Recording - June 2014 - 23

is truly old-school; everything is set in percentages of 0 to 100 for most parameters. I did try and time the full-on reverb
tail... and gave up after it passed two
and a half minutes.
Magneto 2: This "new" plug-in featured in Cubase 7.5 actually marks the
return of a decade-old VST favorite. The
original Magneto was a Steinberg VST
plug-in, one of the first to introduce the
sound and grit of circuitry and tape to the
DAW world. I am not sure of the original
version's release, but I remember using it
back in 1999 before I was even a
Cubase user.
The new 2.0 version looks like a tape
machine, and does induce a feeling of
tape as you would expect. It's not as fullfeatured and accurate to any particular
vintage machine as tape plug-ins offered
by Waves, Slate, U-He or Universal
Audio, but similar to U-He's Satin, it is not
bound by the paradigm either.

Magneto 2 not only offers tape saturation, but also has unique settings: a dual
tape mode for more extreme saturation,
high-frequency saturation control, and
low- and highpass filtering on the output
so you can control the frequency range of
the effect.
There are two things to note about
Magneto 2. One is that it runs in parallel
to your source audio and adds its sound
along with your clean source sound (this is
defeatable as well when placed in Tape
Solo mode), and the other is that while it's
available as a standard plug-in, it's
already a built-in effect on every channel
of the MixConsole. This is similar to how
you can choose to work with Steinberg's
1176 style Vintage Compressor.
Final bits and pieces...
Score Editor: While not a new feature,
Cubase 7.5 now adds the MIDI features
and editing capability found in the Key
Editor into the Score Editor for faster and
intuitive workflow.
VST Connect SE 2: The final new feature to mention is a new 2.0 version of
VST Connect, Cubase's built-in collaboration plug-in, which now adds MIDI data
transmission.

...and final thoughts
It may appear that I am a bit of a
Cubase fanboy, and in essence I am, but
mainly because I have been an avid user
since the days of SX3 and Nuendo 1.0.
It is my main and only DAW, so when
Steinberg releases a new version, it
directly affects my studio's livelihood-I
live with it day in and day out and make
my living from it. So please take note that
on both my custom-built ADK studio PC
and my 17" MacBook Pro laptop, I have
experienced zero bugs since updating to
Cubase 7.5.
Also I remain impressed by Steinberg's
new model of customer support. It's not
that there are not any bugs affecting some
users, as witnessed both at Steinberg's
own as well as third-party forums... but it's
the way that Steinberg is listening to and
engaging with end users on said forums.
Since 7.5's initial release a few months
ago, there have already been 2 maintenance updates, and the
only response has been
some of the most positive
I have seen in the company's history-so, way to
go, Steinberg!
Lastly, if 7.5 added this
much cool stuff, I can't
wait to see what Cubase
8 will offer. In my personal wish list, I would like to
see the ability to change
track colors for a whole

group of tracks at one time rather than
one at a time, and I would really love to
see the undo/redo feature extended to
changes made in the MixConsole, including fader and pan adjustments and the
adding and deletion of plug-ins.
Cubase 7.5 is a well-rounded upgrade
for users of 7.0 and earlier. For those
coming from other DAWs for the first
time, many of its new additions make the
transition a touch more comfortable.
Price: $499.99
More from: Steinberg,
www.steinberg.net
Paul Vnuk Jr. (vnuk@recordingmag.com)
is a recording engineer, producer, musician, live sound engineer, sound designer,
and beagle-drum enthusiast, living and
working in the Milwaukee area.
RECORDING June 2014

http://www.steinberg.net http://www.finale.com http://www.finale.com

Recording - June 2014

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