Sam's Blog: Pro Tools vs Cubase

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Pro Tools vs Cubase

This is a topic I've been meaning to cover for a long time now. So far I have held back because I felt that I was not experienced enough with Pro Tools to make a fair comparison. This is a short post about the differences between two popular pieces of DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software; Digidesign's Pro Tools and Steinberg's Cubase. There are many other DAW software for you to choose from, for example Logic Studio (Mac), Audacity (PC + Mac + FREE), Ableton Live (PC + Mac), Garage Band (Mac + Free), and more. All of these systems are good at slightly different things. The reason I have chosen Pro Tools and Cubase is because these are the two most significant systems new music technicians are likely to come across.

Cubase is used quite a lot in the education system, this is because it provides a fairly advanced set of features and will run 'fairly' well on a relatively cheap PC (for smaller recording tasks!). Pro Tools is regarded as the industry standard and is used in most professional studios. A few days ago I discussed the differences between Mac and PC for music technology, well both of these systems can be run on either Mac or PC, however Pro Tools tends to be run mainly on Mac, whilst Cubase tends to be run on a PC.

The interfaces look very similar (Even more so since the Pro Tools 8 Upgrade), as you can see below...

Pro Tools 8 running on a Mac

Cubase 4 running on a PC

In fact the differences can really be summarised in one sentence. Think of Pro Tools as audio recording software with MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) built in, and Cubase as a MIDI sequencer with audio recording functions built in. Whilst this may be changing considerably in the near future with the release of Cubase 5, for now Pro Tools certainly is a more comprehensive piece of software for audio recording purposes.

Cubase makes it really easy to plug in a MIDI device, and route it through a VSTI (Virtual Studio Technology Instrument) of your choice to create a MIDI track. It comes pre-installed with many different VSTI's as well as other VST plugins, like reverberation, noise gates, compressors, and more. Pro Tools also comes installed with a multitude of VST plugins however these are almost all focused on manipulating audio files, rather than MIDI input. It is worth noting that there are literally hundreds of VST plugins available from third party companies, ranging from thousands of pounds, to free. An interesting point here is that there tend to be less free plugins for Mac users running Pro Tools, as these plugins tend to be geared towards the professional market and are often of a much higher quality than some of their PC counterparts.

Then comes the issue of cost, and inevitably licensing issues. Cubase requires an external USB dongle to act as a registration key before the software will open. In a similar way Pro Tools will only run when connected to certain sound cards. You can buy sound cards by Digidesign (The company behind Pro Tools) or you can buy a special version of Pro Tools to run on certain M-Audio sound cards. I find Pro Tools is more advanced in this respect because (depending on which sound card you have) it actually uses the sound card to process some of the VST plugins, rather than depending totally on the CPU in the computer.

If you buy a sound card from Digidesign, you get a copy of Pro Tools LE for free. This is all that most home users and students will require. I personally recommend the Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini as it can be brought for around £200 . Cubase comes with its own protection dongle and will run on almost any sound card, a single licence for Steinberg Cubase 4 Essential will cost around £125, but it is worth noting that this is not the most recent edition. You will pay around £320 for Cubase 5, the latest edition of the software. It is up to you to decide whether you really need the latest and greatest features.

Essentially, both these systems perform the same tasks. If you are looking to get into the recording industry, then i suggest you get familiar with Pro Tools. If you are just looking to record a bit of stuff at home and play around with MIDI, then cubase is the way forward.

Comments (35)

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Baguette · 834 weeks ago

Hi,

Thanks for your post!

I thought I'd chime in with some further information on the Pro Tools system. Pro Tools does not process VST plug-ins on the soundcard. You can run VST plugins with a VST to RTAS wrapper (from fXpansion, for example), but all RTAS plug-ins are processed natively, i.e. by the host computer. This goes for both the native Pro Tools systems (LE and M-powered) as well as the TDM systems.

Pro Tools Mix, HD and HD Accel systems do process plug-ins on their dedicated processing cards but those are exclusively TDM -plug-ins. The TDM systems also build the full digital mixer on the cards, and can therefore achieve extremely low latency as well as near-realtime monitoring when recording. It would perhaps be informative to point out that the minimum cost for a new Pro tools TDM system is significantly higher than any DAW that uses native processing (in practice all other DAWs, including Pro tools LE and M-Powered).

