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Compare the Versions Of Cubase
New features at a glance:
Steinberg Licensing
Cubase 12 makes use of the brand-new Steinberg Licensing system. From Cubase 12, you will be able to use Cubase with your single-user license on up to three computers without the need of a USB-eLicenser dongle. There is a detailed introduction of Steinberg Licensing that will answer all of your questions on migrating to the new system or offline usage.
{See video at top of page}
Cubase Pro
Reviewed By Milkman
June 29th, 2023
Ive been using Cubase since 1999, as well as many other plugins, processors, tools, FX, instruments, hardware synths, etc. I have built and supported live production environments at large Sports & Entertainment venues, as well as built networks, servers, desktops, and embedded systems throughout my 30+ year tech career. I've also used Reason, Fruity Loops, and Live, but very little.
That being said, I have had a 20+ year love/hate relationship with Cubase and Steinberg that has finally ended, and it ended on the hate side of things today. I've built and rebuilt 6 workstations for use with Cubase starting in roughly 2000 (when the Core2Duo first released and Steinberg began its long history of being unable to manage multithreaded/HT DSP), ending in 2022 with the final workstation. I've also used 2 laptops for Cubase. Ive used version sx2 through professional 12.0.60.
Cubase Pro offers a very robust set of features and tools out of the box and represents a DAW that was once king of the industry - and still could be with proper QA, development, and customer support. Cubase's UI/UX is top notch, with MIDI and audio routing systems that set the standard for other DAWs that came after, not to mention the high quality of the internal signal path, native DSP plugins, MIDI timing, etc etc. Cubase really has so much under the hood, it is mind boggling.
Here is the reason I give this DAW (And Steinberg) 2 stars, despite everything that is positive about their software, and despite the 20+ years I spent with it: Steinberg QA and Steinberg customer service, as well as the inherent instability of Cubase.
If you've used Cubase much at all in the last 20 years, you know what I mean about multithreading/hyperthreading issues, and you also know what I mean about customer service. (2 months+ for email replies, public denial of major issues on their forums, shifting the blame to customers).
I spent YEARS trying to work with Steinberg to determine WHAT HARDWARE PLATFORM they recommend for a stable Cubase workstation host, and yet they never offered a "supported hardware" list and let users figure out which platforms (MB chipset + CPU combination + power management features like speedstep) the hard way. So I spent *years* tweaking systems, removing all of their CPU power management features (resulting in higher power use), altering, disabling, and reenabling hyperthreading, rebuilding machines to make sure I did my diligent testing and troubleshooting FOR Steinberg, all the while dealing with projects that always crashed on exit, projects that randomly crashed, and the occasional file corruption that would result in a rebuild.
I spent HUNDREDS of hours of my own time trying to find the magic combination of hardware that would remove the dreaded "ASIO internal overload" issue caused by Cubase's inability to manage multithreaded audio, and what did Steinberg do for me, the paying customer, that entire time?
Steinberg FOUGHT me, they denied my issue on the forum despite 1000s of others reporting the same issue, they claimed "you are all alone - the only one really reporting this issue" back in 2018, and then their moderator "Steve" disabled my account when I became extremely angry about the way they were handling this. I went from being a die-hard Cubase user and proponent, to a bitter, angry, unproductive musician and I spent the next few years... not making much music and feeling extremely frustrated because Cubase was my only DAW.
Then I built a new machine in 2022, and found that Cubase 12 now finally performed perfectly, despite that machine having many of the same features that caused cubase to overload and pop/glitch the audio stream on earlier machines. Then Cubase 12 crashed during one of my projects and corrupted its licensing process, leading to high CPU every time Cubase was ran.... and....
I rebuilt the machine again, installed Bitwig 4, spent the next month using ALL my spare time learning Bitwig, and you know something? After a decade or more of frustration, YEARS worth of back-and-forth in email and on their forums, abuse from their moderators, etc?? Forgive my French but FUCK Cubase! More importantly, FUCK Steinberg for the years of stress and frustrating music production. I became connected to Cubase emotionally (it was my instrument) and so I kept dealing with stress I normally would not have, but now I have a new DAW and I'll never look back. Bitwig is 100% more stable than Cubase already, in my identical environment, with my identical hard and software libraries. Its more stable on any PC or laptop we own, where we have to carefully pick and choose to see if Cubase will work or not.
Steinberg customer service is THE WORST, and their inability to manage modern, multi-threaded audio is the reason for the CLAP protocol being developed, which may replace VST some day. The frustration with Cubase being unable to handle multithreading led to CLAP, and this should inform any new digital musician seeking a DAW -- Cubase/Steinberg are a dead-end today, and the level of dishonesty Ive seen from them about the issues in their platform is the icing on the cake.
Read ReviewCubase Pro
Reviewed By Boy Wonder
June 9th, 2022
I'm an old school Cubase user going back about 25 years. Even though it was my favorite DAW, its instability caused me to look elsewhere (Studio One). Version 12, however, appears to have been cut from a different cloth. Extremely full-featured, it nevertheless has been as steady as a rock - mostly. There's been the occasional lockups when trying out new plugins, but generally, I'm able to get a lot of work done without pulling out my hair because of crashes.
Cubase 12 has everything I need - scoring, snap to scale, alternative scales, impressive effects, VariAudio, sampler, ASIO-Guard, etc. I can go on and on. I'm glad that, with Cubase 12's new complexity, its workflow is still silk-smooth. There's nothing worse than having a workflow stymied by extra hoops you have to jump through.
