and Cubasis crackles on it with a few AU tracks.
Apparently, Apple has a secret/undocumented way of coding apps up that come out fluid and buttery smooth
The Drums and Drummer modules in GB are the proof of their voodoo magic as no other dev could replicate them in over a decade!
Cheers!
I’m actually looking forward to when Cubase finally gets rid of the physical I lock dongle to try it out and probably get the full monty.
But why would they say no, if it's truly their intent to do it?
I do understand the frustration, though. This is a very important feature, for my workflow. I just get the feeling (I might be wrong) that it's not a trivial thing to add a time/tempo track.
There was an email from Steinberg last year stating they'd decided to eliminate the dongle from Cubase 12 this year.
QUOTE
The transition to new Steinberg product licensing begins!
Our previously announced intention to migrate to a new ID-based licensing system will begin to roll out in the next few months. You will soon be introduced to Steinberg Licensing with the release of Dorico 4 early next year, followed by Cubase 12.
Read about the vision mentioned in President Andreas Stelling's statement, and refer to further information on Steinberg Licensing and the provided FAQs.
This is a a big step forward and we are happy to take it together with you!
UNQUOTE
https://www.steinberg.net/licensing/
https://musictech.com/features/opinion-analysis/steinberg-elicenser-whats-next/