Radical change to Cubase 8 window behavior: Bug or feature?

I’ve seen a few mentions of this but no clear answer. For some reason, in Windows 7, the Cubase 8 main menu bar (the one that is visible even when no project or other windows are open) stays maximized and at the top of the screen at all times. In addition, if any sub window is opened (such as a project window), this main menu bar has no minimize or restore/maximize button at the top right, and it appears that the only thing that can be done to change it (other than close Cubase entirely) is to right click on it and select “Minimize All.”

No other Windows program has ever behaved this way as far as I can tell, and for good reason. It is extremely unintuitive and annoying. Is this behavior intentional? Is there any setting somewhere that changes this behavior?

There’s been plenty of posts and complaints about this.

In a nutshell, while this behavior is intentional according to Steinberg, I don’t think they would push it as far as to call it a feature, more like a way to lay the groundwork for some amazing UI improvements (?) that might happen in the future. Unfortunately they’re doing it by recklessly stomping on the present.

It’s a feature. Steinberg set out to bring the slow and unintuitive performance of OSX to the instability of Windows… and succeeded! Truly a feat of modern software engineering.

Hello Andrew,

I hope this post can partly reply to your questions:

The main development and testing environment for Cubase Pro 8 was Windows 8/8.1 - Windows 7 behaves differently with regard to the new UI Framework, making some fixes and adjustments more difficult on 7 (especially because changes in that department might break the UI on Win 8).

Kind regards,

And yet every other program that I’ve used on both Windows 7 & 8 does not have this problem or anything even slightly similar.

And Windows 10 is coming in July. Should we be worried?

OK, good to know I’m not the only one upset by this Cubase windowing problem. I guess it’s one more example of the shift away from traditional desktop operating systems with windows, programs, and files. I fear we fight a losing battle though, and before too long Cubase will only be available as an app for tablets and phones, and with a touch interface no less. (I can’t wait to perform precision MIDI editing by stabbing at the screen with my finger!) As inconceivable as that seems to me, maybe that’s actually what people want these days. Well, rest assured that much of your user base is going to fight you every step of the way, Steinberg, and my next purchase will be Ableton Live if you can’t address our concerns.

I would guess ‘other applications’ don’t deal with as many dependencies and areas of code; as I wrote previously, we are aware of the concerns and requests, but not everything can be changed or implemented immediately as the risks of breaking something else must be carefully evaluated.

I have high hopes for Windows 10 and the integration with professional applications.

Me too :wink: :smiley: :mrgreen: