Questions About Constant Upgrade Purchase Plan

Cubase
,
#1

I was a Studio One user for a long time now. And recently i tried the Cubase 9.5 demo and loved it, now i am considering to buy Cubase Pro 10. But the economy in my country is not in a good shape (Turkey->1€=6 Turkish Liras, which means Cubase 10 Pro with dongle equals 3.879 Turkish liras) that i can not afford that amount of money at once. So I thought/found a purchase schedule which I have concerns with. It would be great if you beautiful people could enlighten me about this and answer some of my questions. The schedule is in the first question. Thank you!

My humble questions to you are:

  • Is it okey to first buy Elements then Artist and finally the Pro version of Cubase 10 with in a long time period. (1 year)
  • Am I gonna have to buy e-licenser along the way?
  • Would you recommend that type of purchase method?
  • Which kind of technical issues i will encounter? (if there will be any).

If you have any suggestions besides my questions i would really be so thankful to hear them.

BTW crossgrade is not an option because my Studio One license is Artist.

E.K.

#2

Hi and welcome,

  1. Yes, you can upgrade license this way.

  2. Cubase Elements license is stored at the Soft-eLicenser. You can transfer it to the USB-eLicenser, but it’s not a must. Cubase Artist and Cubase Pro license must be stored on USB-eLicenser, so you will need it. It’s not part of the upgrade, so you have to buy it extra (latest when upgrading from Elements to Artist).

  3. As far as I know, it’s cheaper to buy Cubase Pro immediately. If it’s cheeper for you (for any reason), you can go for it, no problem.

  4. I believe you will not meet any issues.

#3

Keep in mind, that when you plan to do these updates within 1 year, there will be releases of .5 versions, and maybe even Cubase 11 version, which will add to the total price.

#4

It’s not cheaper to buy Pro directly. It will not cost a single lira more to instead go the upgrade path.

But I agree with the rest of the answer. It’s perfectly fine to do this way, and you can check the upgrade prices in the shop for your country and compare.

This is what I found when I checked it:

  • Total cost for the upgrade path Elements to Artist, or total cost for Artist to Pro, is about the same price as buying Artist or Pro directly.
  • Upgrading from Elements is a tiny bit cheaper (but you can’t buy the boxed version - so it can be seen as about the same price).
  • One exception though: The cost for buying Elements and then upgrade to Pro is 18% cheaper(!) than buying Pro directly.

You could also check if you have any hardware (like audio interface or Midi clav), or plan to buy any, which have Cubase AI or LE bundled with it. If so, you can upgrade from that and come a bit cheaper off.

Also, if you are on a tight budget and if you can manage to wait, you can also wait for an upgrade sale offer (usually once a year). If you have a mySteinberg account and opted for the newsletter, you’ll get an email when it’s on (this year it was in August at 40% off).
So if you buy Elements now, you can play with that and wait with the upgrade. If/when an upgrade sale comes you can upgrade from Elements to Artist or directly to Pro version very beneficially.

#5

Thank you all for your very informative answers. I learned a lot. And yes price is almost same. I probably go with buying an audio interface that has Cubase AI or LE included, then I will wait for Upgrade sale offers.

#6

Did you account for the separate purchase of the USB eLicenser?

#7

I didn’t include the USB-eLicenser for either, it’s the same cost to buy that separarely either way (tiny tiny cheaper for box version).
But you are right, in percent it will be a small difference: it will be 17% cheaper, not 18%.

#8

Also note the upgrade options: if you get an Audio interface with Cubase LE or AI bundled, you can upgrade directly from LE/AI to Pro without even upgrading to Elements first. Then you could get Pro immediately 34% cheaper.

If you are going to buy an audio interface, you may be interested in any of the Steinberg hardware bundles. They contain an Audio interface bundled with different software packages (the new Production Pack contains both Cubase Artist And Wavelab Elements), and also contains a mic and headphones:
https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/audio_interfaces/ur_series/bundles.html

#9

Yes, I was exactly looking for that package, the recording one. Because production one says it is not supported in my country. I will buy the recording package from local seller and then i will probably wait for upgrade sale offers. Pretty much all my concerns fixed. Thank you!

#10

Alright, you’re welcome. It’s strange that the Production pack is not available for your country, I don’t know why.
That would be a very good deal, the price difference from the Recording pack would basically mean you would get the Artist upgrade for half price.

#11

Hey, i found that package on amazon but it is bundled with cubase artist 9.5. So as I understood, i have to upgrade it to Cubase 10 right? Or they gonna update package to cubase 10?

#12

Hi,

If you activate Cubase 9.5 Artist now, you will get Cubase 10 Artist for free thanks to Steinberg Grace Period. Then you can upgrade your Cubase 10 Artist license to Cubase 10 Pro license.

#13

Okay that is great. Again thanks for helping me out.

#14

I suggest upgrade one step per time via the special promotion events that may drop the upgrades by a discount of 40%. That will help you save the money and meanwhile to explore the features of the version you upgrade. You will need to buy a USB dodge netherless to do the upgrades.