I am trying Cubase Pro 15 before I go from Cubase Pro 14. One of the features that could be in favour of v.15 is how it does the stems. I use several AI to learn about their possibilities and I already get the old RX 11. RX 11 extracts 4 stems (since years) and now AI like Moises, extracts: Main voice, backing vocals, bass, ryth guitar, solo guitar, keyboards, from the drums: kick, snare, hit-hat, toms, overheads, other percussions, others, and, on top, a stem with the “smart metronome” that helps to quantize the song if needed. Also detects the bpms of the song and the key and mode…
So, taking into account that Cubase Pro 15 should be the state of the art for this matter this situation means, at least for me, a clear and bitter disappointment.
What do you think? Am I the only one to think like that?
I upgraded to SpectraLayers Pro a few years ago, so I no longer see the included version in Cubase.
Cubase 15 now includes SL12, which is the same version number as Pro, but likely limited to basic.
With SpectraLayers Pro, you can do a basic split (Unmix song) to:
Vocals
Drums
Bass
Guitar
Piano
Sax & Brass
Other
You can then split the drums (Unmix drums) into:
Kick
Snare
Hi-Hat
Toms
Claps
Crash
Ride
And the vocal track can be split (Unmix Chorus) to:
Lead vocals
Backing vocals
That’s 16 tracks.
You can also unmix Mid/Side, for example, so you can separate two or even three individually panned instruments.
Then go use Moises? It’s always better to use the right tool for the right task.
I would very much prefer if Steinberg improved workflow and UX instead of stuffing in more and more features like stem separation, or Omnivocal or yet another compressor plugin. Those can all be easily bought separately, if needed.
Apart from that, as OpenMind mentioned, Steinberg also sells SpectralLayers with its advanced stem separation, so it makes no sense from a business perspective to add all that to Cubase.
I have never used SpectraLayers as it seems strange to me. The direct stems are useful for some cases such as to prepare a better mix of a live record, to improve old mixs etc. I will check SL for sure but, it has to be easy to use and fast to compete with Moises (as example) to be worth the effort.
IMO, Cubase is going to “electronic music” with features that I will never use instead of these kind of features that can simplify the life almost in a click of the mouse.
As you say, we can use specific tools for these tasks but, in this case, Cubase 15 loses a part of its levers to provoke the upgrade. This was/is the bone of my thread.
Why not demo SL12? There´s plenty of time to test the unmixing feature, if it suits you and it´s the only thing you need. You can even use it inside Cubase with ARA
Very likely you are right and I should give a try to SL12 but, let me say that is a real pitty that they launch Cubase 15 and just includes that kind of limited feature that belong to years ago.