The recent changes to Cubase are not for you. They are for new customers. Yup, young people. $499 is more important than $99. That’s called capitalism. Google it.
“I’ve been using Cubase since …” Guess what? Nobody cares. This entitled notion is dated and makes you sound like an old person, which is what you are.
The look and feel of an app is more important than the features. Sad but true. Get used to it.
Expect many more features to disappear in the future. The feature bonanza of Cubase is also it’s greatest liability. Cubase can’t support a feature that two people in Ohio use every other solar eclipse. Sorry. Next.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t complain, lobby, and coerce for you what you believe in. I’m just saying that while doing so you shouldn’t hold your breath.
And yes, I am an old person who has been using Cubase since …
There would always be more previous users, than there would be new users… wouldn’t there? Even at a ratio of more than 5:1.
Also, the main way a company like this markets their software, is by showing that well known producers and composers who have used Cubase since… are still using it and are dedicated users. Like pissing off Hans Zimmer would be catastrophic for Steinberg marketing. New users buy the program a lot of the time because of other people who are using it.
Depending on what research you read, it’s anywhere from 8-30X more expensive to get new customers than retain old customers, of course depending on the market. Personally, I think Steinberg knows this all to well, and they have done their own studies on their retention and conversion levels. My guess is somewhere around 10-15X as expensive in the DAW market, which is actually very small and very saturated. With my own small business, I can definitely give anecdotal evidence to support the idea that it’s actually far easier to retain a client than get a new one.
So Steinberg has their own internal numbers and they are certainly (if they are smart) trying to balance out the feature development to accommodate their metrics. This release of Cubase 10 was definitely about retention for me, personally. I would NOT have upgraded without some of the features they have announced, most notably ARA (although we have yet to see it yet), and key workflow issues that have been on my personal list for a long time.
The problem with Steinberg IMO is that they have been developing a reputation as a slow, bloated, deaf company, and they have definitely needed to reverse gears on that reputation… it was NOT good for real growth, retention and conversion. IMO they have sorely needed to cultivate a reputation of streamlining, responsiveness, openness, and willingness to LISTEN to turn the ship around, and in IMO, Cubase 10 is a good step in that direction. Not without its shortcomings of course, and it’s hard to turn a big ship around, but I’m hoping this is a new long-term strategy for them, and not a short-term fluke. Cubase 10 has a lot of room for improvement (and issues to resolve for some people for sure!), but it’s a hopefully good start. And that approach will help both with customer retention and new customer conversion.
They are, and when you put support cases with 100% reproducible problems they are not even responding after helping them reproduce the issue. But it is very japanish. You get what you buy, bugs are included. If you need something else buy something else. Customers should be graceful for the honour to buy their products. Don’t get me wrong. Cubase is great, but it could be much better. Someone mention Hans Zimmer, he uses cubase for songwriting, but the production is done in ProTools.
grandpa, grandma and grandmx are the people who got Steinberg on its feet in the 80s, most early adopters (like me) have stuck loyally with Cubase down the years and a lot of us are now in our sixties and seventies, the eyes aren’t what they were…all most of us old timers ask for now is ADJUSTABLE WIDTH SCROLL BARS! Please!
Some cultures respect their elders for their years of experience, despite a tendency to become set in their ways. The west has decided that wisdom lies in having the energy to bounce higher. Music may have something to do with that.
¯_(ツ)_/¯
I thought this too up to about the time of Cubase “Pro.” Then a slow gradual shift away from LoopMash, and focus on their own DAW and functions applicable to the DAW only. Emphasis is on slow.
I wish it were for the experienced and every-day users, not the “I’ve been using it since Atari” group but fails to mention they also use every other DAW. I used to keep ProTools somewhere in my hard drive to impress clients.
Only to a degree I think. Figuring out that threshold is the hard part. I sure hope they are doing their research.
Being the most “feature-rich” DAW is a two-edged sword. More features, more unfinished issues, more bugs.
It’s like that big old family house that has had many additions, make-overs, and code changes over the years. The husband is just trying to make his big family happy. So the husband removed the out-dated mirrored wet-bar and installed a 72-inch QLED TV. But his wife, an alcoholic, is mad and threatening to move in with the next door neighbor who just happens to be the husbands son! Since his son grew up in that big old house, he knows all the pitfalls…or at least he thinks he knows. He just built a new smaller house that is quite functional and attractive in the neighborhood. It even has the same appliances and carpet through out the house for which a Fashion Magazine interior designer gave 5 stars. But it doesn’t have a hot tub, sauna, pool room, wine cellar, or a 3-car garage like the big old house his son grew up in. Meanwhile, the husband is worried he spent too much money on the TV because the concrete foundation is starting to sag a bit. His daughter is mad because…just out of the blue, her room was recently painted pink without her permission. Instead of re-painting the room to satisfy his ranting daughter, the husband built a gigantic walk-in-closet for her. The daughter likes the extra closet space, but is unhappy because her bedroom space was reduced. She is threatening to move in and live with the Jones. The Jones have this reputation as being around a long time, and their house is very functional…sort of considered a “standard” house. The youngest son plugged in his guitar amplifier into an electrical outlet, and now the kitchen blender won’t start. Husband called the electrician who says the whole house needs electrical code updates and changes. But he can make a temporary fix…just don’t use the guitar amplifier and blender at the same time. It’s a competitive neighborhood. The house down the street has a David statue in the front yard. Another one just installed Tesla Solar Roof Tiles. One house a few months ago was foreclosed by a ruthless lender. So the husband adopted a few orphans who are having to re-learn all the house rules and idiosyncrasies. I guess as long as the husband pays the mortgage on time, the mortgagee stays happy, but it sure isn’t easy these days.
Well said. Since the introduction of the History window I’m still waiting for a key command to close the History window. There is one to open it. You would think that would be the simplest thing to implement. But I’m told it’s very difficult…like one of those foundation issues.
