HI, I am Blaise from Synthmorph
In this quick video I'll show quickly all
(and I really mean all) the new features
of the 9.5 update of Steinberg Cubase
It's worth spending your time to watch it fully
and you'll exactly know what are the new things and where to find them
Ok, let's start
The first one, and I think one of the most important
and most requested feature is that they finally
improved automation with Bezier curve
so you shape the transition between any two points freely
you can make them edgy or smooth
depending on where you move this control point
What's more, now you can raise or lower
the overall scaling between any two points without selecting them
just drag this diamond shape on the top and move up/down
Also, it perfectly works with any selection range
I am holding here the Ctlr and Shift while drawing a range freely.... you see
so you do not need those clumsy tricks anymore to make trim-like automations
And the new system also works with VCF faders
I think with these major changes in the automation system of Cubase
it became quite feature complete and easy to use
but unfortunatley it does not relate to MIDI automations inside the editors
so this is strictly for the main Project window
so hopefully MIDI automations will get a major overhaul later
Ok, next thing, the number of insert effect slot
has been doubled from 8 to 16
Compared to the previous version where
the pre and post fader insert slot configuration was totally fixed
you remember, the first six was always pre and the last two was always post fader
now it is flexible: just move this green line and now everything
above the line is pre-fader, below the line is post-fader
and you can see the difference clearly
because now they are coloured differently
They also made the visuals of the plug-in states clearer
if the plug-in is active and working, it is blue
if you bypass it by clicking here, it is greyed out
and finally if you Alt+click on this left side icon
you can toggle the plug-in on or off
so the different states are now clearly visible
The metronom system has completely reworked and improved
You can open the Metronome settings in the Transport > Metronome setup
but I prefer to open it from this lower Transport Bar
First I click the Click Patterns, so you see this song has a 4/4 signature
but what if the feel of the song changes in the chorus to triplet
or maybe there is even a signature change, like from 4/4 to 2/4?
It requires different metronome rhythms, so you can set them differently
for each different song sections, this is the beauty of the new metronome
[music playing, showing Metronome Click Pattern Editor options]
[editing Click Pattern while playing]
The next great thing is that you can try different click sound presets
as Steinberg provided them as preset, but you can also load your own
metronome sounds as audio files or just assign it
or just assign to a drum module or something
And the last thing is: at the Project > Signature Track you can render
the metronome sound as a MIDI file or an audio file
this is very handy to pass a final metronome track
in live recording situation for other players or singers
Here is a great new feature
just drag a MIDI part from an instrument track or
from a Rack instrument MIDI track
onto a Sampler track and Cubase will render the audio file for instant playback
Here is a Synthmorph sequence from my Zebralette MARS soundset
it just repeats the same C2 note
but quite complex modulations occur in the background
[Syntmorph sequence is playing]
Now I drop it to the sampler and it actually renders the
whole sequence and I can instantly play on it polyphonically
this also is an unlimited source of inspiration and creating new sounds quickly!
[Playing the sampled Syntmorph sequence]
Also, now you can drop any audio from Mediabay
or Windows Explorer or Finder onto the track or onto the sampler itself
and the sounds are all instantly usable
You can compare the different states with the new A/B switch
and as you see it relates not just to the parameter sets
but to the samples too
Finally a very important, but under-the-hood change
whenever you drop an audio file to the sampler, from any source
it will fully copy it to the project audio folder
so you do not have to worry about missing samples anymore
Ok, the next one is the Direct Offline Processing which should be a game changer
but unfortunately it'a still not there, and I'll tell you shortly why
If you are a Cubase user probably you remember the old way
Offline Process History to process audio files with plugins
and so-called processes
In the old way, you added a plugin to the audio file...
you could preview then render...
you add another one, again render, then I apply reverse...
this whole thing was painfully slow to use
However, it was often necessary to save CPU power this way
it was far from a creative workflow
So in Cubase 9.5 they introduced the Direct Offline Processing
which is a modern implementation of this same idea:
you can add plug-ins and processes in the same window
I add a Compressor
then a Roomworks reverb
then Primaltap delay
you can work quickly
semi real-time and
it always works on copy of the original audio file
so you can always revert to the original audio
You can not just hear the resulting audio
but also see all changes on the waveforms
as it applies effects in semi-real-time in the background
Whichever parameter you change, it instantly re-calulates and applies it to the wave file
and the big thing is: once calculated, it does not consume CPU anymore
so it is very fast and useful for the wildest creative experimentation without any limits
Just select one or more audio events, or just a range
then press F7, this is the default keycommand for Direct Offline Processing
and start tweaking until you can hear what you want
You can leave this windows open, make part of a workspace
change audio events and it will always update its view
I can preview with this Audition button, change fx order or bypass certain plug-ins
and you see all changes are calculating very fast
nearly real time and of course all settings are saved with the project
Well, what's the problem then?
