Cubase SX for Mac OS X is Shipping

An anonymous reader writes "Steinberg's flagship Cubase SX is shipping now, with support for CoreAudio, CoreMidi, VST Plugin support, Rewire, and REXort.
Now only ProTools and Digital Performer are left on the Mac OS 9 side. When do they follow?" Well, ProTools for Mac OS X has already been announced.

Comments

Complex tools better?

[lute3]

I did some of my best audio editing with 5 - 10 instances of Sound Recorder open while copying/pasting/recording over and over until I got the results I wanted. This kept the entire process mental instead of getting lost in mulit-track timelines.

Is there a Sound Recorder equivalent for OSX (other than Quicktime)?

Re:Complex tools better?

[usr122122121]

Is there a Sound Recorder equivalent for OSX?

While I'm not familiar with Sound Recorder, I have to recommend Felt Tip Sound Studio. It is an amazingly simple and powerful audio tool that I think would fit your needs nicely.

Re:Complex tools better?

[DavidRavenMoon]

Sound Studio is very nice. You can also get SparkME, which is free.

Re:Complex tools better?

[DavidRavenMoon]

I did some of my best audio editing with 5 - 10 instances of Sound Recorder open while copying/pasting/recording over and over until I got the results I wanted. This kept the entire process mental instead of getting lost in mulit-track timelines.

That's fine if you just want to mix some audio tracks together. Cubase is not meant to be an audio editor. But for complex songs that wouldn't work well.

I use Cubase VST/32. I use VST instruments for drum tracks, and keys, record all the guitar and bass tracks, usually as segments, sort of like working with a drum machine.

This makes arraigning the song quite easy! Also Cubase has all kinds of effect plug-ins, etc.,

I still use an external editor most of the time (either PeakDV or SparkME when in OS X) for loops and stuff.

I've been waiting for this upgrade, it will be nice to not have to boot into OS 9.2 to work on music. :)

Re:Complex tools better?

[woggo]

Try audacity. http://audacity.sf.net

Re:Complex tools better?

[Anonymous Coward]

> I did some of my best audio editing with 5 - 10
> instances of Sound Recorder open while copying/
> pasting/recording over and over until I got the
> results I wanted.

If you want to cut and paste media elements into a single presentation without puttting too fine a point on things (or spending a lot of money), then use QuickTime Pro. It is cheap and you can work with almost any media, such as movie clips, Flash animations, still images in almost any format, MP3 audio, etc. It is a simple tool, but it is also a quality tool, so you will get good results (no artifacts, media in useful and appropriate formats).

If you want to do high-quality multitrack audio without having to do math or risk getting distracted by the technology, then Ableton Live is an excellent choice. It presents itself in a single window as a playable instrument and does beat-matching for you so that you can easily and musically composite multiple audio clips into a single live or studio mix. I've been using it on Mac OS X for over six months, all day, every day, and the combination of the two has never let me down. You start the audio and it never stops until you render out your mix and quit the program. It has been so reliable and such a joy to use it has almost made me forget the year I did audio on Windows 98 and almost gave up computers entirely because of it (every day there was a timing issue; every day there was at least one crash in mid-take or mid-mix; every week or two you'd discover a new way that Application A can't import audio from Application B -- ugh). Fuck 24/7 servers ... if I'm laying down my best take of the day and the computer fucks up at all then maybe my whole day is shot. Everybody involved with bringing music and audio people a Mac + Ableton Live also knew that reliability was that important to us. I'm always been trying to make sure that the technology doesn't intrude on creativity in negative ways, but Ableton Live on Mac OS X is a much better expression of that philosophy than Windows' Sound Recorder.

Re:Needs Jaguar, unfortunately

[tm2b]

(I'm planning to buy 10.3, which I expect to be another full-price upgrade announced at MacWorld next spring.)

I'm afraid you're setting yourself up for another substantial period of frustration,then. 10.3 will almost certainly be a free (or $19.95 for the media distribution, depending how you get it) upgrade for 10.2 owners, just as 10.1 was from 10.0.

