I know this has been discussed before, but I just want to make sure I’m not getting the wrong idea.
Supposing I now buy the upgrade from my current C14 Pro to C15 Pro but wait to install it until after C16 is released (I don’t actually need, at the moment, the new features introduced by C15), will I be entitled to take advantage of the so called “grace period” and legitimately upgrade to C16 without purchasing another upgrade (from 15 to 16)?
Officially? No. The grace period is for people who bought Cubase just before a new version was released.
Unofficially? Yes. But there’s no guarantee and you shouldn’t complain if something changes and you don’t get the upgrade.
You have to do more than just
There’s are bunches of threads about it, maybe search for Activation redemption
But I would ask, what do you save by doing this?
Compare:
In Case 1 you don’t get the benefit of using the software for a year, but you paid for it
In Case 2 you spend the money later, so you have it longer, and use what you buy at that point in time. Presumably you want to save the difference between the cost of updating from the last version and updating from the 2nd to last version, but would it not be easier to wait for the sales, since all this would happen over a time frame of a whole year?
Just to mention, installation has absolutely nothing to do with the situation. Everything is based on the moment you redeem the Download Access Code.
Thanks for your answer.
I made that comparison.
And I noticed that, if I’m not mistaken, in Case 1 I should be able to upgrade from C14 to C16 by paying only for one upgrade.
I know that I would still have a “price” to pay, being stuck on C14 for almost a year (until December 2026, approximately) and therefore missing out on the C15 features even though I’d paid for them, but then I could upgrade from C14 to C16 without paying.
And since the C15 features don’t look actually interesting to me (for the things I do with the program), doing without them wouldn’t be a problem.
Of course, I could simply wait until next year and pay for the upgrade from 14 to 16, but the cost would be almost double.
I absolutely don’t want to do anything unfair or dishonest.
If making a small sacrifice (temporarily giving up some new features) can save me money without breaking any rules, I’d be willing to do so.
And I’d like to clearly understand whether this is possible and legal.
So now I should just order the C14>C15 upgrade (obviously paying for it) and stop there, without doing anything else (no redeem, no download) except going on using C14, and then wait for C16 to be out before redeeming and downloading C15?
Short answer: If you want to follow this path - yes.
As @Reco29 said, yes. It’s all a gamble considering Steinberg could change it’s grace period policy at any time. I have a feeling you should be safe to take that course of action, though.
I’m aware of that.
Anyway it would be a limited, low-risk gamble.
Worst case scenario, if once C16 is released the so called “grace period” was unavailable, I could always activate and use C15, and the only “damage” I’d suffer would come from not having exploited for a few months the new C15 features despite having already paid for them.
I want to thank everybody (in this thread) for the useful information and help.
I’m gambling on a summer 40-50% sale. Then I’ll gamble again and wait until December to redeem the Download Code.
In my , personal, case, Cubase 15 has nothing I would use, so the wait is inconsequential.
As for the grace period, Steinberg may decide to dump it. Anything can happen twixt now and the end of the year. Anyone for “Apple buys Steinberg”?