Steinberg Cubase SE3 review

Verdict:

Review Date: 27 Jul 2006

Price when reviewed: inc VAT

Reviewed By: Ben Pitt

Our Rating 4 stars out of 5

Review
Specs

This entry-level version of Cubase comes with three basic software instruments and no sample library, presenting a blank canvas on which to record. There's no attempt to accommodate beginners unless they're happy to read the 600-page manual.

Cubase SE is reasonably easy to use, and you can discover its advanced features as you need them. There's plenty to discover, too. Other than the limit of eight physical inputs and outputs, 48 audio tracks, five insert effects per channel, eight auxiliary effects and eight subgroup channels, there's little to differentiate SE3 from Cubase SX3, a hugely powerful program that costs £499 including VAT.

SE3 supports VST and DirectX instruments and effects, and the bundled effects library is above average. The compressor, EQ and distortion effects are particularly strong, but the reverb plug-in is disappointing. Steinberg Studio Case II bundles SE3 with six high-quality software instruments and costs £180 including VAT.

Cubase SE3 appears more elegant and sophisticated than Sonar Home Studio, but it has frustrating limitations, such as the inability to swap the order of insert effects. It's not just advanced features that are hard to find, either - signal routing options are not in the mixer panel as we'd expect them to be.

After months of use, Cubase becomes an extremely powerful, efficient program, but initially it can be confusing. Sonar Home Studio and Mackie Tracktion are just as powerful and the latter is much easier to master.

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