Invisible programme/instrument/insert titles in Cubase now blend in nicely with the background.
And the ‘upgrade’ to Groove Agent 5.2.20 made Groove Agent invisible to Cubase but Activated in Activation Manager.
Something that is broke is the window that pops up to tell which programme version I’m using - and the hundred people responsible;
it locks my system so I have to use Task Manager to crash Cubase.
Way to go, Steinboobs.
That should never “pop up” unless you click on the “about.” I would suggest the issue is on your system because I don’t think it has been mentioned here.
Can you post a screen shot?
Is it visible in the Plug-In Manager?
I agree with the sentiments of your post title, it would be sitcom-worthy laughable how successfully and reliably Steinberg is at introducing new bugs with every update, breaking things that were fine previously, or as you put it, upholding their “…Oath: If it ain’t broke, ‘fix’ it” - except it hugely detracts from the workflow and the enjoyment of using the program (case in point - the loss of the CTRL-ALT-DRAG duplication documentation/functionality in Cubase 14.0.20, as described in another thread).
What a unique talent they have (I don’t really notice that sort of problem with other programs I use, from the likes of SynchroArts, Microsoft, Izotope, etc.)!
In all transparency, I kind of feel the same way about these kinds of posts. People clearly aren’t asking for “help,” and almost every one of them are people from years ago making one post with no actionable information at all. So I just ignore them… I actually think some are fake.
The only reason I’m even replying here is because you’re rather active in the forum, and I’m kind of surprised to see you say that. My educated guess on this is that these must be “custom” Windows systems. I’m certainly not saying that there aren’t bugs in releases, but I’ve been upgrading through C12 to C13P to C14P and N13-N14, and I simply don’t experience any issues that would remotely qualify as “sitcom-worth laughable.” It’s SO far out there, that if you were someone other than you, I’d just ignore the post altogether.
I’m typing this on a brand-new Mac Studio, and the downloading of SDA was seamless, as was the product downloads. I ran SAM, activated everything trivially without issue. I copied my Cubase14 and Nuendo14 Preferences folders from my other MBP, and I was immediately back up and running, loading previous project seamlessly (other than dealing with plug-ins I purposefully didn’t reinstall). I can count on one hand I think the actual “bugs” I’ve encountered.
And it’s the same general source code, of course. So one can’t help but wonder where the problem really lies.
This will undoubtedly sound critical and snide, and I’ll say now it’s not my intention; but in all transparency, after reading your post, it’s not “Steinberg” who I’m now questioning. If you want to identify dev issues, then right on. That’s fair. But disparaging comments like “sitcom-worthy laughable” and “unique talent” simply take away from who I thought you were.
Fair enough, @Thor.HOG , thanks for your comments.
It is how I feel, I’ve never had an experiences with a software vendor as I do with Steinberg.
I guess it’s a matter of perception - mine is that a quick review of the forum shows many legitimate user observations regarding things that Steinberg unnecessarily broke in an update (the recent CTRL-ALT-DRAG thread, e.g.), or released in an a maddeningly incomplete /significantly dysfunctional manner (very significant VCA issues, e.g.) . Sure some reports simply reflect user/operator error, but (IMO, again), many are Steinberg errors, usually of the “own goal” type.
I accept you, and of course others, may look at the same data and feel differently.
Thanks again -
None of the above are DAWs, and I think that matters. Other than PT 15 years ago I have only used Cubase so I’m not qualified to compare.
I do know the DAW business is extremely competitive and it’s prosumer driven resulting in prosumer results. Prosumers won’t pay 3k for a DAW with annual $500 updates providing diminishing returns to have fewer issues and less broken/unfinished features.
DAWs exist in the middle of a statistical standard bell curve. Look where the money is. Professional, or every-day users with income and deadlines seem to make the DAW work…or they change to something that works better for them.
With the OP, I was not sure. It sounds like a rant. But if the OP is serious, there will be clarifications and specific issues addressed. Give it a few days. If nothing, then I know the OPs objective.
Point well- taken, @Greg_Purkey.
Underlying all this, I too have only used Cubase (99.9% accurate), so I understand I’m very liable to be coming from a very naive point of view.
I just haven’t gotten comfortable with an idea consistent with the fact that it’s OK for DAWs to inhabit a different place in the customer-corporation relationship universe than just about everything else I pay money for.
Even if the OP motivation was just to rant out of frustration - that has some value in this forum as well, IMO.
I’ll stop addressing the OP’s title and related text, to allow further discussion of the technical details he brought up.
Thanks again 
Greg Purkey:
“That should never “pop up” unless you click on the “about.” I would suggest the issue is on your system because I don’t think it has been mentioned here.”
I consult Download Assistant to check for Updates then click Help > About Cubase/HALion 7/Groove Agent 5 to check which version I’m currently using. Surprised no-one else experiences this pop-up problem.
“Can you post a screen shot?”
Previously was white background and black print, like every other DAW. Surely fixable but I’m annoyed having to revise colour schemes because of some ‘improvement’ nobody asked for.
“Is it visible in the Plug-In Manager?”
Nope, only Groove Agent SE. Having to crash out of Cubase may be the cause. No joy re-installing Groove Agent 5.
Regards,
GO
Why is this so surprising? You’re the one having the issue, not everyone else. It doesn’t happen period. There is something wrong with YOUR installation or system that is causing this issue. Invisible fonts? Not happening here, or with the majority of Cubase users. You would think there would be tons of posts on this, but it’s just your single one that’s only 1 day old.
Like @Thor.HOG my Mac mini has been absolutely flawless with my Cubase setup since I moved back to it at version 11 (and Im on my second Mini since then, and even changed CPU architectures). I use Groove Agent 5.2.20 every single day, multiple tracks at a time, not a single issue with it or Halion 7.
If you want help, you’re going to need to work with the forums a little more instead of just complaining every time you post about isolated issues on your own setup. You were asked for a simple screenshot, and failed to provide even that. Hell, nobody even knows if you’re running Windows 11 or Windows 2000 at this point.
p.s. reproducing this schema today did indeed lock my computer. ‘Works’ by opening Updates/My Product Downloads in Download Assistant then clicking on all of Help > About Cubase, HALion 7 and Groove Agent SE to see versions currently in use et voilà! pop-up disappears but remains in the background so whatever’s subsequently clicked results in ‘ping’.
p.p.s. it’s the Cubase 14 pop-up disappears and then causes the problem.
The reason a screenshot (or even better, a video) is being asked for is because this isn’t reproducible the way you’ve described it. Your “instructions” talk about first just opening the SDA but then using the “about” feature in Cubase, HALion, and GA (which has nothing to do with SDA). Since the “about” windows in the plugins of HALion and GA, as well as the Cubase app itself, are “modal” you’d have to click-out of each of those before using “about” on a different plugin. If you’re saying that “Cubase’s ‘about’ dialog disappears when I click it, but the modal dialog doesn’t seem to go away thus ‘locking’ my system” then I don’t understand why you’re bring up all the non sequitur references to other applications.
It just makes it hard to even try to reproduce what you say you’re experiencing.
As such, when you repeatedly refuse to provide screenshots or a clear description of what you’re doing, you should expect pushback from others in the forum particularly when you say things like the “dev team has taken an oath to break things” and use immature names like “Steinboobs.” I mean, it just makes it sound like you’re a 12-year-old who doesn’t know how to use his system and is blaming other people for that.
So after all these posts, I would suggest to post a video so that people can actually see if it’s something they can help with, or maybe try your approach in a different way. Just my thoughts, anyway.