Presonus Studio One 5.2 vs Cubase 11

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Hi,

I've been a Cubase user for almost 30 years but have always found it uses noticeably more cpu than other DAW's I've tried and it feels sluggish. I also find the workflow can be quite convoluted at times and the upgrade prices are WAY overpriced at times! As a result I'm considering jumping ship. However, I do use Cubasis 3 on my iPad and I may miss being able to easily transfer projects across from this.
I know a few colleagues are using Presonus Studio One and I noticed this integrates with Melodyne which is a vst I use quite a bit. I also use Presonus Notion as my main score software and have this installed on my iPad as well as my studio PC. Also, the ios remote control layout and workflow looks to be much better.

Already there is three pros to switching to Studio One (lower cpu, integrated Melodyne and interaction with Notion). I'm also interested in picking up the Presonus Quantum for lower latency (though am tempted to hang on and see if these will be updated at some point with Thunderbolt 3 and improved specs?).

However, there will be an initial learning curve and there is uncertainty how all my 3rd party vsts will reliably work with Studio One?

Has anyone on here switched from Cubase to Studio One? What other pro's/con's are there with the latest versions of these DAW's? What would you recommend?
Last edited by dickiefunk on Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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dickiefunk wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:19 pm Has anyone on here switched from Cubase to Studio One?
Yes, I did. From Cubase Artist to Studio One Pro. For me, it was the more easy workflow. Things which took two or three mouse clicks only required a simple drag & drop. Also, Studio One is more streamlined, doesn't have as much legacy ballast (Remote Control Editor in Cubase, for example, or the confusing and tedious stuff in the Studio settings). It loads faster, is more clear, and makes more sense to me in most cases. And, I also like that it has rather few options in the options dialog.

I wouldn't count out that I switch back one day though, because there are a few things Cubase does better as well, as it always is the case. Studio One and Cubase, those are the best DAW's for me, and they feel and handle quite similarly. Even though the inspector in Cubase is quite a beast... I really hope they slim that down one day.

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I switched from Cubase to Studio One (and eventually sold Cubase) - I lost hope with Cubase around 9.5 (GUI was a mess and dozens of unfinished features IMO) and just found S1 much cleaner, leaner and easier to use- no pop up windows!

The free updates (.1, .2 etc) seem bigger/better to me than the Cubase .5 updates that you had to buy and the hardware that just 'works' with S1 (Faderports, ATOM SQ etc) is more affordable and more varies than anything Steinberg ever did for Cubase.

Cubase may be much better now, no idea, but I have no regrets switching and still really like using Studio One and L like Presonus as a developer.
X32 Desk, i9 PC, S49MK2, Studio One, BWS, Live 12. PUSH 3 SA, Osmose, Summit, Pro 3, Prophet8, Syntakt, Digitone, Drumlogue, OP1-F, Eurorack, TD27 Drums, Nord Drum3P, Guitars, Basses, Amps and of course lots of pedals!

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SLiC wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 1:42 pm The free updates (.1, .2 etc) seem bigger/better to me than the Cubase .5 updates that you had to buy and the hardware that just 'works' with S1 (Faderports, ATOM SQ etc) is more affordable and more varies than anything Steinberg ever did for Cubase.

Cubase may be much better now, no idea, but I have no regrets switching and still really like using Studio One and L like Presonus as a developer.
Yes I agree. The free StudioOne .1, .2 updates seem to offer a lot more value for money than the expensive .5 updates Cubase offers!

One development on the horizon for Cubase is no USB dongle so I wonder if this will improve the cpu performance and really long loading time!?

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What I really dislike about Studio One is their upgrade price policy. It's much too expensive to upgrade IMO, especially when you consider you get the same when you update from version 1 as when you upgrade from version 4...

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My biggest issue with Cubase was that every time I added something (new track, plugin, sidechain, ...) playback got interrupted, sometimes even for up to 5 seconds.
Studio One as well as all other DAWs I know of don't have this problem.

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Studio One is more for the modern users. Studio One has done a better job of adjusting to where the market is today. Steinberg is content with just catering to the same customer base from 30 years ago. It's a reason you don't see many young upcoming producers/engineers using Cubase compared to Live/Logic/FL Studio.

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chk071 wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 2:29 pm What I really dislike about Studio One is their upgrade price policy.
Its about the same I think as paying for a X and a X.5 - upgrade from any version to V5 is 128 GBP including tax...that seems pretty fair to me as it only upgrades every couple of years and you get X.1 and X.2 and even a (normally massive!) x.5....FREE
chk071 wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 2:29 pm It's much too expensive to upgrade IMO, especially when you consider you get the same when you update from version 1 as when you upgrade from version 4...
Surely that makes it better value? Just upgrade ever 2 versions and its half price :-)
X32 Desk, i9 PC, S49MK2, Studio One, BWS, Live 12. PUSH 3 SA, Osmose, Summit, Pro 3, Prophet8, Syntakt, Digitone, Drumlogue, OP1-F, Eurorack, TD27 Drums, Nord Drum3P, Guitars, Basses, Amps and of course lots of pedals!

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That can't be in their interest though...

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When you use Studio One most of the time you will say 'why doing this, doing that was not this easy in Cubase!'
Cubase might have more features and be more mature but Studio One workflow is second to none.

