Has there ever been any official word on this issue from Steinberg? It seems it affects ALL mac users and it would be really interesting to hear their explanation and possibly plans for resolving it.
thanks
Whenever I come back to Cubase after using Logic X or Studio One it feels so clunky, chunky, and still like a ‘Windows port’ rather than a Mac application.
I use a trackpad and I’m so used to being able to smoothly zoom and and out in LX and S1 with simple gestures, that having to resort to key commands and the jerky movement in Cubase always makes it feel like a backwards step.
Add to that the non-Mac window handling (no full screen, which I love for distraction free composing) and outdated looking pop-ups everywhere, it desperately needs an overhaul.
I hope Cubase 9 remedies some of this, but I guess (I have no idea!) it would be such a huge job to change the UI completely they won’t even attempt it.
Huh! I went to NAMM this year and was at the Cubase booth but failed to notice what platform they were using for the demos. I can’t imagine they would use Mac for 8.5 demos since it’s so sluggish for everyone.
I guess all of this is useless at this point (I’m referring to myself as well!) until C9 comes out soon and we can all see whether or not it’s been fixed.
Well, I must be unlucky since I have slow and sluggish GUI issues and I’m on Windows, currently on 8.1, but it wasn’t much different while I was on Windows 10 either. I’ve noticed all GUI problems appeared right after I switched to Nvidia graphics card. Don’t remember ever having any GUI issues while I’ve had ATI card in my system, except mixer faders width zoom bug. So things on Windows might not be as peachy as some Mac users might think.
I don’t think Steinberg will do anything to fix the plethora of UI problems on Mac (or even the ones on Windows, since I use both platforms). I’m not paying $150 to get a properly working UI, so unless there’s a cubase 8.5 update that fixes it I’m finally going to migrate to Studio One full time.
the gui / ux has been getting progressively slower on PCs as well; i have tried both ati and nvidia chipsets following a hint at the forum and alas witnessed no improvements (and have since rolled back to c7.5). it’s these minute speed downgrades that, when working multiple hours a day, five days a week, throughout the year, when added up, unfortunately make our studios stay on legacy versions and contemplate migrating.
I hear you, and I’m angry because I recently switched from Pro Tools to Cubase and am highly frustrated by these issues! I’m contemplating moving back now, and will probably need to if C9 doesn’t fix the problems. Arrrgggghhh.
Yes and I hope there’s a demo of C9 as I won’t be likely to pay for the upgrade to be disappointed.
Yea same here
yeah. there is no shangri la daw unfortunately so licking wounds is inevitable, it’s down to assessing the pros and cons vs our workflows. my living is based around cubase/nuendo environments and testing out new daws involves work dropout that i wasn’t able to block out in recent years. a week or two, or even a month, is not, i feel, sufficient to truly evaluate a different daw, when one wants to go deep into macros, setting up different workspaces, interfacing with outboard, sync to video etc. i’d wait for the new cubase if i were you before writing it off, or consider looking at studio one as well.
Couldn’t be snappier on on my system, and I’m running 3440x1400.
You’re the first Mac user I remember seeing on this forum (and from people I know outside of here) to say that. I wonder why that’s the case for you? I would guess it’s the fact that you’re running a Hackintosh! Except that you also have a MBP. Could it be a certain plugin that the seemingly large amount of people (judging from multiple forums and the people I know “in real life”) who are affected by this problem have?
You should get in touch with Steinberg because it could help them if they haven’t figured it out already, and there are so many complaints about this from Mac users. Of course, Steinberg acknowledged the issue, but we’re not sure if it will be fixed or not.
wow… Snappy on both Hack and MBP?
Try this? (see video in second post)
Yeah, I also run Cubase on Macbook Pros (early 2011 + late 2015) and a Hackintosh (6700k, 64gb memory, GTX 750ti). The MBP’s are unbelievably sluggish with regard to the UI, had been since Cubase 7, so no surprise there. The Hackintosh though, that runs Cubase almost smoothly, but it wasn’t until I turned off graphics acceleration for Cubase that it started being a little better.
My main machine is an i7 5820k running Windows 10 (32gb memory, GTX 650), and Cubase is almost perfectly smooth and fast on that (but it’s been getting slower), but compared to Reaper, Studio One and now even Pro Tools… 
(seriously Cubase is being outclassed by Pro Tools now…) it’s just slow and clunky.
Now I know my GPUs are very old and underpowered for today’s AAA games, but they should both be more than adequate for any desktop application like Cubase. I use these GPUs because they work very well and stay cool enough for passive/fanless cooling. So if the solution to my MacOS problem is to rip a GTX 980 or 1080 out of my HTPC and have a jet engine in my studio then no thanks, I’d prefer for the software to be designed well enough to work with any GPU. (for the record I’ve tried a GTX 970 and 980 with the Hackintosh, made no difference).
I know that looking backwards doesn’t really make a lot of sense in the software world but I don’t know what was so wrong with Cubase 6 that caused Steinberg to break the UI. I understand the new advancements in window handling and all that, but considering what the software costs and the long development time I can’t excuse the shoddy programming. I mean in Cubase on Windows the project title isn’t even centered on the menubar (the menubar that no Windows user asked for, wanted, or likes). Can’t someone on their dev team just take that 4 minutes and adjust the X value to center it?
Same here, Windows 10, C 8.5.2 GUI isnt smooth in comaprison to reaper or S1.(I also noticed that it has been getting slower with each version). It can specially be seen in scrolling of the arangement and play cursor.
When editing multitrack drums via slice and quantize GUI and response grinds to a halt, making edits almost impossible (this wasnt the case in 7 and 7.5).
PS
The frequency of maintenance updates is also degrading with each version (last one was in june) 
Hi guys, recently started using Cubase 8.5.2 again, did clean install of 8.5 and then updated to 8.5.2. My machine is with Win10 64bit. I just don’t understand what went wrong, but when I started it, the GUI and the whole performance got REALLY slow and it was unusable. I tried updating eLicenser, audio drivers (RME Fireface UCX), reinstall, but it did not help. Then I unplugged elicenser from one USB slot (USB 2) and put it into another (USB 3). When I fired up Cubase, it is now behaving as it should - but will see when I start throwing instruments, etc. Do you think it’s possible or?
Moved to Mac earlier this year. El Cap and 8.5
GUI is sluggish.
I’m sure the dev team at Steinberg are well aware of GUI speed. It would be great to hear from them about why this seems to be such a hard nut to crack.
The last time I experienced a truly snappy GUI on Mac (always been on Mac) was Nuendo 1.x. around 2002.
Ever since OSX the GUI on Mac, in Nuendo and then Cubase, has been slow. Just look at the meters - they always lag behind the signal they are displaying. This isn’t too much of an issue, it looks bad but doesn’t affect workflow. But a slow GUI, as soon as the project has to handle large numbers of parts, is a real pain.
AIUI Windows has long enjoyed a much snappier GUI in Cubase - leading to the idea that something about OSX is to blame. If that’s no longer true, I wonder what the issues for Cubase development really are?
I’m on Windows and can’t say that it feels solid here as well.
All navigation, window enlargement, mixer view all feels a bit raw and sluggish.