Steinberg, when are we going to have a free version of Cubase? The reason i’m asking is that i’ve been a Cubase user for years and value this software a lot. I also know that there’s a lot of beginners who would like to have a dedicated DAW to get into the world of audio recording. Im aware that the full version of cubase can be trialed out for 30 days but this would not be as helpful and useful to any beginers out there if they would have a free version of cubase that they could be using/learning for more than 30 days. The competition, Avid for example, already has their free version of protools (Intro) up and running. So why can’t Steinberg do the same?
Who will pay for the development and maintenance of this free product?
1 Like
Well, there already is a free version. The AI and LE versions that come with some hardware.
It’s just not freely available for everyone.
1 Like
If you pay money for something, it is by definition not free. I.e. bundled software is not free software.
1 Like
Yeah why not?
Cubase LE would make an excellent free DAW, much better than Pro Tools Intro or Studio One Prime.
Yep, why restrict LE to an being an audio interface addition? The product is there, they could make it available to everyone.
Sure, a completely free LE version might mean more support requests, but seeing that Steinberg support is pretty much non existent anyway, wouldn’t make much difference.
But other companies also offer their lite versions as bundled software (Ableton, Bitwig), so there must be some reason behind it that we might not know…
2 Likes
A post was split to a new topic: UR22 didn’t come with Cubase AI code
Just like the competitors out there, i believe it would be Steinberg’s responsibility to maintain and provide support for this, unless there is a better answer to your question?
@mlib is right!. It’s not free if you have to buy the hardware. One should not be restricted to Steinberg hardware only if you are only trying their software.
Agreed!
Agreed. It’s just a marketing tactic to “encourage” users to buy their hardware and at the same time try Cubase, which i believe does not give consumers a choice here.
Yeah remember when Digidesign released ProTools Free??
It was cracked pretty quickly and someone figured out how to enable the rest of the tracks and give you Pro Tools LE without having to buy it…
even protools , ableton , studio one have free limited version, at least beginners or students can learn how to control them , but cubase just gives up on beginners.
Indeed Steinberg offers a free DAW that pretty much gets you into the basics of the world of Cubase. Enjoy:
TANSTAAFL.
Or DAW.
Free versions are a good way to let people learn the software and that creates a market for the paid versions. I just downloaded the free version of Dorico from the Steinberg site. There’s economic sense in making free software available - just ask Bill Gates!
To be clear, I’m not comparing Steinberg behavior to the (considered by many criminal) behavior of Microsoft around the Windows 3.0 release.
No one has mentioned the example of Steinberg’s own Dorico SE which is free, and very capable.
Hi, @RNetto !
Have you used that free version of Dorico enough to know whether its got a lot of features the upgraded Score editor in Cubase 14 doesn’t have?
Thanks!