Steinberg Media Technologies has announced an update to its Cubase Essential Personal Music Production System to version 5. Offering a streamlined feature set that offers newcomers to Cubase a comprehensive set of composing, recording, editing and mixing capabilities, the new version includes a range of functions from its sibling, Cubase 5. Supporting Mac OS X 10.5, Windows Vista and Windows XP, Cubase Essential 5 is shipping to resellers worldwide and retails for €149 / £124*.

"With this update to version 5, Cubase Essential becomes one of the most desirable entry-level music production products anywhere, with a price tag to match," comments Helge Vogt, Steinberg's Product Marketing Manager for Cubase. "With the same user interface and award-winning audio engine as its bigger brother, which is used by countless professionals around the globe, Cubase Essential 5 includes Cubase 5 features such as automatic intonation control with the PitchCorrect plug-in, ultra-intuitive step sequencing with Beat Designer as well as many enhancements to the previous generation of Cubase Essential in the editing, recording and MIDI areas. We also added the entire HALion ONE Studio Set with almost 240 premium instrument sounds, produced by the top sound developers. The multi-talented Prologue synthesizer, previously found only in bigger Cubase versions, is also now part of Cubase Essential 5. And for mobile setups, capabilities like the Virtual MIDI Keyboard show that this new version is the ideal balance between professional production features and streamlined software developed to offer a sleek, easily portable production solution," Vogt adds.

* Suggested Retail Price, pricing and exact time of availability may vary regionally.