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Cubase or Studio One?

Which is the better DAW for composing film music?

  • Cubase 8.5 Pro

    Votes: 68 84.0%
  • Studio One 3 Pro

    Votes: 13 16.0%

  • Total voters
    81

Behdad

New Member
Hi everyone,

I’m a bit torn up on a decision, which I was hoping you could help me with. I've been using Cubase 5 for the past few years, and I love it. But the 32-bit/4GB maximum RAM issue is getting on my nerves these days. Especially with my new sample libraries. So I want to upgrade. But Cubase 8.5 isn't my only option; I’m also interested in Studio One 3. The problem is that I'm not sure which one would be better for me.

Here's a list of the most important things I should keep in mind:
1. I write instrumental and film music. So audio-video synchronization capabilities are of vital importance to me.
2. I use a combination of MIDI instruments and live recordings. So both MIDI and audio performance have to be perfect.
3. I use sample libraries, so the number of my DAW’s default virtual instruments won’t matter.
4. (This one isn’t very important.) The look and feel of my DAW is also something to consider. I don’t want to be lost among a multitude of windows and different options, having no idea what to do. But I also don’t want my DAW to look too old.

So, would you please give me some advice?

Thank you


P.S. It would be especially nice to know if any of you have experienced composing film music with Studio One.
 
I have extensive experience with studio one v1-3.

I used it for trailer and film projects. Although my main DAW is still Logic Pro (since v3 or 4) it's a wonderful environment to be productive.

In your case the only suggestion I can give is trial trial trial.

The good thing:
Studio One was developed with existing DAWs in mind. So it's easy to get around if you are coming from logic or cubase.

A lot of people think that logic and cubase are more advanced in all things midi and virtual instruments (of course both are what? 20+ years old) but it really depends on how you want to work.

So only by testing it in a trial on a project where you simulate to achieve goals instead of playing around is the way to proof for yourself which one lets you achieve what you want and how you want it.

Studio one has a great community as well as a lot of video tutorials.

Checkout studio-one.expert and groove3.com as well as macprovideo.com

VI control probably has nearly all "scoring to picture with cubase" users in one place so you will get a lot of wonderful advice from this community as well.

Still only by trying it before you buy is what you should do first.

And don't give up to quick. Just work around issues and try to stay focused to achieve your goals!

Hi everyone,

I’m a bit torn up on a decision, which I was hoping you could help me with. I've been using Cubase 5 for the past few years, and I love it. But the 32-bit/4GB maximum RAM issue is getting on my nerves these days. Especially with my new sample libraries. So I want to upgrade. But Cubase 8.5 isn't my only option; I’m also interested in Studio One 3. The problem is that I'm not sure which one would be better for me.

Here's a list of the most important things I should keep in mind:
1. I write instrumental and film music. So audio-video synchronization capabilities are of vital importance to me.
2. I use a combination of MIDI instruments and live recordings. So both MIDI and audio performance have to be perfect.
3. I use sample libraries, so the number of my DAW’s default virtual instruments won’t matter.
4. (This one isn’t very important.) The look and feel of my DAW is also something to consider. I don’t want to be lost among a multitude of windows and different options, having no idea what to do. But I also don’t want my DAW to look too old.

So, would you please give me some advice?

Thank you


P.S. It would be especially nice to know if any of you have experienced composing film music with Studio One.
 
Hi everyone,

I’m a bit torn up on a decision, which I was hoping you could help me with. I've been using Cubase 5 for the past few years, and I love it. But the 32-bit/4GB maximum RAM issue is getting on my nerves these days.

There's a 64bit version of Cubase 5.
 
I have extensive experience with studio one v1-3.

I used it for trailer and film projects. Although my main DAW is still Logic Pro (since v3 or 4) it's a wonderful environment to be productive.

In your case the only suggestion I can give is trial trial trial.

The good thing:
Studio One was developed with existing DAWs in mind. So it's easy to get around if you are coming from logic or cubase.

A lot of people think that logic and cubase are more advanced in all things midi and virtual instruments (of course both are what? 20+ years old) but it really depends on how you want to work.

So only by testing it in a trial on a project where you simulate to achieve goals instead of playing around is the way to proof for yourself which one lets you achieve what you want and how you want it.

Studio one has a great community as well as a lot of video tutorials.

Checkout studio-one.expert and groove3.com as well as macprovideo.com

VI control probably has nearly all "scoring to picture with cubase" users in one place so you will get a lot of wonderful advice from this community as well.

Still only by trying it before you buy is what you should do first.

And don't give up to quick. Just work around issues and try to stay focused to achieve your goals!
Thank you very much for your detailed and useful advice. I'll put it to good use when making my final decision.
 
