Hi,
I currently have Essential 4, and it runs fine. But, what are the advantages of an upgrade to Artist 6? I know there is a feature or two that might be added, but for $100+, I don’t think that in and of itself is enough reason for me to upgrade (your mileage may vary). Am I missing something? Are there more virtual instruments, more plug-ins, better audio quality? I can’t seem to find answer to these questions anywhere.
Can someone please advise?
Thanks! 
I don’t think that in and of itself is enough reason for me to upgrade
Then you have probably answered your own question…only upgrade if the new features are something useful to you.
There is no improvement to sound quality (I’d be surprised if you actually have a problem with sound quality if you’re using the software correctly) & there are no great changes or additions to plug-ins or instruments other than the new Amp Simulator & Halion Sonic SE which you will have seen if you looked at the product pages.
There is a full list of features here you can compare to your current version
http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/cubase/cubase6_feature_comparison.html
Bear this in mind though: when C7 comes out (and its brothers and sister versions), it’ll cost you maybe $300 or more to upgrade and when C8 comes out, you may have to pay the full price again!
Think of owning the licence as a dollar or two per week, and keep things updated to a reasonable level.
By not upgrading now, may save you some money, but it’ll cost a lot more in the future if you don’t. 
Neil.
Aloha Neil
Nicely put.
{‘-’}
Hi!
I don’t know what your workflow and style of music is, but in regards to your question about new instruments; I think that the Halion Sonic SE instrument is worth a couple hundred bucks by itself.
And while I’m not a guitar player, my family and friends who are have really been tickled with the VST Amp Rack. In fact, I’ve played more guitar this past week than the last five years combined! (just messing around with the Amp Rack).
I’m going to make an assumption from your screen name that Remixing and audio mangling (and DJ style stuff) isn’t a big part of your sound? (appologies if saying that rubs the fur the wrong way 
That said, the performance controllers they added to Loop Mash in this release have (IMHO) taken if from being a curiosity to being a usable creative tool.
Granted, what it does is fairly specific. Not many folk artists or traditional Jazz guys using (I assume) but for what it is, these new features really made it useful.
There’s a lot more that I’m very pleased with. I started with Studio 4 several years ago so I have some appreciation for your working environment. I offer that only because the overhaul that Media Bay received in version 5 is worth the price of the upgrade.
I think you’ll be really pleased with the refinements to the workflow and general system enhancements.
My two cents.
WPH
PS: years ago I got to work on a very cool Rock CD that used mandolins in place of the usual guitars. To this day one of the coolest CDs I’ve worked on! Recording the Mando-Cello in particular! FWIW!
I don’t believe that is right because my experience is that part way through the update cycle there is always a price drop.
Well, in this case, the full Artist 6 version will set you back €299. An upgrade to Artist 6 from Essential 4 would be a bargain €99. But from an earlier SE3 version, it’ll be €249.
You can generally skip one version, and still get a good price. I was just making a point that waiting for C7 / Artist 7 could be expensive - probably €249 again, which is more than 2 x €99 step updates.
Regards,
Neil.
There’s no reason to update, man, at all. You’d better save your $100 and stay happy. if you don’t need C5, so you don’t need C6. Just forget about it. And don’t make us work for you, retelling C6’s promo video etc.
I hope you’ve got the latest version of Google 
, so use it and make your decision.
Dump all features and plugins … C6 is a way more stable and snappy program than C4.
Then add the features and plugins
[edit]
C5 was much better on my old puter than C4 was, even SX3 was better than C4. Now my completely new and uncorrupted C6 seems snappier than my C5 installed in August last year and updated in December(?) but I can’t really tell today.
If you’re not sitting around saying “dang, I wish this thing would___” (fill in the blank)-you’re probably just fine where you are. If you’re able to make music the way you like to and everything is pretty stable for you, why upgrade?
Personally, I have been happy with almost all of Cubase except for the horrible time stretching and pitch change algorithms that I’ve experienced up through C5. My understanding is that they’re substantially better in C6. Also, I’m on a Mac, and since I use a lot of instruments and plug-ins, the 64 bit upgrade alone is worth the price. Anything additional in bug fixes and stability is just gravy for me.
Just confirming what has been said here already, if v4 is letting you create and you don’t find yourself running into obstacles then stick with it. I skipped v5 and just upgraded from v4 to v6 as a lot of the new features will greatly increase my productivity and workflow.
No harm in skipping a version now and again!