Steinberg Starting to Lose its Momentum?

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Sep 5 2009

Music Production Topics 1 Comment 268 views

Snow Leopard’s out…but where is Steinberg’s counter-effort?

Still waiting on a 64 bit Mac version

I have been a die hard Cubase user since I started. With every other product I have tried, there has been nothing close to its performance, work flow, and design. However, with Snow Leopard already shipping and a plethora of problems already arising from Cubase users over at Cubase.net, one has to wonder what the hell Steinberg is doing now a days. I have tried, past all odds, not to listen to the experienced guys who have been around since SB’s early days. They keep telling me that SB is turning away from the Pro Market and into more of a “Sequel” like market. Where music production is more focused on loops and pre-recorded material than DIY from the ground up resources with good gear integration.

I have given them(SB) all the benefit of the doubt, even though Snow Leopard’s release has been public for quite some time now. There has been no apparent move toward a 64-bit Mac integration, nor has SB even attempted to iron out all the bugs in it’s previous versions of the software. I have had experienced users go so far as to challenge SB with law suits regarding the often incorrect claims they put out on their site. Even with Yamaha running the show now, probably a big factor in its decline, they can’t seem to get their ass disconnected correctly off of their neck.

It’s actually quite sad considering guys like me are willing to spend the time and money to learn and invest in their software and still grow to expect less and less from their support and quality assurance. I am almost surprised that they haven’t went under. Even sadder is the fear that they might sink since all of my work is saved in their project format (catch 22). They have almost no competition except for Pro Tools (who has horrible MIDI capabilities anyway), and yet crappy platforms like Logic seem to be whipping their ass everyday. I have often considered switching over to Digital Performer or even making the leap to Sonar on the PC. However, I shouldn’t have to re-invest all the time and money I have put into my small business just because they are obviously unwilling or incapable to keep up with the trends of the market.

C5 had tremendous problems when Apple moved to Leopard. Even though many of them were ironed out shortly after (not all of course), there were still even more problems with C4 they never even addressed. That left me, a C4.5.2 user running it on Mac OS X 10.4.11, in the hot seat shaking my fucking head. Now I am looking at the scales when deciding whether or not to upgrade my Mac. I could be left with no support for another 6 months to a year OR give up my chance to buy the newer software instruments which are designed to run and operate on Mac OS X 10.5 or above. Hmmm…..neither of those situations sound fun.

Let’s see what kind of move Steinberg actually makes in late 2009 to early 2010. Hopefully the guys who keep telling me about their decline are wrong….hopefully….