Cubase 9 coming in December according to Guitar Center

[ZINO]

Wait, so if I buy C8.5 update now and activate it within the grace period i get a free upgrade to 9?

Can I buy the 8.5 update and keep it till 10 is used and then activate it to get 10 for free?

I think that these point updates were only available online dirctly from streinberg during the the last few years (no dealers). So, as this update is no longer available, I don't think you'll ever be agle to get one (unless you find an unregistered second hand).

About your second question, I have read at least one old post that implies something like that but I can't confirm it.

[noiseboyuk]

Did they fix the horrible "abbreviation" of plugins names in the mixer with three dots "...." when the plugin name is too long for the channel width? That is soooo stupid and makes some plugins with similar names completely indistinguishable...

In a word - no. Abbreviations are still daft, though there sometimes seems to be an extra character or two visible.

I took a couple of A/B screen grabs though on Elements 8 v 9, because 9 looked a bit crisper on the MBP, or so I thought. And to be fair, it is.

Screen Shot 2016-12-08 at 22.09.16.png

Screen Shot 2016-12-08 at 22.07.31.png

[koolkeys]

Did anyone notice that you can now have left and right dividers for various toolbars? And for things like the transport panel at the bottom, if you click or drag on the separator bars between buttons, you can control if they show just an icon or more info?

Also, is the top toolbar now centered? I think it has all been adjusted. I'm liking more and more what I see each time I look!

Brent

[VitaminD]

If Guillermo or other Steinberg reps are interested and reading..

I'll say CA9 installation worked fine. It seems it used some of the CA8 install for somethings and just updated them, even though I installed CA9 in a different folder.

In any case it installed without a hitch. Runs without a hitch. I did have to point the plugins manager back to my 64-bit plugins folders and resync but it didn't complain once and that is with it finding over 100 plugins.

I loaded a C8 project in it for giggles and loaded without issue, sounds the same. So far thats the level of my expectation, ensuring I haven't lost anything with the upgrade.

I did play with the newer Retrologue from CA8.5 and it is nice. Still haven't toyed with the Sampler track. I think CA9 with the (so far) stability, the bug fix of window minimization (with the Cubase menu bar still being visible), and transport bar is worth the update for me

I don't like being boxed in so I disabled the Lower Zone after trying it briefly. I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad one can disable that. SO SO very glad. I really loathe the Lower Zone type working.. because it splits my already crowded screen into more panes. I like to focus on one thing at a time. I'm simple like that.

Did anyone notice that you can now have left and right dividers for various toolbars? And for things like the transport panel at the bottom, if you click or drag on the separator bars between buttons, you can control if they show just an icon or more info?

Yep that is one of the first things I figured out. Now no more floating transport (that used to always get in the way hehe).

I'm wondering if there is now the ability to move the transport bar from the bottom to the top of the screen. I generally have all my bars at the top.. but it looks like this one is adhered to the bottom of the screen with crazy glue.

[koolkeys]

Did anyone notice that you can now have left and right dividers for various toolbars? And for things like the transport panel at the bottom, if you click or drag on the separator bars between buttons, you can control if they show just an icon or more info?

Yep that is one of the first things I figured out. Now no more floating transport (that used to always get in the way hehe).

I'm wondering if there is now the ability to move the transport bar from the bottom to the top of the screen. I generally have all my bars at the top.. but it looks like this one is adhered to the bottom of the screen with crazy glue.

I did know you had the transport attached at the bottom, but didn't realize how much you could customize it. Cubase has always been great with toolbar customizations, but I hadn't seen that yet.

I am kind of curious why Steinberg doesn't list some of the other minor changes made to the program. I'm watching the Ask Audio videos as well as some Club Cubase videos on Youtube, and discovering lots of little workflow changes that I'm loving. I know Pro 9 isn't a groundbreaking release, but it really does pack a huge improvement in workflow that makes it worth the upgrade, for me at least.

Brent

[ghettosynth]

I'm watching the Ask Audio videos as well as some Club Cubase videos on Youtube, and discovering lots of little workflow changes that I'm loving. I know Pro 9 isn't a groundbreaking release, but it really does pack a huge improvement in workflow that makes it worth the upgrade, for me at least.

Brent

For me, this is turning out to be one of those things where the whole of the little changes is much greater than the sum of the parts. I was pretty much done with Cubase but I had come back to it lately for some very minor reasons. Specifically, I like how you can edit the curves for fade in/out. At any rate, I've always liked a lot of things about Cubase it's just that the workflow and stability were problems. Even compared to 8.5, it's night and day now. I know a lot of people don't like the lower zone, but if you're used to Ableton it's really awesome.

The sampler track is also quite useful for the way that I work. I don't actually care about export to third party samplers, it's either what I need in the moment, or I'll just start an instrument design with Kontakt. Again, for those coming from Ableton, it's like Simpler for Cubase.

That adjustable transport bar locked to the bottom is the bee's knees. I hate the floating transport and it wastes so much damn time moving it out of the way and in the way.

