Steinberg Cubase Elements 6 review

Steinberg Cubase Essential 5 has been our favourite low-cost recording software for almost two years. The concept is simple: take one professional recording application, remove the features that aren’t relevant to home users, take out a few more that they’d probably quite like but can live without and sell it for around £100.

Cubase Elements 6 takes over from where Essentials 5 left off – except it doesn’t quite match up. It costs £30 less, but in some key areas it’s a downgrade rather than an update. Essentials 5 supported up to 64 audio tracks per project but Elements 6 only allows 48. MIDI tracks, group channels and physical inputs and outputs are all down too. Existing Cubase Essentials users haven’t been abandoned, though, as they can upgrade to the considerably more capable Cubase Artist 6 for just £76.

It may be heavily stripped down compared to the full-price Cubase 6, but Elements is still a highly sophisticated recording platform – with the learning curve to match

It’s disappointing to see features regressing, but to be fair, the new limitations are still pretty generous. 48 tracks are enough for a recording project with a live drum kit and additional percussion, bass, three guitar parts, eight vocal tracks and a triple-tracked string quartet, plus up to 40 keyboard parts voiced by virtual instruments, which don’t count towards the 48-track limit.

People with such lofty ambitions are more likely to be put off by the restricted effects library. Cubase 6’s best-sounding effects are absent from the Elements version, and the ones that remain are more utilitarian than inspiring. A few are positively poor sounding, although these older ones are only included for file compatibility (newer, better ones are cryptically marked with a /// symbol). There are lots of compatible third-party effects in VST format on the market, but with most serious contenders costing hundreds of pounds, relying purely on these can get seriously expensive.

There are three virtual instruments included – an analogue-style synthesizer and two sample-playback devices covering drums and general-purpose instruments. All three are of excellent quality, but the general-purpose synth has just 185 sounds in its library; that might sound like a lot but thousands is more common. Those who rely heavily on virtual instruments might quickly become frustrated by the limited sound palette. The analogue-style synth offers much more creative scope but its complex, acronym-laden interface is not for the uninitiated.

The bundled virtual instruments sound great – we just wish there were more

There are lots of other differences between Elements, Artist and Cubase 6. However, it’s the shared features that are equally significant. The core editing and mixing facilities benefit from decades of refinement, with elegant yet comprehensive implementations of features such as MIDI quantising and mixer signal routing.

This also means that, despite the relative lack of ancillary features, there’s still a huge amount to get to grips with. We wish that certain functions were better signposted for new users, such as sound card settings and how to launch the editor for virtual instruments. It’s also regrettable that this version’s simplified mixer view doesn’t show routing settings, making it impossible to get a quick overview of what signals are routed where. In general, though, the interface places the most important tools in the foreground and lets users discover the more complex features as they’re needed.

Unlike the pricier versions of Cubase, Elements doesn’t need a USB dongle, and instead uses online activation to tie it to a single computer. However, the license can be transferred to a dongle (around £15 inc VAT) for those who want to be able to use the software on multiple computers. Versions for both Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) and Mac OS X are included on the installation disc. Earlier versions of Windows aren’t supported, though.

There has to be clear distinctions between Cubase Elements and its pricier siblings. The fact that we’re torn between recommending this version or the pricier Cubase Artist suggests that Steinberg has got the balance of features and price about right. Then again, those who plump for Cubase Elements and subsequently grow out of it aren’t penalised when they upgrade; in fact, at current prices upgrades from Elements to Artist or the full Cubase 6 actually work out cheaper than buying the more expensive versions outright.

Not all musicians need this level of sophistication – and the operational complexity that comes with it – and those who do will probably want to upgrade to full-fat Cubase sooner or later. Cubase Elements 6 therefore serves best as an introduction to the full edition, rather than a simplified version for home users – those after an easy-to-use package should look elsewhere.