Cubase 10.5 is here now....

[fese]

Now that we had the good old pricing discussion, can we go back to the update and what's shit about it
I have one:
The mouse wheel scroll behaviour changed in 10.5 in every selector windows (those that open when you want so select an insert plugin). For every mouse wheel "click" it now only scrolls one line of text instead of like three as before or in any other part of Cubase where you scroll lists like media bay or plugin manager. This makes browsing the plugin list soooo slow and painful as it takes so much finger movements, I'm pretty sure I'll get index finger RSI soon.
Yeah, I know I can search, and the search is great, but that only helps if I know what plugin I want.
And to remove an insert I usually clicked the arrow and with one mouse wheel movement I was at the top and could select "no effect". Now it's a PITA.
That is the only thing I really hate about the update so far...

[dellboy]

Yup, exactly. Studio One is really carving a path, and they are steadily progressing. I just switched from Ableton to Studio One and Its excellent. I have Cubase as well, and find it to be painful to navigate and create.

I recently bought both with the idea that I would sell one after a good trial period. I find that I am instinctively clicking on Cubase all the time, not sure why, because both are really good. I find both easy to navigate.

[v1o]

Lets not get it twisted, Im all for upgrade costs as long as the features are innovating. When you are already an established DAW, and you are charging for features that already exist in other DAWs, then it just comes off weird to me. Studio one does things their own way, and it works. Ableton as well, and so does FL studio. I would like to see Cubase have updates that have workflow improvements not already found in other daws.

I don't know any DAW with innovating features. What are some innovative features you've checked out recently?

[JonSolo]

Innovative as lettuce and tomato.

Funny. Every number of years I buy a car. This past year it had better CarPlay features on the radio. But was somehow $10k more than the previous model. Sure new styling and design...but I mean $10k more for JUST styling and design?

Why do some struggle with this thought?

Upgrades and updates. They are what they are, paid or not. Now, when things get broken, THAT is a discussion!

[Compyfox]

Upgrades and updates. They are what they are, paid or not. Now, when things get broken, THAT is a discussion!

Or taken away for years, and then re-added with castrated features.

<cough>

[VitaminD]

I'd much prefer to support my DAW of choice with paid updates once a year for what we receive than see it disappear from financial struggles.

+1
$5 a month, $0.16 a day, not a big deal.

Sounds like a subscription!

Just budgeting. Showing the minimal amount it would take to save per month to purchase the update. And that likely will be 30 or 40pct off at some point next year. IIRC there is a sale on updates and a sale on upgrades sometime between July and August.

Whichever version of Cubase you have licensed is the version you get to use perpetually. No forced payment or they take your software activation away. That, to me, is A LOT better than a subscription.

[telecode]

Many DAWs will do things like charge $150 for a major upgrade every two years. Cubase spreads that out to a $60 .5 upgrade, and a $100 1.X upgrade, so $160 every two years. Seems reasonable to me.

I guess one could always go the Reaper route and save a bit of money. I think that for the type of music I focus on and the way I make music, Cubase is the right tool for me. I don't mind paying a little more to use the DAW I am familiar with and maybe (or hopefully) more feature rich than Reaper. (Does reaper have the fancy chord tools and and the vari audio functionality?)

[vertibration]

Lets not get it twisted, Im all for upgrade costs as long as the features are innovating. When you are already an established DAW, and you are charging for features that already exist in other DAWs, then it just comes off weird to me. Studio one does things their own way, and it works. Ableton as well, and so does FL studio. I would like to see Cubase have updates that have workflow improvements not already found in other daws.

I don't know any DAW with innovating features. What are some innovative features you've checked out recently?

Studio One has a built in sequencer in the piano roll for drums, and the quantize section allows MPC style swing. Ableton is ripe with innovative features. Simpler allows you to drag a sample into it, slice it, and automatically slice to a drum rack. FL studio has the ability to glide and slide notes in its piano roll, and has tons of superior effects to other DAW's. If you dont know any DAW with innovating features, then what are you using?

[THE INTRANCER]

I don't know any DAW with innovating features. What are some innovative features you've checked out recently?

Parallel & Serial Multi FX Processing with VST Effects, Channel & Frequency Splitting in a node tree layout with branch splitting in addition to a node tree layout for Multi Instruments that can be branch-split and inserted with note triggering devices (Note FX) whilst allowing note ranges to be set across the keyboard, and integrating the channel strip for each instrument.

I had trouble finding this in Cubase in my time with version 9.5, and on my web searches earlier.

[EnochLight]

Innovative as lettuce and tomato.

Funny. Every number of years I buy a car. This past year it had better CarPlay features on the radio. But was somehow $10k more than the previous model. Sure new styling and design...but I mean $10k more for JUST styling and design?

Why do some struggle with this thought?

Upgrades and updates. They are what they are, paid or not. Now, when things get broken, THAT is a discussion!

Regarding your car analogy, the cost of manufacturing goes up yearly. The cost for steel, the cost for paying the employees that make them, tariffs, trade taxes, etc. All the while us car buyers get usually meager changes in styling, minor changes to tech, etc - for essentially a product that does the exact same thing that it has done for over 100 years. I guess what I'm saying is I can understand why the cost for cars goes up yearly - for the exact same model with the same features.