It's kind of funny, since I didn't buy 8 or 8.5, I'm getting a pretty big update with a bunch of new stuff and a great workflow.

[igoramos]

I'm watching the Ask Audio videos as well as some Club Cubase videos on Youtube, and discovering lots of little workflow changes that I'm loving. I know Pro 9 isn't a groundbreaking release, but it really does pack a huge improvement in workflow that makes it worth the upgrade, for me at least.

Brent

For me, this is turning out to be one of those things where the whole of the little changes is much greater than the sum of the parts. I was pretty much done with Cubase but I had come back to it lately for some very minor reasons. Specifically, I like how you can edit the curves for fade in/out. At any rate, I've always liked a lot of things about Cubase it's just that the workflow and stability were problems. Even compared to 8.5, it's night and day now. I know a lot of people don't like the lower zone, but if you're used to Ableton it's really awesome.

The sampler track is also quite useful for the way that I work. I don't actually care about export to third party samplers, it's either what I need in the moment, or I'll just start an instrument design with Kontakt. Again, for those coming from Ableton, it's like Simpler for Cubase.

That adjustable transport bar locked to the bottom is the bee's knees. I hate the floating transport and it wastes so much damn time moving it out of the way and in the way.

It's kind of funny, since I didn't buy 8 or 8.5, I'm getting a pretty big update with a bunch of new stuff and a great workflow.

doesn't feel like there's much innovation though (on the order of chord tracks and pads). That's what I was hoping for most.

[ghettosynth]

doesn't feel like there's much innovation though (on the order of chord tracks and pads). That's what I was hoping for most.

Sure, that was my first response as well. I'd like to see more done there. That said, given the frequency of their updates, I'm glad at some point that they decided to work on stability. I remember the 5.x days, don't want to go back to that.

[EnGee]

So is it faster than 8.5 in starting time? Loading projects? What about stability under Windows 10? Does it need to run in compatibility mode to avoid crashes when save and exit?
Is Studio One still faster and more stable in the above points?

The answers to the questions above will allow me to decide to stay with S1 or go back to Cubase as my main composing host.

[koolkeys]

doesn't feel like there's much innovation though (on the order of chord tracks and pads). That's what I was hoping for most.

On one hand, I agree with you. We all like to see great revolutionary new features. But here's how I see it. Cubase is already one of, if not the most advanced hosts out there. They have innovated in so many ways over the years, adding things that NO other host has. But you can't do that with every release.

What I like is that they are taking steps to improve what is already there. One of the reasons I complain about Reaper (and Sonar for that matter, though to a lesser extent) is that they tack on new features without improving what is there. Features get left behind. Steinberg has really re-imagined the Cubase workflow over the years and the little tweaks, while minor on paper, come together to make a huge difference. It adds to the cohesion of the program.

Now, some would say that these minor things shouldn't be a paid update. My wallet agrees with this. Nobody likes to pay for little features. But I'm willing to pay for the direction they are going, and their willingness to improve what is there to make it work better.

Also, keep in mind that the results of their survey showed certain features that were requested more than others. Here are the top five requests:

1. Parameter undo/redo history for MixConsole
2. Enhanced window handling
3. Extend options to import tracks/channels in a project
4. Extend resizing possibilities for the rack zone
5. Basic sampler

Can you guess how many have been implemented? All of them (four of them in the Pro 9 release). So while we may complain, this is what people wanted. They also took measures to improve plugin scanning, eliminate the need for floating transport and other things that have been commonly requested. That has to be worth something, even if it means they didn't innovate.

Cubase is already very feature complete. You can't innovate every time. But you can improve the customer experience. I hope they find cool new innovative features for future releases, and I hope they continue to develop Expression Maps, integration with Dorico, etc. But for now, my perspective is that version 9 is exactly what it should have been.

Brent

[ghettosynth]

So is it faster than 8.5 in starting time? Loading projects? What about stability under Windows 10? Does it need to run in compatibility mode to avoid crashes when save and exit?
Is Studio One still faster and more stable in the above points?

The answers to the questions above will allow me to decide to stay with S1 or go back to Cubase as my main composing host.

I have still experienced one or two crashes on exit, but far fewer than with 7.5. Probably someone who has been using it more regularly can give you a better assessment.

[igoramos]

doesn't feel like there's much innovation though (on the order of chord tracks and pads). That's what I was hoping for most.

On one hand, I agree with you. We all like to see great revolutionary new features. But here's how I see it. Cubase is already one of, if not the most advanced hosts out there. They have innovated in so many ways over the years, adding things that NO other host has. But you can't do that with every release.

What I like is that they are taking steps to improve what is already there. One of the reasons I complain about Reaper (and Sonar for that matter, though to a lesser extent) is that they tack on new features without improving what is there. Features get left behind. Steinberg has really re-imagined the Cubase workflow over the years and the little tweaks, while minor on paper, come together to make a huge difference. It adds to the cohesion of the program.

