Buyer's remorse (again). Looks like I would learn

Cubase
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So, I got the email, watched Dom showcase all the great new stuff in 13, got a little too excited (forgetting my remorse after buying 12 back in March and never using it again), and looked at the upgrade price… $99? yeah, sure, why not? Some of the things Dom said made me think that Steinberg had actually listened to their users. Sadly, in my excitement, I didn’t wait to read the forum first. My bad.

For my first launch of Cubase 13, it did not load or recognize (invalid file type) the MP4 video file I had in my current Cubase 12 project (which works just fine, if you were wondering and opened it up again in 12 just to be sure. Yep. All good). For my second launch, 13 froze on the Resolve Missing Files dialog. Oh well. Should I go for three? Or just stop here?

I really am trying to like Cubase, because there seems to be a LOT of long time diehard fans out there that will literally chew your head off if you even look at Steinberg sideways, but the initial feedback I see here is disheartening. Cubase seems to have a lot to offer, but IMO not a lot to love. And to be honest, I’ve hated it from the very first launch. So why did I just go spend $99 to upgrade? I guess I was hopeful. My bad. Again. But I’m now done.

Can anyone tell me if it is possible to sell your Cubase license, and if so, what the process is? I’ve got a brand, spanking new Cubase 13 Pro license here going CHEAP. :+1:

For those of you here who say you’ve used Cubase for 25 years… honestly, how do you do it? I see so many posts that are all in effect “Cubase is great, but it really sucks!”

:face_with_spiral_eyes:

2

Hi,

It would help, if you would provide more details. Which codec do you use with your video? Other details about the video (size, frames…)?

Did you get a DMP file with the freeze?

Yes, you can resale your Cubase license. Here is the wizard. Of course, you cannot sell just the update, if you have activated it already. You would sell your Cubase 13 license, so you could not use your Cubase 12 anymore.

3

There are several posts here from the last few days by users who claimed they got a refund, if you want to give that a go.

4

Not dismissing your problem by saying that it’s good practice to keep projects in the version of the program they were created in. You can’t really judge a program from opening old projects in a new version. Except for a couple of cosmetic issues, I’m not having issues with 13. In fact, it’s running way better than any version since 10.5 on the same computer.

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And why is that exactly? Steinberg sure never stated anything of that sort.

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It has always been good practice to finish projects in the program you started with and if you want use them in the new program then import the tracks into that framework that’s always been the done thing BUT when you import them and still have issues then that becomes a completely different matter .
I feel sorry for Martin being left here all on his tod , hung out to dry

No remorse here

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Ummmm…

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8

Ah -Ha.! So you DID use it…

Good work @JBuck

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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I know what you’re saying. It’s been the blanket statement from people in the forums since forever but I never seen such a statement officially from any Steinberg rep. As far as I know, if you ask Steinberg, newer versions of their software should be backwards compatible with older project files.

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Should , exactly but we live in a world where seem to be paying in advance for 1.5 years to recieve a stable DAW so i don’t think a should is a should any more :crazy_face: :see_no_evil:

11

I went through a similar thing. saw Dom’s and a few others on YT, brought the upgrade as soon as i got home from work.
All went smoothly until i tried to use it. 3 crashes in 24 hours (realistically, 3 crashes in less than 3 hours total use).
I filed a support case and asked for a refund. Steinberg were very quick to issue the refund, cant knock that, but im surprised i had these crashes in the first place. I can understand it under Windows, so many configurations, but i expected it to be stable on my M1 MBP.
I’ll get the free trial version when it’s available and play with it. Hopefully Steinberg will figure this out quickly and i can re purchase it. For now, im going back to Logic.

12

'OOOOhhh Matron ’ …a provocative PC v Mac post :upside_down_face: Have you just joined the internet ?

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What I mean is, Macs are pretty much set in stone hardware wise. There can’t be that many different configurations compared to PC’s.
For what its worth ive been a PC user for over 40 years, and only switched to Mac last year (for various reasons, but CB was one of them).
Back in the PC days I was always getting ‘its you GPU’ causing the issue’, or reasons along that line. I thought that switching to Mac might get me a more stable set up. Apparently not lol.

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No, actually, I didn’t (and don’t). But, if you’d really like to know why…

I evaluated three DAWs after I bought Cubase 12 Pro (Cakewalk, Cubase, and Reaper - I abandoned my go-to post environment (Adobe) when they went subscription-only, plus Audition doesn’t do MIDI). I bought Cubase based on reputation and the extra content that comes with it. A 90 day trial and RTFM didn’t uncover the issues I ran into once I got into an actual project, though.

