I’ve just asked Steinberg Support the following questions, but I though I’d ask the real users of the software for a definitive answer.
I’m interested in buying Steinberg Cubase but computer is running Microsoft Windows XP Pro OS.
Question 1:
I’ve read on the internet that Steinberg Cubase Version 5 is the last version which supports Microsoft Windows XP Pro? Is this correct?
(The problem is, the plugins I’ve already bought were for Windows XP Pro)
Question 2:
Does Steinberg still sell Cubase Version 5?
Question 3:
Any idea of the price of Cubase 5, is it the same as Steinberg Cubase 8.5?
Question 4:
If I bought Steinberg Cubase Version 5 from ebay or a previous user, would i still be able to register the software to get the final Cubase 5 update?
One last question…
Is it simply worth biting the bullet and upgrading to run Cubase 8.5 on a Macbook Pro?
Really appreciate your time to answer my questions, thank you!
It’s probably true that Cubase 5 was the last version that is officially supported on XP. However, many users have been using later versions on XP without problems. It’s certainly worth trying, especially considering question 2 and 3:
Steinberg only sell the most up to date license that is available at the time. However, this license allows you to use ANY older version you wish. So currently, if you want to buy a new license, you will have to get a Cubase Pro 8.5 license, but that license will allow you to run Cubase 5 (or 4 or 6 or anything else up to 8.5). So that gives you a lot of room to experiment with what works on your computer.
When buying a 2nd hand license, I don’t know the prices obviously, but the same thing applies. If you buy a Cubase 6 license you can use that to try Cubase 5 too. If you have a registered license in mysteinberg, you can download all the installers for different Cubase versions from there.
Upgrading to a newer computer would make more sense to me, most older plugins will work in newer versions of Cubase, I would establish that fact with the developers of the plugs to be sure however. Many devs have their own support forums, might be worth a look to see if you can get with the times, XP is a great OS, but Win7 will probably do what you want even with the older plugs. Plus you can move to 64bit later, which you cannot do on XP. I know some folks will stay on old versions indefinitely, its a matter of taste.
I run version 8 on my main computer, but I’m running version 6 on my very old laptop with XP on it, so I can at least confirm for you that 6 functions under XP without problems.
