The Sound Board

Following an embarrasing leak by Steinberg themselves (a few people managed to actually buy and download copies themselves two days ago, before the link vanished) and thus a rather stumbled release of into, Cubase 8.5 is out now today, upgrade from 8 is 49 euros, £36 (not sure of USD figures). Here's the 30s intro:



And here are the details:

A More Responsive Mix Console



Import Tracks From Projects
No need to go via Track Archives, import tracks directly from .cprs, optionally as Track Versions

Upgraded Key and Drum Editors
New quick Object selection options for creating notes, adjusting lengths and velocities etc and drum visibility options in the drum editor



Profile Manager
For Pro Only, allows different preferences for different users



Dedicated Punch Points and other Transport changes
Optional separate red bar next to the location L/R for punch in/out



zPlane Elastique v3
Update to the time stretch algorithm

Automation, clip repeat and other enhancements in the Project Window





New Media Bay tab and enhancements



Retrologue 2 synth
Update to the VA synth inc an additional oscillator and an Arp.



VST Transit
New collaboration tools



New Chord Track features



More details here - http://www.steinberg.net/en/shop/cubase.html

i just bought Cubase 8 in October...and guess what...I am eligible for the grace period update....


Cubase 8.5: Downloading Now!!!!

IMHO one of the best sequencer updates for ages, certainly the best Cubase upgrade for a very long time.
New usability features are worth the price of admission alone. Retrologue makes an already pretty good synth even better.
I love the new Media Rack. Not necessarily for what it can do now, but rather for the promise it brings of access to track presets in an organized manner without the clutter of the regular MediaBay.
The mixer re-design is a first step in the right direction usability-wise and I hope there is more to come. Kudos for Steiny to admit they were wrong with the F****** HOVER S***. (sorry^^).
Very happy with this upgrade!

Tobias Escher wrote:I love the new Media Rack. Not necessarily for what it can do now, but rather for the promise it brings of access to track presets in an organized manner without the clutter of the regular MediaBay.

Tell me more Tobias....

Just updating now. Nice that it's always a separate version with Steinberg so if you have any issues, you can just carry on with what you were using.

I like the 'Import from Project' function too (and the hover thing obviously...)
I'll wait a month or so before upgrading, by then my Loegria download should be finished...
(some day I'll buy one of them fancy Full-Duplex 56Kbps high-speed modem )

Early thoughts - performance-wise can't really tell any difference. ASIOguard / VE Pro thing no change. One good thing - looks like 8.5 projects WILL open in 8.0.x, so looks safe to start using it even if you need to bail back a version mid-project.

Not sure I'll be using any of the big showy features, but the smaller workflow improvements will be useful.

8.5 projects realiably open back to 6.5, fortunately (didn't test further back)

I like that the MediaRack lets you try out patches before loading them. Not just samples, but actual real instruments with their full features. Especially useful for for example Groove Agent. You can play the whole instrument before deciding to actually load it. Right now it only works with Steinberg Content, but I'm sure they will extend it to user content as well.

Tobias Escher wrote:I like that the MediaRack lets you try out patches before loading them. Not just samples, but actual real instruments with their full features. Especially useful for for example Groove Agent. You can play the whole instrument before deciding to actually load it. Right now it only works with Steinberg Content, but I'm sure they will extend it to user content as well.

If it ever did get extended to 3rd party, that might be of use. I can't see me ever using the new Media Bay side pane though, cos that side pane is always in the wrong place for me. I have the central monitor for project window, RHS monitor for mixer / key editors / vst instrument rack. If there was a way to toggle the media bay with the rack there it might be worthwhile, but I don't want to eat into my project window real estate. Oh, and I strongly dislike this new hover-over pop ups on window edges - spectacularly annoying and I can't find a way to turn them off.

All in all, I'm afraid I don't quite share your enthusiasm for 8.5 Tobias. Overall its worth it for such a small upgrade fee for stuff like the drag to repeat, import tracks from sessions, the improved New Track features, but it feels very much like tinkering at the margins while all the new supposedly bigger features are of no interest to me. Worse, there are an ever-growing list of things I really could do with working properly or getting implemented, most of which have been logged with Steinberg since this time last year funnily enough.

VE Pro.... nuff said.
Re-enabling tracks saved in a disabled state still doesn't remember their Quick Controls
There could and should be a host of enhancements to disabled tracks (requested here - http://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtop ... 28&t=86341 and multi-out issues here - http://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtop ... 33&t=77021 )
Record Arms all tracks in a VCA group with no option to disable that as a preference. Which is plain nuts.

Instead I get VST Cloud. Woot.

I knew it was gonna take forever, if at all, to see the VEP thing solved. I've been using Cubase since 97. When they start hemming and hawing, you're in trouble, and it's always next time.

Guy Rowland wrote:All in all, I'm afraid I don't quite share your enthusiasm for 8.5 Tobias. Overall its worth it for such a small upgrade fee for stuff like the drag to repeat, import tracks from sessions, the improved New Track features, but it feels very much like tinkering at the margins while all the new supposedly bigger features are of no interest to me. Worse, there are an ever-growing list of things I really could do with working properly or getting implemented, most of which have been logged with Steinberg since this time last year funnily enough.

VE Pro.... nuff said.
Re-enabling tracks saved in a disabled state still doesn't remember their Quick Controls
There could and should be a host of enhancements to disabled tracks (requested here - http://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtop ... 28&t=86341 and multi-out issues here - http://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtop ... 33&t=77021 )
Record Arms all tracks in a VCA group with no option to disable that as a preference. Which is plain nuts.

Instead I get VST Cloud. Woot.

Yes, yes, YES. Totally agree. Just baffled by the Steinberg resources dumped into feature upgrades when there are CORE issues that affect tons of users' workflows. ESPECIALLY in a product called "Pro." I would gladly accept a long break in the release schedule if I knew some of these core freaking issues were being dealt with.

/endrant, dammit.

The same thing happens with Logic Pro. Feature upgrades mean new customers, core issues resolved make happier users who are more demanding present users. Guess which way 90% of companies are going to put most of their energy?

I imagine that makes Jay the consultant happy and Jay the pro user less so? (no bias here, just curious)

Baffled by the lack of support for OSX 10.9, however seems to work fine and thankfully you can open projects in 8. Like all the updates except the fiddly side popups which are difficult to access.

Lately i ask myself why stein put the word "pro" in the name.

Lawrence wrote:I imagine that makes Jay the consultant happy and Jay the pro user less so? (no bias here, just curious)

No it makes both Jays unhappy and if I had my own company, I think I would do it differently. But that is why those companies are massively successful and I will never be.

Harder to understand with Steinberg than Apple. Comparatively, Steinberg is a one trick pony. Logic is a gnat in the Apple ecosystem.

Thought this was an interesting enough tangent to deserve its own thread - http://www.thesoundboard.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=343