It might also be interesting to note that both Logic Pro and Digital Performer can be run as the front end for Pro Tools TDM hardware. I.e. it is possible to achieve the hardware advantages of the dedicated TDM processing cards with another DAW than Pro Tools.

An interesting alternative in the low-priced end of the DAW spectrum is Reaper. It is now available for both Windows and OS X, and it costs only around 50 EUR, if I remember correctly. The OS X version is still in the early stages and have been somewhat unstable on my own systems, but it certainly seems like a space to watch if you're looking for a full-featured but cheap DAW.

Cheers,

Baguette

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synth patches · 833 weeks ago

Lovely comparison of the two software pieces and i hope to read more stuff from you about this in the near future ;).

I incidentally found a good tutorial on this site for MIDI gating with Cubase:
http://www.dancemidisamples.com/MIDI-Gating-in-Cu...

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Sam 34p · 833 weeks ago

Hi Baguette and Synth Patches. Thanks for your comments, and thanks for updating me with information that i wasn't aware of. I'm studying music technology at university, so I'm still learning a lot myself. Its great to know people are reading this blog, and even better to learn from you guys!

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Davie · 801 weeks ago

Im looking to make my own dance scouse music..Hopefully one day get a record deal Thats the dream any way what software would you recomend ?

1 reply · active 787 weeks ago

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Alan Swenson · 788 weeks ago

My Vote is For Pro Tools.

1 reply · active 787 weeks ago

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ElRazur · 787 weeks ago

Hi there guys. I looking at Cubase 5 essentials and Pro tools 8 M-powered, which of these two will you recommend for someone just starting out?

It may be worth knowing that I have a workstation synth - Juno G - and a Native Instrument Maschine. Which of these two DAW will be a better buy and easy to use please?

It may be worth mentioning that I have used Flstudio and Ableton Live in the past briefly, but I am yet to find "my DAW". Please advice. Thanks.

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

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Grey Foxx · 780 weeks ago

Honestly neither is better than the other. It'sa matter of what you use them for. Disney studio's records in cubase an then floats the audio to PT for editing. This is done mainly because PT is very expandable but then again we are talking about a very very and need i say very expensive system. I'm a sound recording engineer and i prefer Cubase/nuendo. However once you get past a multiple thousand dollar system doing big projects wih a ton of tracks i would prefer to work in PT.

If you are starting out i would recomend Cubase. You get more out of the box and there are a ton of free VST effects on line that are of very good quality if you know how to use them. With Cubase you get the best bang for the buck starting out

2 replies · active 769 weeks ago

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KeyboardGuy · 773 weeks ago

Some good posts here, thanks everyone. I compose film tracks but would have a hard time saying any single DAW is the 'industry standard'. I run both (depending mainly on the tracks' ultimate destination' and know that CB, Logic and PT will all deliver 'industry standard' tracks. This was not always so, and PT was really the only really professional option. But when some third party software was only available for Cubase (or PC or Apple for that matter) the game changed. The answer? Try them both (and Sonar). Make up your own mind. A bit like buying a piano. An amateur can make a Steinway sound like trash. A musician can make a mediocre piano sound awesome. Peace!

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

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Tom · 766 weeks ago

Nice post. I'm doing a MA course of similar concept in London and yesterday realized why I believe people shouldn't mix on Protools LE/M-powered - ADC (Automatic Delay Compensation) - or the lack of it.

It's normally being regarded as something which is just "a little bit annoying" and that "you shouldn't worry if the delay is not really audible", but the truth is that all these 60-400 ms delays (or more...) that occur due to high quality plugins, and are not compensated, actually effect the tightness of the mix, the punch of transients, and the phase relations between tracks... :(

I LOVE recording, editing and mixing with Protools, but after the nightmare I had yesterday with the lack of ADC (basically my whole mix was f****d and I had to bounce many tracks and use AudioUnites) I'm positive that we should avoid it, unless there's an HD system around (or when Avid introduce this feature :).

All the best!

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stuey · 750 weeks ago

Its an argument that never ends. It pretty much depends on your familiarity with a product. if you grew up using cubase, your always gonna like it, same for protools and logic. They are all perfectly caple of producing a film score or hit record. Think back to the days of 8 track tapes . . . they could only dream of the editing facilities that any of these daws have . . . . they certainly wouldn't have stood round discussing which was best . . . on with the creativity . . .

