I really like Cubase for mixing and tracking but the update/upgrade policy and price practices have been pushing me away, Steinberg purposely and way too obviously spreads out the features to have an update each year since v6. Logic, Live and most others DAW’s don’t do that.
My main anger atm is the lack of batch exporting, imagine tracking out a project with 60+ tracks doing it one track at a time, total nightmare… Why the hell is such a simple basic feature only available in the Pro version? Makes no sense, I understand it not being available in the Elements version but the Artist? Don’t “Artists” need to constantly track out?
In order to get batch export I have to pay 330€ to go from Artist to Pro and as an owner of V9 A, I pay the same price as a V6 user who hasn’t upgraded literally in a decade… That’s a slap in the face for someone who has been buying upgrades consistently. I have the $ but don’t upgrade out of principle. I’m currently considering all the alternatives to Cubase and as soon as I finish my ongoing projects I am leaving which is a shame because I have been a user since V2.
Steinberg needs to get with the program, it’s not 2002 anymore, most DAW users nowadays are producers, not high-end studio owners, there’s plenty of good alternatives out there with more competitive pricing.
Just buy the pro version, I don’t get it. They create the reduced cost versions for people who can’t afford the full program they offer - they don’t have to do that. They could just sell one full fledged version at full cost. So you are comparing reduced cost version of Cubase to other versions of full software - which don’t have half the features that Cubase has - doesn’t make sense.
No, its to have more customers, if the only option available was a 560$ version there wouldn’t be half the users, it’s business, not a favor cause they’re nice.
You don’t get that batch export is a basic feature and doesn’t belong in a high-end version? i’ll explain again:
Logic is 200$ - Full version, has multi-track export
Ableton Live - The standard version comes with batch export, not to mention version 9 lasted from 2012 to 2018 with a ton free updates, unlike Cubase that has paid updates every single year.
Bitwig - Even the limited 8 track version has multi track export.
Traktion Waveform - Super cheap and also has multi track export.
Studio One Artist - 100$ with Stems export.
Reason - 350$ also has mixer channels export
FL Studio - Every single version has stems export, even the 89$ one.
Reaper - Same as all of the above… at 60$
The list goes on…
But no, Cubase has to be different… If you still don’t get I don’t know what to tell ya. Surely there’s a reason Live, Logic and now also Studio one are dominating the market.
It doesn’t matter anyway, I am out the door and just wanted to leave my thoughts as 2 decade old customer who spent countless $ on updates, no more.
That single feature is very important to you, so much so that your will stop using the program you’ve used for 20 years. Everyone should find and buy the program that suits their needs. Steinberg’s eula allows you to sell your license to the program without a fee, others, like Presonus charge a fee, so you will save a bit on the exit.
It’s important to any producer that sends his Music to be professionally mixed, exporting one track at a time is not fun but it’s not just this that has been bothering me for years, it’s more than that, I think I made that clear, it’s about what the competition can offer in today’s age.
Thanks very much for your reply and suggestion though, I wasn’t even thinking about it but it’s cool to know I can sell my license legitimately.
Interesting… Bounce in Place than I go and fish out the files from the projects Audio folder manually, that actually works as a ‘guetto’ workaround, you deserve a beer for that suggestion Sir. Definitively not ideal for bigger projects and a bit annoying but better than nothing. Although I already decided to move on this will make the transition to another DAW much less painful. Thanks so much, I can’t believe I never thought of that.
trust me, it´s a nice solution! And here´s another tip: simply use the “2” Selection-Tool, select the tracks/Events+timeline you want in your arrange to render/export as audio. next step RIP dialogue. done. RIP is a great feature.
If you’re working professionally, buy the pro version. Makes sense, the other two versions are for hobbyists bouncing their own mixes to stereo, or to be bundled free with hardware.
What’s not ideal for bigger projects, is Ableton and Logic. You’d be saving yourself hair spending 300 on upgrading to Pro just for batch export rather than going to Ableton or Logic if your concern is working big projects.