Then 10.4 (or 11.0) will come out, and that will be another full-pay upgrade and you'll have another period of time where you'll be frustrated. At least, that's would be most consistent with Apple's release schedule so far.

I'd advise biting the bullet and getting in synch with Apple... you'll be less frustrated in the end, IMO. Fighting Steve is a lost cause... Steve gets what Steve wants.

DP for OS X announced months ago

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.motu.com/english/other/press/dp_osx/dp_ osx.pdf

I forgot my passwd, it's been so long since I posted. Anyways, they've had it running for a while, I think they're still working on hardware drivers (all of their midi and audio drivers for X are still listed as BETA, I think).

-FreqUnkn

Re:DP for OS X announced months ago

[Anonymous Coward]

Some companies like to announce products years before they ship them.

Re:Needs Jaguar, unfortunately

[Twirlip of the Mists]

I think you're extrapolating from a sample set that's too small to support your conclusions.

If you look at the real guts of 10.1 versus the real guts of 10.2, you'll see that 10.2 was a substantial feature upgrade. Lots of new stuff came with 10.2, while 10.1 was mostly a performance upgrade with a few new features. If you ever used 10.0, you'll agree, I imagine, that a performance upgrade was really welcome when 10.1 came out.

But Mac OS X is not Linux; they don't use an odd-number, even-number release gimmick. They have never used such a gimmick. Some releases are minor feature releases and are available for free or only a little cost. Some releases are major ones for which Apple charges a reasonable, not nontrivial, fee.

So when you say, "10.3 will almost certainly be a free... upgrade..." I really think you're kind of talking out of your ear. No offense.

And the thing about "Steve gets what Steve wants?" What's that all about? Are you just grumpy today, or is it your usual thing?

Re:Needs Jaguar, unfortunately

[derch]

I'm pulling much of this from memory of the flames over the 10.2 upgrade price. I'm relatively new to the Mac world (since Jan '02) so I can't speak from personal experience.

Many people pointed out that:

- 10.0 was a full price product.
- 10.1 was a free upgrade ($20 for shipping) to 10.0
- 10.2 was a full price product.

They pointed out that Apple has a history of charging for every other point one upgrade. They speculated 10.3 would follow the pattern and be a free upgrade. Of course the question is, do you have to have 10.2 installed for the upgrade version to work?

As a user of 10.2, it's worth it. It's smoother, faster. Quartz Extreme greatly lessened the load on my TiBook. The anti-spam support in Mail is easily worth $40 (119 messages filtered in the past four days). Other updates and additions to Terminal, Finder, and the OS in general quickly make up for the other $90.

Re:Needs Jaguar, unfortunately

[Mononoke]

Since I'm not going to pay $130 for a point upgrade to OS X that was announced a couple of months after I bought 10.1,

So, if they had designated it 11.0 for the same exact amount of improvement and feature set, you would buy it?

To me, it's what's inside that matters, not what they choose to call it.

Sorry you were so late to the OSX game to begin with.

Re:Needs Jaguar, unfortunately

[tyrione]

I can almost hear the violins strum now as the cheese is passed along on a fine selection of sliced apples, crackers with the complementary whine.

No no no no!

[Triv]

Now only ProTools and Digital Performer are left on the Mac OS 9 side

[rant] Am I the only composer on the face of the planet who wants Finale to be ported to OS X? It's an industry standard for producing professional-quality scores. Their website says "Runs under classic mode," which I translate into "too much hassle to port." But there's a 2003 version. ARGH. [/rant]

Triv

Re:No no no no!

[Coy0t3]

FWIW, I recently picked up a copy of Sibelius2 for OSX and I'm fairly happy with that. You might want to check it out. Information here

Re:No no no no!

[littlerubberfeet]

I have much prefered sibelius. the interface is far easier. It is like comparing Maya and Lightwave

Re:No no no no!

