After learning Cubase VST 5.1 in my free time, I've came to the conclusion that I need to upgrade. After watching a few videos on the Steinberg.net site, I'm convinced that Cubase SX 3 is right for me. I was hoping to get by using Cubase VST 5.1, but it's been one bug after another. The GUI has been “clumsy” at best, and its a pain to work in.

I expect Cubase SX 3 to entirely work out all these bugs and add an enormous amount of functionality. Cubase SX3 seams to be awesome for composing and writing, which is what I intend to do most. The time stretch feature seamed to be pretty amazing as well.

Since I'm moving away from simply trying crank out local band demos in a weekend to doing full blow productions predominantly with sequenced, sampled drums I think Cubase SX3 is going to work out just fine for me.

I also plan on picking up Tascam's Gigasampler. After listening to many of the possible drum sounds, it's quite clear to me that samples sound a lot more real than the crappy drums I've recorded in my horrid room. I'm thinking that even if samples weren't as mind blowing as many of them are, it would be worth using sequenced drums just for the power of songwriting.

After spending a few days working with a songwriter buddy, it's clear that a drummer's ego is probably the worst part about drumming. When writing pop songs that are clearing meant to entertain a wide audience, never do I want to hear drums that detract from what we are trying to do musically. By sequencing drums, we are in complete control. I'm loving drum sequencing!!

I'm still having to get used to the such small track counts. It's not mega uncommon for a song to have 40 or 50 tracks when recording a band with Vegas. With drum sequencing, about 5-15 of them are thrown right out the window and replaced with a single midi file.