Nuendo + NEK should be able to open the Cubase Pro app.

Nuendo
#1

I don’t mean to start some sort of heated debate, but here’s the thing: I resent the need to buy a $500 piece of software that I (should) already own. Cubase, as far as I see it, is a stripped down version of Nuendo; Nuendo without the post features. I own Nuendo with the NEK so there is nothing in Cubase that I won’t have in Nuendo. The new features in Cubase 8 are great and I’d like the ability to use them now, not wait another few months for them (as we have to do each update cycle). To be honest I don’t even get why Cubase and Nuendo are separate products. Nuendo should be Cubase Pro, or Cubase POST, but that’s another thread I guess.

For those of us that have spent over 1k for Nuendo + the NEK (not to mention all of the updates over the years), I think it’s only just that you allow the Nuendo license be able to open Cubase Pro as well. It would be the right thing to do in my opinion, and I can’t see how it could hurt you that much.

My 2 cents.
Thanks Steinberg,

Ben

#2

It used to be possible to open files from newer versions. Steinberg stopped this with N4. I agree that this seems a pretty basic thing, and one more thing that Pro Tools does much better.

DG

#3

I just opened a Cubase 8 file on N 6.5 yesterday. Worked fine.

But what the OP is saying is not opening files, but that a Nuendo and NEK license should also be a Cubase license. And I could not agree more. It’s been suggested/asked for a number of times, unfruitfully.

I’m sure Steinberg has a picture in their mind regarding licensing and pricing for Nuendo and Cubase that makes sense to them. But I’ve never met anyone outside of SB that understands what that might be.

#4

+1 I’d love to play with the new features in Cubase 8 while I wait for the update to N7 to be released. What’s the harm? I guess I could download a Cubase 8 trial license but…

#5

Yes, Nuendo opens Cubase projects seemingly flawlessly (even going back and forth between Nuendo 6.5 and Cubase 8!), which is great, but the funny thing is that that makes me realize even more that these are for all intents and purposes the same program. Cubase is just Nuendo Lite, or Nuendo is really Cubase POST. The fact that the files are so interchangeable really hammers it home for me.

And I’m not suggesting that Nuendo users get a separate Cubase license that we could have on two different dongles, but that the Nuendo +NEK license should be able to open up the Cubase Pro app. Yes, what is the harm in that? It seems like the right way to treat the customers that are paying a huge premium for the pro app (that really is Cubase Pro with a few key features added).

Ben

And PS: This is happening because I downloaded the Cubase Pro Trial, which expires in 9 days for me now. I really enjoy the new features, but I’m really not happy to pay the $299 it would cost to upgrade my old Cubase 4 license. Especially as I’m about to drop another few hundred on the Nuendo update whenever that comes out ---- thereby making the Cubase Pro license pretty obsolete. I know what the counter argument to this is going to be: “it’s my choice on weather or not to upgrade/buy Cubase and I don’t have too…”, or whatever. I just think it’s silly that we have to make that decision to spend more money on a light version of the expensive app we’ve all used for years.

#6

OR, at the very least Nuendo +NEK users should receive a demo license for Cubase Pro that lasts until those new features are present in Nuendo…

This would be a sign of good will to us valuable customers, and seriously, where could the harm be in that???

#7

Agreed, but I doubt it will ever happen…I can see the suits thinking that anyone who wants those new features bad enough will splash out for an additional license.
I had one for a short while, but couldn’t really justify updating and maintaining two apps when I was only using one at a time, so I sold it.

Currently I just try to run the demo of C8 until N7 arrives…

#8

The problem is that the Cubase Demo only lasts 30 days, so it often expires before Nuendo is released.

#9

Steinberg can do something else with the NEK bullshit. I will not purchase it until this foggy dark corner in the history of this company will be more clear to the customers.

The question “WHY” and how things should be in the relations of Nuendo and cubase that it deserves more than an occasionally “forum post”. This is absurd the the administrators keep under fog with no answer.

A. The shouldnt be any NEK in first place. I payed for the whole SB shabbbang. I have the cubase options but they are blocked. Just open it, What is the with making customers unhappy??

B. SB has alot to offer in Music samples and Vsti or Vst moduls - This should be the NEK if anything.

C. Why the big mystery - SB can say exacly what is the case between Nuendo to Cubase. What is similar and what not, what is parralel and what not. what can or cannot be open. Why we need to guess our way on EVERY VERSION?

D. If i do buy the NEK - and now I have cuendo - Why the hell i need to pay for the NEK every time? most of the basic NEK important stuff are just features!


Please SB - stop ignore this one - open the midi features of the NEK…dont sell us half software. Be more transparente with the clients.

#10

Any thoughts Timo?

#11

Haven’t we been through this a million times already? Steinberg won’t change this. It doesn’t matter if it makes sense by itself or to anyone. It won’t change. It’s just pure stubbornness at this point.

As far as I can see there is no compelling argument at all for Steinberg or the users to have this silly NEK.

#12

We have indeed been through this a lot of times and the reasons they have stay the same:

  • 2 separate platforms (Nuendo/Cubase) = 2 times press coverage
  • More money earned
  • If they gave away Cubase for free to Nuendoers they would probably need to renegotiate licensing costs with 3rd parties.
  • They can have a very rapid Cubase update cycle and use Cubase users as beta testers for the post market.

If they gave away Cubase for Nuendo users the next wave of arguments would be over missing functions in Cubase that are in Nuendo. (“Why can’t I use the ADR stuff when I use Cubase but have Nuendo installed?”)
There is unfortunately a neccessity to sell at different price points for different markets with different feature sets. Steinberg does this very well and keeps the cost of the post app in the niece market really low. (compare the price of pyramix, avoid PT and fairlight)
Now, if you really still feel left behind,compare the price to buy and maintain both platforms (Nuendo and Cubase) to the price to buy and maintain any of the other mentioned platforms with all the needed additional extras (ADR, control room, down mixing etc.)
It’s easy to want more, but we all want SB to stay alive and healthy, don’t we?

#13

Sorry for being unclear; I was referring to getting rid of the NEK, not giving Nuendo users a “free” Cubase Pro license. That said however:

The first is speculation, and if the license given is essentially one license that opens both - meaning the user can have open only either Cubase or Nuendo - I’m wondering if it’d be an issue. If I granted a license my primary concern would be how many instances would run at any given time, and if it would still be 1 then no big deal, increased sales aside.

The second isn’t negated by allowing Nuendo users to open Cubase.

#14

Yes, I don’t see how being able to open and run Cubase Pro with a Nuendo + NEK license would be any skin off their backs.

And at the very least, Nuendo + NEK users should receive a demo license for CPRO that lasts until those new features are present in Nuendo…

Ben

#15

Well, I suppose that the fact that we do not see this happening could be considered a proof that at least someone at Steinberg would consider it “skin off their backs”.

We can keep on arguing about it, but it comes down to this: I consider Steinberg’s Cubase and Nuendo as market leaders in innovation in the DAW world. Look at the stagnation in ProTools land (you get no new features for a forced 600$), look at logic where you have to buy a mac as a dongle, look at all the other packages out there.

None are as dedicated to really usable (!) and well implemented new features. Nuendo has come a long way. The major hiccups have all been addressed.
If you want Steinbergdaw with all NEW bells and whistles you need to get and update both. That’s their price.
I seriously still consider it aggressive pricing.

#16

I love the software. I resent needing to by it twice though.
And I know I don’t “need” to, but feel like I shouldn’t even have to make that decision.

Ben