Steinberg Cubase LE Reviews

[Flyer30]

Can anyone tell me what the learning curve is on the Cubase LE software? Just getting into recording so definitely at a beginner stage! Thanks for the help

[aschemkes]

The first steps AFTERreading the qiuck start up, is very easy. You'll be ready in 1 hour to do your first recordings and editing. Then later on you want more and start reading aditional manuals.

[Gnarlyswine]

I found Cubase LE a little less intuitive than earlier versions - it is fairly easy to get up and running , but its the shortcuts and things that make productivity easier that are a but fiddly. Placing locators is one example that I find a bit less easy to work with now, and the manual isnt always the clearest.
Overall though when you get going and have the basics down it really is extremely powerful. For the price (in my case zero with a Multimix 8 USB2) It cant be beat.
I do have the odd gripe occasionaly that I cant work out - like sometimes recording audio which wont play back even though there is a waveform there, its not muted , the fader isnt lowered , nothing else is soloed and it will play back in the editor. No doubt it means ive done something stupid but cant figure for the life of me what.

[sistamattix]

I have been using LE for about a year and a half now and I love it, Although I plan on hooking up an PV14 usb mixer to it real soon to record live drums, I guess I will find out how much I like it after that. I have used Cubase vst 24 for almost 7 years before I purchased the LE platform and the transistion was pretty easy.

[Strangedogs]

I'm using Cubase 4 LE more and more lately - it's really all I need for Guitar recording - Logic Studio is nice but kinda OVERKILL for what I do - I record my Guitar (usually 3 takes - 1 panned left, 1 panned right and 1 center with some slight delay) then add Bass using either an Octaver with my Boss GS-10 or use a Bass instrument with my Yamaha KB, and then USUALLY just find some drum loops I can use - I sometimes do my own drums with my midi keyboard but I'm so lazy... Lately I like to do the drums 1st - find a good beat and somewhat of a BPM timing I like - tweak it up a bit then start adding guitar and bass... Cubase is great. I also have the AI version too - came with something? Don't remember what? Looks about the same as LE except it has some sort of included midi instrument (think it's called Halion) that I don't use anyways as I'm really NOT a keyboard player. Wish I was though as Logic has so many great keyboard instruments - the Piano & Strings combo is really beautiful sounding on my Yamaha but if ain't got strings and frets I'm a total klutz. My wife plays beautifully and tried over and over to give me lessons but it just ain't my bag although I do a "mean" HEART & SOUL

[javaeb40]

Im using Cubase LE,
I've recorded two audio tracks and made a midi drum track(through GM map),
Problem is:

When i export audio mixdown, it doesn't include the Drum track.
Alternatively i tried exporting only midi track, but it gave the piano sound instead of drums.
Please help me out!

[garageband]

Welcome. This is a review thread. Go to the Forum Jump pulldown and navigate to Cubase forum and start a thread there. I'm sure you get some help.

[Svencanz]

Quality: 9
Have used both LE and LE4. Quite a big difference between those, including that LE4 does NOT have Rewire (so ended up having to buy Essential when got my Presonus Firestudio Project) - nevertheless, LE and LE4 are both great product. Cubase LE is probably a bit easier for the beginner, but LE4 has more sends and inserts. Both work really well and are far more competent than I had hoped for.

Reliability: 9
Assuming your computer and interface is set up properly, both work without any problems

Overall Rating: 9
Well, I just "did". Note that LE and LE4 versions can be hardware specific: my LE did not run well with the Presonus, so had to migrate to LE4 - but needed Rewire so bought Essential. I will probably buy Propellerheads' Record when it comes out, just for the hell of it. But to date, I can do anything I need to do with the light Cubase stuff.

[mrblitz]

Quality: 9
Cubase is definitely stable enough to get the work done. It sounds good, and has options for rendering (exporting) to various quality of output. from 44.1k/16bit to 96k/32bit. Windows media player accepts the .wav output and burns to CD without 'any' problem. Nero appears to be unable to recognize Cubase's output .wav files. Windows Media Player does it fairly seamlessly.

Reliability: 7
It's fairly reliable, but will go 'poof' (just disappear or drop out or exit) now and then; particularly when loading/tweaking a lot of VST plug-ins (especially if the plug-ins are CPU hogs or a tad buggy in their own right), or when doing edits on the various tracks, in the middle of playback. That it works as well as it does in real-time editing is actually quite impressive. Also, the ASIO drivers are 'lost' here and there, but are easy enough to re-establish. This is with version 4.1.2. The quirks can be worked through (save your work often), but it isn't 100% rock solid/stable. It's definitely good enough, though.

Overall Rating: 9
The thing with needing a 3rd party encryption key or somesuch was a bit offputting. The workstation requires an internet connection for this. Not having an internet connection on that machine, this was problematical. The Steinberg tech support was above average, and helped me work through this, as well as some latency problems (a software patch made the latency acceptable). As far as getting the encryption thing squared away, I had to establish a dial-up connection on the workstation (it is not my internet broadband computer). The ' software dongle thing' was enough of a hassle that it left me wondering if I could find some other 'DAW' app, without such 'baggage.' Over time thought I realized that the thing is, Cubase works; and it works very well. With the tech support issues 98% in the rear view mirror, Cubase is working well enough. This came with a Lexicon Lambda at $149 or thereabouts. Having migrated over from the world of standalone recorders (BOSS BR-900 CD), Cubase LE 4 is light years ahead of that. Employing even a simple line signal, a guitar recording in Cubase can - with VST plug-ins and layering - surpass the quality of the COSM effects provided in the BOSS machines. Add to that a world of virtual synths, and practically unlimited signal chain effects, and you have great music making machine! At this point, I would definitely purchase a Lambda again under the same circumstances; and actually recommend this. Now, there may be some free 'DAW' software out there that could replace Cubase, and eliminate the encryption hassle. On the other hand, with the encryption bugbear behind me, Cubase works; and it easily works 'well enough,' and time which would be spent learning another DAW (REAPER, Darkwave, Aodix, etc.) can be spent creating. The only remaining thing is; that with only 1gb of RAM, sometimes the VSTs have to be used sparingly. This can involve either rendering/importing tracks which are laden with VSTs, or not using so many VSTs to begin with. Oh, it appears there is 'track freeze feature' but I haven't gotten to that yet. All in all, this is the best $149 I've ever spent on musical 'gear.'