First, big congrats to Steinberg for Cubase 10. I have been a long-time user, and it has been a rough relationship, especially in recent years. But I have to hand it to them, they made some excellent choices for Cubase 10. Bravo! Thank you to the Steinberg team for LISTENING to the customers on this one. Cubase 10 is, IMO, the most customer-centric release in years. No matter what I have thought about Steinberg recently, I had to acknowledge this release and say thank you.
BTW, I am sitting here testing Cubase 10 (just upgraded) and it is really dawning on me how strikingly similar Cubase and Studio One have become. If indeed imitation is the highest form of flattery, then I have to say that Steinberg and Presonus have been flattering each other quite a bit recently, and both owe each other a huge debt of gratitude. And for this round of updates, I have to say that Steinberg has been paying close attention to their brethren down the road in Hamburg over at Presonus. It had to be said. It’s clear that Steinberg’s heritage that is inside Studio One’s team has now come full circle, where Steinberg is now learning from their Hamburg neighbor. It is no surprise to me that one of Steinberg’s former product managers currently manages Studio One. Looks like they are all learning from each other right now.
But leaving that point aside, I am very impressed with Steinberg with this release so far. Over the years I’ve never pulled punches about my strong criticism of Steinberg when things got rough, but truth is, many of the things I bitterly complained about are (more or less) addressed in Cubase 10! I’m sure there are lots of little bugs and issues to be worked out, of course, and there is always room for improvement, but the general focus, the choices of feature development, are really going in a good direction for this release IMO. I want to really thank whoever is making these kinds of decisions at Steinberg. Is it a new manager? Is it maybe a new philosophy? Will it last? I never know with Steinberg. But for what it’s worth, Cubase 10 has found an outstanding balance and they deserve kudos. Now I hope they can squash bugs quickly.
And while I have really enjoyed working in Studio One on recent big projects (in part out of frustration with Cubase), and I have come to respect the Presonus team and philosophy, it is honestly great to see that the Steinberg machine can turn things around IMO, and give a really good response with Cubase 10. Again, congrats to the whole Steinberg team, and especially the people who made the decision to LISTEN and make these choices for this release. May this positive trend continue! Cheers!
I agree with this post completely. I can’t believe all the negative criticism that I’m reading on this forum. Personally I was waiting for this release to gauge where Steinberg may be heading in the future and I for one am totally pleased and re-inspired about Cubase for the future. Studio One can’t hold a candle to the depth of Cubase, Bravo Steinberg!
I think Steinberg likely struggled for the past few version to bring in a lot of new features to be feature-list on par with other programs which is ALOT of coding and when there is a lot of code, there is a lot of potential for stability issues and the combination of these two things eats up a lot of resources.
I think things are leveling out now, and Steinberg will be able to focus more on stability, workflow/UI, and more specific user needs.
Cubase does a lot of things other programs don’t, they’ve for the most part added a lot of things that other programs do that have become universal standards, and then some - they’ve innovated and come up with interesting new features and strategies.
I agree this is a stellar release! So many excellent new features! I’ve opened and worked in old projects, vari audio 3 is working perfectly so is audio align and I’ve been able to initiate many plugins and instruments via drag-and-drop. No crashes and no hiccups so far. I should say that I installed the full version of Cubase 10 on a fresh reinstall of Mac Sierra.
Its possible for some to have a terrible experience with Cubase 10 and for you to love it. Why not encourage Steinberg to try and fix the issues many have had even if you love it?
There is a tendency to create this adversarial online culture where people who like the new version just shout down those with major issues and vice versa.
In general I love Cubase but this version has many problems for me and therefore is disappointing. I don’t think ‘problems with individual systems’ are fair excuses. Obviously everyone has a different system and the job of Steinberg is to make the new version work for as many as possible.
My issues so far:
pitch process doesn’t work - or creates many pops and clicks on processed audio.
reverence shows only some graphics and then crashes the program
No one is shouting anyone down, in fact I’ve seen most members trying to help people with problems troubleshoot. But there’s some who are fairly dramatic and excessive, and many of those don’t have technical issues - they simply have issues with it not being the update they wanted with the features they wanted and the things they wanted addressed summarizing the update as worthless, a ripoff, not worth $100. There’s MEASURABLY, a lot in this update that is worth $100 if not more and they have included a lot of changes and features that users have been asking for - not everything, but lots.
I’m really happy that this upgrade works flawlessly for you however for me, it’s my worst nightmare ever.
They have completely butchered the right click contextual menu assuming that we all never use the now deleted functions and they have replaced it with the ONLY USED functions…what? used by whom? personally, the right click menu was my saviour and workflow super highway…now, it has completely killed my workflow having to go up to find things that I used all the time. It’s a disaster.
Gui disappearing on me in certain windows, checkboxes not showing in some windows, over-enlarged fonts and tacky looking windows are all part of a totally useless piece of software that I have used for many years which now is unusable for me.
Although I admire Steinberg/Yamaha for their forward thinking, some of the new features look really good, however, they have assumed, predestined and forced us to all work in the they way THEY want us to work…rather dictatorship oriented don’t you think?
At least implement the things you want to, BUT give us the choice to amend or edit certain things is order to speed up our workflow instead of killing it.
If they can give us back the old contextual menu or the ability to customise it AND sort out all the other issues (mentioned in the forum) then this will be a killer update, but until then, I have been forced to go back to 9.5 which works flawlessly for me. I live in hope…
To some degree, all these programs are designed to how the company thinks people should be working in terms of efficiency and professionalism.
I for the most part, mostly avoided the right click menu because of how much stuff was in it and instead opted to memorize as many shortcut keys as possible. As far as what I know, everything in that menu is hotkey assignable so I don’t understand people who are saying this killed their workflow because if it is workflow you want… memorize the hotkeys you need.
That menu never looked good, when I did need to find something in it… It always took longer than it would to just open up key commands (I also have hotkey for this) and searched for what I was looking for, and if no hotkey assigned… assigning it, writing it down on a sticky, and memorizing it. then adding it to my hotkey excel tabled reference sheets.
I would hate to open up that menu in front of a client, instead of knowing the hotkey I need. In fact, if I was paying someone else to work for me and I saw them use that menu instead of a hotkey, they might not get hired again if it took them too long to find what they were looking for and besides, nothing is quicker than key command.
Maybe Steinberg is helping you get passed using the right click menu as a crutch, when there are faster ways for you to do what you want…
I don’t see any shouting down going on. On the contrary, I see people helping out and sharing their opinions. Some are obviously happier than others and not affected by a particular issue… and some are rightly frustrated. What often gets lost with Steinberg (as I’ve been on the bitterly frustrated side of things with Steinberg many times too!), is that Steinberg deserves some kudos when they do something right. That’s the point of my post. Nothing shouting down anyone at all.
Is this release perfect? Heck no. I totally get the frustration that some people are facing, and I totally agree that Steinberg needs to fix those issues asap. Here’s to hoping they do that.
What I “love” (and actually, I don’t believe I used the word “love” lol) about Cubase 10 is the general direction they chose. That, to me, suggests they have indeed been listening. That is a very welcome direction. I also indicated (many times in many threads) that they have a problematic track record of consistency and quality control, so I’m hoping that the positive direction continues and they take users’ issues very seriously… So I’m personally trying to thank and encourage Steinberg to continue in this positive direction, AND I also agree that it’s important to encourage them to quickly fix the inevitable bugs that are there.
Overall, though, I think the evidence is that Steinberg has been listening and paying attention far more than in the past, and for this, I am hopeful and grateful, while still being cautious… so let’s call it “cautiously optimistic.”
I don’t really see an adversarial thing going on with Cubase 10. Yes, you see the outliers on both ends of the curve of human response, I think by now, after all these years, people here are mostly well aware of Steinberg’s track record. But I do think it’s a good thing to acknowledge the good things and thank Steinberg too in this case. Just because someone is positive doesn’t mean everything is perfect in Steinberg-land. We can be both realistic and expect bug fixes with them but also appreciative when they do something good.
Totally hear you – been on the frustrated side with you too many times to list before. My experience with Steinberg over the years suggests those kinds of problems usually get worked out in about 6 months, I hate to say, so in this case, by about the 10.0.30 release. When faced with a crucial feature that isn’t working well with Cubase, I tend to have to stick with the prior version (in this case 9.5.41) until my personal bugs are worked out. And you’re 100% right that some issues will affect different people based on workflow and situations. I can only suggest that you continue posting specific bug issues in threads and with support until they can duplicate the problem. OR do what I’ve had to do quite often with Steinberg, is wait it out until a “.30” or “.40” patch unfortunately.
What I hope is that Steinberg’s recent positive trend continues and that will be reflected in the speed and efficacy of bug fixes. So I’m with anyone who wants bug fixes asap!
Not sure anyone said it’s working “flawlessly” (i.e. which implies perfection, and we all know Steinberg is certainly not perfect!), and I definitely think whatever issues you’re dealing with should be addressed. Every decision a developer makes will have their casualties, so someone is bound to get hit by a particular bug or feature change. Sorry that happened to you on this release! I’ve been there too in other releases too many times to list.
Personally, I really like the changes to the right click contextual menu, so I’m on the other side of the coin! I thought the prior right click contextual menu was messy, bloated and unwieldy, and goes against most modern UI paradigms of usability. So it was about time they changed it IMO, and a good thing to change! HOWEVER, like with any streamlining, they hit some users who have adopted it as part of their workflow and I can totally see how that impacts your workflow and causes a problem. It would be super frustrating to me too, since now your workflow is very much impacted. So I get your frustration. Not sure I’d go so far by using the term “worst nightmare ever” (I can think of many things in life and even just in DAWs that are vastly more nightmarish, lol!), but I guess I understand the use of hyperbole to express your justified frustrations.
So personally, I believe this feature change that Steinberg made is net good, BUT I totally acknowledge that it has disrupted your workflow, and I think Steinberg SHOULD provide an option for you to either customize the right click menu, OR provide an option for you in the preferences that allows you to get those menu items back. It seems like a feature request is in order here, and it doesn’t seem like too big of a feature to ask for… and actually, I would love the ability to customize the context menu (call the feature “menu sets” or something like that). If there is a thread with that feature request, please post a link to it, and I will definitely express my “+1” for it.
And again, sorry you got it hit by that change in particular. Just hope you understand that for some of us, it’s actually a good thing. And I also think that it actually still confirms that Steinberg is trying to streamline Cubase because in part Cubase has gained a reputation of being very bloated. It just turns out in this specific case they perhaps went too far and didn’t accommodate your workflow, so I hope they can add a customization feature! It definitely is not fun to be on the receiving end of an “improvement” that messes up your workflow. Been there too many times.
I have felt the exact same way as you in other releases… especially the word “unusable” – and actually, I can remember most recently it was with the DOP feature release, which was unfortunately butchered by Steinberg. That was so messy and painful, that it was truly unusable until they really started ironing out that feature for me. So I totally get where you are coming from. Sadly, there will always be a group of users that gets hit by the pain points of a particular release. I have been on the verge of permanently dumping Steinberg over and over due to my experiences like that over the years. In fact, I would not have bought Cubase 10 were it not for what I felt was a big course correction by Steinberg with this release. Steinberg almost lost me completely in recent years. But Cubase 10 is giving me hope. It’s not a cure-all, but to me, there are good signs things are changing at Steinberg. Hopefully they are listening to you and the other frustrated customers with this release. It’s a roller coaster with them some times.
That is why I have honestly invested so much time in other DAWs recently, out of sheer frustration with Steinberg (and also Avid BTW). So I have spent a huge amount of time in Studio One (and others), for example, as implied in my OP here, and I have gained a tremendous respect for their Hamburg brethren at Presonus. My stress levels have dropped considerably since I “spread out” my DAW needs to more DAWs and I haven’t had to rely as much on Steinberg. YMMV of course, but having another DAW that I actually enjoy has made my life better. This Cubase 10 release though, is a good sign IMO, and it’s also very good for the entire DAW market, since it raises the game for everyone.
The major thrust of my OP here though, is that the general direction of Cubase looks like Steinberg is indeed listening. The mere fact that they bent to the will of the customers and the momentum of the market to add ARA, for example, is a huge step in the right direction IMO. The fact that they brought in key features from Nuendo due to many people’s frustrations with the mostly artificial and seemingly arbitrary divide between the two apps on certain features, also suggests they are listening to people. The way they handled the 9.5.40 → 9.5.41 patch also suggests they are listening to people. I could go on. This is a very encouraging new pattern, and I hope it continues and is reflected in the way they will hopefully rectify the glaring issues that some people are experiencing with Cubase 10. So by no means am I trying to excuse or justify them when something goes wrong – they still have a lot of work to do!
But we sure can acknowledge and thank them when things go right. They are hard working people with families and lives too – and a little positive encouragement can go a long way.
WOW Uarte, thank you for your very detailed and respectful reply, which is truly appreciated.
Of course I speak from my own personal perspective (and by the huge amount of problems in the forum)
I too admire and respect Steinberg/Yamaha for their forward thinking and trying to incorporate new additions and functions into the DAW to aid workflow, but really to delete stuff that some of us die-hard old foggies have been used to for years and love and have created a brilliant workflow and to say, ‘sorry this is what we think is mostly used so that’s what you get’ is not really working with your customers. Yes I agree that they should make some changes to streamline the contextual menu but at least give us the choice to customise it to our own personal way of working and omit the stuff we really do not use, that way would be perfect!
I can live with some bugs as long as they do not hinder my work and am happy to wait until they are ironed out, but some are a problem like the gui on some screens disappears right in from of my very eyes. Checkboxes aren’t there, and large fonts which again are not customisable which ruin the look of some screens.
Anyhow, rant over, I hope one day soon i will be able to enjoy cubase once again and be able to concentrate on making music instead of worrying whether or not my DAW will fail me…for now, 9.5 is my baby and thankfully still works!
Absolutely! Totally see where you’re coming from! And BTW, respect is pretty important to me… I’ve been on both sides of the coin so many times over the years, I’ve become very sensitive to try to look for other perspectives. Sadly, in this strange world we now seem to live in, especially in social media and forums, respectful dialog seems to have gone out the window. At least a few folks can still try to do it though, right?
Anyway, crossing fingers Steinberg is listening and takes all these comments to heart. They overdid in your use-case scenario, and need to give you some solution IMO. I remain cautiously optimistic. Frankly, it always amazes me when DAWs – as complex of an ecosystem that they are with all their low latency requirements, driver issues, OS issues, plugin issues – work as well as they do! Sort of a miracle when it all works beautifully. In the meantime, there’s always Cubase 9.5.41, and of course other DAWs. And a bit of patience.
Cubase 10 is a great upgrade in many ways…look, better performances, renovation and new tricks to speed up your daily workflow.I am using Cubase since the Atari Time… Only the Die…hards know what Cubase was in that time… Ever since i always have been faithfull to cubase.
I have worked with FL, Logic Pro-Tools.I can say that Cubase have stepped up their game, but i am not saying that the other DAWS are bad. Its just that Cubase have extra toppings.
My Experience so far:
Performance: I have feeling that its taking less CPU and that it can handle big projects better than before Look: The colors and icons are looking better for the eye. Plugins: I am little bit disappointed , they didnt upgraded or made new plugins. But okay… maybe they will come with something in the 10.5 version. 3rd plugins: No Issues yet.( i am using legit software, i dont know if the crack plugins are working good).
Problems: I havent experienced any issues yet, but it is to early to make this a fact.
I can really recommend to upgrade if you have the possibility…