Where is Cubase 12.5 or 13? [Update: It's here C13 is released!]

[skijumptoes]

I think this is quite “objectively” a step backwards. Because the
“faster recognition” and the “distinctiveness” are clearly worse.
Everyone can decide for themselves:

The new design looks much better to me.
I think if you're getting a different opinion it perhaps demonstrates that this is subjective? There's a lot of usability improvements in there which are objective, i.e:

In regards to recognition you have text like 'volume' and 'pan' and not just symbols, my eyes go to those words and it serves as a much better aid than non-labelled assets.

Also, values for each of those controls are right aligned and so much easier to recognise their current state, plus you've got a full width of movement on those sliders and the grab handle is much wider.

In the upper area above that, the icons are larger, buttons better padded making them easier to click. I'm hoping everything will be uniform across the app also, specifically in terms of look and their colour states.

I think most would agree that these changes see it losing some of its formed charm and identity, that curved design around the record button has been a familiar part of Cubase for years. People who enjoy those quirks are going to dislike this new design initially, and I can appreciate that.

Those who dislike designs like Studio One will most likely not take to it too well initially either, but I still think it's subjective.

[sqigls]

for me, whatever aids the brain recognising buttons/faders the fastest, which for me involves colour, shape etc the new look seems a bit sterile, but we'll see when it's an actual DAW in front of me.
I built myself a fully custom MIDI mixing desk years ago that has no labels whatsoever, in true DIY style, but the irregular fader layout and a literal few dabs of colour here and there allow me to quickly navigate my live set. We'll see, there's not much factually that anyone can say until it's released.

[Synthman2000]

It is very heartening to see Cubase 12 users that are happy. In fact if you have the time to say your C12 has been running perfect please do, especially PC users. It is quite easy to see pages and pages of crashes, bugs, instability, lost features, authorization problems on their user forum and conclude it is not working for the majority.

I think they should have a section where people can post how well their system in running for balance. That would be very useful indeed. Clearly some are having troubles and I do try to take into account poor PC hardware, less than ideal drivers, non clean installs and problem plug ins.

Please do post on here if you have largely had a great time with C12, that is very useful. I can see 2 well respected members on here have been having troubles Jan and Guy being 2.

Online there is a definite bias that it is not working very well (people tend to report problems with haste) at all for many so it is refreshing to see the opposite. There should be a praise section on their forums for balance with listed hardware and average project types being used, then it would not appear like a massive wall of negativity, no one is fully immune from getting an average online impression built up.

[Sahul]

It is very heartening to see Cubase 12 users that are happy. In fact if you have the time to say your C12 has been running perfect please do, especially PC users. It is quite easy to see pages and pages of crashes, bugs, instability, lost features, authorization problems on their user forum and conclude it is not working for the majority.

Cubase 12 has been working reasonably well for me, but it is true that we have been through this same pattern again and again with almost every major version. They tend to stabilize with updates and work the best just when the next big release is down the corner. And repeat ad infinitum.
I've also found that one of the main sources of issues with Cubase are plugins. The transition to VST3 was difficult for some developers. First VST3 versions of the Korg plugins, to put an example, were a complete disaster that didn't even work. This has also improved a lot during the past year, so VST3 plugins are generally more mature nowadays.
Then, well, Ryzen CPUs seem to be a little less problematic that the latest Intel generations with the efficiency cores (I guess this will also improve with Cubase 13). And regarding audio cards, RME has always been my preferred brand, very solid.

[chk071]

I think this is quite “objectively” a step backwards. Because the
“faster recognition” and the “distinctiveness” are clearly worse.
Everyone can decide for themselves:

The new design looks much better to me.
I think if you're getting a different opinion it perhaps demonstrates that this is subjective? There's a lot of usability improvements in there which are objective, i.e:

In regards to recognition you have text like 'volume' and 'pan' and not just symbols, my eyes go to those words and it serves as a much better aid than non-labelled assets.

Also, values for each of those controls are right aligned and so much easier to recognise their current state, plus you've got a full width of movement on those sliders and the grab handle is much wider.

In the upper area above that, the icons are larger, buttons better padded making them easier to click. I'm hoping everything will be uniform across the app also, specifically in terms of look and their colour states.

I think most would agree that these changes see it losing some of its formed charm and identity, that curved design around the record button has been a familiar part of Cubase for years. People who enjoy those quirks are going to dislike this new design initially, and I can appreciate that.

Those who dislike designs like Studio One will most likely not take to it too well initially either, but I still think it's subjective.

I maybe agree with the volume, pan and delay controls, but, the upper part definitely looked more clear before. It is contrasty separated, the buttons are more cleary distinguished, and the separations between the sections is also more visible. I would say, objectively, it's solved in a better way.

Anyway, I'm sure you can also work with the new design, so.

[AdvancedFollower]

It is very heartening to see Cubase 12 users that are happy. In fact if you have the time to say your C12 has been running perfect please do, especially PC users. It is quite easy to see pages and pages of crashes, bugs, instability, lost features, authorization problems on their user forum and conclude it is not working for the majority.