Read ReviewCubase Pro
Reviewed By paolostylo
May 18th, 2019
I've been Cubase from the beginning with an Atari1040ST and later on I switched to PC.
Till today!I tried also other DAW's but Cubase is the one that siuts best for me.
It is easy to use, offers a nice workflow and has so many features that makes me save time.
Read ReviewCubase Pro
Reviewed By spinettim
January 28th, 2018
Best DAW ever. I switched from Logic some years ago I never regretted.
Very good MIDI handling, Media bay is very well implemented and a decent set of out of the box plugins.
And now Steinberg seems to listen tu its userbase too. Well done.
Read ReviewCubase Pro
Reviewed By drwx
January 19th, 2018
Review updated as of 2020: I bought the upgrade to 10.5 Pro but I'm still using Cubase 10 Pro. Both and particularly 10.5 have many issues (random errors) or at least they are not easy to use (if I'm the one to blame when they freeze or mute the output without any error messages). It is frustrating to work with Cubase. I can only use it if I limit myself to some of its features (e.g. I have stopped using MIDI Sends). After reading that many problems of 10.5 haven't been fixed in Cubase 11 (https://forums.steinberg.net/t/official-unofficial-thread-was-it-fixed-ask-answer-community-group-thread-updated-11-24-2020/158454), I don't feel encouraged to upgrade anymore.
Read ReviewIs the product Cubase 6.5 available in Steinberg on line shop full version for price 250 eur (plus local tax), or you must add efects like halion sonic or halion symphonic orchestra for full version and the price is therefore almost 500 eur? Does anybody know?
Cubase is just the state of the art it presents in characteristic, because in functionality it are just a break in the trail for new products and your life is not something granted for Steinberg, take care is useless.
For Windows XP it are something compatible, but not something so integral like "Mac".
This message is something which really hurts my self interest, and have no turn back, just like our choices.
I started with Cubase v1 on the Atari (a long time ago). Over the years since I moved to the PC I've tried many other alternative DAWS and always end up coming back to Cubase as it always has an easier work flow and well implemented features that just work as you'd expect without fuss.
Currently using v7.5 on Win8.1 - 64-bit (4Ghz/32GB) problem free :)
Yup, me too. I have been using Cubase since before VST was around. I run it on a PC (Intel Xeon, 16GB, liquid cooled, Win 7 64-bit) and it runs as smoothly and flawlessly as I need. No application is bug free, but Steinberg releases regular patches, and also gives us a decent upgrade every year or so. I have tried others, just as SarahBellum said (great name btw), but I have never found a product that has made me want to switch.
I've been a Cubase user since 5 (so I'm a newbie compared to some of the commenters) but I switched to Cubase from Cakewalk (now Sonar) because of the workflow and clear signal paths. I've tried out other DAWs (Reaper, Cakewalk's later revs, Harrison MixBus, Ardour, PreSonus One) but Cubase is the one that feels most effective to me, and the support from Steinberg has always been complete.
Now with 8.5 version available, Cubase is more PRO than ever.
2019
- ban at forums for unpopular opinions;
- no support for non USA\Germany users, web site is broken;
- behind FL Studio, Ableton and Bitwig for electronic music producers;
I'm curious for details about banning for unpopular opinions.
-Mention the long term (15+ years?) hyperthreading / multithreading problems cubase has had since the Core2Duo processor.
-Mention the fact that THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE have complained about this issue, but have been told the issue is rare, it doesnt exist, it isnt steinberg's fault, or that they are using their computer wrong.
-Mention the "stuck licensing process" issue that arose sometime between 12.0.5 and 12.0.60.(if Cubase crashes during runtime, which is somewhat common, the "checking licenses" process from Cubase gets stuck, eats up 25-30% CPU on one core) The mods will say "this is the windows task manager not updating. It isnt real." Ive tested, reproduced, and documented this issue 3x now, and my final ban on their forum was because I mentioned this, posted links to others who also documented it, and explained that I was angry about how they were handling it.
These are just two issues, and issues that were important to me. You can find DOZENS of other issues, including long term (10+ year) issues that are a result of Steinberg's inability to modernize for multicore, multithreaded audio, and if you remind Steinberg of this, become legitimately angry with them, etc, you will be moderated on the forums. If you kiss their feet and agree to whatever Steve and the others demand, you are golden.
Ive been a member of that forum for the better part of 20 years, and I've experienced.... a LOT with Steinberg in that time. As of today I've moved on, and I've went with Bitwig. Far, far too much dishonesty on their forums, too much elitism and abuse of paying customers, and did I mention dishonesty? No good.
THIS^^^^ I've been banned 3x, including a permanent ban, for the stated reason "too combative". As a result, I went ahead and tried out Bitwig 4, spent a month becoming familiar with it, and then I bought a full license on their current sale. I'm finally getting good at a new DAW *because* of Steinberg support.
Steinberg doesnt give a crap that they have enraged many long time users with their incredibly bad support, the unstable application itself, and their general refusal(inability?) to adopt modern development / QA standards. I have waited for MONTHS to get email responses from support, and over the years I have become legitimately ANGRY at Steinberg for these experiences. If you express that anger on their forums, you get comments deleted and eventually you get banned.
Ive reached out via email about this, to try to make a complaint to Steinberg, but they claim they "dont have any records of what moderators do on the forums". No logs. They can't keep track of moderator actions. Seriously.
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