Steinberg Houston

[jameswales]

ME AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am thing about buying the Steinberg Houston. It says that for it to work I have to have Cuebase VST V5.0 or more. Is Cuebase SX3 or Cuebase SL3 one of these? If both, which is the better?

THANKS AGAIN!!!!!

[john]

Sorry James, I don't know off hand (I use Cakewalk Sonar).

[jameswales]

Sorry James, I don't know off hand (I use Cakewalk Sonar).

Thats ok John, I can't expect you to know everything!!!!

Anyone else know?

[jameswales]

ME AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am thing about buying the Steinberg Houston. It says that for it to work I have to have Cuebase VST V5.0 or more. Is Cuebase SX3 or Cuebase SL3 one of these? If both, which is the better?

THANKS AGAIN!!!!!

Dos the Houston allow me to input guitars, mics etc straight into it? Does it then go straight into the computer program or does it need to go through a midi interface (I think that's what it's called!!!)?

[john]

I know this doesn't answer the question but I thought it would be useful to you:

ftp://steinberg.de/Download/General_Docum..._Comparison.pdf

As far as I remember Cubase VST was one of their "studio in a box" products. They introduced a plug-in interface called InWire or something like that, the idea being to set a standard for plug ins across a variety of non Steinberg products.

From what I've read Houston is designed to work with the VST engine, which I believe is in all their recent software products. They probably introduced InWire at version 5.0 of the engine

Don't quote me, but my guess would be that they are both compatible.

Cheers

John

[Prometheus]

Dos the Houston allow me to input guitars, mics etc straight into it? Does it then go straight into the computer program or does it need to go through a midi interface (I think that's what it's called!!!)?

the huston is a mix controller to control the faders and certain other elements of Cubase in a more Mixing desk like format... it has no preamps and is not a routing device for recording but it should work for mixing on any cubase sequencer newer than cubase v5.0... is it worth buying? If you have a shaky hand and can't mix with a mouse, and don't have a setup whereby you canmix on your desk, maybe. It does make performing automation passes a lot easier, and you can move more than one fader at a time which you obviously can't with a mouse, but with unlimited automation passes in Cubase, I'm not sure how relevant that is. It definitely isn't something I would give a high priority if I was setting up a studio...

PS. For any audio recordings, put MIDI interfaces right out of your head. MIDI is computer machine code, a series of 1's and 0's, it has no relation to propagating compression waves in air or trees falling in forests when no one is around whatsoever...

Edited January 28, 2006 by Prometheus

[jameswales]

the huston is a mix controller to control the faders and certain other elements of Cubase in a more Mixing desk like format... it has no preamps and is not a routing device for recording but it should work for mixing on any cubase sequencer newer than cubase v5.0... is it worth buying? If you have a shaky hand and can't mix with a mouse, and don't have a setup whereby you canmix on your desk, maybe. It does make performing automation passes a lot easier, and you can move more than one fader at a time which you obviously can't with a mouse, but with unlimited automation passes in Cubase, I'm not sure how relevant that is. It definitely isn't something I would give a high priority if I was setting up a studio...

PS. For any audio recordings, put MIDI interfaces right out of your head. MIDI is computer machine code, a series of 1's and 0's, it has no relation to propagating compression waves in air or trees falling in forests when no one is around whatsoever...

I'LL SAVE MY MONEY THEN!!!!

How would I record vocals then? Would it be a good idea to buy some kind of small mixer that I can put microphones and guitars into? How would I then get it into the computer?

[Prometheus]

I'LL SAVE MY MONEY THEN!!!!

How would I record vocals then? Would it be a good idea to buy some kind of small mixer that I can put microphones and guitars into? How would I then get it into the computer?

you'd need a cable to go from the outs of the mixer to the sound card on the computer, possibly with an adapter to the appropriate jack size... Having a mixer, even if it is a small one, gives you much better options when it comes to setting the correct level to tape (tape in Sound Engineer Parlance meaning the recording device, whatever it might be), and for patching in effects... That's something I forgot to mention, a patchbay is a must for serious sound recordings, and they are a dime a dozen in price...

As I said before though, the most important thing is education, to read up on this and make sure you know exactly what you're doing... Guessing and pressing gets you precisely nowhere, you have to understand every step of the way, not just what knobs to turn and when to turn them, but have a complete understanding of why you are turning them and what they are doing to the signal chain. Then you have to be willing to spend years learning the black art of turning raw recordings into produced sounding records... At the end of the day, patience, clear thought and precisely directed learning are what makes an audio engineer, not fancy toys...

Edited January 28, 2006 by Prometheus