Did anyone try Cubase 11 with MacOs High Sierra

Hello fellow Cubasians,

Cubase 11 doesn’t officially support MacOs 13 (High Sierra). But does it work with High Sierra? Did anyone try? What are the issues, if any?

Please share your experience. I have a very good iMac that doesn’t go further than High Sierra.

1 Like

Hi there,
I’m literally trying Cubase 11 Pro with a fresh High Sierra install now.
As soon as I have set everything back up I will let you know how it goes. :wink:

1 Like

Haven’t used it a lot yet but from what I have, it works really well. Not a single crash and feels very smooth. At least for me

1 Like

C11 will run (of sorts) under HighSierra (10.13)…but you’re going to experience graphical issues…most notably how plug-in GUIs (both 3rd party and Steinberg’s) are displayed. This usually manifests itself with completely un-editable solid black or white GUI displays or GUI menu scrolling that doesn’t function properly as you attempt to scroll. In some cases, you may be able to work around the problem by using the plug-in’s Generic display option…or use “tear-off” menus in some of the Steinberg titles, if the feature is present. Worst case scenario is that merely launching some plug-ins will cause Cubase to crash. It aint pretty.

All of this is occurring because your iMac doesn’t have a Metal-compliant GPU. That’s why Apple won’t let your iMac download Mojave…and why Cubase 11 won’t run on High Sierra properly: C11’s graphic engine requires a Metal-compliant GPU to run as designed. Unfortunately, older iMacs and MacBooks unequipped with Metal-compliant GPUs are impossible (or near impossible) or non-cost-effective to upgrade.
(Many older MacPro towers (2010 and later) can be retro-fitted with Metal-compliant GPU’s, and can run 10.14 or 10.15 and C11…so if you’re reading this and fall into this category, there are solutions, as long as you throw money at it).
So…you can take your chances attempting to run C11 on your iMac and High Sierra…but the end result will be by no means, optimal and pretty much not may not be worth the effort. It’ll be up to you to determine that or not. My advice? Stick with C10.5 until you can (or if) you get yourself a more recent Metal-compliant Mac, if you wish to continue going forward on the OSX platform and want a relatively trouble-free experience.

2 Likes

Wow Weasel, thank you very much for your elaborate answer. I’ll stick tot Cubase 10. And will save money for a newer iMac. :slight_smile:

Was wondering about this. I took advantage of the “Stay at home” offer and ran 10.5 on a High Sierra without any issues. Now that I want to buy a license, Steinberg doesn’t sell one for 10.5…
I’m left with the option of buying from a private seller, and probably pay more for a 10.5 license than I would pay for an 11 license in a couple of weeks (special discounts are to be expected, right?).
Any advice? Does anyone know of a good place to buy 10.5 from?

1 Like

Any new licence you activate today will be for Cubase 11, as Steinberg give you the latest version at the date of activation. This, however, is not a problem! Buy Cubase 11 today, and the licence will allow you to use an older version of Cubase. You can run 10.5 on your current Mac, then move to Cubase 11 without further payment when you have suitable hardware.

2 Likes

I can verify that Cubase 11 works on High Sierra with a Mac Pro 5,1 - only up to 11.0.20 and with a metal compatible card installed (RX580 in my case (4GB version)). It is more responsive than 9.5 and 10 on the same system. The meters are much faster, and the whole software seems to respond better. I had actually gone back to 9.5 instead of using 10 because of sluggish meters and a general awkwardness in the version however I missed some of the newer features that I’d paid for with 10. Haven’t found any downside yet other than Steinberg’s unwillingness to help answer a few simple questions on it. A basic one for me was: will it work on High Sierra IF you have a metal card installed? No one would answer that and I couldn’t find a definite answer online. Of course I could update my OS to Mojave with a metal card but in this day and age, I have to look out for multiple pieces of software working not just Cubase. In particular Pro Tools and Live along with many others. The upgrade to Mojave is free, but all of the other software that may need upgraded as a result is not.

I did try 11.0.40 first (latest release with the download manager) and it was a disaster. No idea why 11.0.20 is great, but 11.0.30 and up is a no go. Did Steinberg intentionally adjust the software to not work on High Sierra anymore? Unless Steinberg respond with some plausible answer I guess we’ll never know. And this, is how conspiracy theories start - without proper facts told by the people who could actually tell them.

Anyway, if you want to know the details of my install using the download manager and getting to 11.0.20 then send me a note privately. I had previous installs of Cubase (9.5 and 10) and most, if not all prefs got moved over perfectly during the install of 11. I had a couple of things to adjust but not many. It is odd that 10.5 and 11 is allowed to be installed on High Sierra if it’s not recommended. Most software would just shut down the install if the OS version is not what’s recommended to be used. That’s another question only Steinberg can answer.

As for future upgrades (I’m eligible for 12 when it comes out), I think I’ll try a new SSD drive with a fresh install of Mojave and see how that goes before changing anything here. Maybe by the summer if I get some time to do it. Can’t imagine 12 will work at all on this machine going by version 11.0.40’s issues.

Good luck to all who venture to try - being a musician is a tough life these days and even tougher with the pandemic so any break to save a few pennies here and there is well worth it IMO.

1 Like

I have Cubase Pro 11.0.30.419 running on a late 2011 MacBook Pro, running High Sierra 10.13.6 - graphic card is NOT metal compatible.

Tried later version of C11 but it would not load. I have the latest version on my MacPro 5.1 running Mojave. On both systems this is the smoothest cleanest version of Cubase for a long time - I’d stopped at 8.5 and Studio One has been my main tracking and editing DAW for years. But C11 (and 12 if they don’t break it!) may tempt me to start a project in Cubase again. I mix exclusively in Mixbus 32C so I’m unlikely to stress test Cubase with plugins etc., but there are several midi features and other more “pro” aspects of Cubase that S1 still does not have.

1 Like

High Sierra here on a 2010 MacPro . Non-Metal Graphics Card

Cubase will run up to 11.0.30
11.0.40 will NOT run.

2 Likes

That’s exactly my experience. No go on 11.0.40.
I wonder if the newer 11.0.41 is compatible. Or if I buy a metal compatible graphics card and update to Mohave??

1 Like

I run Cubase 11.0.41 on a 5,1 2010 MacPro running OSX 10.14.6, equipped with an AMD Radeon 7950 Metal-compliant GPU and a 2TB SSD. It works extremely well.

But this is as much as this machine can be pushed, as far anything beyond Cubase 11 or OSX 10.14 or 15 is concerned. If you plan to move onto Cubase 12 and above, you’re going to need a machine that can run Big Sur or Monterey.

1 Like

Thanx again for sharing your experiences. Since I kept running on update problems and issues with High Sierra, I’ve got myself a new iMac 24" M1. And I’m glad to say that all software and hardware work like a charm now.

1 Like