Bought an upgrade from Artist 9.5 to Artist 10.5...but...

Cubase
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1

Hi,
I paid for the upgrade from Artist 9.5 to Artist 10.5, expecting to get a single download that I’d install, then 5 minutes later I’d be up and running with the new features at my disposal. I was completely confused by sequence of events though, so I’m still using Artist 9.5. Any help or advice would be most welcome, because after 19 days (so far) support have not responded to my request for guidance. I have tried to help myself but just don’t get what’s going on.

During the purchasing process I didn’t notice any selection for Windows or Mac versions, but when I’d completed I found a download that said ended with -MAC, rather than -WIN like my previous download. This didn’t seem right so I didn’t download that file and asked for help instead. I can no longer find access to the page where the that download was though, no idea why.

I was emailed an activation code, but I can’t do anything with that because its exactly the same as I’ve already used for my previous Artist 9.5 install.

As yet, there is still no sign of the purchase in my software within my account at Steinberg. There’s only my Artist 9.5 version showing as a download.

I’ve looked in the online Steinberg Download Assistant, but there is no upgrade from Artist 9.5 to 10.5. I’m not sure, but I might be able to upgrade from 9.5 to 10, then 10 to 10.5. Is that possible and a reasonable workable solution? Would it require anything other than my existing activation code?

The alternative would appear to be to use the Download Assistant to install Artist 10.5 from scratch, but no doubt I’d lose all my 9.5 settings. Besides, I’m concerned that without a new activation code and no sign of the purchase in my account, that I’d have licensing issues. I really don’t want to screw up with 10.5, then also screw up my access to Artist 9.5 at the same time. I know such things have happened to others as clueless as me.

So, £66 spent and 19 days of nothing to show for it. I know support are busy but this seems a bit of a long wait. Perhaps some clearer directions on the process from Steinberg would help, and also mean that those as confused as I am wouldn’t have to bother them.

Have I done something fundamentally wrong, or completely misunderstood some part of this process?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer. I hope there’s some light at the end of this tunnel.
Cheers,
Telefunkin.

2

It is really not as complicated as you are making it here.
The version update in your mySteinberg account shows as soon as you activate the license for 10.5 on your USB eLicenser (might take 1 or 2 hours). The activation code comes with the order confirmation mail from „Steinberg online shop“. If you deleted it, contact the shop which is nexway (formely „asknet“), in case you ordered from the Steinberg online shop. In case you have tha mail, you should re-check - it is usually not the same code as the one for your 9.5 version. If it is, you probably have the wrong mail open.
Other than that the download that you need is the Cubase 10.5 full version download.

3

Thanks for the reply, which I appreciate, but with respect, to me its really not as easy as you’re making it here :slight_smile:.

My purchase was from Steinberg via the website, and it was Nexway that sent the invoice.

I checked again, and the activation code I was sent is exactly the same as the one I was already using for Artist 9.5, so its already registered in my e-licenser. Therefore I can’t do anything with that, so how could I register 10.5 to it as you suggest? Without registering it, according to what you said, it won’t show in MyAccount - you’re right, it doesn’t, and I can’t make that happen.

There is a download link in my invoice. First of all it required a separate login and wouldn’t accept my usual Steinberg login, so I had to reset that. I don’t get why though. Secondly, when I get in, even though the downloads there are described as updates from 9.5 to 10.5, the download file is actually for the online Download Assistant instead. I’d already got that, but I downloaded and installed it again just in case. Nope, its the same.

The Download Assistant offers some updates of various versions, but there is no direct route from Artist 9.5 to Artist 10.5, and I can’t see how I could do it in two steps from the versions that are offered. It looks like the only way to get 10.5 is by a full install.

Therefore, I could use the Download Assistant to download and install Artist 10.5 from scratch, but I’m not convinced my activation code will let me go ahead with that. Besides, I hoped to avoid a full installation so I could keep my settings (e.g. plugins and instrument folders). Would I end up with both 9.5 and 10.5 installed and both working? It would swallow too much hard drive, but at least I could go back to 9.5 if I needed to. That single activation code worries me though.

I might still have misunderstood some aspect of this procedure, but if the procedure was clear and intuitive that shouldn’t happen. After all, I’ve coped with previous Cubase upgrades, as well as every other company’s plugin and instrument purchase and upgrade procedure. Its not me that’s making this difficult. Steinberg did that.

