STEINBERG CUBASE 10
Steinberg celebrate three decades of superlative sequencery with a new version of their ever-popular DAW. Have they hit another home run?
With such a long history, you’d think Cubase would have every feature under the sun, and indeed, there are few it lacks. Still, when Cubase 10 was announced, we expected something more… well, dramatic than the somewhat reserved list of updates and upgrades with which we were met. Yet as we delved deeper into the program, we discovered that this landmark upgrade is less about broad strokes and more about refining the stuff upon which Cubase’s solid reputation was built.
There are, in fact, so many changes, tweaks, and improvements that we’ve only room to cover the standouts. For a start, the graphics have been given a more uniform look. Many plugins and windows have been redesigned to fit the new aesthetic, and there are new track icons to better indicate what sort of tracks are in play. The Channel Strip has been given a complete graphical overhaul and looks terrific. Mac users in particular will immediately appreciate that every button, widget, and icon is now designed to look better on highresolution screens.
Workflow improvements abound. Take for example, the menu that appears when Control-clicking on an audio file. In the past, we would have to scroll down to find, say, the Processes menu. Now it’s right up top of a list that applies specifically to the current context. MIDI features for MIDI tracks, audio for audio tracks, and so on.
We’re also pleased with the improvements to the Media Rack. Effects can now be dragged right into the project and GUI grabs of thirdparty effects and instruments can now be displayed in the Rack.
Speaking of dragging plugins, the Direct Offline Processing window now provides a means by which any processes you’ve used can be dragged into chains that can be rearranged as you like. These chains will then be available for later re-use.
“VariAudio 3 is now far easier to use, with all manner of handles appearing on any selected event”
Vari nice
Steinberg are making much of VariAudio 3 and for good reason. It is now far easier to use, with all manner of ‘handles’ appearing on any selected event. These Smart Controls can be used to adjust pitch and time, naturally,
alongside formant shift, volume, tilt (with a movable anchor point for tilt), and you can split and join events as well. There are handles on either end of an event for adjusting the range to be effected. This allows for a more gradual, natural way to transition between notes.
These changes make pitch correction a lot more intuitive, so much so that they could be a dangerous invitation to niggle away at every last syllable of a performance. If audio figures prominently in your projects, VariAudio 3 alone is worth the upgrade fee.
Nuendo-style Audio Alignment is new to Cubase Pro 10. It instantly aligns audio clips across multiple tracks so that they are in lockstep sync with one another. Using it is as easy as determining which clip to use as a reference and then selecting the tracks you wish to snap to it. It isn’t perfect – sometimes manual nudging is still required, but overall it works well and should speed up vocal comps.
Also excellent for synchronising audio is the ability to see multiple audio clips simultaneously in the audio editor. Any selected tracks are shown superimposed over one another, and you can choose which is in focus for editing. Alas, MIDI tracks are excepted. Too bad.
Side hustle
Sidechaining is far more intuitive in Cubase Artist and Pro 10. Sidechain-capable plugins now offer an instantly accessible – and user definable – list of potential key inputs. It’s easy and, best of all, obvious.
MixMastery
There’s yet another way to recall up to ten mixes, thanks to MixConsole Snapshots. We’d only just got used to having access to the MixConsole’s history, but we’re happy to see this added. Snapshots can be named and there’s a handy note pad for describing each snapshot.
Latency monitoring has also been added to the MixConsole. This indicates how much latency is occurring on each track and which plugins are adding to it.
MPE is now supported in Pro and Artist variants, with both Padshop and Retrologue getting MPE-ready presets that allow them to take advantage of MPE-equipped alternate controllers such as those from ROLI and Haken Audio. We gave it a try with a Haken Continuum Fingerboard, and indeed, the MPE-ready patches worked out-of-the-box. Cool.
There are plenty of other improvements – too many to adequately explore in our allotted space. Improved video integration comes over from Nuendo, and AAF import/export is now here for you part-time Pro Tools users. There is, of course, all manner of new content in the form of loops and sounds from third-party vendors.
Conclusions
At first we were a bit puzzled by what seemed a slightly stingy update. However, after a couple of weeks of use, we’ve found the little nips and tucks far more valuable than some of the features residing near the top of the press release. The entire program is easier to get around and it feels smoother and ‘snappier’ than 9.5. We admit to missing the days when each new edition brought with it a massive pile of flashy new plugins, but we appreciate Steinberg’s dedication to refinement. Thirty years is an eternity in the fast-paced world of music technology, and we have to say, Cubase has aged very well indeed.
“Audio Alignment aligns audio clips across multiple tracks in lock-step sync”