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Jack Dunston · 748 weeks ago

Mr. Harman, Thank you for your "Mac setup for musicians..." post. Since I have a MAC Mini, that was perfect. However, re your "Pro Tools vs Cubase" post of April, 2009, I'm still going crazy regarding making a decision to spend over $1k US on one or the other. I can't play a keyboard. I can read music and sing what I read.

I have a program called SmartScore (by Musitek) which allows me to write sheet music on my display with mouse clicks or scan-and-convert sheet music from a book. The resultant document can be played via internal file format, or the result can be converted to a midi file. Both file types allow a selection of instruments for the individual “tracks” (soprano, alto, tenor, base, piano). I use this application to learn new songs and/or harmony for our church choir or to resurrect songs from my collection of old song books (1880 to about 1920).

Question 1: Can either CUBASE or PRO TOOLS do this? (Allow me to record sheet music and feed it into the program as a midi file?)

I have watched a number of tutorial videos from both product groups and searched until I was blue in the face, but can't find anything on displaying or printing sheet music as I can do with SmartScore.

My goal is to produce a minimal amount of instrumental music in order to lay a rich vocal arrangement over the music. For me, the human voice in harmony is the ultimate musical instrument (though I like classical, rock, jazz, folk, hymns, Brazilian, Cuban, Paraguayan harp, Argentine tango & folklorica, etc, etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseam).

Question 2: Which program is best for recording voice, CUBASE or PRO TOOLS?

I want to buy a system once and never change. My musical skills and goals are simple enough so that, like my Mac Mini, the fire power of the medium function versions of either Cubase or Pro Tools are probably more than I will ever use.

Thank you for taking time to read this, Jack Dunston, North Carolina

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Cory · 747 weeks ago

Neither program uses a system that can transfer, translate or create "traditional scoring." Both systems allow you to compose using bars which can be dragged to different lengths to represent time. These bars can be stacked vertically/horizontally to create a score. They cover a usual piano scale. I learned on Cubase SX, so I don't now if this has changed. As simple as a description as that is, -- you would simply need to figure out your own system of converting traditional scoring to the methodology employed by the software... Not to be redundant, but I learned how to use these systems by simply messing with them. Drop the cash and explore!

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Jay hurrikane · 721 weeks ago

Someone make it simple for me! Cubase or protools? My biggest concern at this time in my music career is the ability to make those vocals sound amazing over that track I need lots of high quality toys to play with when spicing up a song, I wanna Mix edit and tweek my song to perfection I love effects (reverb). So.... with that being said someone please tell me Pro tools 9 or Cubase 5 /6?

1 reply · active 714 weeks ago

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Michael · 714 weeks ago

ProTools established themselves as a 'Pro' Studio product by making very high end hardware (desks) and was never available to us mere mortals until very very recently when they started releasing home based systems due to the size of the market for home recording now. Cubase has been 'Industry Standard' for more years than I care to remember and just have a look at some of the professionals that have been using it for years and still use it. At the end of the day as someone already mentioned, the Beatles used 4 Track and recorded classics that still stand up to this day. Nothing will make music sound good if skill in writing and recording is lacking. As to the original question, there is nothing wrong with either Pro Tools or Cubase 5. They can both be utilized to make absolutely professional results in the right hands.

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tony · 711 weeks ago

This person has no idea what hes talking about. There are several sound cards that will process audio for you while using cubase thats only availabe at the cost of an arm and a leg for pro tools. Most home users use protools le (limited edition) cubase has no limits. Cubase is leaps and bounds ahead of protools le. Protols loop function sucks, but does have one or two good feat. that i wish cubase had but nothing that would make me switch.

1 reply · active 691 weeks ago

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tony · 711 weeks ago

Cubase has had traditional scoring since version 3 do ur home work people. You can enter notes right onto music sheet in software. Also convert your midi to sheet music and vice versa. Can't do that with protools.

1 reply · active 673 weeks ago

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gman in Calgary · 700 weeks ago

Sounds like for a new home recording musician song writer, perhaps song seller,,, maybe...
that cubase is every bit as good as PT, like one poster said, different software different
perks... all cars have wheels,,, not all have ac, not all have heated seats...
i think I've made my choice,,,, Cubase, as i use a H4N, and a Zoom R16, and that comes with cubase le5, i'm thinking that a full version of cubase 5 will do me well or studio, but at least it is compatible with my zoom products and my Dell PC.
Cubase it shall be........................ I think... damn thinking again...