What should I expect moving to a Mac from PC for Cubase?

Cubase
1

After having my hair pulled out way too many times I’m finally contemplating moving to an old Mac Pro to run Cubase 7.5/8 and possibly 9 when it comes out.

What are the things I"m going to miss out? I get the feeling Cubase is PC-centered and Mac is an afterthought.

1). My PreSonus Faderport won’t work.
2). Possible deal breaker: vst-xml translator (http://vstxmltranslator.blogspot.com/) doesn’t exist for a Mac.
3). How do I open my existing projects created on a PC? file system compatibility issues?
4). Mouse/Keyboard shortcuts - I don’t know how Ctrl/Alt and right click translate to the Mac world (yes Im a noob).
5). Possible performance issues as Cubase seems to be optimized for PC.

Anything else? Anything at all positive to come out of this move? :mrgreen:

2

If you’re having computer issues I would strongly recommend to just buy a new PC and/or interface instead of switching to Mac if possible. The OS X version of Cubase is fine, it’s perfectly suitable for professional work, but it does work a little worse than the PC version, partly because OS X itself runs things slightly less efficiently than Windows 7~10.

3

I see. It’s not my PC’s hardware or the soundcard (RME 9652) that is the problem - it seems that certain software when installed and uninstalled messes up my computer and getting it back to an unbroken state seems like hit and miss.

I LOVE Cubase when it works without crashing. I finished some work recently and it didn’t crash even once and I was so surprised. That seems like pure dumb luck. Sigh…

4

i use macbook when travelling with band/live shows but PC desktop for actual production. the main things i noticed when switching to mac was a few of the key commands different and keyboard layout other than that its pretty adaptable.

also scrolling is reverse

5

Cubase Pro 8 Mac OS X 10.10.5 and Windows 7 Performance Comparison - YouTube Cubase works perfectly reliable on my mac. Always have, and I would recommend mac over PC anyday. There are more freebies on PC, but I would be carefull with that. All serious plugins works on mac and PC. Projects can be transfered both ways. Saying cubase is just an afterthought on mac is just silly. You cant be in the proaudio software business without supporting macs 100%. To choose between windows or mac is more a question about witch OS you prefer. Cubase is identical on both systems.

6

Very interesting! Hmm…I guess its worth a shot to install on a mac and try it out. The thing is most of my vsts are handled by VEP so the only thing the daw needs to do is to load reverbs, compressors, eq (most of which are Cubase plugins) and a few 3rd party effects.

7
8

To run Cubase Pro 8 / 8.5 and 9 in the near future. You will have to forget about 7.5. Which is not supported on the latest OSX.

As for performance on Mac. I use Cubase almost everyday. I’ve tested my system with up to 200 VSTi and unlimited audio tracks. No crashes since 8.5 has been in my computer. You can also expect a more user friendly osx experience vs PC.

For example connect and disconnect hardware when Cubase in open without crashing or stop working.
Remove USB elicense when Cubase is open without crashing.
Better midi and more Professional sound more accurate audio exports.
What you hear in Cubase will be the same in iTunes, and iPod…

As for the windows/mouse scroll it can be costomized in the settings. You can also learn to use OS X and Cubase by
Testing it with the command, option, shift and function keys which you will mainly use in Cubase on Mac.

9

That things just work.

10

I’ll be running Yosemite in a Mac Pro 1,1. I figured Cubase 7.5 would work fine there. I have 8 but the dark colors put me off and the performance was worse, so I’ve been hanging on to 7.5.

11

You can adjust the colors in the Cubase settings, or adjust your monitor.

12

I moved to Mac recently after using Cubase on PC for many years. Overall the switch has been seamless from a Cubase standpoint.

  • All plugins I owned had Mac VST64 versions
  • Installing plugins on Mac is less troublesome than PC (OS X has a dedicated location for VST plugins, you won’t even be prompted for a location during plugin installs)
  • OS X detects USB MIDI and even audio interfaces while inside Cubase, so there’s no need to restart if your controller isn’t turned on when you start Cubase (I know this is a small thing but it is really nice)
  • Performance differences for me have honestly been a non-issue, particularly when you factor in the awesome Thunderbolt audio interfaces you can get for Mac right now which improve performance (I bought a Focusrite Clarett 2Pre)

On the cons side, the biggest issue (which you won’t face with an old Mac Pro) is that I can’t upgrade storage easily on my MacBook Pro … and I need more for sample libraries now :frowning: …

With all that said, I never had any real issues on Windows 8.1 / Cubase 6.5.5 for many years and unless you have the Mac Pro lying around, I’d just stick with PC because when you’re inside Cubase, it all kinda feels the same :slight_smile:

13

So is it possible to make it like 7.5? I.e. Lighter background arrange?

That’s probably the biggest reasons I’m still in 7.5

14

As bright and silly as you want it to be. You can customize almost every color in Cubase.

(Note that some colors weren’t applied because I didn’t restart Cubase.)

15

Nice! But that’s too bright for me. I just want EXACTLY the look of Cubase 7.5 AND the fonts.

I’ll gladly buy you a coffee if you could make a theme that’s as close to C7.5 as possible. :mrgreen:

16

Me too! Necro bump, but I just want Cubase colours of V7! Surely Steinberg can included this scheme in an update? They must know the codes for the colours they used.