There's a 64bit version of Cubase 5.
Thanks for the tip. But if I'm going to spend money on an upgrade, I'd rather get the highest version available, even if it costs much more. Plus, Cubase 5 looks a bit too old to me and that's another reason for upgrading.
 
I love it. But the 32-bit/4GB maximum RAM issue is getting on my nerves these days. Especially with my new sample libraries.

I have been using cubase 5 for a few years too, on 64bit it has always been 64bit and comes with optional 32bit
even cubase 4 was 64bit

I just recently got hold of cubase 6,and am very happy with it and the new features it offers.

I would say if cubase 8 performs any where near the quality of cubase 6 i would say go for it, but at the moment i am hearing not so good story's about cubase 8 and VEpro.

So would advice studio one.
 
Throwing in another vote for Cubase, especially for orchestra and film scoring.

but like others said, take 'em both for a test drive first.
 
Demo both, my experience has been S1 is a disaster on the Mac CPU and stability wise, Cubase is not perfect, but the better choice of the two by a mile.
 
Demo both, my experience has been S1 is a disaster on the Mac CPU and stability wise, Cubase is not perfect, but the better choice of the two by a mile.

Did the OP mention the OS? That could make a difference. I don't mind dongeled VSTs but a DAW I'm not sure. I have Cubase LE or whatever that came with my UR22. I haven't messed with it.
 
Hi,

My main DAW is Cubase Pro 8.5.20 on PC, but I'm currently learning to use Studio One Pro v3, and finding the workflow in S1v3 really wonderful. I also find these two DAWs to be very closely related, and have a lot of similarities in terms of their design/workflow. Cubase imho. still has more features when it comes to MIDI, but I tend to use some of these MIDI features, not all of them, so I think Studio One will be good enough for most of my needs, I also find some features in S1 not available in Cubase, like multi-instruments, and the flexibility it offers to layer instruments, and add effects chains to them in a very flexible manner. The Arranger and Scratch-Pad features are very useful in S1v3, and offer a great way to experiment with an arrangement in a single project. The Audio editing in S1v3 is also very slick, and powerful, a bit less convoluted than the Cubase, the melodyne integration is great as well. Also loving the smart way the pointer tool changes depending on where you pointing on an event. ...etc.

I'm not sure yet which one I will be using more, but as I move forward with learning S1V3, I'm feeling more comfortable using it. It's always a bit of a pain in the .... to learn a new DAW, and get to feel comfortable in it, but so far I'm really liking what S1V3 offers, and think that it will be even more attractive, and powerful as it evolves. (I wonder what S1V4 will offer, and when it will be out.) :cool:

Cheers,
Muziksculp
 
I'm looking forward to seeing what Presonus does with Studio One. I hope they implement some sort of articulation switching system (like Expression Maps - or at least Scripter like Logic so third-parties can make their own). Really need to still work on that color scheme options too (especially for clips and wave forms).
 
I'm looking forward to seeing what Presonus does with Studio One. I hope they implement some sort of articulation switching system (like Expression Maps - or at least Scripter like Logic so third-parties can make their own). Really need to still work on that color scheme options too (especially for clips and wave forms).

Hopefully Presonus will offer an articulation switching system like Cubase's exp.maps in version 4, and improve the GUI color scheme further, I also would like to have more MIDI features, even some basic ones, i.e. A Global MIDI-Thru, and a MIDI Channel of (ANY) that I can select, instead of just MIDI channels 1-16, for auto-channelizing midi via the source device. This is something I'm dealing with now in setting up my Yamaha Montage to work with S1v3, in Cubase I just set the MIDI channel to (ANY) , so that Cubase automatically channelizes that track depending on what it is receiving from the Montage. I'm hoping I can get my Yamaha Montage Synth to communicate correctly with S1v3, if this is not possible due to midi limitations of S1v3, I might have to just stick to Cubase for now. (kind of a bummer if that turns out to be the case).

It would also be great if they implement a similar feature to Cubase's (Disable Track) feature, to have a large template ready, and enable only the instruments you need to work with.
 
I cross graded to Studio One v2 because I was getting super frustrated with Logic 9. Unfortunately it wasn't very stable for me and would crash a lot for no(apparent) reason. When LPX came out shortly after I switched back to logic.
 
I was trying S1 v3 for a couple of months, but decided to sell it now (its for sale!) as I was torn between Cubase and S1 and did not want to spend time on both DAWs. But I still think it is an amazing DAW and the decision was not easy (months!). The familiarity with C8 won over, and the know-how for more advanced editing. C8.5 on Win10 has been quite stable for me btw.
 
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