The launch of the Cubase Pro 9 DAW and its lower-tier versions, Cubase Artist 9 and Cubase Elements 9, has been announced. Yamaha's partnership with Steinberg has strengthened a set of platforms that are growing more professional and competitive every day.
The legendary Cubase is back in version 9, along with its “little brothers.” New tools make our everyday work easier. 
Things Are Changing
Since Yamaha teamed up with Steinberg, the well-known software brand has been developing on a noticeably firmer footing. In fact, the old “Pro Tools for professionals, Cubase for home studios” line is now open to question. In recent years, Avid / Pro Tools has shown a certain weakness, a lack of drive in its development, and some neglect of its users (especially home users).
Steinberg, however, has taken a very different path, showing tremendous muscle in thoroughly professional hardware, such as the excellent NUAGE control surface from Yamaha.
The Release
Cubase Pro 9 was clearly designed to meet the standards of professional producers, composers and mix engineers. Cubase Artist 9 sits slightly below it, offering a broad range of tools tailored to instrumentalists and singer-songwriters. Finally, Cubase Elements 9 is the entry point into the Cubase world, offering a simple way to record audio while getting familiar with the system.
All three versions introduce the new Lower Zone, which lets you dedicate an area of the Project window to the mixer or to other tool panels. The second headline feature is the Sampler Track, a much-requested addition that offers an easy way to trigger samples chromatically and shape them with the included filters and controls, all accessible through the Lower Zone. The Sampler Track also includes its own Caleidoscope library with hundreds of samples.
The third feature is exclusive to Cubase Pro: Frequency, a new eight-band EQ in which every band has the new Linear Phase mode to preserve the signal phase of each band. It also offers M/S support, Auto Listen for monitoring adjustments, a spectrum display and a reference keyboard. Cubase Pro 9 also includes up to ten marker tracks and gives users more freedom to define ranges within the music project and use those ranges to export individual stems and mix groups.
We Now Have Mixer History, Which Lets Us Move Back and Forth Through the Mix
Cubase Pro and Cubase Artist now offer MixConsole History. This feature tracks every change made in the MixConsole, allowing users to undo/redo mix actions more flexibly.
New Plug-in Management
Thanks to the new Audio-Ins feature, users can send audio to VST 3 instrument plug-ins that support side-chaining. Speaking of features, it's worth noting that version 9 pays special attention to cloud-based collaboration: VST Transit is included in both Pro and Artist, while the next incarnation of Steinberg's remote recording solution, VST Connect SE, is available exclusively to Cubase Pro users.
The New Sentinel Plug-in Scans Plug-ins at Startup to Keep the System Stable at All Times
The revised Maximizer plug-in, included in all versions of Cubase 9, enhances audio as if by magic, delivering more loudness while keeping the result clear and bright. The AutoPan panning tool sports a completely new design. The audio processors that also received a visual overhaul include Brickwall Limiter, Compressor, Expander, Gate and Envelope Shaper. The new Sentinel plug-in scans plug-ins at startup to ensure system stability at all times. Add to that Cubase's 64-bit environment and Plug and Play support for USB devices under Windows, which further improve the software's consistency.
The Production Grooves Essentials Library Expands Groove Agent SE 4 to Handle Any Kind of Job Quickly
Frank Simmerlein, Marketing Director at Steinberg, said: “We always listen closely to the concerns and wishes of our customers, and this release stands out in that respect.”
“Through detailed surveys carried out during development, which ultimately led to this release, we were able to prioritize and fulfill many customer requests. We didn't just implement the requested features, we took them further. Take the strong desire among users for an undo/redo option in our mixer. Our goal wasn't just to implement a function limited to the most recent actions. Instead, we worked hard to deliver a complete history so users can move freely forward or backward through the list of actions.”
“Add to that the latest functions, along with the many other features, and I believe Cubase 9 can be considered the only DAW on the market that covers every aspect of music production.”
Availability and price
Cubase Pro 9 is 579 euros
Cubase Artist 9 is 329 euros
Cubase Elements 9 is 99.99 euros
Key Features of Cubase Pro 9
• Steinberg's award-winning 32-bit floating-point audio engine at up to 192 kHz, with 5.1 surround, flexible routing and automatic latency compensation • Unlimited audio, instrument and MIDI tracks, up to 256 physical inputs and outputs • MixConsole for professional mixing, with an integrated high-end channel strip, VCA faders, loudness meters and waveform indicators • A complete suite of more than 90 high-end VST audio and MIDI effects processors, including Quadrafuzz v2, the VST Amp Rack and VST Bass Amp virtual guitar and bass suites, the REVerence convolution reverb, an eight-band EQ and much more • A broad set of 8 outstanding instruments with more than 3,000 sounds, including HALion Sonic SE 2, Groove Agent SE 4, Padshop, Retrologue 2 and LoopMash 2 • Smart composing tools such as the Chord Track, Chord Pads and the advanced Chord Assistant for creatively and enjoyably writing harmonic progressions and advanced voicings • VariAudio for editing audio notes as if they were MIDI on monophonic audio tracks, automatic voice harmonization and auto-tune effects • Complete VST Expression 2 with Note Expression, VST Dynamics and Expression Maps for fully integrated workflows with musical articulations, dynamics and controller values • Seamless integration of external effects hardware and instruments, e.g. synthesizers or signal processors, into the sequencer's signal flow • VST Connect SE and VST Transit cloud collaboration services Key Features of Cubase Artist 9 • Steinberg's award-winning 32-bit floating-point audio engine at up to 192 kHz with flexible routing and automatic latency compensation • Simultaneous playback of 64 audio tracks, 128 MIDI tracks and up to 32 physical inputs and outputs • MixConsole for professional mixing, with an integrated high-end channel strip including dynamics and EQ • A broad set of 8 outstanding instruments with more than 2,600 sounds, including HALion Sonic SE 2, Groove Agent SE 4, Padshop, Retrologue 2 and LoopMash 2 • A suite of more than 70 high-end audio and MIDI effects, including Pitch Correct for pitch correction, the VST Amp Rack and VST Bass Amp virtual guitar and bass suites, Quadrafuzz v2 and much more • Smart composing tools such as the Chord Track and Chord Pads for creatively and enjoyably writing harmonic progressions and advanced voicings • Thousands of MIDI building-block kits, audio loops and samples to easily put together songs, backing tracks or even entire songs in a few steps • Ultra-fast multi-take comping with dedicated lane tracks and the drag-and-drop comping tool to create the perfect take, TrackVersions for playlist-style editing, and Render in Place to easily bounce MIDI and audio parts • Compact functions for music notation and score editing Key Features of Cubase Elements 9 • Steinberg's award-winning 32-bit floating-point audio engine with flexible routing and fully automatic latency compensation • Simultaneous playback of 48 audio tracks, 64 MIDI tracks and up to 24 physical inputs and outputs • MixConsole for professional mixing, with an integrated high-end channel strip including dynamics and EQ • Three outstanding virtual instruments: the HALion Sonic SE 2 workstation, the Groove Agent SE drum machine and the Prologue synthesizer • More than 40 audio effects, including high-end VST Dynamics, Pitch Correct for vocal pitch correction and the VST Amp Rack virtual guitar suite • The powerful Sample Editor covers common editing tasks, giving you complete creative freedom to manipulate audio • The Chord Track and Chord Pads are perfect for creatively and enjoyably composing with chords • An extensive content library with thousands of instrument sounds, MIDI building-block loops and audio samples • Basic features for music notation and composition • Full upward compatibility with Cubase Pro and Cubase Artist for a seamless upgrade