Cubase 12 has been working reasonably well for me, but it is true that we have been through this same pattern again and again with almost every major version. They tend to stabilize with updates and work the best just when the next big release is down the corner. And repeat ad infinitum.
I've also found that one of the main sources of issues with Cubase are plugins. The transition to VST3 was difficult for some developers. First VST3 versions of the Korg plugins, to put an example, were a complete disaster that didn't even work. This has also improved a lot during the past year, so VST3 plugins are generally more mature nowadays.
Then, well, Ryzen CPUs seem to be a little less problematic that the latest Intel generations with the efficiency cores (I guess this will also improve with Cubase 13). And regarding audio cards, RME has always been my preferred brand, very solid.

I actually got a crash just the other day while trying to automate parameters on the Korg Polysix VST3 version. Not exactly a crash but the program stopped responding to any input. So yeah, Korg still have some work to do.

Staying positive, that was the first crash in 12+ months for me in Cubase.

[concealed identity]

It is very heartening to see Cubase 12 users that are happy. In fact if you have the time to say your C12 has been running perfect please do, especially PC users. It is quite easy to see pages and pages of crashes, bugs, instability, lost features, authorization problems on their user forum and conclude it is not working for the majority.

I recently upgraded to Cubase 12 from 4 (!!) and I've been very happy with how everything has worked. I remember back in the Cubase SX 1-3, etc. days, it had a reputation for instability and crashing in weird ways out of the blue. I happened to jump on with 4 due to random timing, but I didn't upgrade because people I knew were having loads of issues with 5. Anyway, fast forward to last year, and when I started asking around, I got nothing but positive impressions about 12, and it's been running pretty perfectly for me. Keep in mind I'm in Windows 10 and mostly use VSTs with some audio tracks here and there - I'm not using huge resource-heavy Kontakt instances or anything, although I am doing a lot of sample manipulation within Kontakt. I demo'd Studio One 6 along with it, and I fully expected Studio One to run more efficiently and be more stable due to it having less features and not being burdened by legacy code, but Cubase 12 was noticeably better for me on both of those fronts.

But yeah, looking on forums, you're only going to get posts from people that have problems. This is usually the case for me as well - I'm making an exception here haha

[chk071]

But yeah, looking on forums, you're only going to get posts from people that have problems.

That's the problem, and also the reason for some twisted perceptions in that regard.

[concealed identity]

But yeah, looking on forums, you're only going to get posts from people that have problems.

That's the problem, and also the reason for some twisted perceptions in that regard.

For sure. But on one hand, people who are enjoying a product don't really have a reason to stop using that product and find a forum and thread to post about it. At the same time, it's not really helpful to go somewhere where people are talking about issues they're having and say "Works fine for me!"

[noiseboyuk]

I think these leaks are intentional, and that the companies know exactly what they're doing. It happens so regularly that it can't be coincidence.

The curse of the conspiracy theory strikes again. What on earth would the motive be for them to leak something in such an awkward and irritating way?

Remember this as a guide to life - conspiracies are hard. Incompetence is easy. Whatever looks like the former is almost invariably the latter.

Personally I think the theory that it was going to be released on September 13 and was pulled at the last minute sounds pretty plausible. Major bug discovered I guess.

[noiseboyuk]

It is very heartening to see Cubase 12 users that are happy. In fact if you have the time to say your C12 has been running perfect please do, especially PC users. It is quite easy to see pages and pages of crashes, bugs, instability, lost features, authorization problems on their user forum and conclude it is not working for the majority.

Actually mine isn't working well (sorry). Crashes quite a bit, performance not great.

[newluc]

Mine is working well, never had a crash or plugin problems, win 10 pro 64
I7 6850K, 64Gb ram, AMD video card. Hope the trend remain the same...

[kev2525]

Cubase 12 has been a massive bug fest for me. Crashed on start-up, during, and on close. V11 & 10.5 were rock solid on the same PC. It totally killed my creativity trying to work in it. I have lost faith and will not be upgrading. I have switched to Bitwig and the only regret I have is not switching sooner.

[chk071]

I think these leaks are intentional, and that the companies know exactly what they're doing. It happens so regularly that it can't be coincidence.

The curse of the conspiracy theory strikes again. What on earth would the motive be for them to leak something in such an awkward and irritating way?

The market, and people rather relying on bloggers and influencers, than on professional reviewers who do factual reviews with hard info.

It's also not really a conspiracy theory. You can read a lot on intentional leaks by companies. They are very real.

[cptgone]

I recently upgraded to Cubase 12 from 4 (!!) and I've been very happy with how everything has worked. I remember back in the Cubase SX 1-3, etc. days, it had a reputation for instability and crashing in weird ways out of the blue.

Funny you say that, as IIRC SX was a huge step ahead in terms of stability.
SX was a total re-write, and it took Steinberg many versions of SX until it finally had a range of features comparable to SX1's crash-prone predecessor (Cubase VST 5.1).

Talking about the old days, I started with Cubase Lite.