I should also probably mention that both of those applications will show/hide all of those floating windows at the same time so if you like clutter (and apparently some here do?) you can directly toggle everything floating in both of those screenshots directly visible / not visible.
The command in both is roughly “Toggle Floating Windows”.
One option they should definitely consider, is allowing the automation lanes to be on top of the audio file.
Studio One, Digital Performer, Logic…all have this option. This would save a tremendous amount of screen space.
Also, they should change the plug in system to have tabs, so that a whatever channel is being worked on only one plug in window has to be open, then clicking on the tabs will cycle through the plug ins for that channel.
Cubase SOUNDS the best of the 4 DAWS I have used over the past couple of years. Logic, Studio One, Digital Performer…all sound similar, but Cubase produces the best rendered files, especially mp3 files. No other platform can touch it.
Sam
Sorry, duplicate post.
That’s only half of it. As relates to saving vertical arrange space, Studio One has automation tracks. You can physically move and group your envelopes any way you choose. I mean, you can have 20 volume envelopes from 20 different physical tracks all on one automation track, and edit them all together as a group, in one single track lane. Envelopes are not stuck under their parent tracks, you can move them around in arrange like any other track, and combine them to a single track if you want.
This is four volume envelopes from four completely different audio tracks. Edit them all at once there (or one at a time there) or in expanded lanes, from there. It’s pretty obvious how useful that can be. It allows “collecting” groups of envelopes any way you want like that… on a single track.
My personal irritations with Cubase have never been related to “function”, it does just about everything under the sun functionally, they’re mostly related to “form”.
This is probably destined for the lounge now.
Audiocave…
I did not realize this. Wow, that can be a huge time saver (scrolling, opening closing lanes).
But, Studio One does not “sound” as good as Cubase. The final produced audio sounds better on Cubase. I have tried several mixes with the same audio tracks and the final always comes out better using Cubase.
Love the functionality of Studio One, but those final mixed audio files are the determining factor for me. Cubase wins.
Thanks,
Sam
I made a New Year’s resolution to completely avoid the recycling Internet “daw sound” debates. I can do good work in any of them so if people want to debate daw sound … I’m staying out of it. 
Is there a case to be made that Frauhaufer mp3 sounds better than Lame or that 64-bit float engines sound better than 32-bit float? Don’t care really. I only care that clients are happy and that I do everything I can do to make that happen.
I do all my mixes with it and nobody has complained yet.
Hm, that’s a bit patronising. One man’s clutter is another’s easy access. 
Of course my goal isn’t clutter, but, sometimes, a little clutter is an acceptable price to pay for ready access to and manipulation of windows.
As I said in the part of my post that you cut out, my rough, hurried and ill-thought-out diagram was just …
trying to illustrate a situation where pieces of several overlapping windows can all be seen at once and clicking on them brings them to the front. So, for instance, clicking on the MIDI tracks and then on the Key Ed would make both fully visible.
In practice, I want quick easy access to several windows, with (a) typically, two to four of them ordinarily partly or wholly visible at once, and often with one taking up more than half the screen, but (b) with others easily able to be brought to the front, without obscuring the whole of another window and (c) no windows having dedicated screen space and (as such) preventing another window temporarily using that space.
And when I reopen a cpr file, I want the screen be arranged (automatically) exactly as it was when I last saved the file.
What I don’t want is an interface that restricts my freedom to see at once, for instance, a few bars in the score editor, a bigger range in the key editor, some MIDI tracks, and (part of) the mixer, etc, or doesn’t enable a quick, temporary resizing of a single window to take up much of the screen.
If you’re saying that, given a single-window interface, Cubase not only could be used exactly as it can now, but also would offer other useful ways of arranging and accessing the windows, then there would seem to be nothing to object to.
But it would be annoying to be persuaded by those who want a single-screen interface, only to discover later that there were unexpected, or hitherto unexplained restrictions … and someone says, “Of course you can’t still do that - Cubase has a single-screen interface, now. … And while I’m here, can I just take one of your kidneys - you won’t miss it.”
Sorry my friend. Not my intent.
After saying multiple times that most if not all of the windows in those apps detach and float I can only believe that some aren’t reading the thread. They all detach so yes, you can put a detached floating window (in any software) anywhere you want.
Not sure what part of that some here (not you) aren’t quite getting. Floating windows are floating windows. Put them wherever you want. What happens (with all DAW’s really) is that people get so caught up in being defensive (not you) that they dismiss things without even trying to fully understand them first.
The question to ask here is "What do some people gain (not lose)? The larger part of the discussion seems to be people assuming they’ll be losing something. Not sure what product those assumptions are based on. Garageband or Sequel maybe? Certainy not DP, Logic, Reaper, or the other professional level products with consolidated UI’s.
