8.0.5 Still no minimize button?

Not pointing at any individual or user, but I would like to propose some questions and give my opinion:

I just wonder what benefit comes from referring to Cubase programmers as possibly being monkeys or stoners or whatever. Think that is going to help the progress of the product or enhance your quality of support for the software?

How many complex computer programs have the ones who say things like this created themselves? Obviously none.

Yeah, I understand that there are bugs and not every users workflow is addressed. But realize, you are probably the same people who complain about waiting on the runway while an commercial airliner is about to propel you through the sky and get you to another location way quicker than if you walked there.

Appreciate that nothing is perfect. Even if it were, the task of making such complex software work perfect on hardware that has so many variations, has got to be almost impossible.

That being said, this is obviously not the same as flying. Recording software does not involve risk of death. But then a true professional would not upgrade to a new version without proper testing. So…

I don’t actually have anything against the menu bar. Admittedly I don’t use my computer for anything else when Cubase is open. It also acts as a reminder that I have not shut down Cubase. It usually resides at the top of my right monitor. It does not get in the way of anything. I will soon be running three monitors and it will still be on the far right. It does not annoy me that I can’t minimise it.

The question I would ask is why is it annoying? I know that it does not conform to normal way of doing things. Others have said that it is contrary to Windows best practice for GUI design. I’ve kinda got used to it.

So perhaps someone can explain why it is such a problem? Is it a single monitor issue? That I could understand.

I don’t understand the problem either. For me it is not an issue at all. Even minimized, it would be in the Windows taskbar. What is the problem?

While the lack of minimize button is an annoyance (for usability reasons - as I often have to minimize the program momentarily) I find the new windowing system (in general) godawful. It is fussy and unpredictable. Even after heavy use, the accumulated non-standard behavior slows me down and is very awkward.

Lets say you created something in 1997, people loved it until 2014…
and you decided to change it on your own, 99% hate it.
Something’s gotta be wrong with you.

I have used the right click on the main window title bar and selected “Minimize All” - worked in 8 - everything went to the task bar…but now for me when I do this in 8.0.5 the program minimizes and disappears.

It is not in the task bar anymore.

If I look at Task Manager - I can see the process at the top but it is not listed in the active programs tab of task manager.

I’m on Windows 7 - 64

The problem with your analogy is that you are one of the 1% that have an issue it seems. Just because you are posting about it makes it clear that it is a minority issue. Typically users only post when they have an issue.

If your theory is correct, then there are only maybe 6 users of Cubase 8?

Honestly, I do not see any big issue here. Just different. If it was something that actually has a bad affect other than your not liking it, then I would find concern.

I still have not heard any reason for this to be an issue.


Nothing personal, I just do not see what the big issue is without hearing reason for the complaint.

I will say this- insulting the people who write the software you love so much that it creates paroxysms of anger and inspires epic planet-of-the-apes scenarios is an act really worth reevaluating.

My own suggestion is that you find a way to express your complaints in ways that don’t involve making personal insults.Those are actual people in there, and they do indeed read the forums, though I can imagine how it might make them feel.

…back on topic then…

Did you try locking the Cubase icon to the task bar? (Right click on the icon when visible)

Windows 8.1 x64
Cubase 8.0.5 x64

I can also confirm that there is no minimize button visible when a project is open.
I think the problem here is that the Cubase team tried to imitate how windows work on a Mac. Unfortunately Windows users, use windows for a reason.

Anyway… I use WIN+D to minimize cubase. This will minimize all your windows though.

Regardless of one’s perspective of the Cubase developer team, or the GUI in Cubase, one has to admire the persistent inability to provide a solid window interface that works like say Microsoft Office, for example. Microsoft and the office teams (over the years) have spent countless dollars on research for the user interface. One would think that such a gold mine would have been used to end the debate. :wink:

On the other side, Cubase is not Office, and the multi-window concept seems to have been minimized, if I may offer a pun, albeit somewhat pungent, oops… For example, on a Windows 8.1 machine used only for Cubase projects, I cannot find a built-in application (i.e. desktop) that use the concept of a multi document interface (now, I didn’t look hard, but I did poke around a little bit). The newer Windows Store apps do not use this concept either, but rather a multi “page” interface, more closely related to how browsers typically work.

