Today’s DAW market is fiercely competitive, which has led to rapid growth of features and capabilities in most of the major applications. Almost every time a DAW developer puts out a major update, it’s jam-packed with new and powerful tools that allow musicians, engineers and producers to be more creative and productive. There’s no better example of that than Steinberg Cubase 10, the latest release from one of the heavyweights in the market.
An argument could be made that Cubase is the most comprehensive DAW out there when you take into account what’s been added in version 10. It offers just about everything you need for all aspects of music production, including capabilities that in many other DAWs, you’d have to get from third-party plug-ins.
Many of the features here are only in the Pro version, although some were added across all flavors of Cubase.
VariAudio, Cubase’s built-in pitch-and-timing correction feature, has been updated and now offers an editing experience that’s close to what you get from the best third-party pitch-correction plug-ins. But if you’re already a Melodyne user, you’ll be glad to know that Cubase 10 adds ARA support, which means you can open up a track in Melodyne from within Cubase 10, and the audio will automatically appear without having to transfer it.
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Cubase 10’s new Audio Alignment feature lets you precisely align vocals or any audio, saving the expense of purchasing a third-party plug-in for that purpose. Especially if you do a lot of vocal production, with layers of harmonies, you’ll find it a really handy addition.
The new MixConsole snapshots let you save up to 10 different mix snapshots and recall any with the click of a button. Think of the convenience of that. You could quickly compare different iterations of the mix.
Cubase 10 also includes a redesigned channel strip, which is modular and features a design that’s reminiscent of a 500 Series rack. It allows you to pop different processors in and out of the signal chain. The processor choices are plentiful for a DAW’s built-in channel strip and are more reminiscent of third-party plug-in suites. Not only do you get an EQ, but three different compressor types, a de-esser, a transient shaper, three different limiters, three different saturation processors, and a noise gate.
For those working in other DAWs who want to transfer projects to Cubase or vice versa, version 10 adds AAF support.
Those working with picture will love a new feature called Video Follows Edit mode. When you turn it on, if you move an audio region or MIDI note, the video updates to show you where that event or note is now hitting in the picture. It could be quite beneficial for spotting sound effects and figuring out hit points.
Also, Steinberg added a new Latency Monitor, new Vintage Verbs for its REVerence reverb plug-in and even a suite of tools for the production of Virtual Reality. I’ve only covered the highlights here, there’s a lot of additional productivity enhancements that offer added convenience and power to the user experience.
Overall, Cubase 10 is super-impressive. Its wealth of new features is sure to kick the competition in the DAW market into an even higher gear. Buckle your seatbelts.
