Fast Guide to Cubase 5 Paperback – 7 April 2010

The 'Fast Guide to Cubase 5' is a book you have to slow down to appreciate. The title is something of a misnomer, in that sense, but taking your time pays dividends with this excellent textbook.Simon Millward has taken on a big task with the 'Fast Guide' Cubase series. It could have gone wrong very quickly - after all, Cubase 5 comes with an excellent manual, so he has to offer something new to make it a worthwhile purchase. Fortunately Millward is more than up to the challenge. Offering useful information, practical guides to performing common tasks, and a more in-depth look at the complex software of Cubase 5, this book is a real boon and a welcome complement to the manual.His writing style is clear and precise, the sign of a good communicator. Too many music books are written by so-called 'experts' who seem unable to express themselves with the written word. Simon Millward's style, while confined by the nature of the task to being 'textbook dry,' is nonetheless very readable, and the text is peppered with copious images and visual examples. Very readable, and always informative.My other complaint with music books is the amount of 'filler' they seem to contain. Yet 'Fast Guide to Cubase 5' is tight and concise all the way through.This is not Simon Millward's first book on Cubase, and those who have the earlier 'Fast Guide to Cubase 4' may wonder whether its worth purchasing this new version. That's a tough call. One the upside, the Cubase 4 guide was released before there was a major update to the software of Cubase 4, and the changes in this book reflect the alterations in that software that carried across to version 5. And of course since Cubase 5 was released all new goodies have been added (pitch correction, new VST modules etc.) Yet much of the text is simply repeated from the Cubase 4 version, so if you have the 'Fast Guide to Cubase 4' you will have read much of this book already (I'm guessing about 80% or more is a rehash of 'Fast Guide to Cubase 4').If you are new to Cubase, or if you are looking to delve beyond the manual, you really need to go out and buy a copy. It's an investment, not least because it opens up new ways to be creative with your recordings. It also answers a lot of niggling questions you may have that are not covered in the manual, going into greater depth and with real-world examples.I can't recommend this highly enough. Just one tip - read it slowly!

Youtube videos are great..but this is great for quick reference material, and has answered all queries I've had so far in learnning cubase in great detail

A well written, helpful book packed with tricks and tips - 100 at the back and probably another 200 peppered throughout.It goes beyond the manual supplied with Cubase and I'd highly recommend it to beginners & even intermediate, basically those of us who aren't quite sure if we're compressing/EQing correctly. There's even a few pages of diagrams devoted to which frequencies to be boost/cut to achieve a better sound for particular instruments.I frequently find myself reaching for this book.

I access Cubase tutorial data in 3 ways...1) The onboard Cubase 5 pdf manual, it's good2) The Cubase 5 paper manual, and appears to be a direct copy of the pdf, which is helpful3) By AskVideo DVD tutorials which is convenient but costly...4) By the book by Simon Millward, which is a fraction of the price of the above.If we presume that no one has got it totally right, for a variety of non prejudicial reasons, then the more aspects we get, the safer the picture. Emphasis differs between the suppliers as to the information, and there IS a place for the 3rd party book, not just for flights or other where a laptop would be impractical, or where the manual would quickly fall into day through substantial handling. I keep the manual for the studio shelf.The book has only one drawback I have encountered, the pictures are not nearly as good as the manual, I guess the print resolution is not quite as good. However, the book offers a massive overview of the whole Cubase process for what is simply a paltry sum for the information.For anyone whom is considering acquiring Cubase 5 the book is much clearer than reviews, and has extensive depth if you know what you're looking for. On the down side, and it is no fault of the author, Steinberg have redesigned their general front end (quite detrimentally according to some others, and I'm not disagreeing on that point), so some relevance in the book will need to be intuited and 'worked out' by readers when they get to the real thing...The book is more durable, hence more enduringly portable than the Cubase manual. As an aid to a commuter or for someone to work over in their lunch hour or those other precious moments for many, the book is worth way more than the price, and it is so inexpensive that it is disposable compared to the manual.It is a great way to get a quick handle on the fundamentals of each discipline within the Cubase application. Even if you can't find the precise detail you are looking for in the book, it is almost impossible to not come away from the read with the necessary handles to search for elsewhere.I bought the book for Cubase 4, and on the strength of that, even with onboard pdf and manual and expensive DVD tutorials I still bought the Cubase 5 book.When the Cubase 6 book comes out, I would choose to acquire that also, it won't cost a night out, and will last for years...

This is a highly recommended title it's layout and narration is excellent, it really does help you understand cubase and the techniques involved in the recording proccess. The functions are explained well and references to actual studio, audio, midi and mixing techniques are explain in layman terms that even an advanced studio engineer would approve of - Reu