I have been a Cubase user since 2010. Bought Cubase 4 second-hand and loved it. Skipped Cubase 5 because it was the cracked daw doing the rounds everywhere. I then upgraded to Cubase 6 and then 6.5, an excellent era of Cubase. Skipped version 7 because I was completely satisfied with my care in Cubase 6.5.
Then I found someone selling Cubase 8 for about $100. I’d be stupid to not buy it! Bought it. Loved it. Since version 8 I’ve been upgrading regularly. Cubase 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5, 11, 12, love all of them, each one felt like an upgrade and it was seamless to move into the new versions.
But now I have upgraded to 13… out of pure excitement… I didn’t even check any reviews, I just gave Steinberg my money quickly!
Steinberg have served my career well. Cubase 13 has some amazing new features…mono to stereo button, alone is worth the upgrade price. But I cannot live with the new design. It hurts my ears to look at it. The bright white fonts and icons are beyond me. The mute and solo buttons are the ugly children of Cubase. The dark holes on empty insert slots look like empty graves. The new design feels unwieldy awkward and slow to use.
Hopefully Steinberg gives the option of enabling a Cubase 12 “skin” or “theme” for Cubase 13. Until then I will stick to my Cubase 12. Cubase 13 will become another utility daw on my PC… similar to RX… I will open C13 to use the new “import tracks from project” features… and then close it and return to mix in C12.
Cheers