Convince me to switch from Fruityloops to Cubase

seems like a funny way to write a song... you go on to say "repeat this process until you have a song" (or something)

why not right click > piano roll > insert notes

nice! yeah, it's not maybe the best way, but it's quick and produces interesting results....good way to start finding out about FLoops I thought...

AiR have just cracked Cubase 5.1 and all the other Steinberg apps.

  On 10/18/2009 at 5:27 AM, kakapo said:

AiR have just cracked Cubase 5.1 and all the other Steinberg apps.

wow, took them a while.

Sneaksta I wanna hear your fl madness!

Or you already gave up?

  On 10/18/2009 at 11:30 PM, Otto Krat said:

Sneaksta I wanna hear your fl madness!

 

Or you already gave up?

no, i didn't give up, but goddamn I'm having a helluva time. It's just a shock to my system because it is so different than I'm used to...

ill probably buy Cubase 5, i already own 4 and its only $150 to upgrade. That dongle emulator they make you run for the Cubase cracks i find really sketchy. If the program crashes you basically have to restart the computer, with the purchased version you can just unplug the dongle and plug it back in.

  On 7/1/2009 at 7:16 AM, scones to die for said:

 

But in general I'm wondering what advantages Cubase has over FL (if anything). I do remember zooming in microscopically on audio and midi parts was nice. I haven't been able to do that with FL, though it's not terribly important for the music I do. And why doesn't FL show audio as stereo files. Never understood that.

Fruity's sound quality is on par with Cubase, you arent going to notice any difference. but here are reasons you should switch:

for audio editing, and cutting up audio files and rearranging them (you can quantize audio snippets like midi notes) is essential for my music making, i would not be able to accomplish this in fruityloops, if i could it would have to be through a cumbersome work around.

Midi editing is also far superior on Cubase, you have a piano roll that is a lot more meaty than Fruityloops and midi regions can be edited and spliced together just like audio files can.

the mixer in Cubase is also superior to fruityloops, resembling more of a standard console mixer with default parametric eqs on each channel already.

if right now you never hit a ceiling with Fruity's audio or midi editing capabilities than i would not bother switching, because this is really the only huge advantage programs like Cubase and Logic have over fruityloops.

Fruity Loops, in combination with Cooledit, is pretty awesome for sequencing samples once you get a hang of programming the Event knobs to do awesome things. In addition, the Fruity Compressor plugin is really awesome for sequencing and recording beats since its so bloody distinct from others Compression VSTs I've used. On the other hand, I found the Cubase SX series was really good in programming my hardware synths and samplers but not much else.

I don't think one is better than the other; it all depends what you use them for in the end. If I were you, I'd just stick with Fruity Loops unless you 'sperg out over frequencies and nuances that most human ears can't even hear.

  On 10/19/2009 at 9:09 PM, Awepittance said:

  On 7/1/2009 at 7:16 AM, scones to die for said:

 

But in general I'm wondering what advantages Cubase has over FL (if anything). I do remember zooming in microscopically on audio and midi parts was nice. I haven't been able to do that with FL, though it's not terribly important for the music I do. And why doesn't FL show audio as stereo files. Never understood that.

 

 

Fruity's sound quality is on par with Cubase, you arent going to notice any difference. but here are reasons you should switch:

 

for audio editing, and cutting up audio files and rearranging them (you can quantize audio snippets like midi notes) is essential for my music making, i would not be able to accomplish this in fruityloops, if i could it would have to be through a cumbersome work around.

Midi editing is also far superior on Cubase, you have a piano roll that is a lot more meaty than Fruityloops and midi regions can be edited and spliced together just like audio files can.

the mixer in Cubase is also superior to fruityloops, resembling more of a standard console mixer with default parametric eqs on each channel already.

 

if right now you never hit a ceiling with Fruity's audio or midi editing capabilities than i would not bother switching, because this is really the only huge advantage programs like Cubase and Logic have over fruityloops.

admittedly the mixer interface on FL is unusual but if you assign each midi or audio track to it's own mixer channel then you have a mixer with default parametric eq on each channel

Recent versions of FL has an internal wave-editor

  On 10/21/2009 at 6:16 AM, Entorwellian said:

Fruity Loops, in combination with Cooledit, is pretty awesome for sequencing samples once you get a hang of programming the Event knobs to do awesome things.

Cooledit is essential when im working in Cubase, i usually have it open at the same time. but most of the work i do in fruityloops ends up mixed down and brought back into cubase to cutup.

  On 10/21/2009 at 8:14 AM, LUDD said:

 

admittedly the mixer interface on FL is unusual but if you assign each midi or audio track to it's own mixer channel then you have a mixer with default parametric eq on each channel

Yeah but it's ball breaking. Recording audio isn't the nuts either.

But i am still a fl hardcore addict.

  On 9/22/2009 at 7:44 PM, BCM said:

there is no DAW program out there with the same step sequencer functionality as FL Studio. I know coz i've been looking for one for fucking ages - I have a Mac and didn't want to run Boot Camp and lose all my stuff etc. In the end I could find nothing with a similar step interface - I had to reformat my Mac and Boot Camp it and now I have my beloved FLoops back! I love it.

www.five12.com

Numerology is the shit, one of the best new sequencers out there.