Considering that Steinberg is becoming even more cross platform driven, it is not unheard of to get a hybrid or home brewed approach (well, Germany has many good brewing companies and it’s the home of Steinberg). :stuck_out_tongue: This probably needs a large portion of the “blame” of why it does not feel like a solid and typical Windows function. It would appear that the “main” window loose the min/max buttons when another window is open, e.g. VST Connections. Maybe a trade off to enable other functionality. Whatever the case, I like the current way better than how it used to be.

Hurrah for progress. Bravo, team Steinberg. I like it so far!

If I could vote on future directions, I would say that the interface should fit the application. It would be a bit overkill to provide an Office-like experience for the Windows Sound Recorder. Not that it wouldn’t work, just a bit of a stretch, IMO. So please make the Cubase interface do the tedious work, and I’ll be happy. Whether the main window can be minimized or not, doesn’t bother me one bit. On the other hand, if I have to click something every time I open it, or when something appears, well… honestly? That would piss me off (and Cubase has a number of these thingies, unfortunately). This may be how some feel about the minimize button, and I can appreciate that, really I can, but not me and again, I’d rather have Cubase do the tedious bits while I compose. That is why I use Cubase. :slight_smile:

I suspect that the current windows handling is just a “placeholder” (if you will) for a more fully developed version. It feels half-baked…like a temporary solution that was implemented in order to forge a path towards what will end up being a very nice way to work.

Have faith.

I hope you right. If you are correct then Steinberg need to maybe point this out and not allow people to imply that the apes are more intelligent. Sarcasm was involved by the way. The monkeys would have understood.

I also experience several issues with the Menu of Cubase 8.05 on Windows 7 64bit.

In my case, not only I don’t see the minimize button, the Windows-Minimize menu item doesn’t work either and, when I drag and drop the menu bar it re-appears in the wrong position. Take a look at the uploaded screenshot.

I’m hoping Steinberg will address all these issues in the next patch.

Nikos

He might not love the software so much anymore. I know that I certainly don’t. I have Cubase 6 and Nuendo 5 which I never use. I used to use Nu4/Cu4 but don’t use those anymore and I haven’t used them since I don’t know when. I haven’t decided if I am going to upgrade either one as the upgrades beyond Nu4/Cu4 have simply been wasted money, because of the deterioration of the interface into a cryptic and gimmick-ridden piece of anti-ergonomic foolishness that attempts to hide all the functions that I need most often.

Steinberg has been dicking around with the window handling buttons for what seems like a decade now, starting from when they decided to get rid of the minimize buttons around Seq 4(?). I was complaining about it not only on the previous forum but maybe even the forum before that. These window control tricks have been an ongoing insult since forever, it seems.

Steinberg seems to want a cleaner look even at the expense of making the software more difficult to use, to learn, and to understand.

And I see that the recently-implemented window-layout button has not been replaced by the previous buttons that let me directly access the controls that I actually need. Does that window-layout button still call up a custom-designed window with NO window controls at all (and some juvenile graphic transitions too)? Who thinks this stuff is a good idea?

It just gets worse and worse. Because some people don’t know the difference between being different and being better.

Well at least the interface is still nice and dark. Good to know using Steinberg products will still cause me eye-strain. So no changes there. Steinberg seems to think that if they use the same color (or rather colorless) scheme as the Steam client, then they’d end up as rich as Gabe Newell. Sorry, guys, but it ain’t gonna happen.

(And is this latest version of Cubase still built on the long-ago-deprecated-by-Microsoft Multiple Document interface and the window-handling problems that that causes? For years now, they’ve been promising a rewrite that would do away with that grievous mistake. They can be excused for having made such a mistake in the first place but boy oh boy, just like all their other mistakes, they sure ain’t in a hurry to fix it.)

This annoying issue is not fixed in 8.0.10 :frowning: