What are your thoughts at this stage?
Why do Steinberg nearly always choose Christmas to start charging again? There were 5 maintenance (bug fix) patches released for Cubase 9 and here we are forking out again!
The opinion on this update is basically universally positive. It runs better, too.
There was a time when a .5 release would have been free update. I guess we can thank the pirates for that
To clarify, this isnāt an update, itās an upgrade!
Iāve been using Cubase since SX3 and for the 1st time I can say I would have paid double for this upgrade -
damn glad I didnāt have to, but, after using it for a couple of days, it would still have been worth it!
I installed it. Watched the promo vids a couple of times. Paged through the PDF and played around for a bit, then dove right in and finished a clientās full mix on it - and still had time to left to flesh out 2 great new ideas of my own as I explored deeper into what they gave us.
The custom metronomes, 64bit internals, DOP2, 16 inserts and the drag midi to sampler features are simply awesome and thatās just a sprinkle of what is definitely the best .5 upgrade to date!
There are so many cool, inspiring and timesaving new tweaks that Iām left wondering what strange magic these audio wizards are planning to brew up for us in the next release to top it!
I run cubase 9.0 and my previous update from 4.5 cost something like $500. now its another $99 to go from 9.0 to 9.5. say $600 in total.
I also paid another $150 to get Groove Agent 4. so total expense about $750. certainly not cheep.
at the same time as I did the cubase update, i also bought a full version of Logic Pro X for $199.
I had never had Logic before, so I went from Logic Zero, to Logic Pro X for $199.
so $750 for cubase verses $199 for LOGIC.
Bang for the buck Cubase is not in the race.
also charging extra for the drum plugins that reside inside the program (groove agent) is bad karma.
the drum plugins inside logic are at least as powerful , and are included FREE of charge.
no wonder Logic is the preferred platform for so many users, and bang for the buck wins hands down.
Steinberg please pay attention.
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I donāt want to be complaining but why is the 8.5 to 9.5 upgrade so expensive after all, itās almost more expensive that going trough the every distinct upgrade? Guess Steinberg/Yamaha wantās everyone to get the latest upgrade ASAP to raise some money for the development (which is expensive). On the other hand the ā¬159 is not that much for a professional software at least if you count in the free updates. Also itās not a must to get the upgrades unlike with the OS upgrades, the 8.5 version is still great piece of software. IMHO the .5 upgrades are better than the all new releases as they are less buggy, thatās why I usually skip those whole number releases. Still Iām looking elsewhere, was reading Traction Waveform manual yesterday and it did seem to have almost all the same functionalities as Cubase Pro regarding the usual audio and MIDI tracking and editing (less notation and some). I think Cubase Pro has grown too big a program and thatās why it is so expensive, and itās still growing and getting more expensive. In software engineering terms itās becoming a Blop and needs refactoring. If something new is implemented some old stuff can be removed. Also regarding the product all the extra content and plugins kind of make it big but are not necessary to all of the users. I kind of like how Ableton and Cakewalk make their product lines (except that Live Intro cannot be upgraded at all). You can get the Sonar Professional retail (not an upgrade) today for ā¬114, but their Platinium version with extra plugins (Drum Replacer etc.) and content costs a lot more (+$300 list).
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Yes it is worth the fee.
every penny
No, itās NOT. Itās exactly the same price if you had bought all upgrades separately. $99,99 for Cubase Pro 9 + $59,99 for Cubase Pro 9.5.
Congratulations for the completely off-topic post. Here we go.
First off, Logic is not as complete as Cubase. They had to lower their price to stay competitive, and part of this price is included with your ridiculously overpriced Mac.
Your numbers are wrong. The upgrade from Cubase 4 is $299, the same price it was to upgrade from Cubase 4 to 7. When you upgraded to Cubase 9, you got 4 years of upgrades for free.
The upgrade from 9 to 9.5 is $59, not $99.
NOBODY forced you to buy Groove Agent 4. The free version included with Cubase is quite capable and can load all expansions. Buying the full version is a separate investment that has nothing to do with upgrading Cubase.