[usr122122121]

I waited for almost a year for Coda to at least post a notice as to when they were going to port Finale to OS X. They eventually said "Finale 2003." When I heard that the 2003 version was still not OS X compatible, I went and bought Sibelius.

As it turns out, Sibelius, which I avoided for almost a year, is a FAR better program. It, like all pro apps, takes some getting used to, but it is a very powerful app.

Ramblings Re:Complex tools better?

[elmer-12]

Personally, I use Cubase for recording MIDI tracks, then turning the mix into audio using VST instruments and effects. I like being able to edit tempo changes and such after the performance. I'm tempted to get the SX upgrade just because I won't have to reboot anymore ... bye bye OS 9 ... oh except Starcraft Carbon stopped working when I went to Jaguar ... I think that's when it stopped working ... oh well. And hey ... to me SX may be simpler than VST, since I don't have to use OMS anymore.

Re:Needs Jaguar, unfortunately

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, this thing about 10.3 is based in reality. Somebody at Apple said that odd major releases would be free. This was said after the whole Jag price gripefest. Do some googling and I'm sure you will find it.

Re:Needs Jaguar, unfortunately

[Twirlip of the Mists]

Well, this thing about 10.3 is based in reality. Somebody at Apple said that odd major releases would be free. This was said after the whole Jag price gripefest. Do some googling and I'm sure you will find it.

As it turns out, googling did not reveal what you're talking about. Unless you have something more to offer than "somebody at Apple said," I'm afraid I have to conclude that you're just talking out of your ear on this. No offense, but when an anonymous coward posts information with no sources and says, "google for it," ninety-nine times out of a hundred he's just making stuff up.

Can you do better than this?

midi interfaces ??

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't see anything on their site about X support for their midi interfaces, like Midex-8

Digital Preformer Release

[Majestik]

Actually Digital Performer has a press release ages ago about the Max OS X version that's coming. It should be released before year end.

Re:Needs Jaguar, unfortunately

[DavidRavenMoon]

Since I'm not going to pay $130 for a point upgrade to OS X that was announced a couple of months after I bought 10.1, it looks like I don't get a Cubase upgrade for another year or so.

The reason Cubase needs 10.2 is because Core Audio was not finished when 10.1 was released.

So you might as well get Jaguar now, which runs great BTW. The next upgrade (10.2.5?) should be free.

Also, 10.2 is not a "point" upgrade, you are basing this on your own idea of how Apple should name OS releases, and not their idea. When the seond number changes, it's a major update. 10.2.1 is a point release, as will be the next few updates.

Any suggestions on a sound tools to fit my needs?

[JQuick]

I am a mac convert from the Unix side, actually inherited by Apple as an NeXT user. I am interested in a tool for recording my old vinyl, cleaning up pop, click, hiss, etc, and saving each track as aiff files, which I can then listen to in iTunes, and burn to CD for my car. This tool seems like overkill for me, but I though people posting on this topic may know of other software that would work well for my purposes. BTW: no Classic or OS9 app need apply. Bonus points for good use of services,or scriptability.

Roxio Toast

[foo12]

Roxio Toast comes bundled with an app called CD Spin Doctor --- it does exactly what you want:

Do you still have old cassette tapes or vinyl LPs? Use CD Spin Doctor, included with Toast 5 Titanium, to turn those scratchy records or cassette tapes into high fidelity CDs. Here are just a few CD Spin Doctor features:

• Records from any analog source (phonograph, tape, or microphone)
• Special sound filters eliminate noise, pops, hisses, and clicks
• Enhancement filters convert mono to stereo and boost Bass or Treble
• Wave form display with zoom in and zoom out capabilities

Re:Roxio Toast

[JQuick]

First, thanks for trying to help.

I purchased roxio and tried it out in 10.1 months ago and was quite disappointed. Spin Doctor records an album to one large file, and only supports writing to CD rather than to a sequence of aiff files.

Spin Doctor also required that I record, run filters, mark begin and end for tracks, add title info, and burn to cd, all in sequence. Several times the program crashed and I had to start over with a new recording.

