Steinberg Cubase Pro 12

M
ajor DAW
updates always
come with a
certain amount
of trepidation,
as it’s inevitable
that every user
will have their own personal
preferences when it comes to
functionality, and therefore what
makes it onto their ‘top feature
request’ list. One has to only look at
the official Steinberg forums to see
this at play, and as is the case with
any software, the most opinionated
concerns and try and balance new
or updated features across the user
range – though there will always be
individual needs, wants and
quibbles, and I include myself in
that bracket.
One of the significant changes
to Cubase come into this update is
the removal of the requirement to
use an eLicenser hardware dongle.
In fact, Steinberg have introduced
an entirely new system for
authorising the use of the software,
which now allows you to run Cubase
on up to three computers, with
licensing handled via the Steinberg
Activation Manager. This requires
you to log in to your My Steinberg
account as part of the process, but
no Internet connection is required
for day-to-day use of the software.
Be aware however that you may still
have some Steinberg software that
does require the dongle, such as
older instruments, and these will
have to wait until an update before
going dongle-free.
Now let’s get into the
more interesting updates
and additions...
AudioWarp, Cubase’s interactive
time-stretching tool, has always
been useful, but has only been
applicable across multiple tracks in
certain situations. C12 improves
things by allowing you to edit Warp
points directly in the Project
window, and for multiple tracks at
once, by using the Folder Track’s
Group Editing mode. One important
aspect of this is the addition of a
Phase-Coherent AudioWarp button
which allows you to avoid problems
associated with warping a single
performance recording captured
with multiple microphones (such as
a full drum kit). There will obviously
still be potential audio artefacts
caused by the stretching process –
though with small changes these
are minimal – and slicing drums
the conventional way still has its
place, but this is a great option to
have available. Besides manual and
hitpoint-based editing (and even
quantisation) there are also many
other creative uses of these
features, and they get a big
thumbs-up.
VariAudio, the pitch editing and
correction engine in Cubase, had
some great technical improvements
in Cubase 10, and while C12
doesn’t expand on these, it adds
Scale Assistant integration. Scale
Assistant (introduced in C11 and
previously available within the
MIDI-based Key Editor) allows you
to make changes which fit within
the select key or scale. This makes
musically appropriate edits easier
(including pitch quantisation) and
transposing audio to create
harmony parts much quicker. This
ties in neatly with C12’s new Audio
to MIDI function that can analyse
any selected audio and turn it into
Chord Events on the Chord Track.
The Chord Track can then be used
here don’t necessarily represent a
majority view. One also has to
remember that software such as
Cubase has an incredible number
of features that cater for a very wide
range of users, and the needs of
someone who predominantly works
with audio loops to create an EDM
banger will be very different to
someone who spends every day
recording real instruments or who
has to deal with elaborate orchestral
mock-ups using virtual instruments.
Despite this, it’s fair to say that
Steinberg acknowledge these
THE PROS & CONS
+
No dongle – free at
last, and with a
license that allows
installation on more
than one computer
MIDI Remote
integration – new
and powerful
features for
integrating
controllers
Multi-channel
phase-coherent
Audiowarp – the
description says it all
-
Some windows need
updating to the new
visual style
MixConsole scaling
is still not perfect
– with no way to
save/load favourite
configurations across
your projects
Steinberg Cubase Pro 12 | Reviews
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