Cubase
Hey guys, now that you've learned how to use Fruity Loops.. Lets move on to Cubase 5, the self proclaimed "world’s most popular music production system". Cubase 5 is a fantastic program, if you are looking to produce music. It is very easy to use, once you have got an understanding for the basics. Once you have installed Cubase 5, go ahead and run the program. Next, you will be prompted to create project. Click "new project", select "empty", and then create a new folder for your project.At first glance Cubase 5 is a little intimidating, especially for FL 9 users. Have no fear, the basics you have learned apply to this program as well!
1) Set up your audio devices!
2) Click the "project" tab, "add track", then "Instrument".
3) Hit the little circle labelled "browse presets".
4) You can manually "filter" through the different categories of VST instruments... Or simply type in a keyword at the top right!
for example: if you type the word "kick" it will automatically filter through all your instruments to single-out the ones containing the word "kick" in the title.
5) Double click the instrument of your choice and it will load.
Now the place the instrument is loaded, is called the channel! It is in the NAVY BLUE column, between the DARK GRAY on the left, and the much larger editing portion that is WHITE with stripes. The stripes are a measure of TIME in music, you can edit that by right clicking it.
Now,
On the left, in the DARK GRAY column, you will find all the properties of the channel that you can edit and play around with. The first menu in this section is, the name of the channel, followed by other drop-down menus such as "VST Expression" or "Inserts". When you click the name of the channel the menu will drop down and you will find "volume", "panning", and "track time delay" settings, among others.
You can play with these settings in a moment, but first you will need to produce some sound in order to see the effects!!!
To access the FL "piano roll" of Cubase 5... You will need to look at the "tool box" and select the "draw" tool. It is shaped like a pencil!!
Using this tool click in the Editing Section, drag to the right and let go. This will create a box!! In this box you will be editing the notes of the instrument! Simply go to the "tool box" and select the "mouse tool". With the "mouse tool" double click the box you have created!
Congratulations you are now in the "piano roll" of Cubase 5! It is however, called the "key editor" and not the "piano roll".
Before you...
Now before you go and start creating your own original music... Before you realize how hard it can be... Before you go and give up after a short while... Follow my advice!!!!
1) Start off either in FL Studio, or Cubase 5 by RE-MAKING music. By starting this way, you get your confidence up, learn to organize yourself and your music, and most importantly you gain the understanding of how the piece was produced! Using these techniques you can now apply them to your own music!
2) TAKE Lypur's free music theory course! I cannot stress that enough!
It is free, and very very informative. Lypur also happens to be quite funny. :P
Why? You cannot compose and produce your own music without significant musical knowledge! It just doesn't work out!! The course is not even difficult, just take it step by step. Check out the links!!
Note: This tutorial does not go into depth about Cubase 5. There are way too many topics to cover, that with a little practise are self explanatory. Remember, don't limit yourself to any particular style or habit you have gotten used to when making music in FL. The whole point is to be creative and adapt to the differences in the software!!
The best advice i can provide anybody willing to create music with Cubase 5, is to keep practicing! After a day or two you should have the hang of it.
After you have taken this free course, apply what you have learned about scales and so on, to lay out a beat in the "key editor". After, you can "insert" different effects into each channel! Remember the DARK GRAY column? Yeah thats where, so go and figure it out guys. If you have followed ALL my steps, you should figure this out within 2 seconds! Once you have created something go ahead and upload it somewhere and send me an inbox, id personally love to see how youve progressed!
For those who cannot figure out how to insert effects... You select the channel you would like to add effects to, and in the DARK GRAY column you find a drop down menu called "inserts". Click this, and click again in one of the emtpy slots! You will have options come up, and browse through them! You can play around with them, thats the best way to get good with Cubase 5.
Have fun with it.
Some VST Instruments:
To find out how to download them, check out my facebook page. :)