I built an identical film post production project in all three DAWs and began working through each DAW in parallel, performing the same editing functions: tracks, routing, colors, folders/groups, sends, I/O, automation, FX, etc. I found Cubase nearly impossible to work in (or at least uncomfortable), and the workflow illogical compared to any other DAW I’ve used. Inflexible, comes to mind. I’d have to rewire my brain to use it effectively. Some of the simplest audio editing tasks I do in post are overly complicated, if not impossible to do in Cubase (like grabbing the line between two points on a clip volume automation curve and moving it, along with the two points on either end as a unit - maybe it IS possible, but definitely not as easy or intuitive as in any other DAW where it just works as expected).

Given the cost (and the hype), I really expected more, especially given Nuendo’s legacy as a Post product. The money is not the issue for me; the VALUE is. So, I put Cubase 12 aside back in April/May. I really like Cakewalk but, being a free product, I was concerned about its long-term viability (that has now changed and something to watch going forward). So, I focused on Reaper and the more I used it, the more I loved it. I created a custom theme and layout (overcoming that default ugliness factor), and it is fast, lightweight, very capable, and very stable. Bonus tip: I paid $60 for it back in 2016 for V5, and received free updates up to V7 (which dropped last week), for which I had to lay out another wallet-bending $60 for free updates until V9 (ouch!). Maintenance updates are practically continuous. I can also run Reaper as a portable install off a USB thumb drive. The user community is absolutely fantastic. Expansion via scripting using 3 or 4 different programming languages is simply amazing. Write your own compressor or EQ if that’s your thing using the built-in Reaper Scripting IDE and the Reaper-provided API (or just find an existing free one in the Reaper stash).

So that’s where I am, or was, until I got the email yesterday about Cubase 13. So I watched Dom with interest to see what might have improved, and the new mixer changes, dnd functions, cleaner, more logical functionality in a few places, and a few other things like workflow improvements I saw on the “changes” list, seemed to address some of the complaints I had about 12. I figured $99 was worth the price of entry to see if it was indeed better. At least I’d have the latest and greatest if I ever did need the few advanced features Cubase has that Reaper does not yet have (like built-in Atmos).

Sadly, it won’t even open the ONE (and only) real project I have in Cubase 12 correctly. As I reported in another post, the MP4 video file I used in the post project in Cubase 12 won’t even load in Cubase 13. It says “Invalid or not supported file!” in the Import Video dialog. Go figure.

So, yeah, just a bit of buyer’s remorse.

And to those who suggested that the de rigueur method to upgrade to a new version of Cubase is to reimport tracks from past projects into the new version if you want to use it, all I have to say is… you’re joking, right? :expressionless:

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I understand totally , im just jesting :crazy_face: :grin:

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16

I would think that “the same one I used in Cubase 12” would be sufficient. If you’d like to comp the $99 upgrade fee I just paid (and I keep the license), I’d be happy to do some SW testing for you on this. In the meantime, here’s a MediaInfo dump of the file in question.

image
image1017×1138 15.2 KB

Example.zip (1.1 KB)

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Hey - was only teasing… sorry.!

And, sorry you’ve had this bad experience with loading the C12 project into C13 and it not working… Not good.

Is it just that one, or are all other video files not loading…? Even in a new blank project (just to narrow things down).?

Sharing the actual project/video file would be quickest route to finding out what went wrong… But I can understand you’re past bothering now and just want a refund and to get back to Reaper… Which is all fine, BTW…

Anyway, good luck.

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Ah, no worries. I knew you were. I just wanted to comiserate. :wink:

Yes, I first noticed that the video didn’t appear in the video player. When I looked at the Media Pool, I saw that the file status was as described (e.g., invalid). Whenever I tried to drag/drop it from Explorer onto the track I got the “wrong way” icon. I then deleted the old item, and went to Import Video. When I clicked on the file in the import video dialog, it told me the same thing in the status. I then tried 20-30 other similar files in a collection of renders (both MP4 and MOV containers), and about 90% of them gave the same error. Only a few actually didn’t show the “invalid” message, providing a little info about the file instead, meaning it was OK to import. All of these files were exported using Adobe Premier Pro or Media Encoder, and mostly are H.264, although some may have been DNxHD or even uncompressed as well. Yeah, kinda weird. Haven’t tried a blank project (yet).

And, thanks. Cheers.

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OK, so I just tried importing video into a blank project in 13. No go. So I tried all the others in the folder. I found that any video file over ~200MB in size gives me the “Invalid or not supported file!” error. Anything smaller than that will import. The one I used in the previous 12 project was 342MB.

It appears that perhaps the video size limit changed in 13, perhaps to save RAM for some other feature. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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Nope , you must be new to Cubase or just arrived on the planet as it’s always been the case :upside_down_face: :crazy_face: :grin: :see_no_evil: