Yesterday, on the 11th day of the 11th month, Steinberg released Cubase 11. I’m not one to see mystical significance in that, but when Steinberg puts out a major Cubase update, it’s always important in the music production world.
The Cubase 11 update is notable in that some of the most potent additions are upgrades of existing Cubase features, rather than entirely new ones.
As you would expect, all the new features are in the flagship version, Cubase 11 Pro. A smaller subset made it into Cubase 11 Artist, and a smaller one yet into the entry-level Cubase 11 Elements.
Perhaps the most impressive of these is what Steinberg refers to as Advanced Audio Export (Pro). It’s a complete overhaul of the Export Audio for Mixdown window that dramatically simplifies and streamlines the process of printing stems. You can now create stems from Group Channels (buses), FX Channels, Instrument Tracks and Individual tracks. You can even set it so that any track you select in the Project window is automatically selected for export. You can create custom queues or bounce everything out simultaneously. It’s going to be a huge time-saver for everyone, but particularly those who deliver stems regularly.
Sampler Track 2 (Pro, Artist, Elements) updates the Sampler Track with many new capabilities, including Slicing Mode, which automatically chops up your loops by their transients so you can edit and rearrange them. Vintage Mode converts your 24-bit samples to sound like you created them in an old 12-bit machine. Mono Legato Glide adds motion to bass lines and other sampled parts.
The newly updated Frequency 2 (Pro) plug-in incorporates dynamic-EQ options for all 8 bands. You can also set a separate sidechain source for each.
The Scale Assistant (Pro, Artist, Elements) is a brand new feature that will be great for songwriters and those whose keyboard skills are limited. The Snap Live Input setting constrains your live MIDI playing to a key and scale that you select. You can also apply the Scale Assistant’s powers to existing MIDI parts, and it will quantize the pitches to the key and scale of your choosing.
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Cubase Pro 11 users will now be able to see all of your Global Tracks, such as Marker Tracks, Video Tracks and Tempo Tracks, from inside the Key Editor. Composers who spend a lot of time editing MIDI will really appreciate the change.
Several brand-new plug-ins were added. One is Squasher (Pro, Artist, Elements), a multiband compressor that offers downward and upward compression. Although designed with EDM in mind, it’s quite powerful and could be handy in any musical style.
Imager (Pro, Artist) is a multiband imaging plug-in that gives you precise control over the stereo field. SuperVision (Pro, Artist) is a highly customizable and comprehensive multimeter.
SpectraLayers One (Pro, Artist) is a spectral editor that integrates technology from Steinberg’s SpectraLayers Pro application into Cubase. It even lets you split out vocal tracks from inside a stereo mix.
That’s just some of what’s new in Cubase 11. Find out more on the Cubase 11 new features page on the Steinberg site.
