We will start this section by saying everything in this review worked well. But since nothing is without some issues—especially complex hardware/software—we wanted to share with you some of the minor hurdles we encountered, and a few pet peeves.

CUBASE: On Windows only a few select pallets are allowed outside the program window. That means dragging items over to a second monitor is not (reasonably) doable. This limitation is common and is a major problem with professional applications that are screen hungry. For example, we would love to be able to open the Mixer window on one monitor while keeping the main Project window on another—but no go. This is probably not an issue on the Mac. Contrary to popular belief, this is NOT a Windows issue. Developers are perfectly able to get around this if they want to. For example, Photoshop does it and so do others.

We also found general navigation to be less fluid than we would like, but it got better as we learned some of the more arcane shortcuts (GH = zoom, middle mouse click/hold = pan).

Other items we encountered include occasional tracks repeatedly resetting themselves to record, even when they were not the tracks selected and had even been turned off time and again. So it would record, and the track we wanted to record would not. This is a bug, no doubt, and the only way around it we could find was to duplicate the track and then delete the original copy. The duped track would no longer contain the bug.

One item pointed out by Sam Skafe of the Institute of Audio Research: “In the new version of Cubase they have decided to make the Automation Tracks harder to find by making the arrow completely invisible unless the mouse is currently rolled over it. I can’t figure out how this would be an improvement, it only makes things harder to find”.

Finally, Cubase likes to take over control of your sound card, sometimes even if you select the “Release when in background” option in preferences. This meant we had some headaches bouncing back and forth between Cubase and other audio apps (productivity, Skype and mp3 players).

E-MU 0404/USB INTERFACE: This unit worked wonderfully and about the only issue we had was really not its fault. It simply needed to be on before running Cubase or the program would not recognize it. It was actually better to make sure it was on before starting the computer as well, however re-running Cubase always got it recognized. Had we gone with an internal card solution, this would not be an issue.

STEINBERG SYMPHONIC ORCHESTRA: A great package, though we found the interface kludgey. For example, a number of the categories and sub-categories of instruments are confusing and a few are down-right odd. So finding some instruments is a chore. Re-finding instruments is also a chore since the category listings do not always “hold” in the interface so you are left with just a listing of the named instrument along, which is often cryptic.

Another item is stereo panning. When we loaded an instrument into Cubase twice, we assumed we could then set things like the stereo placement independently on each track in Cubase. This was not the case. Set the first instance of it to the left and the second instance of it also goes to the left—even if its indicator shows it to be on the right! Something to watch out for.

Final note, as mentioned before, the ensemble collections tend to be a bit more artificial sounding than the rest of the package. We found the best way to clear this up was to open the controls and remove most or all ambient reverb from its track. Adding a solo instrument “in front” of the ensemble also helps clean up the sound and regain authenticity.

AUDIO REPAIRS: One thing we learned the hard way is that when you bring in a new range of tools to your shop you also have to learn a new methods of upkeep. We have repair services for our computers, but when one of the MIDI keyboards decided to take a nosedive off of its shelf (with the assistance from one of our assistants who was appropriately flogged), we realized we needed a new channel of support and repairs.

The fall took its toll with three keys being cantilevered and broken in two. Fortunately there seemed to not be any internal damage. So we made our calls to Sam Ash and Manny’s who in turn gave us a list of music repair services to call. Maybe it’s just our surly tone of voice, but we found a number of them to be rather surly themselves—for no apparent reason.

One of the repair shops had a bloke that refused to give his name and told us to just call him Mr. Repair Shop. This fellow was actually the most polite of the calls to that point. We were amazed.

We then got DBM Pro Audio Services (www.dbmproaudio.com) on the phone whose staff was friendly and helpful from the start. We got passed on to the owner Steve Dwork, who happens to be on the board of directors at the Institute of Audio Research (see elsewhere in this article). Talk about small world.

We dropped off the keyboard at their midtown Manhattan shop and got a call it was ready two days later. A big thanks to Steve and company for getting us back up and running quickly and at a price that did not break our budget! They specialize in repair of a full range of pro audio gear for stage, screen, Broadway and other applications.