Some thoughts about the Future direction of Steinberg and it's products

[Thurisaz]

Hello @Matthias_Quellmann,
Thank you very much for the team’s hard work on bringing Cubase 15 up to all of us.
The DAW really gets modern with every release.

I would like to suggest few general ideas about the future destination of Cubase/Nuendo and Steinberg in general. I would like to invite @dspreadbury to see this comment.

1. Would be nice to see a centralization of the Audio Editing in Cubase/Nuendo

   • Something like Pro Tools’ - BeatDetective tool is a “must to have” in every modern DAW

   • BeatDetective makes the audio quantization and editing much faster than it is in Cubase/Nuendo currently.

2. This one is inspired by UAD Luna and their “Analogue” approach.

   • It’s nice that Cubase/Nuendo become more and more powerful towards sound design and electronic music, but still the Analogue Sound trend is growing.

   • Harrison Mixbus and Cakewalk are another DAWs which following the “Analogue” trend..

   • When it comes to “Analogue” even the GUI is important, to make you feel in an analogue environment.

3. Something Blackmagic - Davici Resolve and Affinity 3 (by Canva) inspired.

   • Would be great if we could have “All in One” (Cubase, Nuendo, Dorico, WaveLab and SpectraLayers) within a single, multi-module, application.

   • The availability of the modules will depend on the purchased licenses

   • Would be great if one doesn’t need to leave the app, or to launch another one, in order to accomplish all the needed tasks.

   • It will be more comfortable for those who uses instrument host like Vienna Ensemble Pro. It would be hard to connect two apps to VEP e.g. Dorico + Cubase.

   • Apps like Divisimate could be easily used for notation, due to it’s connection with Cubase/Nuendo. Currently it’s impossible to use it with Dorico.

   • Working with multiple applications isn’t a good idea and takes time jumping from one another.

   • That way those who need the Score Editor in Cubase will be able to use directly a limited edition of Dorico that covers the functionalities of the current Score Editor. The Score Editor in the Lower Zone should be preserved.

   • Dorico will be able to take advantage of the Cubase/Nuendo Mix Console, which is a very powerful tool.

   • Those of us who need to be able to import Audio to Dorico, will be able to use some limited edition of Cubase, or they could invest in Cubase Pro / Nuendo.

   • Cubase/Nuendo could take advantage of Dorico’s Expression/Percussion Maps, Playback Templates, Playing Techniques, Flows, Stages, Voices ordering per Staff, Automatic Performance and many tools that make the performance editing easier and faster.

   • The idea that is present in Dorico, about the Audio Engine as separate module is great! In case of a crash of the Audio Engine, the Dorico project is secured. This could be embraced in the “All in One” app I am suggesting.

   • An audio could be transcribed to notation by VariAudio, or Melodyne (A.R.A.).

   • The Dorico - Play mode could be replaced by fully functional Cubase Pro/Nuendo, or limited Cubase Artist, Elements, AI… (depending on the purchased license).

   • Most probably Qt should be adopted as the framework for the “All in One” app.

4. Let’s make Cubase/Nuendo more hardware integrated (another Luna inspired idea):

   • Luna has deep integration with the UAD interfaces Apollo and Volt. Here is an example of integration between Luna and Volt:
     https://youtu.be/RDEF2fxLzAY?t=227
   • Such integration with an audio interfaces as RME, Antelope, UAD… and digital mixers as Allen&Heath, Soundcraft, Behringer, Midas, Yamaha… will make Cubase/Nuendo a very preferable for studio and live recording.
   • The ability to control all the interface/mixer parameters within the DAW is a very comfortable and important feature. It eliminates the need to jump, back and forth, between the DAW and the interface/mixer software console.

5. Graphic tablets integration for Dorico.

   • No doubt an ability to manually input notes, by writing them into Dorico, will make the workflow more straightforward and closer to writing on paper.
   • Definitely we need a functionality like StaffPad in Dorico.
   • The graphic tablets are much affordable than tablets like iPad.

Best regards,
Thurisaz

P.S.: I would like to leave this thread here, too, as it is somehow related to the ideas I’m sharing here:

Cubase 15 - thoughts about direction (No judgement)

Well, here it is. Cubase 15. A lot has been done - so far, so good. Am I the only one with the following impression: Cubase is more and more specifically targeted at those who create kinds of electronic music, sound design and related things? A kind of “supersynthesizer” - with shrinking focus on the recording/daw functionality. I dont mean that as a rant, just an observation of what is added and improved. Yes, there are examples for other “genres” (i.e. Expression maps). For an upgrade from…