Again, I appreciate your reply thank you, but I’m no further on. After 20 day of waiting for Steinberg Support I guess my only recourse is to contact Nexway and repeat all of this to them.

4

Ok, let´s say it is different, but manageable…
Basically every update in Steinberg world is a full installation, that leaves you with the old and the new version.
If you go from within a version number (for example from Artist 9.0 to Artist 9.5) usually the app itself is installed as new version, and the affitional content is used from the previous version, which is why the download is relatively small ( about 1 Gb or so IIRC).
If you update from 9.x to 10.x you usually have to download and install the whole package - app plus content. Anyway it also is a full install of the new version, not like you know updates from other companies.
If you don ´t have the activation code for the Artist 10 update anymore, there is probably only nexway or maybe Steinberg support, who can help you,

5

Thanks again.
“…every update in Steinberg world is a full installation that leaves you with the old and the new version”
I’m surprised to hear that, because I don’t recall it being the case with previous updates (I only have 9.5 on my machine despite updating a few times), but I may be wrong. In this case, I thought there might be a legitimate update route in the online Download Assistant to update from 9.5 to 10, then 10 to 10.5. It seems not, so I have no choice but a full install of 10.5.

So should I:

  • uninstall Artist 9.5, then download and install the full Artist 10.5, or
  • simply download and run the full Artist 10.5, and hope that my activation code works ?

“If you don´t have the activation code for the Artist 10 update anymore…” I think you’re assuming that I was sent a new and different activation code then lost it. That’s not the case. I have the copy of the email with the date and details of the purchase, and it clearly shows the same activation code that I already had for 9.5. So, my fear is that I install 10.5 then can’t license it, but en-route also get locked out or 9.5 (like many here, I have projects on the go and can’t survive without a DAW).

“Ok, let´s say it is different, but manageable…” Thanks, I like that optimism, but if your right that “there is probably only nexway or maybe Steinberg support, who can help you”… then it doesn’t feel very manageable. I’ve emailed Steinberg Support for help on this, including the point on the activation code, and its now 22 days without a reply. I also took your advice and emailed Nexway about it. I hope they’ll be a little speedier at responding. I’m doing all I can but I have little power to manage anything.

All this started because I was tempted by Steinberg’s discount offer, thinking that even though I don’t particularly crave the features of 10.5, it would be a good plan to try and keep up-to-date and make future updates less of a technical and financially leap. Then I checked the user experiences on this forum (which I should have done first) and saw loads of problems and comments about it being the ‘worst update ever’. Then I realised that I can’t install it anyway. Have I been saved from a different set of headaches, and should I be grateful that all I’ve achieved so far is to make a donation to Steinberg?

Thank you again for your reply. Its the only communication I’ve had since my purchase (donation) and although I’m still no further on, at least one human being has cared to comment, so I appreciate your efforts to assist.

Cheers,
Telefunkin.

6

You omitted the „basically“, and I also might be wrong, but I think even the 10.0 to 10.5 update will, install an additional Cubase 10.5 and uses most of the content from Cubase 10.0

You have not yet tried the activation code…? The activation code is independent from the install. So try the activation code first, if it updates the license install 10.5 and run it. If it doesnˋt, you can also install it but run 9.5

Well, I have updated two Pro licenses regularly since SX3 (not every update, but some), and always had I gotten a valid activation code, never had I gotten a code for an old version. But I am not saying, it never happens. You can install 10.5 and and still run 9.5 if you donˋt have a license for 10.5

Yes, Steinberg support take their time sometimes, but given, that many people here seem to mix up technical support with „someone who reads the manual for me“, They certainly have a busy job. And in your case, nexway indeed might be the better option (though I personally do not have any experience with them.

Basically every update since I read theses forums (which as said is since SX3) is the worst update ever for someone. You should just not be so scared and not believe everything you read here. Not all that happens to some must necessarily also happen to you.

7

Sorry but I’m confused by this. I’m not sure how I can ‘try’ the activation code ‘first’ because its already in use on my eLicenser for 9.5. What else can I do with it? How and why would it update the license, and how would I know even if it did? [Also, I note that Steinberg say “The activation code must not have been used before”].

