I’m only a few years behind you, but I was a total disaster with with razor blades - digital editing is much easier. Got shelves of tape that can’t be played because of the adhesive breakdown.
If you were hearing really cheesy sounds there’s a good chance your MIDI was getting routed to Window’s internal synth. I’d recommend, especially when just getting started, using Instrument Tracks and not MIDI Tracks. It will simplify a lot of stuff. Except for a couple of esoteric capabilities Instrument Tracks do everything a MIDI Track can with a more integrated user interface.
Keep in mind that unlike the analog world in a DAW you can align (and snap to) a Bar & Beats ruler in addition to Minutes & Seconds.
In the Cubase Hub there are links to “how to” videos and if you search this forum there are several threads of video recommendations.