Yes, Logic used to be a lot more expensive until Apple bought the company, slashed the price and stopped it being compatible with Windows. Seems like this was obviously motivated by the goal of selling more Mac hardware. Maybe they donāt have to make a profit on the Logic software itself.
Anywayā¦ the upgrade cost of Ā£42.50 (+VAT) even just to get bezier curve automation is a complete no brainer in my book.
Yes the same price indeed but without the added value (of the new product). Also at this time it is no more possible to upgrade to version 9 anymore. If there were no grace periods and steinberg committed to bring out a new upgrade every 7th December (I would prefer 6th Dec our National day) then you could have the choice to go from 8.5 to 9 now (for ā¬99,99) and then later to 9.5 for that ā¬59,99, or rather the upgrades should cost all as much which is about ā¬80. So that would be the annual price (and is now unless you happen to get it for a discounted price).
In U.K. itās Ā£50. Thatās less than Ā£1 per week til the next paid upgrade. No brainier, reallly. Fab update.
Um, Yesā¦ the upgrade to C9.5 is completely and utterly worth the fee (Ā£51.00 from C9).
Lots of deep joy and happiness from so many, over the past few days about this update - you canāt have missed itā¦
Great stuff Steiny.!!
No-brainer.
Carried on with a part-completed complex project last night, without a single error message or any manual re-configuration necessary- no crashes or hangs, and no sentinel blacklisted plug-ins popping out of the woodwork. Thatās the first test passed - now to look at using some of the new functionality.
Maybe complainers should spend their Ā£50 on a secondhand Tascam 4-track Portastudio on eBay. Thatās what you really deserve for Ā£50. Thatās the trouble with the Internet App generation - they generally have little appreciation for what things should cost - expecting the earth for (almost) nothing.
FWIW it costs me more per MONTH for my Adobe Creative suite subscription.
Haha. At the risk of sounding like an old git, this is very true. Reminds me of the time I bought my first EMU sampler. I Paid Ā£2,500 on a 3 year finance deal. Thatās over 4 grand in todayās money and it had considerably less functionality than the Cubase Sampler Track. The kids donāt know how easy they have it! 
I thought Cubase didnāt get piracy any more?
Well either way not right to punish the users for it.
I think we can thank Steinbergās declining sales to the competition for it really.
Yes, best one for years I think.
Good grief. What is it with people always attacking ācomplainersā? Imagine if no one ever complained about anything. Bugs would never get fixed, and the software would never improve.
FWIW it costs me more per MONTH for my Adobe Creative suite subscription.
Yeah zoinc Adobe though. I used to LOVE Audition, but thereās no way Iām paying double what they charge for photoshop for a product that used to cost half as much. $20 a month for an application that used to cost $300? Get fucked.
Uhā¦noā¦nice try thoā¦
Canāt even remember when Cubase pirating was even an issueā¦ SX3-ish? lol
The CMC and CC121 modules still work but there hasnāt been an update in what, 3 years?
Cubase .5 updates are no longer free.
Less updates and more pay-to-play and has nothing to do with āCubase Piratingā,
This is the new Steinaha business modelā¦
The problem is all the bugs that keep popping up that donāt get fixed and when they do, 2 others pop up or get re-introduced.
That said, IMO itās stable enough for me to use and this āupdateā has some nice features that I wanted. Is it complete? No.
- Current price is $59 not $99 to move to 9.5
- There is no bang for the buck with Logic bro, you are buying a $4,000 Mac dongle to run it. Apple is giving away LogicProX as they have no vested interest in it other than to hook you on on a shiny new Mac. Yes , I have LogicProX as well, great app IMO
- Ive paid a LOT of money to run Cubase over the years since SX1, HOWEVER, it has been my DAW of choice so there is that support cost on the users end. Reaper is only $60 if you want to go that route (I have that too)
- I dont use ANY of Steinbergs VSTis here, their loss. EZ2 is way better.
- If you feel that strongly, stop supporting Steinberg and give Apple your dough, simple decision IMO