Unfortunately there are two major issues with this originally excellent idea
First, it's currently very buggy
so you'll experience strange things like
you add a plug-in and it does not appear, or just disappear
settings are not doing what they should
time based effect tails calculate incorrectly
so hopefully this one will be treated very soon in the coming maintenance updates
Another issue is, well, this Direct Offline Processing is originally
a Nuendo feature and you can save complete preset chains there
so you do not have to add plug-ins and processes every time manually
well, unfortunately this is not the case with Cubase
as you can not save preset chains here, which is a shame
and a real workflow killer - hopefully this will not stay like this
at least you guys should all poke Steinberg about this
Next thing, Cubase has now a double precision 64-bit processing engine
but by default it still uses the current 32-bit precision
It means that all channels can be processed at 64-bit resolution
so it does a slightly more precise roundings at the sonic computations
I think you should not be too exicited yet, because
1. it works only with VST3 plug-ins, so no chance for VST2 and
2. these VST3 plug-ins should specifically support this 64-bit processing
In the VST Plug-in Manager you can display only the 64-bit capable plug-ins
so you can check which works
If you enable the 64-bit mode, nearly all the stock plug-ins and channel strips effects
are prepared and 64-bit compatible right now
but any other plug-ins will still be processed with 32-bit precision as before
So going to 64-bit mixing may sound a big change, but you know
actually you won't hear any difference at all
it is more like a step forward toward the future audio application standards or something
Next thing is the right zone improvements
So the earlier version, in Cubase 9 this right zone had a very basic
I would say unfinished Mediabay, but by now Steinberg completed it
now they call it the Media Rack
which essentially is a condensed form of the big MediaBay
There are many-many small new features here
I would just show you one, the File Browser where you can finally add
nearly all kinds of related media from your computer
Drag and drop new instruments from this location became possible
and this green line shows the exact position
where you add your new instrument track
Currently you'll find here only Steinberg instruments
but maybe later you can load 3rd party stuff as well
And finally, now you'll find here in the right zone the Control Room
with the integrated Master and Loudness meters
Ok, next thing: plug-ins, let's see what's new here
We have a new wavetable instrument called Flux
it works within the stock HALion Sonic SE3
This is based on HALion 6 new wavetable engine
of course with much less control
but it is perfectly enough for most situations
It comes with 124 presets, and you should definitely check them out
as the HALion technology is amazing and most of these presets are quite impressive
[HALion Flex presets are playing]
Ok, still plugins, all the Cubase compressors, the Tube Compressor
the Vintage Compressor and the stock Compressor got a major facelift (stock NOT!, sorry)
now they look way cooler than before
It does not stop here, the added functionality is also very helpful
all three have a Mix parameter, so now you can achieve parallel compression
with just a single parameter, without any additional and complicated routings
[Diva Chomolungma sequence is playing]
And finally the tape simulator Magneto got a new graphics layout
and it is now called "mk III"
Cubase 9.5 comes with 130 FX Chain Presets
for all kinds of instruments groups, like Bass, Drums, Guitar, Synths, Vocals and more
Moreover, there are new Mastering Track Presets
25 for Cubase Artist and Elements users and an
additional 50 presets for Cubase Pro musicians
in all these genres like 70's, 80s', Classical, Country, EDM, Hip Hop, Indie, Pop and so on
Next one is not entirely new
it's a content update of the original Allen Morgan Signature Drums pack
you can find it here in the VST Sound container,
this Instrument Set Allen Morgan Signature Drums
This is completely reworked, the drum sounds are availble as one-shot samples
Then the loops are available as instantly usable and editable MIDI Loops
for the included Groove Agent SE4 drum plug-in
each kit has 5 pattern variations, of course you can make your own variations
[MIDI Loop playing]
[Groove Agent presets playing]
and finally here are the Groove Agent presets without the MIDI files in this VST3 Presets
folder
so the same content can be used in different ways
Ok, now let's see some changes in the user interface of Cubase 9.5
The first one is a very handy feature called Adapt to Zoom
and you have to activate this feature in the Grid Type menu
The main point is: when Adapt to Zoom is active
the Grid and Snap settings are scaled according to the horizontal zoom level
to put it simply: the more you zoom in, the finer the Grid will become
you see, this is why it is adaptive
Adaptive zooming is independent from the quantize settings
and it works only when you are in Bars+Beats mode on the timeline
Fortunately it works in all the MIDI editors (Key, Drum or List editor)
and you have to activate Adapt to Zoom separately here, inside the editor
at the Grid Type dropdown
It is a great idea to assign it to a keycommand
so you can quickly change between the quantize grid and the adaptive grid
The next feature is a very simple thing, but probably the most important for me
and I am not kidding.
If you are an old time Cubase user
you certainly know that you could not set the playbar (this one)
to any position by just clicking on the background
you had to click up here in the Ruler area
Then later they introduced a Preferences option called
"Locate when Clicked in Empty Space", it was somehow better
but you couldn't set the Playbar to exact start of a beat or bar, so to any exact position
Now, with Cubase 9.5 you can hold a modifier key and click in the background
and according to the Grid Type you can position this playbar to exact locations
If I set to Beat, it always snaps to beats
when set to Bar, it always snaps to the nearest Bar
You can customize its modifier key here in the
Preferences > Tool Modifiers > Select Tool > Set Position
I set mine to Shift because that's the biggest key on my keyboard
and I use this feature a lot
Ohh , just keep it up, not much left :)
Next one is an interesting one, but it seems rather useless for me
but as this upgrade solves lots of user requests, it must have been a priority
To make it short, in the MIDI section of the Preferences you can set here
a range in ticks between 0 and 240 ticks
Ok, what is tick?
This is a technical term to express the MIDI resolution
and it means a 1/16th is 120 ticks, so actually one beat is 480 ticks
so you do not really have to change it
So, when playing a part like this, here is the exact part start
but as you see these notes starts outside of this MIDI part
because of the recording, but with the range set you can even play these early notes starting
outside
... so it still plays here... yeah, that's it
Another user interface tweak is restructuring
the long-long Device menu of the earlier Cubase versions
Now it is called Studio, so everything is arranged, renamed and grouped
in a much more logical way.
If you are a long-time Cubase user
first it is a bit confusing to find what you need, but then you will love it
Ok, just a few left, let's finish quickly
In the Studio > More Options > Time Display you can configure it
to show you the Show Beat Count Only...
so, this is like a visual Metronome like
1-2-3-4...1-2-3-4...1-2-3-4...1-2-3-4 If you double click it sets the optimal size
The one before the last, this is a small helper:
in the Input/Output Channel folder you will always find the Stereo Out of the mix
so you can directly add insert effects, like a glitch plug-in
you can automate any parameters affecting the whole mix, without any clumsy automation
tricks now
I inserted Loopmash FX here and can play realtime on the whole mix
[Looopmash FX applied to the played track]
And the last feature: now you can easily re-color Cubase!
Open Preferences > User Interface.
You can select pre-defined color schemes
or if you want something really special, select a single color
and all items of the program will automatically adapt to provide you a consistent look!
Well obviously this is not one
and this is not either
Well, let's change back to a preset
You can still modify here a few elements a bit
but the lack of too many settings will give you a more balanced visual feel
Ok, this was the last one, so to sum it up
After so many years, Steinberg finally listens to its customer base
and user feature requests are handled with priority
It is very likely that you'll run into some kind of bugs here and there
ok, I have to admit it happens to nearly every all first version DAWs these days
But remember: all these applications are incredibly complex
they have to work real-time, everything always in sync, following operating system changes
When I used to jump on the Cubase line at Cubase 4, man, that was terrible at that time
until like Cubase 7 or so
and I think things got much smoother around Cubase 8
In each new version Steinberg makes significant efforts to rewrite and simplify parts of Cubase
like now we can call the automation part really finished and awesome
So Cubase is basically quite stable and usable for serious work
even if new features, like now the Direct Offline Processing should be seriously fixed
Ok, so overall I think it is a very solid update with useful features
with things that can really improve your personal workflow
so it's absolutely worth the lower than usual update price
Ok, I want to congratulate you for being so persistent watching this video fully!
If you like it and have any question, please comment, like or share it
or just subscribe to my Youtube channel for more synth-related stuff in the future
You may also visit my website at synthmorph.com
for getting great synth products I am proud of
thank you if you support it by purchasing one
or just reading interesting articles
Ok, guys thank you, have a great day!
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