DAW App For iOS
Cubasis 2 all the way. Steinberg did an amazing work in terms of UI,features, compatibility with apps and most important,support. I think it's the top tier software for music. Auria is considered a good one also,I personally hated and refunded it to get Cubasis.It was of the best things I ever did. PLEASE NOTE: Waves plugins for Cubasis are available exclusively from the Cubasis in-app store and are purchased separately from the regular Mac/Windows versions of L1,Q10 and AudioTrack. Waves in-app purchases require Cubasis 2.3 or higher, iPad 4 or higher, iPad mini 2 or higher.
Cubasis 2 in all its glory. Here you can see the new Channel Strip insert, and note the new Auto Quantise setting in the Quantise pop-over.
Cubasis 2 Vs Garageband Ipad 8
When I reviewed the first version of Cubasis, back in the March 2013 issue, I concluded that it was “a very promising mobile music-making tool that could shine if Steinberg iron out the initial quirks and bugs and keep the app up to date”. And, in the nearly four years since the app was released, to their credit, Steinberg have done just that, with a steady stream of 1.x updates. These releases have included (take a deep breath) support for Audiobus and Inter-App Audio, the ability to have 24 inputs and outputs and utilise higher sampling rates, support for MIDI Clock and other MIDI messages, the Micrologue virtual analogue synth, track freezing, automation, audio output via Bluetooth, AirPlay, and HDMI, Bluetooth MIDI, MiniSampler and 64-bit support. So yes, Steinberg have done far more than simply keep the app ‘up to date’.
The first thing you’ll notice after downloading Cubasis 2 is what Steinberg describe as a “carefully redesigned user interface”. This essentially amounts to a flatter, cleaner design that’s a little crisper and more pleasing to the eye than previous versions.
One of the headline features is real-time time-stretching, thanks to the inclusion of Zplane’s Elastique 3. Say you add a drum loop from the Media Bay and want it to play back at the same tempo as your project; simply select the Event, tap the new Stretch button on the Tools panel, and a pop-over will appear, giving you the option to automatically or manually stretch the Event. If you select Auto, the Event will be stretched to fit the appropriate tempo (the supplied loops are embedded with tempo information); whereas if you select Manual, you can adjust the stretch factor by dragging two triangular handles that appear at the start and end of the Event.
![Cubasis 2 Vs Garageband Ipad Cubasis 2 Vs Garageband Ipad](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126020775/303610500.jpg)
An additional setting hidden behind an arrow lets you set the algorithm that’s used between Pro, Efficient and Mobile — Pro being the best, Mobile the worst, and Efficient somewhere in between. The algorithm you choose correlates to the CPU overhead, so users with older iPads may need to choose the lower-quality algorithms. With a drum loop, you could hear a difference between Pro and Mobile, although this was, of course, most noticeable when slowing a loop down rather than speeding it up.
![Cubasis Cubasis](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126020775/698464069.png)
Alongside the ability to time-stretch an Event, Elastique 3 is also used to provide pitch-shifting with formant correction. To pitch-shift an Event, simply select it and tap the Transpose button on the Tools panel. A Transport pop-over will appear, giving you three sliders to adjust the pitch in cents, semitones and octaves, plus two additional sliders to adjust Formant Shift and Formant Order. As with time-stretching, you have the same three algorithms available, although formant adjustments can only be made when using Pro. And it’s worth noting that if you apply time-stretching and pitch-shifting to the same Event, the same algorithm must be chosen for both.
Several new effects are provided in Cubasis 2, starting with the Channel Strip insert. Presumably borrowing from Cubase’s Channel Strip (certainly the knobs look the same), Cubasis’ strip offers a cut filter, a noise gate with side-chain, a compressor and a saturator offering both tape and tube modes. By default, Channel Strip is placed before StudioEQ in the signal flow, but you can tap a pair of arrows on the insert slot to reverse this order if you wish. There’s also a new insert called Spin FX that can produce stutters, tape stops, filter effects, and other DJ-like moves and is fully automatable. This is similar to the Remix FX controls Apple added in GarageBand 2.1, although while these are only available on the master output in GarageBand, Spin FX can be added as an insert to any track or output.
If you require additional effects, Cubasis has supported Audio Unit Extensions since v1.9.8, and in version 1.9 Steinberg began offering two additional FX Packs, which are more or less essential £4.99$6.99 in-app purchases if you find yourself really getting into the app. Pack 1 includes Tape Delay, Stereo Delay, Long Delay, Stereo Width, Non-Linear Reverb and Early Reflections, while Pack 2 offers Pan & Tremolo, Rotary Speaker, Bit Reduction, TalkBox, Wah Pedal and Enhancer. It’s just a shame Steinberg don’t now offer these as Audio Unit Extensions in version 2 so they could appeal to a wider range of users. And speaking of Audio Unit Extensions, it’s still not possible to automate these as you can with the internal effects.
Falling into the category of last-but-not-least, Steinberg have (finally) added an Auto Quantise option, along with additional presets for Micrologue and a number of ‘TAPE’ instruments for MicroSonic that add some Mellotron-inspired sounds to your palette. The only thing I wish Steinberg would have added is a Tempo Track, although such an omission is pretty common amongst iOS apps.
