This happens because programmers are young and don’t suffer from presbyopia yet.
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I’m a bit confused. Are you saying that these UI coherence and information density issues are new (or more pronounced) in Cubase 14 compared to earlier versions? Or are you saying that they are more prevalent, and problematic compared to other DAWs?
If the latter, then I would probably agree with you. The Logic and Studio One UIs both seem more coherent (or at least cohesive) and require less of a “cognitive load” than the Cubase UI. Having said that, Studio One is quite a definitely eyeful when first opening a large project. It looks cluttered to me. And Studio One doesn’t look quite as stylish as Cubase.
I guess I’m just not seeing a huge difference between Cubase 13 and Cubase 14. I would have to compare the various screens in each version side by side to really pick up on the differences.
Finally, how does the text anti-aliasing in Cubase 14 look between the Mac and Windows versions? In my experience, macOS text has always looked a bit softer and “fuzzier” than the text in Windows. I’m just wondering if this accounts for the fact that some people claim that the text in Cubase 14 is “illegible” whereas others (like me) don’t seem to have a problem?
More of a general commentary on Cubase. It’s been going downhill since V7. Used to be amazing. Specialized in doing fewer things, and doing them really really well. I remember when they were leading the charge with VST 2, sidechaining, audio based comping workflow was a dream! They had proper taxonomy and UX affordances to occlude the advanced features, and native effects that totally rocked (RIP: Tonic, Mod delay and old Chorus). There was a ton of power neatly tucked away into the product, and it had a great user experience up through V5-6.5. Then the company strategy evidently changed, and we started seeing a lot more built in synths and other features that I never understood to be an everyday use case, like VST transit. The last few years it appears to be along the lines of they are trying to be a one stop shop for everything in one DAW that would appeal to beginners while also catering to existing users and folks with advanced knowledge. The current user journey is kind of a conflicted mess, I can only imagine what it’s like for new people stepping into the ecosystem for the first time. They should really invest more in the Workspace features (I’m not even sure if it’s working correctly in current versions.) Adobe has been in a similarly complex stew for years now, so much feature bloat and product debt across their main apps like Photoshop and Illustrator. Toolbars and menu palettes for days. They are starting to get the Home/Welcome experience screen right for getting people started and matching their intents with feature discovery.
I switched away from Cubase after V12 because the aesthetic and usability issues outweighed the years of sessions and project files I’d invested. It’s not all lost as I can still chip away and complete old songs as I wish. Wanted to come back for 13 as my main DAW, but couldn’t stick around because of the eye bleed and they didn’t do much with the Sampler track stuff. Now I primarily work in other DAWs. I still use Cubase 8.5 on PC to pull stems from old projects with win32 plugins and 12 on Mac to finish stuff from the last 5-6 years.
Most of my issues with Cubase have been around for many years now, I keep hoping there will be some shift to a better platform but they keep bolting on more fluff to a relatively aging infrastructure.
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MOST IMPORTANT MISSING
The thing most important missing in the Cubase UI is a command line box.
Like in Rhino3d and in some Code Editors. Can’t find a specific command in the menu djungle?
-
Just start typing (something that relates to the command you’re looking for) and a list of options pops up.
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Pick the one you were looking for and off you go.
Reduces learning time and silly mouse clicks by ~90%
LOST IN A TOGGLE (!)
Then these toggle icons in the channel strip. Meaningless symbols require you to read a tine little hover-over-icon text to figure out what will happen if pressing the icon.
Fig 1. Most people would understand the left-most icon (On/Off), but the marked one? Are we currently a Pre-or Post-fader? It doesn’t even depict a fader, nor a signal:
Fig 2. Something more self explanatory could be in the style of the following icons:
And so on. More intuitive icons and easily accessible commands means faster learning (also potentially more customers) and less need for documentation and support.
//Rolf
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Fellow Rhino 3D user here! Totally agree command line search is nice but the implementation for Cubase would need to be more modern and intent matched. Discovery can be challenging for search driven experiences.
RE: Icons, agree current in product they are pretty cryptic at times. Seems like big opportunities for alignment, and consistency. Especially between Cubase on desktop and Cubasis on Mobile. There is a lot of thought and care taken into establishing an icon system, where different metaphors and patterns are devised to communicate different types of commanding, status, state and so on. Would be awesome to see a full pass on icongraphy and a common library established for future versions of Cubase.
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This is proposed here:
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Icons should be considered to be designed twice the width where it’s appropriate to do so. If i’m not mistaken, in all of the locations where the pre/post fader toggle button icon is located has a lot of “dead space” available as demonstrated in your images. For example a fader with a arrow for the symbol.
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Yes, there’s plenty of space.
Another aspect of a “Toggle” is that if it’s Off/On, then that is simple to read & understand. But when you have two different modes (not one being “Off”) then you will always wonder:
- Is the current state what is shown by the Icon? or
- Is the Icon showing Target state if I click on it?
This is why there were so called "radio buttons for two different (active) states.
So, the 
- icon is proper use of a toggle, while the Pre-/Post- fader icon is not (it should be two buttons so it is clear which mode is active and which one is the new target mode.
BTW, you design the icons much more tasteful and proportional than I can!
//Rolf
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Here is my interpretation of what a proper "Pre / Post Fader’ icon would look like. What do you think ?
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I think the drawbars are crystal clear. Two buttons is very good.
But the idea of having two drawbars (in each icon) perhaps causes more confusion than if having only one, since that’s what you see by default on the channel strip.
The arrow is fairly self explanatory although some well known “signal” symbol also would do. Or perhaps both (Drawbar | ← | Signal) since there’s plenty of room there.
This is the kind of stuff you need to draw and ask your old aunt if she “gets it” at the first glance… 
//Rolf
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I chose that design because it is the same fader icon as the MixConsole, so I was trying to keep it within the theme of Cubase and I couldn’t think of anything else much better 
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It’s a good one. Crystal clear. That’s what matters most.
Feel free to modify it and show us your idea.
Kudos to everyone for the excellent and very valid suggestions provided.
They are really appreciated for their quality and commitment. We hope that the team working on Cubase will take into consideration the valuable suggestions.
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Personally don’t like it. Two reasons mainly. It is twice the size and I find the arrow confusing. In both cases the arrow is pointing towards the faders suggesting the signal flow into the fader section in both cases…?
I agree that the pre/post button is poorly designed. I could never figure out what it is supposed to depict.
I think just replacing the current half circle with a fader symbol would be enough. But perhaps the button is too small to properly show a fader and that is exactly why Steinberg came up with the half circle?
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Fair enough, But just to explain, the arrow signifies “less than” or “greater than”, “Pre” and “Post”, just like how the little circle flips sides on the current icon when it is enabled or disabled.
Could you post these icons in the same size as they would appear in Cubase?
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Yes, unfortunately I have to agree with @fese Jan Felix.
Cubase 12 had a much clearer picture.
It’s actually the same with other software products, just like in MS Windows 10/11.
Less high-contrast menus, buttons, etc.
There also used to be more color, which highlighted boundaries and menu bars.
I liked that better than today’s gray and black everywhere with gray or black lettering - end of the day.
What motivates the designers to do this is beyond me.
Maybe some of them just need something new, otherwise it would be conservative and old-fashioned…
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