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Why, after years of faithful service, many successfully completed
projects, stable performance, and editing you can understand, is
it time to consign an old friend to the 'old software' folder on
your hard drive?
Essentially because if music is an activity you take seriously - let's
say you fire up your DAW more than once a week - running VST when
you could be running Cubase 4 is a bit like running in a pair of
five year old Nike running shoes. There's an element of comfort
and familiarity, true, but that new pair of Shox™ will
make you run faster, smoother, and safer. And won't make you seem like a bum
when you run into your friends at the gym.
OK, forget about the fashion statement
for a minute, when Cubase VST appeared in 1996 it was groundbreaking.
The 'TDM' style plug-in concept had finally arrived
on a domestically priced 'sequencer', as they were called back then. The MIDI
features were great, the audio features perfectly adequate, and the ability
to use VSTs without expensive DSP cards was a bug that everyone got happily.
Fast forward to 2002 and the first release of Cubase SX, and then swiftly onto
SX2 the year after. It was all about audio. MIDI at that time was going through
one of its 'why do we still need this?' phases. The talk and the impetus of the
market was very much focused on loops, and Nuendo-style audio editing.
By the time Version 3 products rolled around, Steinberg itself was in transit,
let's say, between a highly competent independent in an increasingly hostile
business environment post dot-com bomb, and its current catbird seat in the arms
of Yamaha. Upgrade paths from VST were all but grown over, and by then it was
kind of like Treasure Island: cool, still alive, but marooned nonetheless.
Top film composer Harry Gregson-Williams was a VST 5.1 user until the summer
of 2005. “The MIDI was unsurpassable,” he said during a recent interview with
SteinbergUsers.com. "5.1 did everything I wanted, except on the audio side of
things. But with SX3 it's an amazing leap. Now the audio is just rocking."
SX3 has now been superceded by Cubase 4 of course, and the MIDI features have
actually been improved further.
Cubase 4 and indeed Studio 4 offer more MIDI power than any version of VST ever
dreamed of. Leaving aside unlimited MIDI tracks, we're talking resolution, controller
data quantizing, Play Order Track, professional score editing, in-place MIDI
editing in the project window, volume envelopes, MTC and MMC support and on
and on.
The great thing about these new Cubase products is that although the feature
set is way more, the balance of MIDI and audio functionality really does remind
you of… what was it called, now, SVT, TVS… ah yes, VST!
Quick time-out to talk about your computer.
Are you running a Mac or a PC these days? Mac on OS9 still? Yes,
right, you can't move on to OSX, can you, because you won't be
able to run VST on that? And let's not even talk about the Intel
Macs. You climbed aboard the technology train ten or more years
ago now and your two options are, essentially, keep pace and keep
in touch, or stay still and slowly find yourself sliding out of
the carriage door and slipping under those big shiny wheels as
they rattle on by.
Steinberg offered a great deal for VST owners during the last
year of Cubase SX3 and (without knowing how long this will last)
the deal remains in place for those now wanting to upgrade to
the brand new Cubase 4 or Studio 4. You need to be in the Steinberg
database – or if not, register your copy of VST by calling
714 228 3301 and that's it. Mac or PC, VST 3, 4, 32, whatever, this is the time
to make your move.
OK, ready to take the plunge? Call the Steinberg Sales line at 877 253 3900.
The following links, products, and services are here to make the upgrade process
as painless as it possibly can be. The DVDs and books cost but everything else
is free of charge.
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Now's the time
to move on (from) VST
