Hi all. I’ve been a Cubase for many years as a full-time composer. C15 has been a frustrating experience in some ways (won’t get into it here), and seeing the things they’ve fixed in N15 as well as features that I would benefit by in significant ways, I really want to cross-grade when it comes.
My question is whether Nuendo is the same performance-wise with gigantic scoring sessions as Cubase is, considering the added post features in Nuendo (many of which I won’t use). Might be a silly question but I want to be assured that I won’t sacrifice anything speed/processing/performance-wise if I cross-grade.
When it comes to music, Cubase is more than enough and fully featured. Nuendo is for post-production (film, video, games, and—as I’ve been doing in recent years—immersive audiobooks). But when it comes to music, even in the broadest sense, Cubase has everything you need. Don’t waste your money.
You may well have answered your own question. There will be no difference in performance and I am guessing the new features arriving in Nuendo 15 like the new Folder/Group tracks might also be what is swaying you? Whatever your frustations in C15 are, you might find that N15 does not necessarily address all these. However, there’s the 60 day trial to give things a go.
In many ways yes, but the advanced automation, folder/group thing, and more would be very useful to me. I come from a post mixing background long ago and go deep with that stuff.
Yes, that’s swaying me, as well as the deeper automation features, deeper Offline Audio Processing, and some other things that are really appealing for someone like me who likes to go deep with that kind of stuff. From what I’ve seen in the video, it somehow looks more “pro” to me, though I could be imagining it.
Performance should be the same since it’s the same engine. As per other advice here I’d just wait to demo N15 if I was in your shoes. Personally I find Cubase too limited with regards to automation and control room, but I also think it took a huge step backwards with regards to usability from v13 onwards but YMMV.
This might be a bit off-topic, but I wanted to share this.
I just cross-graded from Cubase Pro 14 to Nuendo 14 (there’s a grace period tomorrow where it will be upgraded to 15 for free).
Actually, I was happy with the features of C14, but N14’s screen looked a little sleeker. It might have been my imagination, but I felt that way and followed my gut feeling to cross-grade to N14, and I was surprised. Yes, the default look was definitely chic and made a good impression.
The font is also a little thinner, I think. I didn’t like the bulky, thick track name display in Cubase. The thinner font makes it easier for me to read the information.
You might be able to match the look of Cubase and Nuendo through customization. But I think having a default look that suits your preferences is important from a motivational standpoint. That’s just my opinion, though.
And I’m really excited about being able to create routing using track folders starting tomorrow. I already have templates with hundreds of tracks, you see.
Ultimately, what I’m trying to say is that I followed my intuition that Nuendo might be the better option, and although I paid a fair price for it, I’m extremely satisfied. Everyone has different values, but making investments that you feel good about is a valuable thing in life. (Sorry, this isn’t technical advice.)
Wait for the demo before you upgrade. Then you can check out performance, automation and the other new things. Seriously, just hold your horses for a couple of days (or maybe a couple of weeks, I don’t know if the demo will be ready on day one).
That depends on what kind of composing one does! I am a composer for film and theatre, and I could not live without Nuendo’s Cue Sheet Export, Loudness track (now Analyzer track), Video Cut Detection, and Bass Manager. (Granted I also do some sound design for theatre, so Soundly support, Randomizer, Adaptive Background Attenuation, Voice Designer etc. is also nice to have.)
If I did not need any of this then yes, Cubase Pro would suffice. You would have to ask yourself if you have need for these film and post-related features, @Electriks. If you work with music for film and TV then I would say that Nuendo has some clear advantages, if you don’t mind the extra cost. As far as I can tell, there are no notable differences in performance.
Yeah, well, that’s film scoring, so it’s for Nuendo—makes sense. But I agree with you on the rest, especially once you get used to it. There’s a list of really useful features, and lots of little (and big) things. For example, I have the 60-day demo of C15 because I wanted to explore the new Expression Maps system. So I set up a music project (pure, but in Atmos) in Cubase. When it came time to adjust the VST Panners, I realized they weren’t following my track selection, like Nuendo does (the little padlock). So you have to double-click on each track’s pan to open its VST Panner. That really breaks up your workflow…
That said, I don’t think musicians or composers should rush into using Nuendo, at least not before they’ve fully explored Cubase’s features. Many composers stick with Cubase and do excellent work. You also have to consider the cost of the software and the updates.
Absolutely agree, and probably because of Steinberg sometimes advertising “stepping up” to Nuendo from Cubase, there’s maybe been a tendency of that happening lately.