Thanks. Again, apologies if my reply seemed snippy. Not my intent.
P.S. I have to assume that Steiny aren’t so disconnected from reality that they won’t make a consolidate UI for Cubase - their pro music product - where windows actually don’t detach. I think that’s a reasonable assumption to make without asking them.
I don’t think Steinberg will do something like consolidating Cubase’s UI considering what they have done in Halion 4 (and I believe Wavelab 7 as well) regarding window management. However, they did change the comping behavior in a negative way (at least for most users) until they changed it in Cubase 6.5. Because of that, I believe that discussions like this one can only help Steinberg make a better product. The more feedback they get, the better (even if it seems redundant).
^
Quibble: it was actually Audiocave who said that, not me 
.
Haha, my bad Chase. I didn’t remove the quote tags properly.
I’d be happy if the editor windows were made floatable like the mixer, VST instruments, etc.
I don’t think the interface needs a huge change, but being able to drag a window anywhere I want without extending the main window across all my monitors would be very useful. I run multiple apps at the same time, for which I need to see what is going on while Cubase plays back audio/midi. Stretching the main Cubase window covers up those apps, so I constantly have to change focus, which is a major annoyance. As a result, I frequently have to resize the Cubase window to see everything, which messes up my Cubase layout. Basically, I get a snowballing of annoyances. If I could just drag the desired windows to a different monitor, I could see everything I need at the same time.
i use 4 monitors, with different resolutions…
all windows on top enable!
The one and ONLY thing that I want is a STABLE maximized project window, without the clumsy workspaces kind of workaround. Having to use the project window unmaximized is a waste of display space, with two windows borders, etc.
Steiny reduced even more the display space available in the project window, since the 5.5 version, by enlarging (what for ?) the info line.
I purchased a 26"" monitor with my present system to have as much vertical display space as possible. And, sorry, I have neither the cash nor the place available for 2, 3 or 4 monitors…
So, I voted yes, as the present state of the windows management is still one of the weakest point of Cubase…
i use Cubase over 2 screens one for Arrangment, one for Editor, and 2 for the mixer and plugins…
but when i open more things like Halion, Plogue, Reaktor… to fullscreen or just move the AmpSimulatorm, or a Synth to the oposit side of the screen changing to another Keyboard, Guitar, Mic… then i move the Cubase window arround, once the cycle or a marker is set i use a controller, and than it would be nice to make any Editor also “allways on top”.
and many people have multiple monitors, you can see the whole mixer at once… or close to enough space (because Cubase foce you to work one window, and with the enter key… its no prob), and its no problem to get 3 monitors for @ 70 .- € = € 210.- if you realy want and most people I thing have allready 2…
Heeeeeell NO…
PLEASE don’t turn Cubase into another Ableton Live or Studio One.
I HATE that about those programs.
I use Ableton Live for a Live tool, but that is IT, and I sold Studio One because of the same reason - as a tracker, it feels like a toy. I hate being stuck in a single window layout. I want to be able to see the contents of more than1 MIDI file side by side if I need to… and move windows around to where I want them.
I’m sure there are a few things a person could do to ‘maximize their workspace’…
Please no single window toy shenannigans 
I will move to Bitwig if Cubase does not evolve their window management. It’s quite ridiculous! I used to use 2x22in moniors with Cubase and it still wasn’t great. Now I have one 27in and have experience using Logic , Sonar, Live 8 and in comparison Cubase is a pain regarding the window management .
Cheers J.
Maybe you’d like something that works on your iphone (?)
Cubase’s power, elegance and intuitive workflow more than make up for any hiccups with window management.
Learn to manage your windows with custom key strokes. Or use the inspector.
Music creation and studio management isn’t a video game.
I’m a guy who spent the majority of my career wiring (and managing) patch-bays labeling my (real) mixer with masking tape and having to actually reach in different directions to turn knobs on the gear I had mounted in various locations around my studio.
Window management…. cry me a river.
My only gripe is windows don’t snap to each other…
Window behavior is much better in Reaper, Studio One, Reason, nearly everything else. It’s not “Single Window Layout”…that’s not the right term, you can split off windows as much as you want and maximize them (at least the main one in Reaper) and have them stick, even across multiple monitors with different resolutions, and still have floating plug-ins. It’s not rocket science and it’s not MDI. There’s no window with other windows floating around in it because you can’t maximize any single one without your entire layout going to hell, as in Cubase.
Honestly, Cubase feels more like the “Single Window Layout” to me because the main windows are all confined to the one parent window. With Reaper, Studio One, or Reason the editors and the mixer can be split off from the main window to their own monitor and don’t swim around in some parent window that you can’t maximize.