Can/will Cubase create an ARA connection for RX9?
Unfortunately not. At least, RX 9 doesnāt appear as ARA module in Cubase 11. If I understand the information on iZotopeās website correctly, RXās ARA support is limited to Logic.
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But what is the explanation? I thought ARA2 was a common protocol ā¦
Yes, thatās true but technically itās an extension of the VST, AU and RTAS specifications. I guess, iZotope only provides AU versions of their ARA plugins and no VST ones.
After how little new features iZotope added to this āmajor updateā & the fact they only implemented ARA2 for Logic, which is a really half baked approach to introducing a new feature, Iām just going to put the time into really digging in to Spectralayers Pro 8 instead.
Between this beyond lack-lustre major update & their new sales model of only pushing updates to subscription customers paying a few bucks a month versus those of us whoāve spent thousands for full licenses (I dont recall RX8 getting a single update until RX9 was released), Iām really looking to remove iZotope from my workflow completely at this point. I now use Fabfilter in place of all their mixing & mastering plugins & will be moving to SL Pro 8 for my spectral repair & voiceover work needs if they do not update RX9 to be usable as an ARA2 extension on multiple platofrms.
I definitely wont be waiting for & paying to upgrade again to RX10 for this functionality that should have been developed to be cross platform before RX9 was released
I donāt see anything in RX 9 that canāt be done with SpectraLayers 8, itās just that certain things are easier, so it depends on your use case and workflow. I agree that RX 9 was a lack-lustre update, the āLogic-onlyā ARA2 is a sad joke, and iZotope still wonāt officially support WaveLab as a host for the other RX plugins ā presumably they donāt like competition.
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I talked to iZotope about this yesterday. They have always been helpful to me in the past and present. However I do agree, the update of RX8 and RX9 arriving at the same time seems a wrong thing. Also I do agree, they do seem to be that mining for the gold that they see in the month to month revenue of a subscription. This is wrong in my book, too, but I donāt think they hear me on this subject.
But hereās what I learned about the ARA implementation in regards to Cubase. First off, I was told Logic was a natural selection for iZotope because it is the most popular DAW software out there. This is true based on sales, yep. As to ARA happening any time soon in Cubase the future sounded bleak. However, FWIW, I was told that (when I asked about it) the implementation was a 2-way street, that Cubase would have to pursue this (code sharing) with iZotope if this was to happen. So draw your own conclusions here. And I will add that, since some of you feel that Spectra Layers and RX are comparable products, the question might be asked, is Steinberg interested in sorting the ARA use of RX? Bleak indeed.
As a closer, I will add that RX9 - for the first time - allows me to use my Motu ASIO driver directly. Before it would always find the outputs of the Motu, but not the Motu ASIO driver and even now it will not let me use the Mackie ASIO FireWire driver. (With the Mackie I have to hit the RESET button in the Preferences tab, which then chooses the Windows MME driver and this then connects to the Mackie outputs). One thing to consider here if youāre having the same problem, you have to remove the Generic Steinberg ASIO Driver from your system. The RX app is drawn to this Steinberg driver over all other ASIO drivers for some reason. Not to dis the Steinberg ASIO driver because it probably helps a lot of ppl, but it creates more latency than the interface(s) drivers I have and it also does this little āLoading all Channelsā dance that seems unnecessary.
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On the plus side, RX 9 is the first version that I have found installs properly on Windows ā I didnāt have to hack it to get presets, help system and RX Connect to work when used under a non-administrative login, something I could not get their support to understand.
Itās clearly a Mac-first product and thatās fine, itās excellent for restoration and post work, but I wonāt feel the need to buy a Mac just to use it with ARA2 in Logic, especially now that SpectraLayers works fine in Cubase.
My advice if you already have RX 8, thereās a free update to RX 8.5 and sit out RX 9.