Good point, but the prospect of not being able to work on music for several weeks (or however long it might for some protracted email exchange with Steinberg while my issues are sorted, should they ever respond) whilst potentially letting down friends and collaborators, p-ing off music libraries and missing valuable sync licensing opportunities, does indeed scare me. I don’t have any alternative DAW software to call on, although from where I am right now Studio One is looking increasingly attractive.

Thanks again.

8

Ok, so to maybe shorten this up a bit:
We are talking about vthis (kind of) email:

Apart from that for you it says:
“Cubase Artist 10.5 update from Cubase Artist 9.5”
If it doesn´t: - you have opened the wrong mail, or bought the wrong update
If it does:
Open the eLicenser control center (-> “actions”) → “enter activation code” and insert the license activation code printed there. Having done this, it will directly tell you, what the code you just entered is for, or if it is not valid/ had been used before, even without pressing “continue”


Well enough said about that also. And yes, you still have Cubase 9.5 to run, because as also said several times, Cubase 10.5 is being installed additionally to Cubase 9.5. So if 10.5 doesn´t work you still have 9.5. If you want to be 99% safe, get some Disc imaging program (there are some good even free ones out there) and make a disc image of your system, which you can restere later, if anything goes wrong.
If you want to be 100 % sure, just do nothing, and wait to a release, where you will not find anyone on the forums here saying it is the worst or useless update ever - expect to wait a very long time though.

license code.jpg
license code.jpg650×522 51.4 KB

9

You have to laugh :slight_smile:

I emailed Nexway, explaining my difficulty and confusion, but asked them to please not simply redirect me back to Steinberg Support because they are not answering (and still haven’t). At least Nexway replied, but of course their (very likely automated) reply said…
Thank you for your inquiry
We have forwarded your E-Mail directly to Steinberg support team.
A representative of this Department will contact you as soon as possible to solve the issue.
If you have any further questions, please contact Steinberg directly.
Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

…and we’ll once again bat them back to Steinberg, who aren’t answering.
So far, I’m not exactly getting a rosy glow from my customer support experience.

By the way, the order confirmation email I was sent from Steinberg after the purchase is identical to the one you showed, except:

  • it is white and in English,
  • it has my name and account details, and shows the correct purchase date,
  • it says… Cubase Artist 10.5 Update from Cubase Artist 9.5,
  • it shows the same activation code that I’m already using for Artist 9.5.
    So, it is absolutely without any doubt the correct email for the correct purchase.
10

So … what happened when you entered the activation code in the eLCC? Oh, wait … you haven’t done that yet. Why not is anyone’s guess. Install the latest eLCC and allow it to run maintenance. Verify your current license(s). What shows? Try the activation code and report the message given. As already mentioned, activating a license and installing the software are independent of one another. I always activate my license first before running any installers. Anyone can download and install the software. You just can’t use it without the appropriate license.

By the way, I did have a little chuckle at your quoted response from Nexway support. :slight_smile:

I understand you are having problems, but unless you provide relevant information nobody here can help you.

11

Hi. It was only yesterday that SvenniLenni explained that I could check the activation code, so I waited until I’d completed my most recent Cubase project before doing anything else. I’m sure you do the same before even considering any update, so I’m surprised that ‘anyone’ couldn’t guess why :slight_smile:. I’m highly wary of screwing up with the eLicenser and Cubase, as many others have already done and many more will continue to do, so I’m always thinking about damage limitation.

Anyway, with work out of the way I entered the code this evening as advised, and it was somewhat of a relief to find that it does indeed appear to license the update from Artist 9.5 to Artist 10.5, according to the displayed message. That was the reassurance I was looking for, so thanks very much SvenniLenni. Your advice was spot-on and most helpful.

For now, I still haven’t completed the activation, but I shall before I take the plunge and grabbing one of the downloads for the Download Assistant. Hopefully, the right one. As stated previously, I thought I might get an update file that did the whole update job, like I’ve had before. This one is different because I’m jumping more than one version, and I guess its unreasonable to expect there would be an update file from any version to any other later version. So, as advised, it looks like a complete install of 10.5 from scratch is the only option. I’m a bit light on hard drive space, so I hope I can get away without uninstalling 9.5 first. I’d prefer to do that later when I’m happy with 10.5. Damage limitation once again, even if it the only damage is wasted time.

12

So then the activation code you got obviously was not exactly the same as the one you were using for Artist 9.5, as you were trying to tell me the whole time…?!
You may get an idea, why Steinberg support sometimes take a little longer to respond…