If you were to choose between Cubase, Nuendo, Sequoia or Studio One.
What would you choose and why?

Edit: I've changed the name of the thread to "Cubase, Studio One or Reaper?" because I know I don't need to get into Nuendo or Sequoia territory as of right now so I'm looking at other DAWs now.

 

Last edited: Jun 19, 2021

Studio One

 

Sequoia's industry reputation is for mastering while it can do both. Nuendo is designed more for post-production houses for film, DVD, Surround etc.. it can do what Cubase does.
So the real question is Cubase vs Studio One? Studio One developers are ex-Steinberg.
- PASS -

Side-note: VST is a Steinberg invention that they allowed every other DAW access to. They could have gone the AAX path like ProTools but they didn't. Each DAW and production house workstation has something good to offer. It's allll personal taste.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jun 18, 2021

Why do you like Studio One? It's caught my attention recently.

 

Cubase. mostly just familiarity and it can do everything I would use it for.

 

I've heard this a lot throughout the years. Most just sort of scoffed it like Sequoia and Nuendo are top dogs and everything else is inferior but that makes sense why most would say that since they have the ability to reach into film production with ease compared to other workstations.

On one hand that's very nice to have, on another hand I might be able to manage with what I have if such a film or game soundtrack opportunity did come in in the future by some stroke of luck.

I thought it might come to that honestly haha

I just thought I might want a DAW that specializes in live recording than production or sound design. I may not even switch over, I might just add another DAW as a tool or realize I don't want the hassle to begin with.

 

I think if sound design was my main goal I'd go with Bitwig. For Live Recording only, why not Reaper?

 

How are the updates? I'm not very familiar with them but people have complained about them around the forum before. Maybe you're not upgrading and staying on an earlier version?

This came to mind as well. I'm not worried about any sound design or production based tools more than just an ideal recording environment which is why I looked at Studio One, Cubase or even Reaper. Reaper is dirt cheap too.

 

Sequoia gained its reputation for Mastering. A lot of people use Wavelab now too as a dedicated mastering software editor. Mastering is different to mixing. I see no point in comparisons. If you ask anyone why they use a specific DAW or workstation it comes down always to what they believe is the best one for them, even the professionals. Whether that is workflow or look & feel or what they feel is the best. It's still personal nonetheless. If the workstation did not do industry standard they probably would pick one that does. One person here has even said they don't like the look and feel of Cubase and that's fine, but the same can be said of Ableton users not liking other DAW's or Fruity Loops, ProTools etc etc

The thing is every DAW does mostly the same thing. The only DAW that is a little different is ProTools which has native aax that does not work in any other DAW. Steinberg invented the VST. They could have denied access to every other DAW if they chose like ProTools, but they didn't. They chose to make it available for everyone. Cubase in portable mode on Laptops I have heard some great results, same with Ableton, Studio One, ProTools and Reaper.

There are too many workstations nowadays to say better, best for me. I respect that each does a similar job and well and it's personal taste. I have been with Cubase for a long time so my excuse s familiarity. If it no longer meets the industry standards I might change.
My only advice has nothing to do with better. It's the one that suits your workflow, needs and you like the way it looks and feels. Every one of them is not bug free so comparisons to me are just impossible.

 

That's exactly why I want to find out if something will suit me better, most DAWs are the same. They are just different in how they present everything to you. The most important thing to me is workflow which I think might suit certain projects better.

 

oh, I switched back to Mac/Logic about 3 years ago or so, after many years on Cubase after Mac bought out Emagic. I dabbled with Nuendo, but Cubase addresses everything I need. But on Mac, I cannot justify the price to myself. Logic does everything I want also, but for less than half the price. And hardware latency compensation works great in Logic.


But of the ones you have listed as choices, Cubase would be the one I would pick. It's very much like Logic, compared to the others. It's great for recording, sequencing, using virtual instruments, etc. If I was just tracking audio, I'd go with Reaper over S1. Again due to pricing, and also resource usage, and overall speed of workflow. Reaper is huge value for your money.

