DJ Chimney Sparrow

After finishing with Avid Pro Tools, Cubase stood out for me as the last of the “giants” in the DAW industry that I hadn’t tried yet, so I did my usual quick search for “free trials” on Google, and sure, enough, found a direct link to download the software, top of the page.

When I made it to the next screen, I was greeted with a confirmation that, yes, this was the place to get a free trial for the software.

As I scrolled down, I saw two options: The “lite” version called Cubase Elements, and a Pro version that the page indicated was also available, but that I would need something called a “USB-eLicenser” to continue.

Now, I – like many out there I’m sure – am new to the world of eLicensers. I gathered they were an extra security measure I would have to go through, but as there wasn’t any indication I would have to buy something, I figured, hey, let’s do it.

You probably know where I’m going with this.

Before I continue, I just want to say that I did revisit the page later, and there was some fine print at the bottom indicating I could pick up an eLicenser at their online store. But as no other DAW had charged me for trying their free software, I hope I can be excused for assuming I would get some kind of promo code or something.

Well… That’s not how it went. After downloading and installing everything, AND entering in their 24 digit code to unlock the product for 30-days, I ran up hard against an alert saying that no USB-eLicenser had been detected and I wouldn’t be able to continue without one.

So I checked for one online, and found that my option was to purchase one from their store for $27.99. That’s it. No free software download option. No coupon code. Nada.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, once taxes and shipping were applied, the price swelled to $81.13CAD. I would be putting down almost a hundred dollars, just to try their DAW.

Feeling increasingly irritated, I checked around online, looking for workarounds – I mean, surely someone else has complained about this, right?

And people had. LOTS of them. Some complained that a price should have been clearly stated from the beginning, like a pop-up before you download, for example. Some accused Steinberg (the company that created Cubase) of not respecting or trusting their customers.

A few mentioned trying a “soft eLicenser” to access the DAW, only to find that it only worked with other Steinberg products.

And in the face of all this frustration, I found a single thread in which a Steinberg representative had responded. This is how they left it:

I get it that Steinberg has to protect their software. And I’m willing to blame my attention span on why I missed that a USB dongle was required – although it’s obviously a pervasive issue that could be easily corrected, given the number of people who’ve had the same confusion.

But I’ll admit – I don’t understand how they expect to remain competitive, when no other music company I’ve encountered charges anything to try their full versions, let alone at such a prohibitive price.

And I’m even less okay with how they handled the backlash. The message that sends me as a customer is I’m not likely to get quality service for other things, like technical issues relating to getting it to run on an old MacBook, for example.

And that is why I will not be trying out Cubase, despite my initial eagerness to do so.

A salesman once said: “People don’t buy because they want what you have – they buy because they believe what you believe.” And as far as Steinberg is concerned, I am not a believer.

I knew I needed to try out Pro Tools months ago, when I first started researching DAWs. Every website I looked at had something to say about them, ranging from “the gold standard in music production” to “the lumbering behemoth” that many feel is too bloated for its own good.

Either way, had to see for myself, didn’t I?

Pro Tools and I got off to a rocky start – I had a lot of trouble downloading the thing (it lagged my computer a LOT), so much so that I started looking at putting it on my ASUS laptop for a while. This was followed by some sound issues, first with Pro Tools, then everywhere else on my computer.

I’m willing to blame all or most of that on my aged Macbook though, and once I finally started digging in, a number of things made the software stand out for me.

Easily my favourite part of Pro Tools: It’s an editor’s paradise. Pro Tools hosts a massive array of shortcuts, editing tools, and other features that can save a considerable amount of time with common tasks like transposing notes, trimming, moving and duplicating clips, and so on.

It does take some time to learn these controls as they are not always the most intuitive, and the initial tutorial videos were sadly not as helpful as Ableton’s. Fortunately, I was delighted to find that MusicTechHelpGuy, who delivered such clear and professional videos for Apple’s Logic, has a series for Pro Tools as well. Check out his tutorial series on YouTube here.

Much like Logic Pro, Pro Tools is clearly set up for studio recording, with similar punch-in features, and a warp function that allows for fine-tuned adjustments on audio tracks. You can even quantize the transients, although Pro Tools occasionally gets confused about what constitutes a “transient”, requiring you to delete the ones you don’t want.

Another awesome feature is the pitch-shifting ability: Pro Tools gives you two options to adjust the pitch of audio – polyphonic for the “quick and dirty” version, and X-form for very high quality. The latter can be a bit time-intensive, as the entire clip is re-rendered on the spot.

