Steinberg Cubase Essential 4
Cubase Essential 4 News from Steinberg. Cubase Essential 4 is tailored to musicians and home studios with a compact feature set for recording, composing and mixing music. Just like the larger versions Cubase 4 and Cubase Studio 4, the new addition offers the advantages of the new VST3 standard and uses the same audio engine.
Cubase Essential 4 - Personal Music Production System
Bringing to your desktop powerful tools for composing, recording, editing and mixing, Cubase Essential 4 is your entry-level ticket to the world of Cubase. Cubase Essential 4 shines with the same user interface and award-winning Audio Engine as Steinberg’s flagship Cubase 4. And that means when it comes to audio quality and intuitive handling, Cubase Essential rivals its bigger brothers. Any way you choose to use it - as a sequencer for your home recording studio or a multi-track recorder for the band rehearsal room - with Cubase Essential 4 you get the real deal at an unbeatable budget price.
Cubase Essential 4 - Spec:
- Audio + MIDI Recording and Mixing
- VST3 Plug-In Set (including HALion One and Guitar Amp Simulator)
- Professional Technology (32-bit Audio Engine, 24-bit/96-kHz Recording)
- Powerful Editors for MIDI and Audio Processing
- Media Bay database for sound management
- AudioWarp realtime time stretching/pitch shifting
- Cross-Platform: Windows and Mac OS X Universal Binary (compatible with PPC- and Intel-based Macintosh computers)
Cubase Essential 4 - New Features:
Cubase Essential 4 (formerly Cubase SE product line) sets a new standard for personal music production software offering powerful editing tools, a new set of plug-in effects, the HALion One Sample Player instrument, a great-sounding guitar amp and more than 60 other new features and improvements. With a new Arranger Track, linear and pattern-style arranging is now seamlessly integrated. New AudioWarp realtime time stretching and pitch shifting makes working with loops and tempo-based audio easier than ever.
Cubase Feature Comparison
| Feature |
Cubase Essential 4 |
Cubase Studio 4 |
Cubase 4 |
| Simultaneous playback of audio tracks |
64 |
unlimited |
unlimited |
| MIDI Tracks |
unlimited |
unlimited |
unlimited |
| Physical Inputs/Outputs |
32 |
128 |
256 |
| Inserts |
8 |
8 |
8 |
| Group channels |
256 |
256 |
256 |
| FX Send channels |
8 |
8 |
8 |
| FX Return Channels |
8 |
64 |
64 |
| Instrument Tracks |
unlimited |
unlimited |
unlimited |
| VST Instrument Slots |
16 |
32 |
64 |
| MIDI insert plugins |
4 |
4 |
4 |
| Number of mixer views |
1 |
2 |
3 |
| Control Room |
no |
no |
yes |
| Extended Channel EQ (VST3 Studio EQ) |
no |
no |
yes |
| Extended Mixer view |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Automation modes |
touch fader |
touch fader |
touch fader, x-over, autolatch, trim, overwrite |
| VST3 plug-in support |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Sidechain Inputs |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Recording from Busses |
no |
no |
yes |
| Mac OS X Universal Binary |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Multi Processing Support |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Surround: True Multichannel Audio Path |
no |
no |
yes |
| Unlimited Undo and Redo functions |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Offline Process History |
single undo |
for built-in audio |
for built-in audio and all plug-ins |
| MediaBay |
limited |
limited |
full |
| Track Presets |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Studio Connections |
Recall |
Recall |
Recall + Audio |
| External FX |
no |
no |
yes |
| External Instruments |
no |
no |
yes |
| Workspaces (virtual desktops) |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Project Browser |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Recording Modes: Mix, Overwrite, Normal, Merge, Stacked |
excl. Stacked |
yes |
yes |
| Editors: Key, List, Basic Score |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Drum Editor |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Logical Editor |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Project Logical Editor |
no |
no |
yes |
| Inplace Editor (MIDI Editing in Project Window) |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Advanced Options in Tempo Editor |
no |
no |
yes |
| Volume Envelopes |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Extended Track Inspector (shows VSTi channel for MIDI Tracks) |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| MIDI Devices (Device Maps and Editors) |
no |
no |
yes |
| Professional Score layout and printing functions (incl. MusicXML Import + Export) |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Arranger Track |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Global Transpose Track |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Audio Warp (Realtime Timestretching + PitchShifting) |
playback only |
yes |
yes |
| Time Warp Tool |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Pitch Shifting/Time Stretching algorithm |
Realtime |
Realtime + MPEX |
Realtime + MPEX |
| Dithering |
Apogee UV22HR |
Apogee UV22HR |
Apogee UV22HR |
| Key Command Macros |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Pool Import and Export |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Rewire Support |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Track Archives |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Extended Freeze for VST Instruments and Audio Tracks |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Hardware Controller Support |
Only Houston, Generic + Tascam US-428/224, Mackie Universal and HUI |
yes |
yes |
| Track Quick Controls |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Full MP3 Fraunhofer Encoding |
available as update |
available as update |
yes |
| Windows Media WMA Pro Encoding |
yes |
yes |
yes |
| Sequel Project Import |
no |
yes |
yes |
| Number of VST MIDI effect plug-ins included |
15 |
16 |
16 |
| Number of VST audio effect plug-ins included |
31 |
37 |
55 |
| Number of VST instruments included |
1 |
2 |
6 |
| Number of instrument sounds included |
135 |
600+ |
1000+ |
| Full printed Operations Manual |
no |
no |
yes |
Inta Audio recommends the Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 by Steinberg
The Steinberg Cubase Essential 4 offers great value for money, features, build quality and reliability.