TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
www.audiomediainternational.com
STEINBERG CUBASE PRO 9 DIGITAL AUDIO WORKSTATION
Stephen Bennett investigates how the software for producers, composers and mixing engineers has moved on since its “black-and-white glory” days. couple of months ago, a colleague called me over to his house as he had something that he’d inherited that he thought I might be interested in seeing. It turned out to be an immaculate Atari 1040ST computer, complete with 1MB RAM, a 720KB floppy drive and a high-resolution SM-124 monochrome monitor. He also had a box of contemporary software so, after a few minutes of dongle connecting, whirring disks and an overwhelming wave of nostalgia, the Arrange page of Steinberg’s Cubase version 1 was onscreen in all its black-and-white glory. In today’s mature Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) market, where the software capabilities and features of different companies’ products leapfrog each other version by version, it’s hard
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April 2017
to recall how revolutionary this first version of Cubase was, with its real-time MIDI recording and editing and that nowubiquitous Arrange page. We are two years from the 30th anniversary of the launch of Steinberg’s sophomore DAW and, I assume, the company is planning something special in celebration. In the meantime, Steinberg has released the subject of this review, Cubase version 9. If you wonder why we’re only on such a low number after so many years, don’t worry – the numbering system (on Atari, Mac and Windows versions) has been all over the place for decades in a way that Bill Gates would approve of. If you are a Cubase novice, you may want to look at the Version 8 review in the February 2015 issue of Audio Media International for an overview of the program before you go any further.
The specific version under scrutiny here is the Pro version – there is also Cubase Artist and Cubase Elements that sport fewer features at a lower cost, so you don’t end up having to pay extra for stuff you’ll never use. Cubase 9 runs on both OSX and Windows-based platforms and uses a serial number and USB e-licenser dongle-based authorisation system, which is easy and quick to use, and makes the software easily portable between machines. Steinberg now supplies a ‘universal’ installer that unlocks the correct version of the software purchased, which should make for a seamless and concurrent upgrade path for all versions of Cubase in future. For some, the headline difference between this and earlier versions of Cubase is that the program no longer supports 32-bit plug-ins.
Key Features Award-winning 32-bit floating-point Steinberg audio engine with up to 192 kHz, 5.1 surround, flexible routing and full automatic delay compensation Unlimited audio, instrument and MIDI tracks and up to 256 physical inputs and outputs Complete suite of more than 90 high-end audio and MIDI VST effect processors Compositional tools like Chord Track, Chord Pads and advanced Chord Assistant Comprehensive set of over eight instruments with 3,000-plus sounds, including HALion Sonic SE 2 and Groove Agent SE 4. RRP: €579 www.steinberg.net How important this is for you depends on whether your favourite software is available in 64-bit format – most major