I currently run Cubase 8. Composing music with it is great, it currently has all the features I need, plus a whole load more I will probably never use. To me there is no reason to upgrade. Basically, if I cannot write good music with Cubase 8 why would upgrading make any difference?!
The only thing I have happen when upgrading is find that VSTs have been depracted and so I have to re do the tracks again with a different instrument which obviously changes the final sound.
What do you think ? I realise (right now) it’s only £36.00 to upgrade from Cubase 8 but what is the point considering the above ?
One big advantage of upgrading often is that you get to experiment and adapt to each change/new feature as soon as possible, which greatly increases the chances that you’ll be able to permanently incorporate it into your workflow. What doesn’t seem like a big deal now could become a major part of your workflow in the future. Also getting the latest version after skipping a few versions can be overwhelming and confusing, and you may forget what was added in these versions you skipped (or if you’re out of the loop, not even know what’s new). I know someone who jumped from Cubase 5 to Cubase Pro 8, when you look at his projects he still has a ton of muted duplicated/only slightly different tracks because he keeps forgetting about Track Versions and the comping tool.
The plugins included with Cubase are rarely “deprecated”, only a few plugins that were added before 2006 (Cubase 4) have been completely removed due to compatibility issues with modern OSes and 64 bit Cubase. This wont happen again for a very long time.
Cubase Pro 8.5 doesn’t make a lot of changes compared to previous versions (they’re probably working on making Cubase Pro 9 a huge update), but most of them are useful. I would recommend watching all of the videos in this page so you can decide for yourself whether it’s worth it to upgrade to 8.5 or not: New in Cubase 12: Time to Embrace a New Era | Steinberg
I personally find double click to add a MIDI note (hold and drag to adjust length and velocity) and the ability to temporarily defeat snap to grid by holding Ctrl/CMD very useful, specially when composing very fast parts that may be difficult to play on keyboard.
For you, I would think of fixes in the newer release. If there would be benefit there, then a consideration of upgrade should be greater. And your flow would improve.
I still use version 6.5 even though I have 8.5 because of big work flow issues and everything sounds fine.
1.£36 is nothing, giving it to your favourite DAW creator is an investment, helping them to make the software you use and love even better. Hardly the price of a meal out or even the Cinemas these days.
2.Learning new features and changes as they come, avoiding an overwhelm at a later date. An overwhelm that may make you get stuck in the dark ages 10 years in the future, preferring/forcing you to stick with the old as the new seems too alien.
3.Playing with new features often brings about new creativity.
4.Bug fixes.
5.There are always many tiny lil improvement that should have been there from day 1, like click dragging note to size etc. that’s worth £36 on it’s own. Still wish there was a ctrl D that copied to place and a short cut copy that copied parts down or up.
Cubase 8.5 is amazing. 9 will be even more amazing.
First, determine your goals, then decide how they can best be achieved using the tools you already have, and then look to what you don’t have by videos. Will the new features help you? Or, as mentioned above, will a feature inspire you? Reaktor has been inspiring sound ideas for me since 1999, but the huge compromise has been the time spent learning and making Reaktor really work considering deadlines and completed tracks.
Remember the tools your favorite engineers had to work with in the past and compare to what you have to work with. How will implementing new features take you further? Will workflow be improved? Will you run into additional bugs?
I would guess most Cubase users only use 10-20% of every available feature…if even that. Video? Score? Logical editor? Those alone contain lots of features. Consider what you have from outside 3rd parties. Using Reaktor, UAD, Waves, Melodyne? Or are you big into VariAudio and how it integrates nicely with everything else in Cubase? Chord Tracks and how that integrates?
There are users who use Cubase solely as a tool to complete finished tracks with a deadline. On the opposite spectrum there are users who use Cubase just to admire, learn, experiment, push limits and never think about writing a song. The vast majority fall somewhere between those extremes.
You said “if I cannot write good music with Cubase 8 why would upgrading make any difference?” If completing tracks with deadlines, especially commercial pop consider the successful users. This isn’t specific to Cubase. Dr. Luke doesn’t even use or know Midi as his work appears entirely in the audio realm. Max Martins team, Stargate, RedOne, Chicane, even godfather Hans… Do you think they all upgrade to the latest? I don’t know, but based on PT use in studios…absolutely not. They are busy with goals and deadlines and apparently what they use gets them to point B.
IMO the good reasons to upgrade have already been mentioned. But keep in mind, with every new feature, issues come up. Some will get fixed, others won’t.
That is a great point. Some of these guys grew up onboarding reels too. Much like me. When the studios I worked in went digital we usually stayed back in versions because once something worked and worked well, we didn’t dare mess with it. Part of it is an old dog new tricks scenario. I totally fall into this category but I would like to use version 8 if it had kept the way plug-in names were displayed in the mixer.
…as an aside are you sure it’s £36? I thought it was and went for the upgrade only to find it was actually £21.60 as the current special discount isn’t applied at the first stage. So even better!
Yes, here it was $62 CDN but with the current promotion it was actually $37.
I just ran the ugrade last evening and spent 1.5 hours going through Retrologue 2’s huge load of presets, made it from A-S then had to get to bed… T-Z tonight There are some killer patches in there. Best synth from Steinberg so far IMHO, and I loved Padshop Pro almost equally up to now, Retrologue 2 is sweet sweet sweet.
Max Martins team, Stargate, RedOne, Chicane, even godfather Hans… Do you think they all upgrade to the latest? I don’t know, but based on PT use in studios…absolutely not. They are busy with goals and deadlines and apparently what they use gets them to point B.
