First let me say that for me this is one of the most used tools in my Cubase workflow.
Unfortunately it has gone from bad to worse simple because Steinaha refuses to address anything with this VST.
Actually let me correct that, they made it worse!
The initial issue was with the fact that it was not part of their windowing scheme so we could NEVER have this allocated to AOT mode.
Now, with the latest up date they have PERMANENTLY DOCKED IT IN THE TOP LEFT CORNER!! 
Which means everytime you click on your workspace…poof…back underneath it goes… 
Also, you can only have it a certain size or full screen. It’s only scaleable to a certain point so once you start making longer patterns the beat markers are impossible to deal with and you are forced to go full screen!
and the kicker?
In order for it to go full screen again you have to go back to your project window, maximize that in which case beat designer disappears, go to windows tab and select beat designer from there and it will be full screen again…
OMFG…just a buzzkill !!!
Ugggh…Man, I love this VST but it absolutely killing me right now…
Try fxspansion guist…it’s about 500 times better. Steinberg have a major problem when it comes to their own vst’s. They either make them really bad or charge extra for the full version and the damn things come with cubase.
I love cubase though…I have been using it for a long time.
Thx. Absolutely, If I wanted an AIO…but I only use this for programming and use Battery 4 or GA-Se for my samples.
The 1 thing I love about BD is that it has shuffle and shift built into the interface and this saves me time when programming. I’ve been looking for a drum programmer and none have the shift feature only the shuffle…
OMG? really…?
than Cubase is not the right choice for you.
What do you think about Ableton´s Live? Fruity Loops? Bitwig e.g.?
these daw´s are pattern based.
Don’t really use any of them… FL I’ve used in the past and never got into Ableton Live.
Because I prefer to use a certain VST then that means Cubase not the right choice?
lol…been using it for quite sometime actually.
Came from Logic to SX3…which is why I still even use BD.
Just that it is now a pita because of this windowing issue.
Also… Used actual Drum Machines back in the 80’s and 90’s so programming this way is just easier for me.
I second FxPansion Geist ! Great for beat creation, quite sophisticated, lots of features… Including Direct Sampling. You could also run it as a Standalone application.
Cheers,
Muziksculp