Introduction
One of the oldest sequencers, along with Logic (old-timers may remember the golden era of Pro 24 and Notator), Cubase has over the years, imposed numerous ergonomic, technological, and conceptual standards on the competition. Releasing a new version of Steinberg’s flagship software is still an event in itself, although it must be admitted that today, the pretenders to the throne of the king of sequencers are quite numerous. As a result, innovation and excellence are no longer unique to Cubase and, without even mentioning other sequencer heavy-weights (Logic, Sonar, Pro Tools, Samplitude, Digital Performer and Ableton Live), the last decade has seen many new challengers, with varying price tags and popularity, but packed with great features: Fruity Loops, Melodyne, Tracktion, Energy XT, Reaper …
In a market as competitive as this, it’s obviously increasingly difficult to stand out. Cubase 4 had its critics even though it launched the VST3 standard, brought its effects and virtual instruments up to date, inaugurated a new media management system and you could finally move effects from one track to another by drag & drop. But it seemed more like they were trying to catch up to the competition rather than really innovating … Even the more original innovations, like management of external hardware (particularly Yamaha’s, since the Japanese manufacturer had recently bought Steinberg) and the emergence of control room targeted features were interesting, but did not effect all users and therefore didn’t necessarily justify the increased software price: around $879! Fortunately, when the impressive Logic 8 came out for around $500 it forced Steinberg to rethink its rates and marketing strategy: you can now find Cubase 5 for around $500! With relatively interesting updates: 4.1 and 4.5 (side chain management for their effects, better routing management, additional sound banks for HALionOne, etc..), and this 5th version, Steinberg is doing its best to seduce us. Let’s get into details…
When I’m 64
The box is heavy and that’s a good sign. In addition to the USB dongle and serial number that let you register, it actually contains 2 manuals: a quick start guide, and a rather large comprehensive manual that does not, however, cover the effects nor virtual instruments included with the software, but which are covered in PDF files. There are 4 DVDs: the DVD to install the program, a DVD with sounds and samples, and two DVDs with a 90-day demo version of HALion Symphonic Orchestra . Note that in addition to the manuals, the installation DVD includes a large number of tutorial videos that are very well done and address all the key aspects of the sequencer. When you consider that there was a time that Steinberg was putting out manuals only in PDF format, we can only thank the German company for having changed its ways.
The installation went smoothly, and after double clicking on the red icon, I was in familiar territory: the project window. The first novelty of this version doesn’t jump out at you, because it’s invisible: Cubase now fully supports 64 bit technology. Wasn’t this already the case? Yes and no, because even though Cubase 4 was compatible with 64-bit operating systems, the code hadn’t really been rewritten for this. It therefore remained essentially a 32-bit application, but capable of running on a 64-bit system, whereas Cubase 5 is now available in full 64 bits.
What’s the big deal about 64 bits? It’s simple: it increases the addressable memory space. 32-bit operating systems manage at best 3.2 GB of memory, while a 64-bit OS can theoretically go up to 128 GB (I say theoretically, because there presently exists no machine, available to the general public, that has that much RAM). A very important detail at a time when virtual ROMplers come with banks of tens of Gigas for rendering a single instrument (BFD, superiorDRUMMER 2, Vienna, EastWest Symphonic Orchestra, Ivory Piano, etc.) and simplifying the lives of those who do audio/video and need to manage huge videos within their sequencer.
Low Tech Propellerhead!
But not everything is rosy in the land of 64 bits. Even though Steinberg is committed to supporting Mac OS X, Vista 64, and the upcoming Windows 7, no support for Windows XP 64 is officially expected (it doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t work). Don’t forget to check your plug-ins: some developers already feature 64-bit compatibility and Steinberg proposes, via VST Bridge technology, a way to use 32 bit plugins in the 64-bit version of the sequencer, but it’s still highly likely that one or two of your old effects that you’ve had for ages in your VSTplugins directory will crash or refuse to start. Using the VST Bridge also consumes resources in proportion to the use of a true 64-bit plug-in … In addition to these small inconveniences, the major drawback of 64-bit is the incompatibility with Propellerheads technologies: if you use Cubase 5 64-bit in a 64-bit OS, you won’t be able to use REX file formats, nor the ReWire platform: so farewell using Cubase with Reason, Ableton Live and Melodyne, amongst others… Of course, the Swedish developer will probably not leave the situation as it stands, but currently, no announcement has been made on this issue … What do we do in that case? Install the 32-bit version of Cubase 5, which runs smoothly on a 64-bit OS, until Propellerhead makes a move. This is annoying of course, but it can’t be blamed on Steinberg.
