Does Cubase 9 support HiDPI (High DPI, Retina)?
I cannot find anything about HiDPI in the official texts and the trailer video.
Thanks.
Unfortunately not. We are still working on that but there is no information available when this will be supported.
Thanks, Ed. That’s incredibly disappointing. Steinberg is still working on this for at least two years already.
Doesn’t Cubase 9 at least provide non-blurry scaling by pixel duplication, so that Windows’ users wouldn’t suffer too much?
There is no change compared to Cubase 8.x unfortunately.
Oh, cograts to Steinberg: they have just released an a-priori outdated product.
It’m unfortunately going to look closer at existing HiDPI-capable alternatives such as FL Studio and Studio One.
Ed, could you clarify what exactly is the issue with HiDPI support in Cubase: programming vector-based GUI or creating vectorized versions of GUI elements for Cubase? (For what it’s worth, I could help with creating vector graphics.)
Thanks.
Ed, please let me say that I appreciate your present here., but this update is extremely disappointing
A lot of bugs still present, no retina, we still have unresolved issues and you are not addressing them.
why trying so hard with the cloud, and don’t implement real changes that could make a composer’s lives easer
You are not a developer but please convey our concern about the direction steinberg is so stubbornly taking.
Wow… just…wow… You have been working on retina display support for two years and STILL nothing. This is pretty amazing actually…
I am disappointed with this one for sure…
Lost for words 
I need to echo on this thread.
First, congratulations Team Steinberg on the release of Cubase Pro 9. I’m a Cubase SX, 4, 5.5, 7, 7.5, 8, and 8.5 user. There are many excellent new features. However, I got as far as entering a credit card at checkout and decided not to proceed today. Here’s why…
I was surprised when Version 8.5 launched without HiDPI last year. But, I still bought it. I was naturally waiting for Cubase Pro 9 to launch this week, and eagerly went through the feature list to check for HiDPI support. I’m actually shocked it’s not there this time, and I don’t use that word often.
I’ve had a Dell Precision laptop for 2.5 years with 3200 x 1800 resolution. Cubase looks crappy on it. Windows 10 is 17 months old, and MacOS with Retina support is much older than that. I can’t imagine that redrawing and programming the assets at 200% and 300% is a huge issue – vector or raster.
Needless to say, having a clean sharp visual interface is a high priority for my audio production, and I would consider HiDPI to now be in the “NECESSARY” category. I don’t know that I will buy Cubase Pro 9 if support isn’t added as a free update in the next six months.
All the best.
Awful news!
Read this: The reason why Cubase doesn't dare to support HiDPI. - Steinberg Lounge - Steinberg Forums
Moreover, I use Windows 7 (released more than 7 years ago) at zoom of 200%, and it’s perfectly usable. The only serious issue was that lengths of address bar and search box in Windows Explorer had incorrect proportions, but I’ve worked around this bug myself by writing a small utility named ExplorerHiDpiFix. An extra minor issue was that Windows 7 has mouse cursors intended for maximum zoom of 150%, but cursors for 200% can easily be borrowed from Windows 10.
I was also seriously intending to buy Cubase 9 as long as it supported HiDPI (I am a 4K monitor owner for more than 1.5 years already). But looks like Cubase is now a completely closed chapter for me, I’m unable to wait for another two years just to see that the next version is again released with no HiDPI support. Steinberg is apparently detached from reality, and that’s unlikely going to change.
Just a thought… but perhaps the expected “new Video Engine” expected to arrive for C9 in March will integrate HiDPI Support? Some details regarding the expected video engine would be appreciated and may assist with those still up in the air about upgrading.
Cheers
As far as I know, video engine is related to decoding/playing videos and has nothing to do with UI graphics engine.
I thought I was the only one with the issue on the bar…
I am currently using C9 on my 4k monitor @ 175% Zoom and think I have fallen in love with the view… Yes, there are a few issues that were initially there but once I settled on this setting and re-opened it. It looks fantastick. The VST’s look amazing in their new size too…
I’ve done some color scheme adjustments and am setting up some templates… I’m gonna try and transfer settings…I hope I don’t muck it up…lol
I heard Cubase 8 was false-DPI-aware and therefore its GUI was undisableably small in HiDPI modes under Windows. Is that the case with Cubase 9, or it has normal size and is blurry like any other non-DPI-aware application? Thanks.
Not blurry at this setting but not HiDPI sharp either.
The difference is obvious. The GUI are much Cleaner and everything looks neat.
For me the biggest issue in 8.5 was the top bar drop downs not lining up. The Max I could set it was 125%. Many of the GUI’s didn’t scale so you had smaller VST’s and fonts… It was difficult to work but I plowed through.
So far, this is the best I’ve seen Cubase ever look and with my custom colors…I’m very happy.
Look on the bright side, Well at least thats saved me an extra $100 US this christmas
I’m not sure I understand correctly what you mean. Could you provide a screenshot of Cubase 9 running on your system?
How have you increased the size of Cubase and the plugins on W7?
I have been unable to increase the size of Nuendo on my system with a 4k screen.
Your question is probably for theRoyal1. AFAICT, given that it is officially confirmed that Cubase 9 still does not support HiDPI, Cubase 9 should have correct size while being blurry due to bilinear or bicubic scaling that Windows applies to any non-DPI-aware application.
By the way, based on Mac screenshots, Mac users are somewhat more lucky than Windows users — Cubase 8.5+ for macOS at least provides quality rendering of text, envelope curves, and rounded corners of panels like Inspector.