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chk071 wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 2:29 pm What I really dislike about Studio One is their upgrade price policy. It's much too expensive to upgrade IMO, especially when you consider you get the same when you update from version 1 as when you upgrade from version 4...
Really? S1's pricing is phenomenal imo compared to most other DAWs out there. They usually have pretty big .x updates in between the major ones for free that add massive changes. Compare 5.x to 5.2, it's almost a whole new DAW. Or 4.x to 4.6.

When 3.x came out they added the hybrid audio engine in 3.5, that would be a major version for any other DAW. Personally their pricing is pretty good imo. It's $149 every 3-4 years. You have to be hella broke to not be able to pull that together.

Also Let' compare to say Bitwig which is $169 (unless you find a deal that brings it down to $129 or so) every year. What about Ableton, $229 for a Suite upgrade from Suite 7-10 (now that's expensive). Even the standard version is $159. Cubase is $159 and there are .5 updates you have to pay for at $99. Upgrading Digital Performer is $195 from any previous version.

So Presonus is pricing S1 a little below what every other DAW is charging (except Logic which is really the best bang for buck DAW you can get assuming you have a Mac), and their upgrade cadence is about 3 years, with major feature updates in between for free. Seems pretty good to me. I don't know what you categorize as expensive but S1 ain't it imo.
Studio One // Bitwig // Logic Pro X // Ableton 11 // Reason 11 // FLStudio // MPC // Force // Maschine

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The way it is now, it just doesn't make sense to me to upgrade to 5, because I can well live without those features. If they'd charge 79 € for the upgrade, I'd well consider it.

Anyway, a bit pointless to argue about it, because they do have occasional 50% off upgrades sales. I think I'll wait what version 6 will bring though, before I upgrade. After all, the upgrade price is the same for every former version, so, you get a lot more value when you skip a few versions.

If I was Presonus, I'd charge 79 € for the upgrade from the former version, and the current price for users of any other former version. I think they'd get more people to upgrade that way. Again, imagine what you get when you upgrade from version 1, and then see what you hget when you upgrade from version 4. It's a big difference.

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chk071 wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 4:51 pm The way it is now, it just doesn't make sense to me to upgrade to 5, because I can well live without those features. If they'd charge 79 € for the upgrade, I'd well consider it.

Anyway, a bit pointless to argue about it, because they do have occasional 50% off upgrades sales. I think I'll wait what version 6 will bring though, before I upgrade. After all, the upgrade price is the same for every former version, so, you get a lot more value when you skip a few versions.

If I was Presonus, I'd charge 79 € for the upgrade from the former version, and the current price for users of any other former version. I think they'd get more people to upgrade that way. Again, imagine what you get when you upgrade from version 1, and then see what you hget when you upgrade from version 4. It's a big difference.

Your argument is that it's expensive and mine is compared to what? Because every other DAWs upgrade is more expensive. $79 imo is too low for the major feature added between major versions, especially when Cubase charges $99 just to go from 10.0 to 10.5. I'm not buying that someone can't put together $149 every 3-4 years.
Studio One // Bitwig // Logic Pro X // Ableton 11 // Reason 11 // FLStudio // MPC // Force // Maschine

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apoclypse wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 5:00 pm Your argument is that it's expensive and mine is compared to what? Because every other DAWs upgrade is more expensive. $79 imo is too low for the major feature added between major versions, especially when Cubase charges $99 just to go from 10.0 to 10.5. I'm not buying that someone can't put together $149 every 3-4 years.
Couple of wrong things: There are DAW upgrades which are less expensive. Reaper for example. Also, it took a mere 2 years for Presonus to get from Studio One v4 to v5, not 3 or 4 years. And, it's not about being able to put together $149, it's about value. I don't see much value upgrading from the direct predecessor. It seems to make more sense to skip 2 or 3 versions. Which, again, can't be in Presonus' interest.

Anyway.

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chk071 wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 5:18 pm
apoclypse wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 5:00 pm Your argument is that it's expensive and mine is compared to what? Because every other DAWs upgrade is more expensive. $79 imo is too low for the major feature added between major versions, especially when Cubase charges $99 just to go from 10.0 to 10.5. I'm not buying that someone can't put together $149 every 3-4 years.
Couple of wrong things: There are DAW upgrades which are less expensive. Reaper for example. Also, it took a mere 2 years for Presonus to get from Studio One v4 to v5, not 3 or 4 years. And, it's not about being able to put together $149, it's about value. I don't see much value upgrading from the direct predecessor. It seems to make more sense to skip 2 or 3 versions. Which, again, can't be in Presonus' interest.

Anyway.

Well you are wrong on that. Reaper doesn't have upgrade licenses as far as I'm aware. Once 7.99 moves to 8.0 or whatever for a commercial license (which you should be buying if you make money on making music) its $225.

Before 5.x came out Presonus upgrade cadence was 3-4 years. They accelerated that time scale. Even so $149 is not expensive even for a two year upgrade cycle imo. As for what's in Presonus interest or not. Presonus is a hardware company. I'm sure they appreciate the money they make from S1 but it's not their bread and butter. They are just following the industry agreed upon licensing terms as almost every other DAW maker has the same exact licensing terms (upgrade from previous version 1-10, or Ableton 7-10 etc).

For one they know that most users will keep up to date (and I'm sure they have data to prove this) versus skipping versions. Anecdotally I don't know anyone who does that. I've never see anyone skip 3.x and go to 4.x. For one because for the most part there are must have features in every update for most people.
Studio One // Bitwig // Logic Pro X // Ableton 11 // Reason 11 // FLStudio // MPC // Force // Maschine

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