 

I've had experiences with DAWs in recent years like Cubase (lifetime, well since about 20ish yrs ago), Reaper (just over a year), and now Studio One (just over a month). I thought I was going to be a Cubaser for life, but now I'm not so sure. What I can tell you honestly is this: On my Windows 10 PC with 32 GB Ram and Ryzen7 3800x processor, Cubase is just so slow and sluggish compared to S1 and Reaper, and quite frankly, less stable. It has crashed more than I'd like it to, and this has been happening all the way back since Cubase 10 and I know I'm not the only one....

I've been slowly migrating projects over to S1 and Reaper, and I feel I can get the basic jobs done a lot faster. The choice is always up to you of course. The only reason I gave S1 a try in the first place, was this wonderful "Faderport 16" control surface by PreSonus I invested in, which perks included several cool PreSonus stuff, including acess to Studio One Artist (their 'mid-level" version), I liked so much I joined PreSonus Sphere and for not even a dollar a day I get full access to S1 Professional. I've always found Cubase more intuitive than ANY DAW, so easy to use and learn (yes, much more so than S1 or Reaper) - but I have an album that needs to be done and released by fall of next year, so for the most part, Studio One will get that workflow.

Good luck with your choice!

PH

 

Logic is great too if you have a MAC. I have both platforms.
Why not get demo versions of all the ones you are considering over a couple of months and spend a week on each? In a couple of months, you will be drawn back to the one that worked best for you I'm confident. Unless of course, you are in a hurry as that method won't work.

 

I'm planning to do exactly that actually. I thought I might want to narrow the list down first by grabbing some other peoples experiences first. I know I won't know if something is better until I actually compare but first I need to narrow it down a bit.

I never plan to work with Apple computers although everyone only raves about Logic.

 

I'm going to include Reaper to try as well now.

 

I never planned to work on MAC either but I am older than many people on here and used both Cubase and Notator/Logic before DAW's became a big thing. A large proportion of the best studios in the world use MAC and PC together to accommodate everyone that brings their project in. I'm not one of those but I have been in quite a few.

Cubase, Ableton, Studio One, Fruity Loops, Reaper and ProTools. If it was me, those are the demos on PC I would choose if I was not intimate with any DAW. If you had a MAC I would have added Logic as well.

 

Damn that sucks. My computer doesn't stand a chance at Cubase 10 then.

Thanks for your reply. I'm only looking for the fastest and most intuitive workflow to accommodate live recording and mixing.

I think ouboard midi devices like this will play into my decision in the end a bit too.

 

Studio One if you dont need Video.

 

Reaper is faster again. Cubase, Ableton, ProTools and Logic are fully stacked apps. They're not fast loaders but definitely efficient.
Same with any DAW, the more RAM, the gruntier the CPU and a decent GPU + SSD, the better it works.

 

If you are doing basic film or soundtrack work in 2CH you don't need Sequoia or Nuendo, Samplitude or Cubase will works just fine. If you need timecode sync in surround or multi-source metadata ingest and multipole fades along with playlist scripting and frame sync-lock across multiple workstations you are starting to get to the point where you can justify the added expense.

The mastering guys and the classical music guys were fond of Sequoia for it's complex fades, metadata and intelligent dither system. The classical music mixers who works a lot with timecoded room mics also liked it for it's ability to delay or advance recordings based on timecode to get over phase issues as some of the room mics in a large concert hall are quite far away and introduce combing.

You can now do three point fades and most of that stuff with reaper with some scripting and macros, it's not as easy but it's more than a 2/3 of the price discount.

Digital Performer is an other DAW that is entrenched in film, broadcast, surround and live stage syncing for the same reasons mentioned above. Pro Tools with Media Composer extensions can also do all the same stuff though Media Composer manages all the metadata and ingest and Pro Tools just becomes a slaved audio mix/mux workstation.

Honestly if you are going for mostly 2CH or even surround without a library of clips from different mics on different actors in hundreds of scenes you'll be fine with regular music production DAWs.