Now, some would say that these minor things shouldn't be a paid update. My wallet agrees with this. Nobody likes to pay for little features. But I'm willing to pay for the direction they are going, and their willingness to improve what is there to make it work better.

Also, keep in mind that the results of their survey showed certain features that were requested more than others. Here are the top five requests:

1. Parameter undo/redo history for MixConsole
2. Enhanced window handling
3. Extend options to import tracks/channels in a project
4. Extend resizing possibilities for the rack zone
5. Basic sampler

Can you guess how many have been implemented? All of them (four of them in the Pro 9 release). So while we may complain, this is what people wanted. They also took measures to improve plugin scanning, eliminate the need for floating transport and other things that have been commonly requested. That has to be worth something, even if it means they didn't innovate.

Cubase is already very feature complete. You can't innovate every time. But you can improve the customer experience. I hope they find cool new innovative features for future releases, and I hope they continue to develop Expression Maps, integration with Dorico, etc. But for now, my perspective is that version 9 is exactly what it should have been.

Brent

Very much appreciate this perspective! seems more "whole" I'm fairly new to using Cubase regularly.
Im impressed that they have implemented the top requests! That says a lot!

(Right now trying to figure out the difference between Track instruments and Rack instruments. Can't figure out why there are both...)

[ghettosynth]

doesn't feel like there's much innovation though (on the order of chord tracks and pads). That's what I was hoping for most.

On one hand, I agree with you. We all like to see great revolutionary new features. But here's how I see it. Cubase is already one of, if not the most advanced hosts out there. They have innovated in so many ways over the years, adding things that NO other host has. But you can't do that with every release.

What I like is that they are taking steps to improve what is already there. One of the reasons I complain about Reaper (and Sonar for that matter, though to a lesser extent) is that they tack on new features without improving what is there. Features get left behind. Steinberg has really re-imagined the Cubase workflow over the years and the little tweaks, while minor on paper, come together to make a huge difference. It adds to the cohesion of the program.

Now, some would say that these minor things shouldn't be a paid update. My wallet agrees with this. Nobody likes to pay for little features. But I'm willing to pay for the direction they are going, and their willingness to improve what is there to make it work better.

Also, keep in mind that the results of their survey showed certain features that were requested more than others. Here are the top five requests:

1. Parameter undo/redo history for MixConsole
2. Enhanced window handling
3. Extend options to import tracks/channels in a project
4. Extend resizing possibilities for the rack zone
5. Basic sampler

Can you guess how many have been implemented? All of them (four of them in the Pro 9 release). So while we may complain, this is what people wanted. They also took measures to improve plugin scanning, eliminate the need for floating transport and other things that have been commonly requested. That has to be worth something, even if it means they didn't innovate.

Cubase is already very feature complete. You can't innovate every time. But you can improve the customer experience. I hope they find cool new innovative features for future releases, and I hope they continue to develop Expression Maps, integration with Dorico, etc. But for now, my perspective is that version 9 is exactly what it should have been.

Brent

Very much appreciate this perspective! seems more "whole" I'm fairly new to using Cubase regularly.
Im impressed that they have implemented the top requests! That says a lot!

(Right now trying to figure out the difference between Track instruments and Rack instruments. Can't figure out why there are both...)

In part legacy, in part flexibility. Track instruments are what almost everyone else does unless you work hard not to work that way. It assigns an instrument to a track.

Rack instruments are really the way we used to do things when we worked with hardware and still have some benefit in software. Rack instruments go in the "rack" and aren't really associated with a particular track. You can then send midi to them from midi tracks. It's useful to decouple the midi from the instrument for a number of reasons. One of the most common reasons for this is if you are using a multi-timbral instrument, as of course, was common in the early days of computer sequencing when we used a lot more hardware.

[sfd]

I've used Cubase since -93 or -94. Today I've Cubase 7.5. Actually I own Cubase Pro 8.5 but it's not installed due to the stupid fact that it can't run if you use a high contrast theme.

To me there are no features in the newever versions that is worth the hasssle of upgrading.

Making music won't be any eaiser in Cubase Pro 9 then in Cubase 7.5.

All of us know that there'll come a 9.5 and then a 10 and so on. So it speaks for it self. They have to come up with something for every new release. And they can't be revolutionary all of the time. As if that was the purpose of a new release.

It's somewhat funny to see people who are so much into vintage gear and emulations of those being so obsessed, if that's the word, about getting the latest, newest, streamlined, shiny cutting edge tech with promises to take them where no man gone before.

Well, one could only wish those rocket engineers could come up with a brilliant revolutionary solution on how to run their spaceship on a high contrast theme

[lfm]

I have still experienced one or two crashes on exit, but far fewer than with 7.5. Probably someone who has been using it more regularly can give you a better assessment.

Try closing the project first, then exit Cubase.
I found this as a workaround if using a single Waves plugin in a project it crashes every time if I exit directly and let Cubase close project in that process. The InnerProcessDictionary is the Waves dll it crashes on, if you check details.

Never had a crash on exit on Elements 7 or 8 or Pro 8.5 - not once.