Cubase was first released in 1989 to run on the Atari ST computer and it is among the oldest surviving Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs). As a testament to its quality and popularity, Cubase is still being used around the world and is even considered by many as among the top music production software available.

It started out by merely supporting MIDI recording, but it has been developed continously - incorporating the latest technology into its design. The latest Cubase now comes with many features that cover a wide area of music production needs. It helps inspire creativity and songwriting, it simplifies recording both live and in the studio, it works great for various musicians be it solo or big band, it even supports modern electronic musicians, DJs and beat producers. Cubase now incorporates almost three decades of Steinberg's experience and expertise into one of the most cutting-edge digital audio workstation of our time.

Notable features:

• Key Editor
• Score Editor
• Drum Editor
• List Editor
• VST Expression 2
• Chord Assistant
• Chord Tracking
• MultiTrack Recording
• Virtual Control Room
• Sample Editing
• Advanced tempo detection
• Straightforward drum replacement
• Intelligent transient detection
• Warp Quantizing of multiple audio tracks
• Multitrack phase-accurate audio quantization
• Fast Comping
• Smart Multi-Track Editing
• VariAudio 2.0 for Vocal Editing
• Mixconsole
• Surround mixing
• Full automation
• Sidechaining for VST3 plug-ins
• Export to various audio file types
• Open GL video engine
• Channel Strips
• Professional Workflow
• Remote Control Support
• Various VST effects (66 real time audio effects)
• Various VST instruments (over 2,800 out of the box)
• 18 MIDI plugins
• Easy Collaboration and distribution of produced music

Cubase is also featured in our roundup of the best Music Production Software

The vast majority of reviews have been very positive - here are links to a few:

• PC Pro
• dv Magazine
• Sound On Sound

Related Hardware:
Our Roundup of the Best USB Audio Interfaces
Roundup of Microphones best suited for Home Recording

Changes in v8.5

• New Cloud sharing feature
• Retrologue 2 provides new sonic capabilities and hundreds of new presets
• Improved response of MixConsole environment with refined hover controls
• Faster and easier way of pulling tracks from existing projects into your song with only a few clicks, including all settings and content
• Upgraded Key and Drum Editors for faster, more intuitive MIDI editing
• Enhanced Chord Pads with new Sections play mode and custom chord symbols
• Profile Manager stores and recalls program settings and preferences (exclusive to Cubase Pro 8.5)
• Better Transport infrastructure consolidated for easier access and improved visibility
• Dedicated punch points, independent from locator positions for even more flexibility when recording audio and MIDI
• Version 3 of zPlane’s extraordinary élastique time-stretch/pitch-shift algorithm

Changes in v8.05

• Bugfix for new window handling on PC Windows systems, especially with plug-ins, which are set to "Always on Top".
• Bugfix for an issue where changing tempo affected the volume of channels in a VCA Fader Link Group.
• Bugfix for an issue that allowed VCA Faders to be included in their own Link Groups.
• Bugfix for an issue where missing input ports caused a distorted sound.
• Bugfix for an issue that rendered the application unresponsive when Lanes were used.
• Bugfix for an issue where the automatic Hitpoint detection rendered the application unreliable when large audio files were used.
• Bugfix for an issue where the song position pointer was left visible on screen when minimizing the application window.
• Bugfix for an issue where the VST Bass Amp plug-in rendered the application unreliable.
• Bugfix for a latency issue with monitoring when using VST Connect SE 3 in input buses.
• Bugfix for an issue with wrong user interface scaling on PC Windows systems using high-resolution displays.

Changes in v8

• Improved windows handling on PC, dockable rack and MediaBay plus a redesigned Track List
• Sound Engine rebuilt
• Performance boost for more instruments
• More tracks and shorter loading/saving times
• VCA faders for complex mixing and automation workflows
• Render in-place: Bounce MIDI and audio parts easily
• Chord pads for playfully and creatively composing with chords
• Groove Agent SE 4 Acoustic Agent gives you a world-class virtual acoustic drummer
• Plug-in manager: Arrange, sort and group your effects and instruments
• New Virtual Bass Amp, Quadrafuzz v2, Multiband Expander*, Multiband Envelope Shaper* effects
• Mixing updates: Virgin territories automation mode, direct routing and Wave Meters
• Allen Morgan Pop-Rock Toolbox: 30 construction kits, each with 25 to 30 audio and MIDI loops

Changes in v7.5.20

• Performance improved when importing large number of audio files
• Various issues resolved

Changes in v7.5.20

• Delete Inactive TrackVersions.
• Improved Control Room
• Channel/track visibility: Key command for "Update configurations".
• Steinberg Hub: Remove recent projects from list.
• Project window toolbar: Additional buttons.
• Record-Enable allows MIDI Thru.
• New Preference: Colorize folder track controls only.
• Various issues resolved