Like the DAWs I’ve tested previously, creating groups and colour coding different clips is pretty straightforward, so you can separate your drums from your vocals, synths from the piano, etc.

MIDI editing was sometimes a bit tricky, because Pro Tools doesn’t always put the notes into a specific clip that can be trimmed or cut – instead, the notes themselves have to be highlighted and copied manually. Fortunately you can bring up a separate MIDI editor window to make this easier.

Automation works about the same as Ableton, if a bit clunkier – you have to click a button that looks like two overlapping rectangles near the top of any plugin, and choose the features you want to add, which allows you to view and make adjustments in the editor menu.

You can also automate the changes live, by using the steps above, activating the “latch” mode, pressing record and moving around dials as the playhead moves. To be honest though, Ableton does this far more easily.

Pro Tools boasts six high-quality instrument plugins, as follows:

1. Boom – A drum synth and sequencer. It only allows 16 steps, but different presents can be set to different keys on the keyboard, allowing variations to be played with ease.
2. DB-33 – An organ synth. Packs plenty of amplification and vibrato effects.
3. Mini Grand – A simple piano sampler. Brightness and reverb knobs allow it to fit into a hard-hitting dance number, or a softer ambient track.
4. Structure Free – A sampler with tons of patches that can be preloaded. Effectively allows your internal or external keyboard to play sounds from many instruments, with a few extra controls you can use to make them your own.
5. Vacuum – A powerful monophonic synth, sporting two vacuum tube oscillators, drift and dust knobs to provide a more “weathered” feel, waveshaping distortion, and numerous modulation options.
6. Xpand 2 – Another sampler, with four different channel strips, allowing sounds to be combined into a whole orchestra with the push of a button. The channels can be routed to different tracks, allowing different plugins to be used on each.

Now don’t get me wrong – I loved almost every sound that came out of the instruments above. Given that my chosen style of music is EDM however (slowly narrowing down what type – stay tuned), I was a bit disappointed how many were samplers, or ran off presets.

Yes, the Vacuum synth has a lot of potential. But compared to the range of synths offered by Ableton, or the all-powerful Alchemy synth in Logic, well.. I just didn’t feel I had as many creative options. If you like working with samples though, you’re certainly spoiled for choice.

On a similar note, I found that many of the plugins were better suited for classic rock instruments like drums, electric guitars and so on. That said, my subscription ran out before I had a chance to take a longer look, so it’s possible I missed something here.

One significant barrier to purchasing Pro Tools is well, the price. It costs $779 USD as of 2020, and even then, it only includes a year’s worth of updates. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of needing to buy the same software over and over because it keeps getting outdated.

Avid clearly wants you to go for the monthly or yearly subscriptions, costing $39/month, or $45/month if you don’t want to get tied to a monthly contract. You can also purchase a year in advance for $389, which saves you a couple months.

To be honest though, I HATE paying monthly fees – they’re like little parasites, taking bites out of my income when I’m not looking. I prefer to pay more up front so I don’t have to worry about it, and Avid makes this very difficult.

Pro Tools has a lot of different windows, which can be dragged to different parts of your screen. Because it takes up so much visual real estate, I found it tough at times to see everything, especially with the MIDI editor. Not exactly a drawback, but definitely easier if you have a large display, or better yet, two displays.

To summarize: In my opinion, Pro Tools is best designed for band recording (apparently a lot of Christian rock groups seem to like it for some reason) – the instruments and plugin options both support this.

However, it’s not the best fit for artists making electronic music, due to the tricky automation, fewer options for creating sound from scratch, and more limited effects plugins for synths. Which is a pity, because with all the time-saving editing options, it might have been my first choice.

After testing out Apple’s Logic Pro, I was excited to try out Ableton, which has a reputation as a go-to DAW for EDM artists. The trial gives you the full version, Ableton Suite, but there’s two other options if you want to ease into it:

Continue reading “Ableton: How Suite It Is”

Sorry for the long absence folks! My wife, our bunny, and I just finished a gruelling move from Toronto to Halifax to begin our new lives. It’s terrifying being here, so far away from family. Can’t wait to see where it leads!

I’ve begun trying out different DAWs in preparation to buy one, and the first one under scrutiny is Logic Pro X! (Currently 10.5.1) I started with this one because it’s the most similar to Garageband, so I hoped the level of frustration/overwhelm would be a bit more manageable than if I’d tried a completely new system.

Continue reading “Logic Pro X: First Impressions”