More Efficient User Workflow Experience Like PT, AL, and other modern DAWs

Cubase
,
1

I am a long time Cubase user and I remember in the past looking forward to the great UI updates that Cubase would implement. Now, Cubase workflow is extremely inefficient compared to other DAWS. DAWs like ProTools and Ableton LIVE have set the standards for the industry. If Cubase can no longer lead the industry, then Cubase should at least make adjustments to keep up with the industry.

In other words, it’s time, and long past due, for Steinberg/Yamaha to upgrade the whole Cubase UI experience so that it is a way more efficient workflow. This would not take much. Just need to add a few critical things to the main edit window like inserts and sends access; tiny meters that work on the channel track, etc. Should all be in one window now.

In addition, and this is a big one, controller lands should work and be editable on top of the audio waveform. This would save tons of time. Not sure why Steinberg/Yamaha is dropping the ball on this. Yamaha?

Steinberg/Yamaha please put money into hiring designers and programmers to revamp the cubase user interface or you will “kill” this DAW. Eventually, you will lose us all by not acting.

Best,

Concerned User

2

Steinberg will not lose Me!
just a happy Cubase user. (Yes i know “good for me”).

Delta

3

Can you give some specific examples? You wrote a lot, but it’s entirely abstract as if Steinberg are to just read your mind and know what it is you are doing in your day to day work. No offense, just offering some input, but I see a lot of people who say what you are saying and then reference Ableton, of which I find the GUI infuriating and clunky.

Sure there are some quirks to each program that have pros over the other, but overall, I would actually say Cubase has better workflow. or the sum of Cubases pros and their effect outweigh the competitions.

Cubase is rooted in organizing things more complicated than itself - like managing complicated MIDI/Synthesizer hardware setups and studios and in an enormous amount of different ways and thus, crams in a lot of things that other DAWS do not. People who are doing typical DAW workflows don’t seem to understand why things are the way they are a lot of the time in Cubase. Different worlds. Cubase is as a CAD program is to Dubai architecture. These other DAWs are more like lego blocks where they are aiding the user in building a track that sounds like the track they heard on the radio as quickly as possible.

As soon as Cubase is too much like other program, or it’s too much catering to a certain market, or workflow concept… it loses what it’s good at. which is everything… like, a CAD program can design sky scrapers, or car rims… seems some people want it to be good at only designing flashy car rims… or lego blocks. Or another way to put it, Cubase foundation is in a way all the boring utilities in a science laboratory that are essential to conduct whatever kind of experiment you want which is why it was genius for Reason to go VST, and I actually think Ableton will likely go the same way eventually - because these are not actually benchmark applications. If NASA needed a DAW and it was Ableton vs Cubase, they would pick Cubase.

4

That’s what everyone says, but they all have different lists of what it “should” take.
¯_(ツ)_/¯

5

+1 for automation lanes on top of the audio part.

6

Sounds like you just want it to look pretty. Imo the workflow is incredibly advanced, especially compared to DAWs such as Pro Tools. Trust me, I want it to be sexy as much as anybody else. But would still choose it in it’s current state over anything else.

7

Thanks guys for the response. Please don’t get me wrong. I have great love for Cubase going back many years. I’m just frustrated that some of the other DAW’s are beginning got lure me away with their features. I want to stay with Cubase, but it’s costing me time to do certain things and my ProTools and Ableton friends are working faster on their DAW’s. So, I was venting at this.

Lovegames, it is a reasonable request to ask for specific examples. In the heat of the moment, I was frustrated that I had to keeping going back and forth between the mixer and the edit window for some tasks, and I discovered that I would not have to do that in ProTools. Also, the ability to edit parameters on the waveform is extremely helpful in Ableton Live. Cubase’s version of this is weak. We should be able to edit all parameters right on the waveform. This would save a lot of time. Also, if NASA want to produce a hit song, they would use Ableton Live. If they wanted to write Beethoven’s 10th Symphony, they would use Cubase. If they wanted to mix Beethoven’s 10th Symphony, or five rock albums in one week, they would use ProTools. So yes, I am aware that every DAW has their strengths and weaknesses, but I want to produce a hit songs right now and that used to be Cubase’s strength. They are currently being outgunned on production workflow.

Raino, you are so right, ha ha! It would actually take a lot of R&D, and engineering for Yamaha/Cubase to make the next leap. But taking risks at the right moment is what life is about.

Drdrdrdr is with me on the automation lanes over waveforms thing! If they only make one improvement, this should be it.

Dylanmixer, Yes, compared to everything else, Cubase is advanced, and clunky. But it gets the job done, and we are all happy for that! There is a lot to celebrate. But, does it need to be so clunky? I can imagine it differently, why can’t Yamaha/Cubase? They seem strangely uninterested. And so here we are, talking to each other in a forum instead of making music. A DAW should inspire music creation, but Cubase’s latests versions are inspiring me to visit the forums.

Also Dynmixer, Yes, I like my DAW’s to look good. And, yes, I like them to perform like a great sports car. Am I asking too much? Nah, form and function are the hallmarks of inspiration. Cubase is in fourth place on this front. I’m not measuring sales, I’m measuring ability, and speed is a factor. As a hobbyist, Cubase is great, wouldn’t change a thing, great to explore all Saturday and play. But I’m trying to turn pro, and I need to do a lot, and I need to do it faster. Cubase is getting in my way. Thus, the complaint.