Changes in v7.5.10

• Maintenance update with improvement and bugfixes
• Update details here

Changes in v7.5

• TrackVersions: Playlists for creating, renaming and managing parallel variations of tracks.
• Track visibility: Shows only the tracks you want to see in the Project window.
• Instrument track 2.0: Supports multi-outputs and multi-inputs, and merges instrument tracks with the Instrument Rack.
• HALion Sonic SE 2: Giving you tons of fresh new sounds plus a totally new synth.
• Groove Agent SE 4: With over 120 drum kits and smart user interface for creating beats and hits in no time.
• New construction kits: Adding flavor to your productions and giving you new song ideas.
• LoopMash FX: For real-time modern-style breaks, tape-stops, stutters and more.
• REVelation: Super-smooth and silky-sounding algorithmic reverb that brings back the memories of those old fancy hardware units.
• Magneto 2: Adding warmth to your tracks.
• VST Connect SE 2 (available in Cubase 7.5 only): Unique remote recording plug-in now with MIDI data transmission.
• Transient navigation: Tab to transients on audio events in the Project window thanks to the new instant hitpoint navigation.

Changes in v7.0.6

• Visibility improvements
• One click plug-in access
• Workspace support
• Better UAD compatibility
• Better audio stability
• Various bugs resolved

Changes in v7.0.5

• MixConsole key commands improvements
• New EQ/Filter Transition option
• New Channel configuration display
• Colorize folder tracks
• Improved track selection
• Improved generic remote editor
• Various issues fixed

Changes in v7.0.4

• MixConsole improvements
• Chord Track improvements
• MIDI improvements
• Audio improvements
• ADR improvements
• Various other improvements
• Various bugs fixed

Changes in v7.0.3

• Improved MixConsole
• Score Editor
• Improved Steinberg Hub
• Enhanced MediaBay
• Default colors for track types
• EuCon Adapter improvements
• Plugin information window

Changes in v7.0.2

• More key commands assignable for MixConsole features
• Enhanced context menu on EQ bands
• Improved Control Room and meter
• Load/save settings of selected MixConsole channels (VMX file support)4
• Track Presets for Group / FX / VST Instrument return and Input / Output channels
• Appearance settings: preview and custom colors for MixConsole value cells
• Full track header coloring
• VST Connect SE 1.2
• Various bugfixes

Changes in v7

• New MixConsole
• Workflow improvements
• New Channel Strip
• New Channel Central
• Support for remote controllers
• Global Chord Track
• Chord Assistant
• Details here

Changes in v6.5.4

• Bugfix for Scrubbing
• Corrected Broadcast Wave Descriptions
• Bugfix for Prologue

Changes in v6.5.1 Trial

• Bugfix for drop outs when using VST Dynamics events

Changes in v6.5 Trial

• Added new synths - Padshop granular synth and Retrologue virtual analog synth with 700 presets
• New comping and audio quantizing tools
• DJ-EQ, MorphFilter effects and VST Amp Rack
• SoundCloud integration, Flac format support and 64 bit rewire.

New in v6.0.7
Maintenance update that resolves various reported issues for v6, as provided for by the development of Cubase 6.5 trial. For detailed information, please see the Version History

New in v6.0.5
Maintenance update includes full support for two WK-Audio remotes, refined automation handles, and improved decoding performance under Windows. The 6.0.5 update integrates several enhancements and fixes that make the Cubase experience even more exceptional.

New in v6.0.3
Based on community feedback, the 6.0.3 update provides several improvements, such as refined event opacity handling, enhanced gridline representation, Euphonix/Avid MC Pro remote control support and more efficient playback performance of HD video formats. In addition, several issues have been resolved.

New in v6.0.2

• Import and Export of MP3 files is available for Cubase 64-bit on Mac OS X.
• To make the difference between channel types in the mixer more obvious, the fader cap color of audio tracks has been changed to white and for group channels to blue.
• Fix: Content issues with missing audio data for HALion Sonic SE and LoopMash 2 in Cubase Artist 6 have been corrected.
• Fix: Potential mouse-click issues within Cubase when using some trackballs and related control software (for example, from Kensington) have been corrected.
• Fix: Stability using AudioWarp with élastique Pro algorithms has been improved.
• Fix: A warning message “invalid project” when saving a project after dragging and dropping MIDI files from BFD2 into the Cubase Project window has been corrected.
• Fix: Potential sound artefacts when using the MultiBandCompressor with small ASIO buffer sizes has been corrected.
• Fix: The user interface of the External FX panel has been redesigned and now displays the fader caps correctly.
• Fix: Potential MP3 decoding issues when encoding files with the LAME encoder have been corrected.
• Fix: An issue with misplaced automation tracks when closing and re-opening the same project has been corrected.
• Fix: Timing instability issues using ReWire-connected applications when working with sample rates other than 44.1 kHz has been corrected.
• Fix: Various potential part/event redraw (display) issues during editing operations in the Project window have been corrected.

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• DAW Controller