  On 10/30/2009 at 2:10 AM, Awepittance said:

Numerology is the shit, one of the best new sequencers out there.

ya, and when jim releases the plugin pack of the various sequencers in numerology, i think it's really gonna start to take off. at least for me i know this will open up SO many possibilities...

I am well aware of numerology - still don't think it has the ease of use and functionality of fruity loops. it is good though.

It's well idm

hate that it's mac only

  On 10/19/2009 at 9:09 PM, Awepittance said:

for audio editing, and cutting up audio files and rearranging them (you can quantize audio snippets like midi notes) is essential for my music making, i would not be able to accomplish this in fruityloops, if i could it would have to be through a cumbersome work around.

 

if right now you never hit a ceiling with Fruity's audio or midi editing capabilities than i would not bother switching, because this is really the only huge advantage programs like Cubase and Logic have over fruityloops.

I really have to wonder if you know FL well enough to say this, because I don't think it's accurate at all. Slicex allows you to do all of this very rapidly, with excellent automation algorithms, infinite customization of what sample starts and ends where and with a workflow that I can't imagine anyone calling "cumbersome". And I have cut some shit up in my time.

  On 11/18/2009 at 5:56 AM, rlz said:

  On 10/19/2009 at 9:09 PM, Awepittance said:

for audio editing, and cutting up audio files and rearranging them (you can quantize audio snippets like midi notes) is essential for my music making, i would not be able to accomplish this in fruityloops, if i could it would have to be through a cumbersome work around.

 

if right now you never hit a ceiling with Fruity's audio or midi editing capabilities than i would not bother switching, because this is really the only huge advantage programs like Cubase and Logic have over fruityloops.

 

I really have to wonder if you know FL well enough to say this, because I don't think it's accurate at all. Slicex allows you to do all of this very rapidly, with excellent automation algorithms, infinite customization of what sample starts and ends where and with a workflow that I can't imagine anyone calling "cumbersome". And I have cut some shit up in my time.

i've played around with Slicex some and i still don't think it compares at all to the ease of chopping up audio on a standard region based timeline ie: protools, logic, nuendo. Maybe i'm missing a key aspect of it though, i'd love for you to show me some examples of what you're talking about. I prefer the old fashioned way of cutting up audio like a video editing program, so if you aren't raised on that format of chopping it might not be cumbersome for you to get used to something like slicex.

I mean as far as examples go... I can barely think of any kind of straight up sampling/slicing that I don't use slicex/edison for. Chopping up Amen/Funky/Whatever random break? Slicex. Mangling Japanese girls talking to the point of unrecognizability? Slicex. Sampling a riff/vocal line/horn stab/pretty much anything? Slicex. Automatically stretching a break to the tempo of the host? Slicex. I use Slicex more than Reaktor, Omnisphere and Glitch combined and I have never been anything but completely happy with it, and I have never found it limiting even in the most glitched out Vsnares breakcore chopped and fucked track I've ever done. I'm not saying it's necessarily better than whatever your slicing with, but Slicex + Piano Roll is not at all limiting.

funnily enough, for all my fruity loops posturing, I've now started to use cubase LE 4 lol.

but only coz I've fucked my hard disk recorder off and am now recording my hardware directly into my laptop and fruity's not so good for the multi track recording business.

I'm getting into cubase though. it's pretty smart.

My $.02:

Never listen to anyone who tells you that FL Studio is garbage/sounds cheap/sounds like a toy, and don't let them get inside your head. FL Studio has this reputation for two reasons:

1: Due to its super-super-low learning curve for an absolute beginner (doesn't really get much lower than the Kick-Hat-Clap-Snare 606 sounds that pop up on a fresh install) FL Studio was and is popular with total amateurs and beginners who wouldn't know a VST plugin (much less a Reaktor patch) if it hit them in the face. I should know. It wasn't so long ago that I myself was one of those "Oh, I can make music on my computer with this. Neat!" 15 year olds showing their 15 year old friends music that sounds like it was made by a 15 year old.

2: As recently as the release just before the "FL Studio" rebranding (back when Fruity Loops really was still "Fruity Loops") FL was still kind of a toy. Back then (incidentally this was around the time FL became popular with non-pros, with the advent of Kazaa) the built-in synths were basially 3xOSC, TS404, DX-10 and random shit like Plucked! and BooBass. It doesn't take RDJ to see that Morphine, Sawer and Toxic Biohazard are capable of far more rich, fat and organic sounds than what earlier versions had to offer. I've been using FL Studio since about 2 releases before the rebranding (about 5 years) and in that time the product has come so far that it can now totally hold its own against the likes of Cubase and Pro Tools, and that's basically the end of the story.

TLDR: There is no compelling reason to switch to any DAW from FL Studio as far as I can tell, and I've tried them all at least enough to get a basic track going. The only one that really makes a compelling case (in my opinion) is Live, just because its composition/sequencing paradigm is so novel compared to everything else.

EDIT: Naturally this is all my opinion. I'm a pretty hardcore FL user, so maybe take that with a grain of salt.