Been very quiet on the composing front for the last 7 years.
I have a music editing gig coming up and trying to justify the high cost of upgrading.
I love buying new gear / software but just not sure if the the upgrade is justified.
This is my first visit back to the forum in years and looking at all the posts at a glance doesn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling.
I know most people don’t post that have no issues but I’m trying to a a sense of what to expect.
What is the feeling here about Cubase 9 Pro?
I feel the versions have steadily been getting more stable. 9.5 is way better than 5…a whole lot of excellent changes.
There is no comparison – V9.5 is light years ahead of 5 in so many significant ways (but with some of the issues still present form way back when!). It’s also extremely stable (for me, anyway). I say do it!
If you still have your v5 usb licenser you could download the CB9.5 trial software to test before taking the plunge.
I may be off a bit about what was in V5, so… 
But if you are using Cubase to write music the tools you’ll find in 9.5 should be well worth upgrading.
The Chord Track is a great feature. At a minimum I use it just for documentation. But it can also play pads on its own, have the chords replicated as midi data on a Track, and force incoming midi performances to conform to the scale and/or chord. Also you can set the notes in the Key Ed to be color coded by the Chord track - in the chord, in the scale, in both the chord & scale, or lastly not in either. Very useful when writing harmonies or voice leading (you can also color code by SATB voice or midi channel).
Also the Chord tab in the Key Editor lets you write chords all at once instead of note by note. It also makes it easy to flip through inversions.
Track versions are pretty useful for trying out different ideas like variations in melody lines, or completely restructuring a piece. They can even be configured to sync versions on different tracks - so for example you can switch the bass, piano & chord tracks all at once to try out different variations of a progression.
This is only what popped into my head, there is much more.
Get it, you’ll be happy you did (but might as well check out the trial first).
Will my old version be intact if I install the newest?
If I run into any technical issues I need to have a working version available on the spot.
Yes. The versions are installed side by side & not on top of each other. You can even run them both at the same time.
With your RME and win7 setup I expect smooth sailing! Asio guard is also worth a mention!
But… you will write the same music 
. At least I do/did on SX3, C6 C9
Oh, forget it then.
I thought it would make me write hits and I’d be rich.
What is ASIO guard?
Explained in the manual that comes with your purchase… Or in the Steinberg knowledge base.
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Keep in mind that 9.5 doesn’t support 32 bit plug-ins any more. So, you’ll need to install jBridge.
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Find all “What’s new in Cubase 5.5 - 9.5.” read them (or watch) and decide do you need features that were introduced since v.5, then try trial version and answer the question: are you ready to pay for those you need.
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Version 9.5 is pretty stable, though I had several crashes on Win 10, on Win 8.1 it runs better.
A form of look ahead processing, lessening the load on the cpu.
Downloaded trial using the Steinberg download Assistant.
Download is 11.4 Gig
Getting:
“Either multipart or corrupt ZIP archive.”
Anyone experience this?