Underwhelming For The Extra Long Wait - What's The Deal?

Cubase
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So I just checked out the features list for Cubase 13 and I’ve watched several different promotional and review videos and is it me or does Cubase 13 seem extremely underwhelming?

For me, the highlight features are:

  1. Stereo/Mono Track Button
  2. Range Tool in MIDI Editor
  3. Route Input Audio from other tracks

2 of 3 of those you could sorta already do, but it just saves an extra step. You could always use the Range Tool on a MIDI event from the main project window. And you could always route audio from one track and use it as input for another; you’d just have to route the audio to a group channel and then select the group channel as the input for the other track.

Everything else is either such a tiny improvement that I’m really trying to determine if it would even be useful/practical, or it’s another built-in VST, which I’m sure is great for those just starting who can’t afford extra VST’s, but 3rd Party companies have already made better or equally good versions of all these plugins. For instance, Izotope’s Vocal Synth is probably even easier to use than the new vocoder plugin, and with Vocal Synth you have more control over the timbre of the carrier. I was disappointed that there is no real timbre controls/options for the carrier.

I’m not sure the new Channel Tab does a whole lot, if anything, that the Inspector tab couldn’t already do. You could already see the output fader, the sends, the EQ, the plugins, etc… on the Inspector tab… so is the difference that you can see multiple at once? If so, couldn’t that have just been a preference change for the Inspector tab?

The improve video functionality sounds cool. I thought that replace audio in video was already an option but maybe now this is faster because the old version re-rendered the graphics and now it doesn’t? Actually, now that I think about it, none of the videos I watched, including the official product videos, mentioned this new feature.

Overall, it seems like there are some good steps in the right direction, but the steps are so small that it feels really weird after waiting soooooooooooooooooooooo long for Cubase 13 to come out. I was hoping they’d have something a little more revolutionary for the extra wait. I’ve seen a lot of people mention a gapless audio engine; that would have made it worth the wait I think.

I know every release they say that they’ve made it more fast and stable and they’ve cleaned it up and fixed bugs, but every release always seems to be riddled with tons of new bugs. So did that extra time go toward fixing all the bugs or something? Or what did all the time/resources go to???

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Automation track versions would have been nice.

Polyphonic tuning or alternate tuning implementation in variaudio would be pretty revolutionary.

The ability to completely randomize any/all parameters on any VST would be sick. Or a key command that could select random presets on any VST.

Personally, I’d like to have an exception to certain plugins on “close all plugins”.

Steinberg, I got a whole list of good/practical ideas if you’re running out of ideas.

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Thank goodness they gave us new Pultec emulations. Forgot all the posts and countless threads about bug fixes, we have new Pultec EQs. Gee thanks, I can toss them alongside the 500 other Putlec emulations we all have ffs… :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:

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Right? It seems like they are trying to fill a gap that 3rd parties have already filled. I think they should focus more on improving the DAW, because you can’t just buy a 3rd party plugin to improve the DAW; only they can improve Cubase.

I wonder if they’re getting ready to pivot. Perhaps Cubase/Nuendo isn’t selling as well these days so they’re slowing pivoting their focus on VST plugins, so they can continue to make money selling to people who don’t even use Cubase/Nuendo.

Actually, that’s probably it. That combined with the lack of productivity post-covid. Feels like they just repackaged a lot of the existing features in a hurry to pretend like they did something worthy of upgrading.

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That’s pretty pointless. The VST(i) market is already saturated and can’t keep a company above water.

I believe this release has been about removing old code and make way for new stuff, but it’s not quite there yet.

Yes, UI is not consistent, but adding a new window management system isn’t something small. The changes made can give you a hint of what may be possible in the future.

Yes, MIDI2.0 is not fully used yet, but getting it ready for the changes to come is a big step. Same with MIDI Remote vs. Generic Remote.

Maybe C13 isn’t the big hit it could be, but it makes way for a great C14. Personally, I had hoped for an update/alternative for expression maps as they still suck big time. On the other hand, in a few years, when MIDI2.x is actually used by VST manufacturers (esp. Kontakt, Soundpaint, Sine, Play) there may be no need for these weird workarounds that we have today with keyswitches and what have you.

I do agree though, that adding yet another EQ, yet another vocal chain etc isn’t helping anyone (except absolute beginners). Even the existing Cubase stock plugins are already good enough to not justify a vocal chain all in one VST.

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For me it’s mostly about the improved features in the Key Editor. But hey…that goes to show everyone has different priorities.

Now, with the Stereo/Mono track button, I can erase the macro shortcuts I had created and stored on Metagrid that I had used for the past many years. That’s another personal improvement!

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Huh? Been there since C12.0.10… great news for you then :smiley:

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Its mostly UI fixes. If thats not for you, thats okay. I personally welcome the UI changes. I waa tired of looking at stone age elements stitched together with modern software.

Also, it does indeed run better over here than 12 did. It also quits right away instead of hanging on exit. A miracle as far as I’m concerned.

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Also very pleased it closes properly. But that’s a basic bug fix that should have been done years ago. The little orchestra is a nice touch and combined with the other vsts etc it’s probably just about worth the money, but C14 needs to be a hell of a lot better!

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Oh really? I wonder if I knew that and just forgot… it’s been so long now… I actually upgraded to 12 but I just use 11 because 12 had too many bugs and it didn’t seem like the bugs were getting fixed very fast.

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Well, I hope you’re right in terms of making way for a great C14.

I don’t think focusing on VST(i)'s is a great strategy, and I don’t think they are completely relying on it, but they are probably trying to diversify and guard against risk in the event that the DAW dies out. The last couple releases have had significant delays and the actual products don’t feel like they benefitted from the extra long delays.

Ultimately, if the focus here was bug fixes and restructuring code to prep for future versions and more creativity/efficiency, then they should really highlight that. I think all in all, the Cubase/Steinberg team should be more open and honest with the community about what it’s doing with Cubase and what the vision for the future looks like. When they are so quiet and secretive for so long, it makes it look like they don’t have any vision and are trying to hide that. And that makes long time users like me to start losing confidence in the company.

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Agreed!

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I think there have not been any major UI differences since introducing the lower zone and also when they allowed for darker color schemes. Everything else is pretty minimal. When comparing the mixing console, it seems like they added little lines for grooves which some might appreciate for the detail while others might dislike because extra detail in an already complex system can be distracting.

Again, it seems like the new left zone does almost exactly what the Inspector (the normal left zone) already does. So then having 2 zones in the same area that do the same thing just feels a little sloppy. And I think that’s what a lot of people are referring to when they don’t like the Cubase aesthetic. Instead of new features being well integrated and the system re-worked, they’re often just added on top of things that already exist. And so you end up with a bunch of extra clutter and convolution. I don’t really mind too much because I’m so used to it all at this point though. But for beginners, I think all that is confusing. However, for me, it just seems silly to pretend that the new left zone is a big new feature.

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Yeah, I think the Stereo/Mono button is the real highlight of C13. It’s sad because it seems so basic. I don’t know if it was a lot of work or a relatively easy thing to implement, but it’s funny that it’s the big highlight feature. I think we can all agree that it’s very useful and glad to see it though

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Also the collapse to mono will only use the left signal, no option to use the right instead.

I had such a terrible time with Cubase 12 crashes that I was considering jumping ship.

So far, it does feel like a 12.5 update but Cubase 13 is more stable on my aging Ryzen 1st gen CPU

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Agree on that. Anyway, I heard in a Cubase Hangout with Greg Ondo before C13 was released that they were then indeed working on, not only C13, but also C14 and even C15! So all resources went not only to C13, but work also went into future releases.