Cubase 12 released

[andypryce]

The lack of Mac trackpad pinch to zoom is *really* annoying.

That, plus still no support for m4a.

[billcarroll]

The lack of Mac trackpad pinch to zoom is *really* annoying.

Yes, trackpad pinch to zoom would be really nice to see.

[dionenoid]

Finally got around to upgrading. Been working with C12 for 2 days now, no problems, solid as a rock as usual with Cubase. Slight cpu improvement (TaskManager shows some 10% less cpu useage compared to C11 with the same projects).

Lots of small improvements, feels a bit snappier, looks a bit better. Happy with the broader handles for moving/sizing.
The new export additions are very useful, as are the extended import options from other projects.

Surprisingly, i also like the new plugins. FX Modulator seems quite simple but is faster to set up for simple tasks than Shaperbox, plus easier to automate. Raiser functions well as an attack shaper, but could do with some extra controls/visualization. The new additions to Super Vision are also nice and handy (spectrum keyboard especially).

Overall good first impressions. Not a spectacular update, but just like C11 it's all about the small improvements for me.

[xbitz]

Surprisingly, i also like the new plugins. FX Modulator seems quite simple but is faster to set up for simple tasks than Shaperbox, plus easier to automate.

worth checking the new HY ones too

for ex. Filter4 has 38 built-in effect units and 10 types of modulator (total 42 units), so has enough modulators to be able to use even in the offline environment (which set the LFOs to phase 0 at processing start, so adding rhythmical effects to (even shared) samples is very comfy)

[Boy Wonder]

Every day, little by little, I grow to like C12 more and more, and that's mainly because they have so many effects that I haven't sampled yet. I only started exploring Squasher yesterday, and it's a sweeeeet upwards/downwards compressor.

Two things I do miss that Studio One has is this:

1. Fat/thick midi notes in the editor window. C12's are thin and can be a little hard to grab.

2. In S1, when you drag a note to the end of a beat, it stops dead in its tracks. Very convenient. In C12, it sometimes continues past the beat and you have to pull it back.

[Googly Smythe]

...
1. Fat/thick midi notes in the editor window. C12's are thin and can be a little hard to grab.
...

Have you tried the vertical zoom (those little gadgets at the bottom right of the editor)?

[Boy Wonder]

@Googly Smythe - Yay! I just tried it and it works fine. My eyes thank you.

[dionenoid]

2. In S1, when you drag a note to the end of a beat, it stops dead in its tracks. Very convenient. In C12, it sometimes continues past the beat and you have to pull it back.

That's depending on your snap and quantize settings.

[Resonant- Serpent]

12 demo ran great on my comp, but the exclusion of Rewire means that I'll never upgrade. My workflow is Cubase linked to Ableton. Looks like I'll stop at Cubase 11 and Ableton 10 for the next few years. I absolutely hate programming in Ableton, and the drums in Ableton are essential. Can't live without Simpler. Studio One still has Rewire, but I hate the interface. Now that I've had time to dwell on it, it's a relief to not have to upgrade. It's not like some huge change is going to come in the DAW world. Better to just concentrate on getting work done.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Saw the competitive upgrade pricing runs out soon so may as trial Pro 12 as it offers a full trial rather than the old dongle only version, but it's been a shit-show trying to get it running on my PC. First, died on audio device selection screen. I killed off all plugin searches and went for delete config option. Did a restart. Could get as far as the UI, but it froze. Rebooted again. Then complained about trial version licenses expiring, um I installed this 5 minutes ago and it's supposed to be 30 days!
Now when I try to load I get the splash screen then Cubase seems to stop running.
Yeah think I'll hold to my cash, ta.

[Trensharo]

2. In S1, when you drag a note to the end of a beat, it stops dead in its tracks. Very convenient. In C12, it sometimes continues past the beat and you have to pull it back.

That's depending on your snap and quantize settings.

And useful when you need to overlap notes for Legato and the amount of overlap dictates how that functions (Legato, Portamento). Also, not all music is hard quantized to the grid, which can sound robotic in some genres.

[Trensharo]

12 demo ran great on my comp, but the exclusion of Rewire means that I'll never upgrade. My workflow is Cubase linked to Ableton. Looks like I'll stop at Cubase 11 and Ableton 10 for the next few years. I absolutely hate programming in Ableton, and the drums in Ableton are essential. Can't live without Simpler. Studio One still has Rewire, but I hate the interface. Now that I've had time to dwell on it, it's a relief to not have to upgrade. It's not like some huge change is going to come in the DAW world. Better to just concentrate on getting work done.

ReWire is going to be dropping like flies in many DAWs, due to it being abandoned since over 2 years ago. Now is the time to develop a contingency plan, not double down on it. It's dead tech, so you want to evolve your workflow to depend less on it moving forwards - eventually phasing it out completely.

Otherwise, in the "next few years," you will be in the exact same situation; dealing with the exact same problems. Staying on the same old versions is doing nothing but kicking that can down the road, unfortunately.

I can see Studio One dropping ReWire in v6, and Notion dropping it in v7.

I believe Digital Performer has dropped ReWire, as well. And I'm not even sure if Pro Tools still supports ReWire, or its status in other DAWs. But I think its days definitely becoming more obviously numbered as time moves on. ReWire is more advanced in decomposition than VST 2.4.

The big changes in the music production are coming in other areas. Atmos mixing for music is becoming more of a thing compared to a few years ago, for example. Things like that are likely to "force upgrades" more than feature additions - as the more popular DAWs tend to be older product lines that are already filled to the brim with "features."

Specialist DAWs that are moving in a more Generalist direction are going to be the ones that are implementing "big" features, though these tend to be solved problems in most other products (Comping in Ableton, MPE Support, Audio Recording Workflow in FL Studio (stated to be coming), etc.). Them, and much younger product lines that have more catching up to do (like Studio One).

Products like Cubase, Digital Performer, etc. have little room for innovation... and what innovation that can happen is quite difficult as they have already tackled most of the easier issues in that software. They are far too developed.

That is the issue with marketing such a mature product line.

I guess they could always add a clip launcher, etc. like Logic and DP, but I'm not sure if Steinberg is quite ready to go in that direction. Many people raved about this when those other DAWs added them, but now you never hear anyone speaking of them (and I don't really notice people who use those DAWs using it). Most people who wanted that have already settled on Live (or Bitwig).

[dionenoid]

Cubase update 12.0.30 just released : https://www.steinberg.net/cubase/release-notes/12/

[Weasel-Boy]

Cubase update 12.0.30 just released : https://www.steinberg.net/cubase/release-notes/12/

This is a pretty solid build. Very stable on an M1 under Rosetta.

[noiseboyuk]

Yes, I skipped the first two maintenance updates as they seemed to cause more problems than they solved. General feedback on the Cubase forum is much more positive this time, so I just jumped. So far so good. Will see how it goes CPU-wise, but so far it feels better than the previous version.

FYI - don't try and manually update as you'll likely get authorization errors. I find the Download Assistant fine, and it updated itself and then Cubase without a hitch (W10).