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For anyone still unfamiliar with Cubase, its modern incarnation is as a one-stop, 'do it all' DAW, featuring audio and MIDI sequencing, virtual instruments, loads of effects, a virtual mixer, automation system, and so on.

Technically, this is the second time Cubase has reached version 5, as following 2000's release of Cubase VST 5, Steinberg ditched the digit and launched the vastly overhauled Cubase SX in 2002.

Eventually, the SX tag was dropped and we find ourselves once again at v5.

Pitch adjustment

Before looking at the more subtle improvements, let's tackle some of the big ones, the most impressive of which is the spruced up Sample Editor with its VariAudio pitch editing.

This is similar to Celemony's Melodyne but tightly integrated into the app. While it's not the first DAW to get this (Samplitude and Sonar have similar systems), it is probably the slickest.

VariAudio operates on monophonic audio – typically vocals, but other instruments can work too. Large coloured 'segments' that look like notes on a piano roll identify each note, and a fine continuous line called the micro-pitch curve shows the actual pitch. Clicking a segment plays it back immediately.

Typical uses of VariAudio include editing the pitch of individual notes by dragging them; applying pitch quantising so that notes are more in tune; and 'straightening' notes to remove wavering pitch or suppress vibrato. You can shift the timing of notes, too.

Get under the hood of VariAudio and there are more subtle adjustments to be made, such as altering the start or end pitch of a segment, or 'tilting' its pitch curve; exporting the notes as MIDI data; and setting the notes via MIDI. With the latter, you step through segments with each key press.

There's also a real-time pitch correction effect called – wait for it – PitchCorrect. You can quantise to a chromatic, minor or major scale, or a custom one defined by clicking notes on the on-screen keyboard.

It offers the expected features such as speed of retuning, tolerance, transposition and formant-shifting. It's only a shame that it doesn't offer diatonic (ie, in key) pitchshifting too. Quality-wise, both VariAudio and PitchCorrect sound the business.

Listen to a dry vocal, followed by subtle and extreme examples of PitchCorrect in use: