Steinberg Cubase - Aaaarrrggghhh !!

Paul R Johnson · March 13th, 2011, 04:22 PM

Colin - I have never yet had an unreliable install of Cubase - the only problems are going from version to version, and those always got sorted. It's a fine product - and is really common in UK PC based schools, and has been since the mid 90s?

I've got cubase 4 on a portable machine for location recording and 5 in the studio. Both work absolutely fine.

Predrag Vasic · March 14th, 2011, 02:30 PM

My first encounter with Cubase was on Atari 1040 ST, with v1.2. Actually, my first contact with Steinberg software was with their Pro24 sequencer (nothing like Cubase at the time).

For me, no other MIDI sequencer of the 80's was ever more intuitive than Cubase. And it remained so pretty much until Logic Express appeared on the market.

As for activation and licensing, this is much less of a problem with their Mac version, but is still a massive annoyance. Steinberg (as well as other music software makers) has a very serious piracy problem. Professional musicians in developing world (Eastern Europe, Middle East, Asia) all use high-end software tools for their work. Almost NONE of them actually pay for it. Software developers are struggling very hard to make illegal distribution difficult, but it is a losing battle. Their biggest problem, however, is that they can easily alienate their legitimate users with such onerous copy-protection practices. Windows versions are required to work with millions of possible hardware combinations and there is no surprise why they often don't. Balancing between protecting your product from thieves and alienating your paying customers is not easy, but it must be figured out, otherwise, people will do what several in this thread had done (throw the DVD in the trash). That is most definitely NOT the way to attract and hold customers.

Ron Cooper · March 17th, 2011, 05:49 AM

From Paul R Johnson :- "Support for LE4 is very limited because it's a free bundled product, usually given away with interfaces and other add on gadgets. I got a couple of these as freebies, but as I've been a Cubase users for years and years, I'm running the full version (Cubase 5). I gave one of my LE4's to a friend and he had real issues getting it to function. The licensing centre software is usually the culprit - and sometimes downloading the latest version solves the problem - LE4 is a bit old now. "

Paul, this product was only purchased about 8 months ago and if like you say, it is an old bundled version, then you would think that in the interests of the user, AND common sense, then Steinberg would have a much simpler registration procedure, - like Sony etc. (Trouble with common sense though, - it ain't common !)

Ron C.

Paul R Johnson · March 17th, 2011, 11:53 AM

It's a bit ancient now - released around the time of Cubase 4, and I'm just about to upgrade to Cubase 6, which is getting good reviews. The damn licenser is a pain - I've got one licensed product I can't use because the dongle got corrupted and enabling this one programme (an older VSTi) shuts the programme down as the LCC crashes.

Oddly - I don't blame Cubase, it's very popular with young people and the buggers keep cracking the protection and stealing the product, so Steinger reacted with a better/more secure solution, but it did mean it started to be a problem to legit users.

There's also a small issue with backwards compatibility between versions, but that's another story.

March 13th, 2011, 04:22 PM	#16
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,016	Re: Steinberg Cubase - Aaaarrrggghhh !! Colin - I have never yet had an unreliable install of Cubase - the only problems are going from version to version, and those always got sorted. It's a fine product - and is really common in UK PC based schools, and has been since the mid 90s? I've got cubase 4 on a portable machine for location recording and 5 in the studio. Both work absolutely fine.

March 14th, 2011, 02:30 PM	#17
Predrag Vasic Regular Crew Join Date: May 2009 Location: Manhattan Posts: 131	With Cubase since v1 My first encounter with Cubase was on Atari 1040 ST, with v1.2. Actually, my first contact with Steinberg software was with their Pro24 sequencer (nothing like Cubase at the time). For me, no other MIDI sequencer of the 80's was ever more intuitive than Cubase. And it remained so pretty much until Logic Express appeared on the market. As for activation and licensing, this is much less of a problem with their Mac version, but is still a massive annoyance. Steinberg (as well as other music software makers) has a very serious piracy problem. Professional musicians in developing world (Eastern Europe, Middle East, Asia) all use high-end software tools for their work. Almost NONE of them actually pay for it. Software developers are struggling very hard to make illegal distribution difficult, but it is a losing battle. Their biggest problem, however, is that they can easily alienate their legitimate users with such onerous copy-protection practices. Windows versions are required to work with millions of possible hardware combinations and there is no surprise why they often don't. Balancing between protecting your product from thieves and alienating your paying customers is not easy, but it must be figured out, otherwise, people will do what several in this thread had done (throw the DVD in the trash). That is most definitely NOT the way to attract and hold customers.

March 17th, 2011, 05:49 AM	#18
Ron Cooper Major Player Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 481	Re: Steinberg Cubase - Aaaarrrggghhh !! From Paul R Johnson :- "Support for LE4 is very limited because it's a free bundled product, usually given away with interfaces and other add on gadgets. I got a couple of these as freebies, but as I've been a Cubase users for years and years, I'm running the full version (Cubase 5). I gave one of my LE4's to a friend and he had real issues getting it to function. The licensing centre software is usually the culprit - and sometimes downloading the latest version solves the problem - LE4 is a bit old now. " Paul, this product was only purchased about 8 months ago and if like you say, it is an old bundled version, then you would think that in the interests of the user, AND common sense, then Steinberg would have a much simpler registration procedure, - like Sony etc. (Trouble with common sense though, - it ain't common !) Ron C.

March 17th, 2011, 11:53 AM	#19
Paul R Johnson Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lowestoft - UK Posts: 4,016	Re: Steinberg Cubase - Aaaarrrggghhh !! It's a bit ancient now - released around the time of Cubase 4, and I'm just about to upgrade to Cubase 6, which is getting good reviews. The damn licenser is a pain - I've got one licensed product I can't use because the dongle got corrupted and enabling this one programme (an older VSTi) shuts the programme down as the LCC crashes. Oddly - I don't blame Cubase, it's very popular with young people and the buggers keep cracking the protection and stealing the product, so Steinger reacted with a better/more secure solution, but it did mean it started to be a problem to legit users. There's also a small issue with backwards compatibility between versions, but that's another story.