Yeah automating and things are so good in cubase.
I used FL studio alot and said i'd never leave it but Cubase changed my mind.
The hardest thing for me to figure out was getting vstis to work. Once you get that part things can get easy. For one you can create everything in vsti/midi, and if needed export it to an audio file when done.
If you figure out vsti , probably everything else with midi will fall into place.
To think it was as simple as..
Ppressing f11 to bring up the VST Instruments menu
Using the slots to pick an instrument.
Then going back to the Sequencer and Adding a Midi track
Going to that midi tracks output and in the drop down menu selecting the vst instrument you selected from the VST Instrument menu
Then Going to the sequencer again selecting the pencil/draw tool and drawing a square of the size you want for beats on that midi track.
Then selecting the object selection tool and
Double clicking that square and drawing in the notes you want.