I discovered this yesterday, this unusual method around Aero may be of interest, if you can switch from an Aero to the classic/ hi contrast desktop types with Cubase open.
After launching Cubase (Artist) 9/8.5, I found that I could switch from the Aero type to a classic or hi contrast (C/HC), non-Aero desktop look, and most importantly, I uncovered the menu hidden in the lower area of the title bar of the main Cubase window. Basically, things worked for me at a very basic level - my current ability. I used empty default projects for initial tests, as seen in the screen shots I attached, most were done yesterday in 8.5, also one today of CA9.
Here is a quick start, note the caveats:
- Start up Cubase (Artist), 9.0, 8.5. You are starting it of course with Win 7 desktop in Aero type, but you may wish to have the Personalize window already open for an even quicker switch to a C/HC type.
- Still in Aero, use the mouse to select something in either the Project window menus, like Configuration, or from the Cubase main menu bar across the top. I found that I needed to exercise this functionality, it seemed necessary in order to give mouse access to the main window menus, after doing the switch to C/HC mode. So, recap, once you have made a simple selection of just one menu, you have done enough.
- Minimize CA9 or not, and change over to a C/HC desktop. On this AMD PC, the change from Aero to classic seems to happen in two steps over a few seconds, and it takes longer on the i7 - Slower switching between modes with a much faster i7 running an older nVIDIA video card with only 1 MB, so mode switching time didn’t seem to have much to do with the processor. CA did not crash for me if I had worked with the menu previous to switching to C/HC.
- Now, look at Cubase, its still there, but with a very lean title bar. The menu titles of the main Cubase menu have gone into/behind the title bar of the main Cubase window and are hidden.
- Click on the main title bar name - “Cubase Artist”, especially the lower portion of the font, or touch along the menu bar in the middle to lower portion of the bar, or on the lower border, with the mouse; you should see the menu, hidden, suddenly pop out! The location of tip of the mouse is important. Once you have the menu showing, slide along to the right and see that these minimalist menus do not extend out to midway across the screen, but are more compact and all located much closer together and to the left edge.
- Or try the keyboard, stuff still works like normal, you just can’t see it! - like ctrl-n for new file, ctrl-s save, etc., still working.
- Using Cubase Artist 9.0.1, build 113, I noticed sticking/magnetic behavior in the main Project window - once you switch to C/HC mode and mouse the Project window around a little - it jumps and sticks to the top menu bar; horizontal movement is possible, but no longer vertically. If it is moved off the primary to a second monitor, it continues to stick at the top. Sliding horizontally is fine. So a different behavior than in Aero mode. There may be other things also that I haven’t or don’t know now to check. No issues noted with the lower transport toolbar.
Caveats:
- I am a very new Cubase user, started with Cubase 8.5/9 less than two weeks ago. So, this disclosure might be premature.
- I haven’t tried this in CPro 9, so possibly different behavior. All the windows, menus and selections that I viewed appeared to be accessible and functional. I made a single track in CA9, a 5 bar MIDI recording w/ Halion Sonic SE and output to a 44/16 wave file as a quick lightweight test, using the mouse to access the hidden menus. The audio driver was the Low Latency ASIO. Everything seemed to work for me at this minimal level, but please try for yourself.
- Tweaks to the size of the “Active Title Bar” and “Active Window Border” for the C/HC mode may be helpful, but I did not find them necessary. Those parameters are found in the Window Color and Appearance window, which pops up when selecting the “Window Color”, that is located under the theme selection area, in the main Personalize window.
- In Cubase Artist 8.5, the MIDI track window can be moved x and y, no different than its behavior in the Aero mode. As I mentioned above, in CA9, its movement seems to be in the x direction only.
- I tried this technique on two different Win 7 Pro/SP1 installs, both older models with older nVIDIA video cards and drivers - i7 Sandy Bridge ASUS desktop and AMD Phenom II-940 ASUS desktop, with an LG FHD 1920x1080 video display.
Tom
