Yep, would really like ARA support.
A SONAR refugee here- Bought Cubase AND Studio One to have multiple options.
Cubase is way more polished and complete with really a really deep feature set, but I was really disappointed to learn that it doesn’t support ARA. Until you have ARA you don’t realize how much easier it is working with Melodyne and Vocalign.
So Cubase is my primary DAW going forward, but adding my +1 for this feature request.
Just so everyone who is coming over from Sonar knows, Cubase has a function called VariAudio. It is a basic version of an integrated Melodyne. It is available on a tab in the inspector when selecting an audio event or on the side of the audio editor. It is not as full featured as Melodyne, but it does basic tuning and adjustments very well. And, it does it directly inline in the editor.
Because of the work done for VariAudio, most of us think it is unlikely to get ARA. Just setting expectation. But, VariAudio has MILES to go before it can even remotely do all of the things Melodyne does. So, I still hold out some hope 
I am just waiting for Studio One to add tape slowing functions then I am out of Cubase for good.
Thanks for clarifying- As you point out, just because a function similar to Melodyne exists doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t prefer to actually use Melodyne. Also, there is Vocalign which is hard to use in Cubase, a breeze in Studio One, and as far as I know there’s no equivalent built-in Cubase functionality. I’m sure there will be more ARA applications in the future as well, so it seems a bit shortsighted not to add ARA support.
It’s going to sound like am arguing, but I really am not. I want ARA support. I just think it is unlikely.
Even in the case of Vocalign, there are warp tools available and hitpoint detection/editing that can be used to do similar but more basic approach to that process. Just like with VariAudio and Melodyne, what part VariAudio does is pretty good … it’s just missing so many nuances that it’s hard to compare. Same with Hitpoints and Warp. It does some basic parts you need it to. But, doesn’t have the depth you want if you are used to integrated Vocalign.
I will add my +1…again. Been doing this for quite a few years now it seems.
Another Sonar refugee and Melodyne Studio user adding my +1.
Not at all, I completely understand what you’'re saying.
However, isn’t this kind of like saying “My DAW has built-in effects like a channel strip and Eq, so no need to add support for 3rd party VST plug-ins?”
(In fact I think that’s the position taken by the entry level version of Studio One.)
Maybe a bit of NIH? Steinberg developed the VST standard, but ARA was Presonus and Celemony.
+1
+1
+1
I work a lot with Melodyne and think about the lack of ARA support to switch to Studio One
ahahahahah best post so far !
Just to compare for those who haven’t used it, here are the instructions for Vocalign for Cubase vs. a DAW with ARA. If you have used ARA you know why some of us keep asking for it:
-------ARA DAW----------
Drag audio events onto Guide and Dub areas in plugin window.
Aligns automatically. (Really is that simple.)
--------CUBASE------------
In Cubase, add VocALign Project as an Insert on the track to be aligned (the ‘Dub’ track)
by selecting Other>VocALign Project from the list of plug-ins that drops down when you
click on an available Insert slot, as shown in Figure 2 Selecting VocALign as an Insert in
CubaseFigure 2.
The VocALign plug-in window will open as shown in Figure 3.
Turn on the side chain input in VocALign by pressing the fifth button from the top left of
the plug-in’s window, as shown in Figure 4.
Now select a ‘Guide’ track in Cubase (the material to which the Dub will be aligned) and
route one of its Sends to the side chain of the Dub track Insert that controls VocALign, as
shown in Figure 5. Set the gain of the Send to 0 dB and turn it on.
In Cubase, select the start point of the audio you want to process, using Cubase’s time
line. (The Guide and Dub audio should be approximately in the same place.)
In the VocALign window press Capture Audio. The light in that button will glow yellow
and show Stop Capture to show that it is waiting for audio. (You can press it again to
cancel the capture if necessary.)
Press Play (space bar) in Cubase. The light in the button will flash green while the audio
is being captured. The selected section of the Dub track will be loaded into VocALign and
a pair of waveforms will be displayed in the VocALign window showing the selected Guide
Provided the Guide audio content is sufficiently similar to the Dub, starts in roughly the
same place and has a small amount of lead-in containing a bit of background noise,
press Process and the Dub audio will be aligned to the Guide audio as well as possible.
The display changes to an energy plot of the two extracts and in the Guide window the
yellow trace shows how the energy of the Dub is matched to that of the Guide. Press
Play in Cubase, after moving the time line back to the start of the region in question,
and you will hear the effect of the alignment.
Use Cubase’s Export…>Audio Mixdown function to create an audio file of the Aligned
Dub. (This can be found under Cubase’s File menu, as shown in Figure 7.) Set Cubase’s
location indicators so that they highlight the time region of audio that is to be mixed
down. Select the Dub track to be mixed down. The mixdown options are discussed in
more detail in the Tutorial. Make sure the original tracks in Cubase are not muted,
faded down or solo’ed, then press Export to create the aligned file. This will be available
in Cubase’s Pool and can optionally be written to a spare track as part of the mixdown
process.
The fact that people on this forum seem to get annoyed at feature requests that they don’t personally need or want really puzzles me and makes me laugh. So afraid that some other request or issue will not be fixed because of some preceived resource limit. Steinberg is going to do what they do. Ours is to ask for features or fixes not complain about others asking for stuff they personally don’t want.
Thanks for that write up. I have used Melodyne in Cubase’s, and was set to try VocAlign today. So very timely. Yes, ARA was super easy. But for now these slightly extended processes for Melodyne and VocAlign are worth. Still wish I could control the time within Melodyne and not to keep going back to the Cubase window to change start times. Thanks.
Balinas try using your MCU to control the transport and jog wheel to fine tune start times becasue it is ‘hard wired’ to cubase and still works when the melodyne window is on top.
Thanks. I will try that!
+1