In the context of professional/engineering/commercial Digital Audio Workstations,
Overall, I would say yes.
Looking at the direction of Logic, and “Fender Studio”.
Pro-Tools has been meh for over a decade, although survived as commercial standard.
Reaper is probably the only competition, and it seems they are more copying Cubase features than the other way around.
What are some features in these DAWs you feel Cubase is still missing that would help consolidate it’s position of king of the hill? (please, no Ableton/Bitwig Clip launcher talk - the discussion is about commercial DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), not music making devices)
From my own personal info polling I’d say the top 4 are currently:
Ableton Live, Pro Tools, FL Studio, and Logic Pro.
I’d rank Cubase as #5. Hard to say where Reaper is, though.
Ableton and FL Studio, I wouldn’t classify as commercial DAWs - they are music production software and come nowhere near close to being applicable to professional general multi-purpose commercial DAWs.
You’d have to give me some logic (pun not intended) to back up the claim that Cubase is in #5.
Just look at the comments on the latest Logic release:
I keep coming back to Cubase because I’m just so much faster with it as a result of decades of muscle memory.
I wouldn’t say it is “King of the Hill” though. All DAW’s tend to leapfrog one another with each new iteration. Features that are exclusive to one now, will soon be adopted by all.
Pick your poison. I would not recommend Cubase for new users on Mac, hard to beat Logic on Mac, unless you specifically look for a different workflow like Ableton.
For Windows, I don’t know. I like Studio One, but don’t think it has any particular advantage over Cubase. Reaper has its following, but I couldn’t wrap my head around last time I tried it (10+ years ago).
I think Cubase remains a solid choice, although I absolutely hate the annual paid updates, which feel like a covert subscription scheme to me.
We do know it’s possible for DAWs to die off though.
Pro-Tools is just always going to be an industry standard, but they are very constricted by American corporate structure (same with Logic, and now likely Fender Studio), and Pro-Tools is also sort of constricted by being an industry standard.
I find most people who to go to/use Reaper don’t really know Cubase, and or used Cubase a decade+ ago and haven’t revisited.
Reaper UI is unbearable for me personally, very dated.
It’s not necessarily a point for or against Reaper in the context of commercial DAWs… Even though I myself do appreciate software that offer this kind of technical customizability and user ingenuity.
This isn’t about popularity or even sales really, more about effectiveness, workflow, features, professionality, etc.
We could say McDonalds is the top restaurant in the world, it might even be the top rated, just by the sheer number of people voting for it who love McDonalds. Is it really the best restaurant in the world though in terms of having a meal you’ll remember for the rest of your life?
FL Studio is the most popular DAW in every market - they must be doing something right? Price ratio to Features, Ease of use, Ability to create great music?
Again, this thread was about Commercial DAWs - Engineering DAWs. Not music making software. In that case, Garage Band might have everyone beat - because it’s free.
edit
MS Paint is probably the most popular graphics program, but if a bridge engineer shows up to the valley with a MS Paint blueprint… I’m finding a different engineer.
I think when you said ‘King of the Hill’….that’s quite vague. People are definitely making hit records on FL STudio and Ableton - and they are more used by more people than Cubase. So I think King of the Hill is an overstretch (BTW I’m Cubase till I die )
I was on Studio One from V5 to V7. All very good and very smooth workflow but……
I started looking in to Reaper and Logic. Reaper was literally the single biggest waste of time as I got lost down the rabbit hole of customisation and also trying to get controllers to work with it so that went out the window (oh and agreed, the interface was just plain upsetting ) Logic seemed to be surprisingly unstable for me on an old iMac.
Then Cubase 14 dropped and that was like the biggest homecoming parade.. Like reconnecting with an old friend. They nailed so much of what was a problem, namely midi remote.. Suddenly everything just works with scripts. The stock effects have p*ssed me off because like many of you, I spent hundreds and hundreds of pounds on 3rd party snake oil and sexy plugins without a clue of how to use them. Cubase has implemented top tier in the box plugins that have meant I have been able to remove every single 3rd party plug except the SSL buss comp and Softube saturator knob.
Paired with a Nektar CS12 and an x touch (Yes I also got suckered with Softube’s console one and fader mk2, SSL UF8, UF1 and UC1, Icon qcon pro X and more.. all now sold on) and I’m back to making music with a clean workflow and so much less distraction.
It just was not like this 30 years ago.. I could never imagine that everything would be so powerful now.
To answer the OP, does it need anything else? Not for me. I’m happy as a pig in rectal debris now thank you Steinberg.
I started on Cubase and I’m going to end on Cubase (hopefully not anytime soon)
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) Logic seemed to be surprisingly unstable for me on an old iMac.