In stereo, it handles both linked or individual channel use, and works in M/S mode.
Each band has a full range of EQ style choices and each one can be set to be linear phase-accurate on a band-by-band basis. Instead, it’s similar in style and concept to many upper-end third-party mastering style EQs.įrequency EQ offers up to eight selectable EQ bands, complete with a spectrum-style frequency display… and even a piano keyboard so you can associate notes with pitches. I know, you’re probably thinking, “What, another EQ plug-in?”, but Frequency EQ is not just another channel strip EQ. Ask me how many hours I could lose to repitching, bending, and replaying a simple recorded rainstick in a song. It’s fast and simple… and these new samples can even be dragged and dropped into HALion and Groove Agent for more detailed use. With Sampler, you can grab a perfect tom hit and re-play it with MIDI over a bad hit, or use session sounds as the start of a sound design project.
Each sound is mapped and pitched across the keys with simple editing functions of envelopes, pitching, filtering, looping, and simple warping. This is a full-on old-school sampler! Any sound you call up-or better yet, drag and drop into this window right out of your session-gets instantly mapped across and is playable from a real or virtual MIDI keyboard. In addition to the MixConsole, Editor, and Chord Pads, on the bottom, there is a new window labeled Sampler. This replaces the whole Edge Zone thing… thank heavens! So there’s no more accidentally bringing up small selection windows when trying to do something more useful like zoom in or navigate your session. They function in a similar docked manner, and they are easily turned on or hidden as needed. Other windows, like the Media Bay, Sample Editor, Chord Pads, and more, now follow suit. Some, like the Inspector and Track Visibility, are not new to this. In this update, many of these windows have been placed into integrated, docked zones that pop up around the Track window. In the past, most Cubase windows-like the Mixer, Sample Editor, and others-just popped up and floated freely over and around the main Track window. Rather than being redesigned, Cubase 9 has been rezoned. In this review, I’m covering the top-of-the-line Cubase Pro 9 you should check Steinberg’s website to learn about which of these features are also available in Cubase Artist 9 and Cubase Elements 9.
However, Cubase 9 does offer some significant new features, one of which made Cubase 9 an instant upgrade for me on the afternoon of release! So let’s look at that, and at other new features that make version 9 a go-to upgrade. Interestingly, at first glance Cubase 9 appears similarly scaled back, especially when compared to the massive changes in versions 7 and 8.
I’ve been working with it for quite a while now, and in preparation for writing this review, I’ve just re-read last year’s review of Cubase 8.5, which I called a solid interim update with little in the way of global redesign or plug-in toys. Several months ago, Steinberg’s flagship DAW Cubase was upgraded significantly it’s now at version 9.