I have the demo, I cannot stand the new GUI or the new workflow. Bare in mind I am coming from 6.5 which I adore.
So, apart from the GUI which is awful, is there anything else that could sway me to want to upgrade ?
The workflow changes seem a step backwards tbh.
I came to Cubase from FL Studio for the exact same reason, they botched the workflow and routing and that was enough to make me come here, now have they given me a reason to move onto something else or stick with 6.5 ?
So I am interested to see what other positives 8.5 has, and only from users not Steiny employees
I didn’t like the gui at first either, but the ability to manage the project has some real advantages with the higher track counts. My beef is the inability to identify plugins in the mixer. You have to hover for a balloon that tells you the plugin full name. So, I am still on 6.5 like you as a result. That is the deal breaker for me. Note though, I’ve only worked with it for 4 hours. There seems to be a lot of benefits others speak of but I am road blocked by not being able to have a proper mixer overview that displays plugin names intelligently.
As I said elsewhere: The US government still uses 8" “floppies” even in the Nuke Defense Agency. I guess if you know how to use it and it works why change?
I’ve used all versions of Cubase and I find 8.5 to be the most effectively developed efficient version by a large margin. On occasion I’ve had to go back to get or check something from my old DAW Win 7 running 6.5. Everytime I have to do that I ask myself how I could have tolerated using it.
You have to commit to using and learning it for a few days and you’ll probably see the benefits. The “awful” GUI is subjective of course but most get used to it and prefer it eventually.
Well I can tell you that you’re probably just too used to 6.5 and that you’ll probably grow to like (or at least tolerate) how Cubase currently looks. The transition would definitely be far smoother if you had bought Cubase 7, then 7.5 then 8 when they were new and used them for a while.
I make “traditional” music (as in not one of those 500 electronic/dance subgenres), I work with virtual instruments and MIDI and do some mixing. I find that I work faster now than I did back when I was using Cubase 6.5. Since I bought and used Cubase 7, 7.5, 8 and 8.5 in order I had plenty of time to get used to each major change, and I personally don’t remember any of these big changes actually slowing me down after a few days of using each new version of the DAW.
So I guess it’s really just a matter of getting used to 8.5. To me the upsides far outweigh any downsides of using it over previous versions of Cubase.
How do you deal with not being able to identify what plugin you have inserted? Do you experience it? It is really tough for me because I chain plugins from the same manufacturer and all display names are the same despite being different plugins.
I am not sure what you mean by not being able to identify the plugin.
I’m not at my DAW but I’ve not had this problem. Maybe you are referring to squeezing down the Mixer 1, 2, or 3 so you see more channel strips but they are very very narrow. If so then the solutions are to unsqueeze/widen the channel strips of the Mixer or use a bigger monitor/multiple monitors.
I tend to stick to using stock effects and the (somewhat recently introduced) built-in channel strip. They don’t give you as many options as say Voxengo and FabFilter stuff, but they still sound really transparent which is usually perfect for what I do. If something needs some hardware dirt and/or extra “warmth”, Quadrafuzz v2, Magneto II and DaTube usually do the job. The third party plugins I have are mostly from different developers, and the display names for most of them are just the plugin’s name, without the name of the developer.
That said I understand that this is a problem for a lot of people. I think it’s more or less guaranteed that they’ll try address this in either Cubase 9 or 8.5.30.
Can you please give us a few examples? I am not trying to convince you of the opposite, but I personally fail to see in what regard 8.5 is more efficient than 6.5, let alone “by a large margin”.
You just have to use it and life is too short to spend time telling you why I think this. And yes, by a large margin. They probably offer a demo so check it out and you decide.
Thanks for your input. I use 3rd party plugins almost exclusively so it seems I will have to wait for something to change for me. I never got into the stock plugs. The 3rd party plugs I have other versions too for my pt and video rig which makes mixing in all softwares common practice.
Excluding the GUI, I would compare the added features since c6.5 and decide for yourself. Personally I think the evolutionary end of the DAW was C6.5. That was certainly a wonderful and solid version. IMO since 6.5 you get features more for the sake of features. You need to decide if you need or want for example Track Versions or Track Import. How about Render In Place that was asked for since like ever? Some day, perhaps C9 will include mix undo. Is that important to you?
Only you can decide. Read or watch about the numerous features added since 6.5.
I have used 7, 7.5, 8, and now 8.5. The lists of new features are really short, this is why I am surprised when users praise these releases. I did get used to the new UI, as in, I’ve learned to accept it due to daily use, but that does not mean that I now find it, in any way, better that 6.5 UI and mixer. On the contrary.
Additions worth mentioning are:
RIP which is still not quite there
plugin manager
track versions
visibility agents and the whole shebang, which I stopped using because it’s creating a mess
VCA’s are finally working after many many issues, but I still don’t like the implementation. I use them though
chord track…personally I have no use for this
import tracks from project would be nice, but it’s seriously under developed
Maybe I am missing a feature or two, but that’s it in a nutshell. 3 years of development.
The rest of the additions are fluff.
@WillB, obviously I am overseeing the good stuff, which is why I’ve asked you for a few examples. You don’t have to go into detail if you don’t have the time, just a list of post 6.5 features that would support your comment would do.
By the way, there was a similar thread a few months ago:
There are a lot of small things though that really add up nicely:
ability to define a default plugin preset for each plugin
link/quick link functionality in the mixer
direct routing
channel strip/Magneto II/Quadrafuzz2 (serious tools, not toys)
It all depends on how you use Cubase. Stuff like that may or may not be cool for you. 6.5 was a close to a software masterpiece I dare to say, 7 broke habits (made me angry…), 7.5 balanced the situation pretty good. 8 was really good from the beginning, 8.5 is rock solid for me and allows fast, intuitive operation. This will definately not be the case coming from 6.5 - but it will (at least) be a much better experience than the step from 6.5 to 7
You are saying like when each time you open any plugin it defaults to a user defined preset? I missed that one. Please show me how or the pdf manual page? Thanks!
I’m glad you wrote that. Because it didn’t make sense to me either. Due to my lack of experience with 8.5, I almost fired it up to see if it was actually true! It would be ridiculous if it was.
