Among the three versions of Cubase, SE Cubase is the entry level version. Although the program has fewer features than its big brothers, (SL and SX versions,) it’s still based on the state-of-the-art SX Cubase so it has extensive audio and MIDI editing capabilities and a similar user interface as both SX and SL Cubase. And any work done in SE Cubase is compatible with the other versions, making it perfect as a road companion or in a project studio.

As a budget recording software program, SE supports 48 audio tracks. On the MIDI side, there can be an unlimited number of tracks. Up to 16 VST (Virtual Studio Technology) instruments can be used, and each audio channel can have up to 5 insert effects and 8 send effects. SE Cubase comes with a full set of audio and MIDI effects.

The audio recording side of SE supports 24 bit/96 kHz resolution- suitable for the most demanding applications. Although it doesn’t have the surround sound capabilities of SX Cubase, this software can still be used to lay down stereo tracks which can be imported into SX for further processing if needed.

The software can be linked with SX or SL Cubase with the VST System Link. This allows you to run SE Cubase on a separate computer to save on resources and still run it in sync with SX Cubase. Having two versions of Cubase in your studio can be an efficient solution to handling multiple jobs, or can simply ease the load on your main computer system.

Here are some of the features of SE Cubase -

-16 VST instruments (VSTIs)
-Reversible audio and MIDI editing (up to the last 10 steps)
-Powerful automation controls
-Several MIDI editors including score, list, and key
-Tempo matching for audio and MIDI
-Pitch shifting and time shifting
-CD audio grabbing

There are many other features, but this lets you see that the software is a full-fledged music production package that can meet all but the most demanding applications.

Cubase products have excelled as hard disk audio recorders, and this program holds up the tradition. It is capable of the recording resolutions of most professional sound cards on the market today. In fact, one of the advantages of Cubase products over the competition is the open-ended hardware requirements. SE Cubase can work with almost any sound card on the market today.

Audio can be recorded using the loop function to get many recordings of the same material. As each track is recorded, it is muted and the next track is activated allowing you to capture several takes without interruption. Afterwards, the best take can be selected, or takes can be combined together for “perfect” results.

Once the audio has been captured to your computer hard drive, SE Cubase uses internal 24 bit processing for all audio editing. This preserves the high quality of the sound at every stage. The only time the audio needs to be converted to 16 bits is during the final processing for preparing CD quality sound files.

After recording, the audio can processed with a variety of software effects including reverb, chorus, delay and distortion. SE Cubase comes with a good selection of processing plug-ins and there are many others available from third party sources. The program also has built-in EQ that can be applied to each channel independently.

SE has a full-featured audio editing section that allows you to splice, cut, paste and invert any part of your recorded material. In addition, SE Cubase has an innovative time stretching tool that allows you to fit any audio clip into any time frame. This can be done with or without changing the pitch, so if you have a 50 second clip that needs to fit a 60 second segment, SE Cubase can handle it with ease.

By now you are getting a good idea of the flexibility of this software. The MIDI editing section does not disappoint in this area either. There are 3 different ways to edit MIDI tracks as well as a drum editor for MIDI drum tracks. SE Cubase has a list editor, a key editor and a score editor. All editors can function together. If you have a part that you are editing in the key editor but need to make some refinements in the list editor, simply open up the list editor without closing the list editor, make the changes, and they will be automatically updated in the key editor.

SE Cubaseis missing the Logical Editor which is present in the SX and SL versions... Logical edit is useful for performing complex MIDI edits like shifting MIDI channels or setting events to a certain duration. These kinds of edits can still be done in a roundabout way in SE Cubase, but can be time consuming and frustrating at times.

Other features that are lacking here (compared with the SX and SL versions) are stacked recording (which places multiple takes on the same track,) unlimited undo and redo functions, the latest VST 2.3 audio engine, a configurable track mixer, effects return mixers, and professional score editing and printing.

For the price though, SE Cubase offers an extensive list of features that beats most of the competition. Although it was mentioned earlier, remeber that SE is compatible with its more powerful brothers so any work done on SE can be imported into either SX or SL Cubase.

Overall, SE Cubase offers professional features for music production at a bargain price.