Friends have been telling me about Cubase for a long time now and they helped make me curious about the music creation software. I started using Propellerheads Reason when it first came out. Now, I'm pretty comfortable with creating music quickly with Reason and I want to enhance my skills by adding Cubase SX 3 to my music-making toolkit.

I just got Cubase SX 3 yesterday. When I opened the interface I was able to move around and figure some things out, but I quickly realized that I needed some help.

Well, it didn't take me long to find the help I needed. There is a great set of tutorials you can get for free on the web at www.dancetech.com.

Cubase SX for beginners - Part-1 provides an introduction to:

• the arrange-page area,
  
• adjusting grid display
  
• working with Snap & Quantise on the arrange-page grid

Cubase SX for beginners - Part-2 provides an introduction to:

• the Key Edit area (piano edit)
• working with Snap & Quantise & tools
• Notes & controllers.

Cubase SX for beginners - Part-3 provides an intro to:

• the Drum Map area (drum edit)
  
• working with Snap & Quantise & tools
  
• multiple sound sources, layering, routing, key remapping etc.
• The full monty including example of making a drum-map groove from several internal synths/drum softs and external drumbox all together.
  

Cubase SX for beginners - Part-4 takes you through:

• The Arpache arpeggiator
  
• Discover arpeggio work with the included SX arpggiator
• Full explanation of usage, techniques, tips & tricks.

I found this set of tutorials very helpful in getting me started with using Cubase. Now, I can't wait to get into the more advanced stuff like using Cubase as a host for Reason and using Cubase to print out sheet music. I'm definitely going to need some more tutorials!