Anyone else thoroughly enjoying Cubase 9?

[Phorous]

Its my first major version upgrade, and maybe I have drank too much coffee, but after a few months I have to say if future major version upgrades have this much good stuff, its worth every penny.

• 1. With the lower zone, single monitor setups just got far more viable. I spend way less time micromanaging windows and more time doing stuff that matters, even with multiple monitors.
  2. Frequency is a kickass EQ. Although the included Curve is good as well, Frequency has a much nicer looking UI and more traditional workflow which I prefer. Great for the mix bus.
  3. Mixconsole Undo: This has saved my life too many times to count already
  4. Sampler Tracks: Nice for loading up samples for quick stabs and melodies
  5. Not a single crash so far
  6. Graphical overhaul of included dynamics plugins is appreciated

Thinking back, the only threads I have seen so far that were negative about it involved its handling of timezones. So is everyone too busy making music to hate on Steinberg after a few months? Am I insane for thinking forking over $100 for 9.0 was a great idea? I thought we were all supposed to hate our DAWs

[bob bobwood]

You have to pay for upgrades ?

[bustedfist]

Cubendo is a great DAW, been using for years. Upgraded every time. I personally have no showstopper issues. Steinberg got a bad rep for not issuing promised updates for a version once the new comes out. Another thing is they didn't follow users request for features, no apparent rhyme or reason to new features and fixes from version to version. It seems they finally got what users wanted, but since the base code was so old, implementing them required a complete redo, from the ground up. This requires other things to change that were favorites of some in order to do the overhaul. This is why people complain now, they're still influenced by past practice and any undesired change is written off to not listening to the users. Change costs money, so it has to be done over time and the costs paid by upgrades. This appears as foot dragging to some and exacerbates past wrongs.

I've heard Nuendo is stopping the X.5 upgrades going forward and issuing more features and fixes during free update life of a version. I'd like that to apply to Cubase, but I haven't heard anything concrete, either way.

You have to go to the forums to see what complaints really exist, can't judge by this forum.

[bustedfist]

You have to pay for upgrades ?

Upgrades, yes. Updates, no.

[bob bobwood]

You make it sound like it's a bonus !

[Phorous]

You make it sound like it's a bonus !

Eh, I don't mind paying if I am getting stuff that is useful to me. Upgrade pricing mainly becomes an issue when you feel like you are not getting good value for your money.

[jancivil]

You have to pay for upgrades ?

You have to troll stupidly?

[Terrafractyl]

YES!!

I was quite convinced 6 months or so ago, that I would finally make the move from Cubase 8.5 over to Bitwig, which I had been gradually doing.
BUT then bitwig got WAAAAy more expensive with vers 2, and almost simultaneously Cubase 9 came out, and for me it is just brilliant.

No crashes...!!
Lower Zone, Mixer undo, little visual improvements all over the place. Yep for me this is the best Cubase update ever!

[Phorous]

YES!!

I was quite convinced 6 months or so ago, that I would finally make the move from Cubase 8.5 over to Bitwig, which I had been gradually doing.
BUT then bitwig got WAAAAy more expensive with vers 2, and almost simultaneously Cubase 9 came out, and for me it is just brilliant.

No crashes...!!
Lower Zone, Mixer undo, little visual improvements all over the place. Yep for me this is the best Cubase update ever!

My story is similar, started with Bitwig but made my way over to Cubase during 8.0 due to some issues Bitwig had with certain VSTs and general workflow/performance gripes. 9.0 has definitely reaffirmed that I made the right decision, bringing in alot of the workflow things I liked about Bitwig while keeping the insane amount of high quality features in the engine and included plugins. I actually was able to sell alot of my plugins when I made the switch because I prefered many of the ones that came with Cubase to the 3rd party ones I had gotten to fill the gaps... Now I can't imagine life without them.... especially Quadrafuzz 2 and Groove Agent SE (for anyone who hasn't tried it, don't let the SE scare you away, it freakin kicks arse )

Cubase may not be the "cool new kid on the block" but there is something to be said for 28 years of improvement

[Googly Smythe]

Speaking as a Cubase user since the Atari days, this is the first upgrade I will pass on. Nothing there worth getting, not for £80.

[bustedfist]

Speaking as a Cubase user since the Atari days, this is the first upgrade I will pass on. Nothing there worth getting, not for £80.

I get what you're saying. I have LE1.0.8 on XP. No copy protection and I can just fire it up to get ideas down when jamming. I keep upgrading because of expendable cash as well as staying abreast of the current state of the software. You still pay the same, if not more by skipping a release, also. Ends up a wash.

[EnGee]

I'm happy with my current Cubase. I have returned to it after more than 10 years jumping from host to host!
The last upgrade was from Artist 8.5 to 9. I have been waiting for many months for a discount upgrade to Pro, but it seems it is not happening soon. Anyway, the normal upgrade price is too much for me ($410 NZD) for mainly the full version of the score editor as I have the basic one now.

I still have Studio One v3 Pro, and it would be my to go DAW if I didn't have Cubase. It has a similar workflow with Cubase, so I'm keeping it as a substitute. I prefer Cubase especially version 9 is worth it for the windows arrangement alone. I'm not sure if I'm going to upgrade to v9.5 though, but that depends on what's new they'll bring.

[jancivil]

2. Frequency is a kickass EQ.

It really is.

There are certain things they changed which bug me. The default look took some dealing w., far too dark for me.
[VSL] Vienna Suite, none of it will work in the audio editors now, which is why I tried Frequency. I've never given a lot of thought to the sound of an EQ, but using this really helped.

[JonSolo]

Cubase is not perfect. But it is nearly. I have a number of DAWs. In the last 16 months I have only used Cubase and it just works.

The new features in 9 were worth the upgrade. So yes, THOROUGHLY enjoying Cubase 9.

[trtzbass]

All in all it is a great DAW

There are a few things here and there that make me go AAARGH.
Like (but not only) the new colour scheme with the colour gradients on the tracks. When I colour code an arrangement it looks like a dog ate a bag of skittles then barfed on my screen.

Truth is, tho, that Cubase is the most complete solution for a musician / arranger.
No other DAW can touch it in terms of flexibility and quantity of tools to make a composer's life easier.