Cubasis 2 requires at least iOS 8.3 and is fully compatible with iOS 10 (I tested it on a 9.7-inch iPad Pro running iOS 10.0.1). Initially, when I saw the name of the app had changed to Cubasis 2, I assumed this would require a new purchase (as when Intua released Beatmaker 2 or WaveMachine Lab’s Auria became Auria Pro), but this is gratifyingly not the case. Cubasis 2 is an update like any other if you’ve already purchased the app. For new users, Cubasis 2 is priced at £39.99$49.99.
A second, LE version of Cubasis is also available with fewer features, and while it’s freely downloadable from the App Store, it will only run for 30 minutes in demo mode unless you connect a compatible Steinberg or Yamaha interface. LE can be upgraded to the full version for the slightly reduced price of £22.99$29.99.
In terms of functionality, Cubasis 2 sits somewhere between GarageBand and Auria Pro (which costs the same), although the latter’s more sophisticated features arguably come at the cost of a less-friendly user interface. If you’re a Cubase user, the ability to start a project in Cubasis and transfer it to Cubase via the Cubasis Project Importer is obviously rather convenient. And even if you’re not, you should at least check out the LE demo as, overall, Steinberg have really done — and indeed are doing — a fine job with Cubasis.
£39.99
Steinberg's iPad DAW Cubasis had a major shot in the arm to bring it up to version 2. Deeper than GarageBand and more accessible than Auria, does Cubasis 2 make the iPad a serious production platform?
Way back in the mists of time, Cubasis was a PC application that was an entry-level, cut-down version of Cubase. Steinberg resurrected the name a couple of years ago for a completely new app built for the iPad. Technologically, it was light years ahead of the software from which it inherited its name, bringing Steinberg’s famed ease of use to a surprisingly powerful mobile DAW.
Version 2 of Cubasis continues this development to build on the impressive work already done in translating Cubase’s core features to the iPad platform. It really is like a mini version of Cubase, distilling the essential features down into a touch-enabled environment that comes closer than anything I’ve used to feeling like a really serious DAW for iOS, yet one that doesn’t have a prohibitive learning curve.
It’s definitely recognisable as a member of the Cubase family.
Cubasis 2 Vs Garageband Ipad 6
Nice Specs
Ideally you’ll want a recent iPad to run bigger projects, though the app is apparently compatible with any iPad that can run iOS 8.3 or higher. It weighs in at just over 1 GB, half of which is made up of loops and instruments. You get Micro Sonic, Micrologue and MiniSampler, each with a healthy selection of instrument presets as well as a bunch of MIDI loops. Audio Units and Inter-App Audio are also supported and work really well, meaning you can expand the selection of instruments and effects available to you without any problems. Audio tracking is fully supported as is multichannel output, where your interface allows it.
The new Channel Strip module, just one of the bundled processors.
In terms of effects, there’s a new Channel Strip module for every channel with filter, noise gate, compressor and saturator. Like other internal modules and features in Cubasis this can be automated using a clever and well-designed automation editor that’s much more powerful than you might expect to find on an iPad. There’s a decent selection of bundled effects plus the ability to unlock extra effect packs, and AUs and IAA are supported here too.
Recording MIDI using the clever built-in keyboard or pads is a breeze and there are easily customizable chord tools like you get in the desktop app. Quantization and transposition are available plus there’s now an auto quantize during record option. Audio loops can be manually or automatically time stretched without changing pitch using the zplane Elastique 3 system, which in practice works fantastically well and means loops and timing are a breeze to get right.
The keyboard and pad interfaces let you customise chords easily.
The interface makes excellent use of the iPad’s screen real estate with tools and features cleverly laid out and not too much reliance on menus or swiping. Pinch to zoom is everywhere of course, and you can have as many tracks as your iPad can physically run. Track freeze is even available to lighten the load. You can import from and export to various locations including iCloud, iTunes or Dropbox and stem and MIDI export are available in addition to regular mixdown. There’s actually tons more to the app so do check out the site to find out more.
Final Thoughts
Cubasis 2 is a free update for owners of version 1, which is pretty generous. As a new purchase, it’s £40 / $50USD and while this might initially sound a lot for an iPad app, be sure that this is no ordinary iPad app. It’s much more in-depth than something like GarageBand, and much more user friendly than something like Auria. Add an audio or MIDI device to really unlock its potential and what you have in Cubasis is a serious proposition for music production on iPad, without the compromises you might once have thought that would involve.
Price: $49.99 USD / £39.99 GBP
Cubasis 2.8
Pros: Beautifully designed to take advantage of the iPad platform. Unlimited audio and MIDI tracks. Great bundled content. Powerful and useful effects. Advanced automation capability. Expandable via AU and IAA. Fun and friendly to use. All the core tools you need for working with audio and MIDI and arranging songs.
Cons: Given the purchase price, bundling all the effects in might have been nice.
Web: http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/mobile_apps/cubasis/whats_cubasis.html