As a FreeBSD and OpenStep user I found the tool to be shoddy and to have that somehow condescending stink of Carbon. Tools should do one or a few things well, and read/write using standard types. Roxio and Spin Doctor did do one or two things well, but did not allow me to do anything else using other tools unless I burned a CD, read it back in as aiff then processed those files before burning the CDs I eventually want. It also used lots of cpu when idle and crashed several times.

I would rather spend my money on a fleet of separate applets, each reliable and each performing one task well, than spend any money on an app which may do a couple of things well but which wastes my time by enforcing its idea of workflow on me. I also have no patience for tools which do not support services and standards thus making it either hard or impossible to use it to perform only the parts of the job it does well.

Sorry for the rant, but I've been quite pissed off recently by the really shoddy quality of some big name carbon apps. I've used Appkit apps since 1991, and can see and feel the difference.

So are there any tools out there which I can use to record albums, split them into aiff files and perform filtering? I'll use iTunes to listen and record to CD. Again, 100% Cocoa is a plus obviously. Despite the above rant I am open to using a really good little Carbon tool, but I'll take some convincing.

Re:Roxio Toast

[foo12]

Saw this just now -- http://www.griffintechnology.com/software/software _imic.html -- specifically the beta for "FinalVinyl"

Final Vinyl 0.6 - beta Free OS X audio recording application for use with the Griffin family of audio products. Has several advanced features including equalization and built in RIAA curves*.

It's just a beta and requires Griffin's iMic, a USB breakout that does audio-in. Once the software is out of beta, this seems to be exactly what you need :-) * yes, RIAA curves --- it's simply in reference to a standard employed by the industry, no nefarious evil DRM --- it's freaking vinyl after all

Re:Roxio Toast

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not Carbon vs Cocoa but just plain getting the right tool for the job. Digitizing audio from any source is not child's play quite yet, and it will actually be easier in a professional tool. You're digitizing that audio for the first time and that has always, always been a professional job. For example, when you record at 32-bit depth, you can't over-record, while at lower depths, like the 16-bit you're using in Toast's audio program, a single clip can ruin a recording. Cubase on the Mac has been recording in 32-bit depth for years, and Mac OS X has 32-bit audio plumbing built-in with CoreAudio.

I find it ironic that you bash Carbon while you're complaining about an audio app -- in the history of the world there have been about 5 great music and audio softwares and they all stink thoroughly of Carbon, or it's precursor, Mac Toolbox. Get as far away from the PC and Windows as you can (Roxio Toast is not that far) and look for something that records 32-bit and that fits your budget. There is probably at least one free choice in there, too. TC Works has some free and low-cost stuff with good features. Logic is also a great investment if you are committed to Mac OS X, because Emagic are obviously quite committed to Mac OS X themselves. I am very happy with Logic on Mac OS X. Ableton Live is another tool that is flat-out amazing and everybody should give it a try before they buy any other audio software. It's great.

Re:Needs Jaguar, unfortunately

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't believe people complain about how much Mac OS costs. Pay when they ask you and it comes out to once every 18 months, $129 to get 10 releases (2 major, 8 minor). In March 2001 you pay $129 and you get 10.0 (including 9.1), 10.0.1, 10.0.2, 10.0.3, 10.0.4, 10.0.5, 10.1, 10.1.1, 10.1.2, 10.1.3, 10.1.4, 10.1.5. You pay another $129 in August 2002 and you get 10.2 (including 9.2), 10.2.1, 10.2.2, 10.2.3, 10.2.4, 10.2.5, 10.3, 10.3.1, 10.3.2, 10.3.3, 10.3.4, 10.3.5. You pay another $129 in March 2004: get 10.4, 10.4.1, 10.4.2, etc. and then it is late 2005, you have been running the most-current Mac OS for almost 5 years, and you still haven't spent enough money to buy one copy of Windows XP Professional Edition. You haven't spent enough money to buy the client access licenses you would have had to buy to access a single Windows workgroup server from your desktop computer for five years.