Anyone also using Cubasis?
So Cubasis is currently 50% off on the App Store, quite tempted to get it but wondered what the benefits were in comparison to BM3.
Being new to making tunes on iPad I suspect there’s strengths to each DAW app and I would be able to utilise both, but I could also spend the money on plugins... decisions, decisions!
Any advice?
Comments
Cubasis is very well made, and it's the favourite DAW of many iOS musicians.
However, and I think I speak for everyone here when I say, BM3 is a whole other level of flexibility and routing coolness, and destroys Cubasis when it comes to midi pattern flexibility.
In a nutshell, Cubasis is better for audio track sequencing (eg working with live instruments and vocals), BM3 is better for sampling and pattern based electronic music. Both work great with AUv3 plugins.
Try searching 'Cubasis' in this forum for more detailed discussions and comparisons on this topic.
If you like BM3, buy plugins.
Ok, yeah I'm definitely more midi based in my production than audio, so I think you've convinced me that plugins are the better investment
that was easy!
Thanks!
Cubasis workflow is fast and focused. But overall quite limited compared to bm3. I'm using AUM a lot lately. All 3 have pros/cons depending on what you want to do at the time.
If it's 50% off it's a no brainier. You're going to get your money's worth out of it if you just commit to learning to use it, even just to master or trim a track.
tbh I was 50/50... I used Cubase VST for years before they moved to SX, then imo they killed the flow. I switched to Ableton and didn’t look back.
It’s taken a few sessions to get myself used to BM3 but starting to get results. If everyone had said it was a must buy I’d probably get it, but I’ll leave it for now... rather grab that audio damage suite and some others!
Cubasis is great as BM3 if you ask the question it’s because you want to buy it so go. I spend much money on apps and will spend much more hahah
Buy apps/plugins based on what you need. You might have to know what you need to accomplish or why you want to accomplish a task in a certain way. If your not sure, BM3 does and will do more in its future. Cubasis probably will too; however, I’m not there in that app right now. So my opinion in a way would be biased and isn’t very fair to either.
I do use Cubasis for some things. It has midi export (which we will soon) and automating synths works very well. The timeline/five point audio editing can be useful. If I didn’t have it already though and just bought it now I think I would be somewhat underwhelmed given that I have PC daws that run fine on a laptop and of course BM3.
@tk32 said:
Is it though?
I do like the simplicity of Cubasis and the support staff on the forums are good. But, coming from Ableton I missed the clip building in session view. Also, the potential to preform when you have clips set up is nice. So Beatmaker 3 has itself set up for this.
Ableton Link is also a no brainer, so far as I'm concerned and Cubasis 2 does not have Ableton Link. Because the iPad is not stable, having my Macbook running Abeton and having the iPad running BM3 means that if the iPad crashes, I can still keep something going on my Macbook. It also means I can be spinning Electro in Traktor with Ableton Link keeping everything in time.
I was finding that on an iPad Mini 4 I was having to freeze tracks down to audio stems and I was only just getting started on creating a track. So I was worried that when I got something more complex going (as you do when you compose a track) the DAW would really start to get laggy. But I have just got BM3 and I don't know how well it will do as I get into things.
Screen real estate is much better on BM3. Everything doesn't seem so crammed. Some AUv3's actually resize to full screen (I have a midi keyboard, so I don't need the on screen one taking up space). Cubasis doesn't resize AUv3's when you get rid of the onscreen keyboard.
I have no interest in the IAP's in Cubasis 2. Reverbed out drum kits are not for me. I work mainly with Audulus 3, KQDixie, Phosphor 2 and like to use soft synths to generate my drums and keys. I have a large collection of drum samples on my laptop and I will be importing those into BM3. I also like to make samples in Reaktor on my laptop and then import those. Which brings me to the next topic.
Sampling: I am not huge on sampling. However, there are no good AUv3 samplers yet. So you are left with the on board sampler in Cubasis 2. Not a huge fan and that was the point when I decided to get BM3.
I also like the simplicity of the graphics in the on board effects in BM3. No need for flashy faceplates that waste space and clutter up the organization of parameter settings...
Now lets address the first sentence again, because it is a common assumption but I think it may be false:
"Cubasis is better for audio track sequencing (eg working with live instruments and vocals"
There is no audio quantizing in Cubasis, so no advantage there. I don't see what is better about it other than its reputation with traditional guitar type recording (being that traditional rock guys lean more towards simple amp vst's as opposed to ultra deep effects modulation programming. But the thing is, I assumed this when I bought it and I assumed, because of the hideous title -- Beatmaker 3 -- that Cubasis was better suited to my needs as a person who integrates real instruments into his recordings. So far though, I think that I was very wrong about this.
However, I have spent a lot of time over the past few years watching tutorials and teaching myself how to use a DAW and how to mix audio, build synthesizers etc., etc.... So if you don't know how all this works, I would suggest maybe going from garageband to Cubasis. But if you are an Ableton type...
