Im kinda lost. Why are people paying money to upgrade to 8.5 when 8 is still broken and from what i have been reading in this thread the new 8.5 still has bugs from v8.
Steinberg need to fix there releases before they release new versions and then charge money for the fixes that should of been in previous versions.
not happy Steinberg 
Great update so far, but then again I just touched the surface.
intitially I though it was fixedâŚbut now I am monumentally hacked off. What the heck are the Steinberg Coders playing at? No it is not fixed!!
I loaded large template, loading up multiple tracks at same time and made sure all the VST expressions were there.
Disabled all those tracks at the same time, saved template.
Assigned expression maps to some new tracks: Saved template.
Disabled those tracks, saved template.
Closed and reopened Cubase.
The last tracks with the expression maps assigned re-enabled fine with their expression maps.
And the kick in the teeth:
The previous tracks on re-enablingâŚno expression, gone, poof, nada, nothing, zilch!
Cubase 8.5 - what is your impression ?
honestly, not impressed.
Is there still a 6 insert limit per track?This is the single most annoying feature for me.Having to send tracks to another group and reroute it to the mix buss every time I need more than 6 inserts(which is a lot).Gets irritating pretty quick,especially in a complex mix. Doesnât look likely though 
Pretty happy with 8 as its been solid enough for me since I got it so wont upgrade til 9 or beyond.
I like it though something that never happened to me before happened within 5 minutes of using the new MediaBay.
I was dragging a few MIDI files and audio loops and out of nowhere without an error message Cubase crashed by closing completely.
Well update went fine, Cubase stable through 4 hours of use, but then I did get a bit distracted with Retrolouge and did little else but play with it. (killer synth Steinberg)
One problem though when I first loaded Cubase, Media Bay wound not complete any scan, I presumed this may be a permissions problem so I simply deleted my migrated database and let Cubase recreate it inside V8.5 this resolved my problem, It also might help you cmafia.
Yes, but not only that. Also this simple thing, which has been an annoying issue (under Windows) since the first C8 release:
Workspaces on 2 monitors is still not recalled on Mac.
So projekt on monitor 1 and mixer on monitor 2 loads as projekt AND mixer on the same monitor, one behind the other. 
And who needs new chord pads symbols??? 
Recall workspaces on dual monitors works for me on mac
Is there mutitrack freewarp and triplet grid in audio editor?
I hear you⌠
Regards 
DAMN RIGHT!!!
no triplet grid
Does Retrologue 2 replace/remove Retrologue v1 ?
+1. Please address!!
Yes
I upgraded now because it counts towards an eventual C9 anyway and I donât want to get left behind. I didnât have very high expectations judging by the mixed response of other people. My first impressions:
Pros:
Display seems clearer and âbouncierâ it seems to build more quickly.
Side tabs work fine for me, more screen estate accessible easily when needed
Import Tracks from Project, poorly laid out GUI, but HUGELY useful to me. This is where this upgrade pays for itself! One of those almost hidden gems like Disable Instrument Track. Should have been a headliner IMO.
Editor buttons in mixer and elsewhere is much better, restores poor workflow. Ok itâs a fix, not a feature, nevertheless it is welcome.
Improvements to key editor, very useful to me
Routing tracks at creation, simple but again saves time
Upgrade to Retrologue 2. Good synth, it replaces v1,
Ruler change. Takes some mental / finger adjustment, but makes zooming easier.
Punch in/out - much improved system.
Profile Manager - looks good, not tested fully yet.
Cons:
Installs alongside C8 - with dwindling SSD space thatâs a pain. An option to replace 8 would have been useful.
No presets copied over, again could have been an option. I copied the entire Roaming>Steinberg >Cubase 8 across to 8.5. No errors resulted. I still then had to load my Preferences, Key shortcuts and Plug-in VST paths - surely this could have been an option? I missed my long list of recently opened projects too.
Cloud sharing? Not for me.
Media Bay tab should include all instruments - then it would have been a complete feature.
In conclusion:
Iâve not had any crashes. CPU seems as good or better than C8. I expected to be underwhelmed, but actually, I like what I have gained for the money. Itâs graphically cleaner with quite a lot of workflow improvements. Import Track From Project is brilliant.
Im finding bugs upon bugs. After about 4 minutes of using Cubase 8.5 I found 3 bugs, 2 new and 1 that was there since I bought version 6. (It couldâve been there even before that)⌠(Dropbox - Error)
Then when trying to delete a folder track I made it unexpectedly quit. WHY IS THE BEST DAW IN THE WORLD SO BUGGY!
Im running Cubase clean with no crack plugins and Im still having all this buggy behavior. I will admit fewer crashes tho.
But old patches work the same as the basic architecture is the same. i.e. the 3rd oscillator with an old patch, the extra oscillator is simply not switched on.
Retrologue 2 also has replaced 1 in Cubase 8.0.30 here, but no issue as it opens R1 patches OK.