The thing that annoys me about Steinberg and Cubase is all the bloat soft synths and plugins, which I NEVER use. I use 3rd party soft synths like Omnisphere and plugins from Waves, Softube, DMG Audio, UAD-2 and so on… Cubase plugins and synths doesn´t stand a chance against those. They´re hardly even mediocre in my opinion.
So if I want to keep updated with Cubase versions (and I do), I always have to spend money for these plugs that they keep adding. It´s like they are forcing these plugs down my throat! Why can´t Steinberg just sell them as add-ons for those that actually want to buy them?
I would love a stripped down version of Cubase, without any bloat plugins. I would be willing to pay even more for it. In fact I would pay double, just to prove my point!
while I agree that all those Plugins that comes with Cubase are sometimes not that stellar, the userbase is diveded into “Cubase’s plugins SUCK! We need more and better plugins like SoftWare X!” / “Cubase’s plugins SUCK! Get rid of all this useless crap and focus on the platform!”. And Steinberg is stuck in the middle
Simply turn them off in the plugin list if you don’t want to see them. I use many of the Cubase plugins in addition to my third party stuff. Talk of bloat I find the Cubase VST 3 plugs much lighter on my system then my heavy third party plugs. Waves isn’t even native 64 bit along with other major third party plugins.
I kind of understand the OP. I would like Steinberg focus on basic DAW functionality and not to spend their time on loop-this-loop-that-filter-whatever-cool-synth gadgets. All of these can be bought as add-ons from third party. But then … unfortunately I belong in minority.
As Ulf said:
I’m in the group #2 … except that I don’t think Cubase plugins suck. Most of them are just fine, but I don’t need them. Only Cubase plugins/instruments I’ve used in last 5 years are: HalionOne, EQs, DaTube, Magneto and Rotary. And for even these I have other options I use most of the time. (Quick correction: DaTube and Rotary are my #1 options for the job they do … but that’s only because SB dropped DirectX support and it’s too much work/impossible to use AIPL WarmTone/SpinCycle)
Well, the bundled FXs do a great job for bread and butter but they do not do what they are not designed to do, like spectacular multivoice filtered delays with 10 000 presets. Maybe “not stellar” was harsh and unfair. I use them from time to time, too, so there! The only one I have a problem with is Cloner that has and has had some latency issues since forever. Steinberg knows about this and has made comments about it, too.
But the rest of them are just fine and after some fiddling they do what they are told to!
I do love my C6, but have to admit that I rarely use the included plug-ins and have most disabled. Padshop, though, will definitely NOT be disabled and hopefully C7 will see continued improvements in the included plug-ins.
I have a mixed opinion about this. More precisely, I am glad that Cubase comes with its FX tools ; I use them often and don’t want to spend hundred more bucks for equivalents. I think they do what they are designed for, even if they are not perfect : I wouldn’t mind more presets for bass in the Ampsim, as an example…
OTOH, I don’t use much the synths. If I compare them to some like Sylenth1 or Alchemy, well… let’s say something is lacking, but as they come free, I do not complain. As already said, they can be deactivated in the plug-in informations window, anyway. A special note for Halion Sonic SE, though : it’s a clear improvement over Halion One, which was nearly unusable.
The debate is where Steiny spend its development resources : I clearly would like more time to be spend on the core of Cubase (windows and presets management, preferences instability…) and avoid waste of time for changes that have never been asked : the horrible new shaded events display is typical of this, along with the oversized info bar or the 6.0 lanes and comping behavior, among others.
Let´s say I want to skip the 6.5 useless soft synths and other “features”, stay in 6.0.6 and upgrade when C7 is out.
Will the upgrade price to C7 be the same for me as the 6.5 users, or do I have to pay 50€ more than them??? Which would be ridiculous, since I never got the “50€ advantages” like the 6.5 owners.
If this is so, I might just as well update to 6.5 now, although I have no use whatsoever for the new features. Only bug fixes and performance updates interests me. If this is so, it´s literally Steinberg force feeding these useless soft synths other useless features like the chinese language (these sort of things should be FREE!!!) down our throats.
One issue I’ve noticed with the included plug-ins…at some point in the future Steinberg will randomly drop support from them in Cubase XX. Good luck opening your legacy project. At least if I’m using Waves, I can be relatively certain that Rennaissance Compressor will still be around in 2015.
Their market share would drop if they stripped it all out… gotta keep up with the other competitors right? That seems to be the business model of all DAW manufacturers… Reaper is a bit of an exception, but then, look at the price.
Personally, I don’t find the supplied plugs useless, they have their time and place.
I feel the same way, I use the included Compressor for sidechaining duties and the transient ‘thingy’ quite often, amongst some of the other plugs at various times.
Well they could keep the bloated version and do a stripped down version for people who don´t need all that stuff. I don´t understand why they have the need to force those soft synths down our throats?
Reaper is great, but Cubase is the one I know best so… But this 6.5 update has definitely got me thinking about switching, maybe Reaper or PT.
Why can´t Steinberg just sell them as add-ons for those that actually want to buy them?