But if yours was $10K more?!!! How many years prior did you buy before? Maybe you need to look at other cars.

My wife had a 2017 Ford Escape on lease for 3 years and just turned it in. She ended up getting a 2019 Ford Escape last week that was the exact same model, and the cost was roughly the same - yet the only noticeable improvement was the head unit (you guessed it: CarPlay). Although the Sync features are better to, and it now has a massive touch screen, whereas the 2017 only had a small typical display that wasn't a touch screen. *EDIT: actually, it also came standard with remote start, whereas the 2017 didn't in this trim level.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

Many DAWs will do things like charge $150 for a major upgrade every two years. Cubase spreads that out to a $60 .5 upgrade, and a $100 1.X upgrade, so $160 every two years. Seems reasonable to me.

I guess one could always go the Reaper route and save a bit of money. I think that for the type of music I focus on and the way I make music, Cubase is the right tool for me. I don't mind paying a little more to use the DAW I am familiar with and maybe (or hopefully) more feature rich than Reaper. (Does reaper have the fancy chord tools and and the vari audio functionality?)

There's a third party extension that does a chord track and Reaper supports ARA/Melodyne. Reaper is insanely well featured, and crazy customizable, but there's a learning curve and some features are not very polished. On the other hand, it's so customizable that it can also be insanely efficient once mastered.

[JonSolo]

Regarding your car analogy, the cost of manufacturing goes up yearly. The cost for steel, the cost for paying the employees that make them, tariffs, trade taxes, etc. All the while us car buyers get usually meager changes in styling, minor changes to tech, etc - for essentially a product that does the exact same thing that it has done for over 100 years. I guess what I'm saying is I can understand why the cost for cars goes up yearly - for the exact same model with the same features.

But if yours was $10K more?!!! How many years prior did you buy before? Maybe you need to look at other cars.

My wife had a 2017 Ford Escape on lease for 3 years and just turned it in. She ended up getting a 2019 Ford Escape last week that was the exact same model, and the cost was roughly the same - yet the only noticeable improvement was the head unit (you guessed it: CarPlay). Although the Sync features are better to, and it now has a massive touch screen, whereas the 2017 only had a small typical display that wasn't a touch screen. *EDIT: actually, it also came standard with remote start, whereas the 2017 didn't in this trim level.

About 4 years different. But your first paragraph completely makes my point.

The cost of cars go up every year. So does food, so does housing. So does energy, etc. So...all of our devs drive cars, eat food, live in houses and require energy, etc. So it is no wonder that to stay in business, they have to have a plan like the rest of us.

One thing I really appreciate is that while squashing bugs (which will happen till the end of time just because perfect code is nearly impossible), they are not content with just that. They want to add new flavor for us. Otherwise, we would REALLY complain about the cost of a patch that just fixed bugs. Adding a new work flow addendum is harder than it looks. What amounts to a few clicks of our mouse might take pages of code before it can be trimmed and perfected. It also has to work with other things. That takes time. And time is money.

There are many things I would like to see in Nuendo/Cubase, some changes, some improvements, some features. But I like how their plan works now. It is not renting...otherwise your product would stop working. It is not subscription (see previous sentence). It is not cash grab (see previous paragraph).

What I am really waiting for is the new Nuendo. On their forums it seems months away. I really thought their release was going to be closer to Cubase's. I never expected Cubase to get features prior to Nuendo. I have both products but currently only work within Nuendo.

[fese]

I don't know any DAW with innovating features. What are some innovative features you've checked out recently?

Parallel & Serial Multi FX Processing with VST Effects, Channel & Frequency Splitting in a node tree layout with branch splitting in addition to a node tree layout for Multi Instruments that can be branch-split and inserted with note triggering devices (Note FX) whilst allowing note ranges to be set across the keyboard, and integrating the channel strip for each instrument.

I had trouble finding this in Cubase in my time with version 9.5, and on my web searches earlier.

Well, that might be innovative, but it sure wasn’t an innovation from Presonus. Metaplugin has been doing similar stuff way before, as have modular DAWs like Mulab (maybe even tracktion, dunno). Maybe not the exact implementation, but the concept has been there before. So no innovation from S1. (I’d like to have that feature in cubase, though )
They all copy from each other. And the real invention was from Steinberg 30 years ago by introducing the timeline sequencer, and then later the introduction of VIrtual Studio Technology (VST) which made audio recording/processing possible without the need of buying horrendously expensive DSP cards. That was rather revolutionary.
Every other invention nowadays is usually just little increments (which can make a big difference workflow-wise, though). Hard to be really innovative.

[fese]

There's a third party extension that does a chord track and Reaper supports ARA/Melodyne. Reaper is insanely well featured, and crazy customizable, but there's a learning curve and some features are not very polished. On the other hand, it's so customizable that it can also be insanely efficient once mastered.

Reaper is also way uglier that cubase, which isn’t easy...

[ramseysounds]

I have Cubase as well, and find it to be painful to navigate and create.

In which case you should spend more time learning it. I just upgraded to 10.5. £50 is well worth it but I just wish preferences would migrate from the previous version