@LucidMusicInc said:
If it's 50% off it's a no brainier. You're going to get your money's worth out of it if you just commit to learning to use it, even just to master or trim a track.
I don't agree with this way of thinking at all. There are many other things you can spend your iPad app money on than another DAW -- AUv3's, midi routing, FX, etc... Most of all, working with a DAW is a major time investment -- importing samples, getting all the settings right, learning all the quirks while you destroy projects, getting interrupted in your workflow because there is a key function burried somewhere in an obscure menu -- at which point you feel stale and loose your creative motivation for the night.
Bottom line. BM3 has a misleading name, and Cubasis is an easier "my first DAW." Jacob Haq, unfortunately, gave BM3 a bad vibe and made Cubasis seem like the way to go. At this point I want to temper that suggestion and completely disagree with him.
Ohhhh... snap.
Nice one @futureaztec and I agree it’s not worth buying just because it’s on discount.
I would much rather be able to squeeze all I can out of BM3 technically, although I feel it’s limitations atm coming from Ableton - particularly routing and sound design capabilities. Although I see the potential for BM3 to grow in this area, the foundation is there in the sampler, it just needs to expand and find its way into the rest of the app.
Spend it on BM3 sound packs
the acid footsteps pack recently released is so good. They should do visual demos to better showcase the banks. The audio demos don’t do them justice
It's treason then...
You want to complain about cluttered menus, fair game, BM3s side pane menu has got to be the most hideous abuse of screen real estate since the dawn of time.
Cubasis does have audio quantisation. Not my job to explain to you how it works. Look it up.
Just about any music app at 50% is a no brainier but it just so happens that Cubasis gives you a crazy good value in terms of included sampled instruments and a synth with probably somewhere around 150 amazing presets. What do you get with BM3? The Summer Drums kit... vomits a little
No hate to Matt and the gang at Intua because I know they wanted to keep the digital footprint light, but if they're considering calling themselves "Studio" they had better get to work on making good presets, and to be on the safe side, a capable synth otherwise it's nothing more than a sampler for making beats.
Oh and have fun setting up midi out with Beatmaker.
Hammer drops
Have to say.. hard to argue with anything @LucidMusicInc writes.
Pure signal; no noise.
Cubasis gives you a crazy good value in terms of included sampled instruments and a synth with probably somewhere around 150 amazing presets.
I really don't want sample packs and bundled synths from my DAW developers. I want them focusing in the DAW, and leaving the rest to the app developers. I mean -- you buy a DAW and you want to midi in some drums and fiddle with a synth to test it out...
I am always looking for a unique sound so I have a natural aversion to bundled stuff. I really like the minimalism with BM3 so far. I am troubleshoot something right now though, and I leapt into Cubasis to work on it because I find it simple to route midi, etc.
Hmmm... Time stretching etc... I guess I was looking for a function that would snap transients to a beatgrid like in Ableton. I'm calling you out on this one...
Nobody ever from Intua suggested anywhere that Intua are considering calling themselves studio ?
That aside, i have never used any Intua content and never will, @mathieugarcia has offered me a pack or so in the past for helping him out with something or other, you can ask him, i always turn them down, I am not the freshest sandwhich at the picanic table and my folder structure is based on least braincells needed to find things, so i find it refreshing that i dont have a whole ton of downloaded content i will never use.
BM3s side buttons is a great use of UI space in my book, so obviously tastes differ and stating one opinion as fact over another is a bit silly.
Setting up MIDI out is ridiculously easy in BM3, you load an empty wav and trigger whatever you like, silly that it does not have a MIDI out mode direct, yes, worthy of a comment like "Good luck setting it up" nope.
Cubasis has audio quantize ? That is awesome, can you point me to the page in the manual please, i am not the brightest spark in the world and working it out simply wont happen here, but i would love to be able to use it for such tasks, would be super handy for me.
I'm not trying to piss on anyones fireworks here, but turning a Cubasis on sale thread in to a Cubasis vs Beatmaker thread is nonsense, lets keep it all on track, as i have just shown, any so called "Facts" can be countered with different opinions, so lets keep it simple
Cubasis and BM3 are both great, and meet the needs of different users. Let's not start a flame war here.
Speaking personally, BM3 is the best tool for me, based on the way I like to compose and the type of music I produce.. at least at this moment in time.
Is it perfect? No.
Compared to other DAWs, BM3 is one of the most stingy out of the gates regarding built-in samplebanks, instruments and sounds, and new users may find it a bit hard to get inspiration and start new tracks to begin with. Having said that, most power users (which, let's face it, is who BM3 is aimed at), or those who have already amassed lots of samples and plugins, will not care about the lack of sounds and presets AT ALL!.
April fools, y'all... BM3 is the best and it's always getting better
nice one