C9 seems stable as a rock on Mac OS Sierra. Cubase 8.5 crashed all over the place for me on Sierra, both when using a 2015 MacBook Pro and a 2011 Mac mini Server.
I have played all evening with C9 and even trying to get it to crash but nothing. The over all feel is also more solid and polished, that can be placebo though
One early warning though. VSTi realtime performance seems worse than before. I will have to spend some more time with C9 before I can say this for sure but at least EZDrummer2 pushed the CPU meter up way more than ever before. If this is the case I hope they can optimise and iron that one out in an upcoming (free) update very soon.
I don’t think I’d call the UI changes “improvements” at all. The Lower Zone I can only imagine being useful for people working with very large single monitors - it’s pretty useless for laptop and multi-monitor users. At least I figured out* how to disable it. Its the latest in a long Steinberg list of overblown features that don’t help core workflow.
The only genuine improvement UI-wise I’ve found is the rack, which can now be much reduced and still be useful.
The Sampler is also very poorly executed. You drag a small audio clip to the sampler, only to discover it imports the entire parent file. It puts it on a track at the bottom of the project window, routed to the main outputs, as opposed to below the source, routed to the same destination as the source. The quality of the time stretching is circa 1998. And you can only use it in the awful Lower Zone.
Given the dearth of workflow improvements - the thing we’ve all been clamouring for all year - and the traditional noise about nothing of substance at all, this is probably the worst release - .0 or .5 - I can remember in my time with Cubase. After all last year’s hoopla with the poll etc, it’s a slap in the face really.
An alternative (perhaps better) is Agent from NYRV. Both ddmf and Agent/NYRV can only hold pluggs while Patchwork can do the same thing with VST/AU instruments.
This thread is bumming me out. If the CPU and Mac GUI problems haven’t been addressed, it’s back to PT I go after about four months migrating to Cubase.
I work on a 55" screen, so the new UI is actually a nice improvement for me as it tidies up the layout a lot, but worth £80? Nope.
As for the sampler…If I had the ability to copy in an entire audio file, and then put markers on it (like variaudio already does), to have each individual slice playable across the keyboard (with the ability to define key ranges easily), that might be very useful to me, but one note? I can’t imagine that ever being useful at all.
If the sampler was as I have just described, it would have been an amazing and really powerful remixing style sampler. The tech is already present in Cubase with variaudio. That would have been an excellent addition and a major selling point for me for the upgrade.
80 Quid for an update to professional software is virtually free, as a pro you deduct vat so your back to 64, then allowance against tax gets you to 50
If you cant make that in an hour or two your in the wrong game!!!
Hippo
£80 is fine if the upgrade is significant. This is not a significant upgrade at all. Look at the difference between 6.5 and 7, or 7 and 8. Those had significant changes, not just minor UI changes (fixes, really).
If you enjoy throwing money to the wind, go for it.
It really is the devil and the deep blue sea at the moment. I feel tied to both - PT for post audio, Cubase because it’s the only DAW that offers CC control over eucon. If neither of those apply, there appear to be better solutions out there - most of the happiest campers right now are neither PT nor Cubase. Both share rock bottom dialogue between users and developers.
It’s quite staggering how brazenly poor this update is. They’re not even trying any more.
Things I hate… The bottom bar. Everything down here can be else where. Mainly the Top bar. Is there away to turn this off? Especially now the editor windows are locked (or did i miss something).
Also the project info audio in/out bar near the top. Once I’ve removed the info I don’t need to see on it, it’s empty space, lol! Can this be turned off? Non of the info is required as a visual constant. It’s wasted valuable space. Both bars added together make a lot.
Edit: All the bars have on/off controls. It’s now to the right of the screen instead of the left. Finding this earlier made my day.
The text resize on Inserts and that lil dot to bypass is a lil poop. Could of easily made the lil dot/button smaller. More thought is needed graphically on a lot of the resizing.
You guys are forgetting the new Video engine, which will be released around March, next year. That must have taken most of the development time, I’m sure.
I feel like I’m in the minority here, but I really love what they added to Cubase 9. A properly integrated sampler is something I’ve dreamed of for years and years, it will make EDM work so much better, any genre really.
I also really love the new updates to the UI, transport bar was really a sticking point for me so I love that they integrated it fully into the main window. I also like their lower zone, reminds me of Logic Pro X
The plugin Sentinel has blacklisted two of my plugins, one of which I absolutely adore (LX480) but I’ve contacted the devs so hopefully that should be sorted soon.
What don’t I like? The new icon has an ugly background which looks pretty awful in my dock now to be honest, not sure why they changed that.
I would also love to see the ability to stack instruments on a single track and do modular effects routing within one channel. But that’s just a nice to have, not a necessity.
Cubase is really better than ever with 9 and I can’t wait to start producing new music with it!
The GUI lag on Mac hasn’t been fixed, and it looks like the CPU efficiency thing might be about the same (unless I’m wrong about that!). Looks like I’ll be checking out other solutions. So sad for me since I came from Pro Tools and now either have to accept these amateur problems (not possible anymore for my fast-paced work needs, and my genuine need for better CPU efficiency to be on par with what I was used to in Pro Tools and Reaper on the immense sessions I do), or move back to PT or Reaper or another DAW. Damn. This is such a major disappointment, I gotta say.
I’m out.
I hope they get their stuff together…maybe I’ll come back some day if they solve these basic problems.
Cheers everyone, and best of luck! Maybe I’ll see you all again some day if these things improve.
Why didn’t they just put everything in the lower zone instead of having two bars one top one bottom very poor design. Just put everything in the lower zones like quantize values,color etc…makes more sense to me like this
If this is the case I hope they can optimise and iron that one out in an upcoming (free) update very soon.
