Sorry to bring this back up from the bottom.
Cubase is great for making beats. We can both agree on that. But I would never spend the time penciling in notes on Cubase if I can do it with a click on fruity loops. However, I am more than happy using a midi controller on Cubase for making beats.
One thing if anything that Cubase has on Fruity loops is cycle recording. I don't think that'd be too hard to implement on FL but then again, I am not a programmer of any sort.
Maybe it's just me, but when I tried out a bundled Cubasis at the very beginning before I knew much with no midi controller of any sort, I didn't know what to do. The idea of using the pencil tool was not appealing neither. This is why I left it and eventually picked up FL. When I started learning and reached some limitations on FL, then came Cubase SX. By this time, I had a midi controller, a sound module, quite a few different audio production cards and Cubase was pretty simple then.
I still wouldn't recommend Cubase without a midi controller although a person can get by without one.