Let's talk about Studio One 5

Looks like they added a lot of Cubase-like features. Still not up to par, but I feel like it’s inching closer. What are your thoughts?

The simple fact that HiDPI Scaling works puts it way ahead in my book.

looks like a great update,seemes presonus team really have unique workflow thinking and ideas,and also implementing really nice features from other daws

well in many areas Studio one is better and have features cubase (and me)still can dream of. somehow i feel presonus listen to my requests but put them in the wrong DAW :wink:
waiting for cubase 11,hope it brings new creative ideas and workflow improvements,(one simple example ,using a real clip gain envelope and not the very old pencil tool which is outdated workflow{in studio one 5 seems they nailed it with the clip gain envelope })
Good luck

Thanks for creating the thread. I’m also interested in this topic and have been trying out Studio One Pro 5.

Overall, I have found it more reliable than Cubase (no lock-ups when closing projects, no random crashes) and there are a few things I desperately wish Cubase had:

  • Instrument layering
  • Effect chains
  • Tabbed plugin view (you can easily tab through all plugins on a track, how handy is that!)
  • Proper curves in MIDI CC lanes
  • A better inspector which requires fewer clicks to get to things
  • I much prefer the single click to open a VSTi interface in the mixer compared to the long click of the E button in Cubase, that’s honestly quite clunky and annoying

There are also just lots of little clever things throughout the workflow which makes it feel more polished and modern. I’ve also noticed that plugin UIs open faster too.

However in saying all of this, I personally prefer the following in Cubase:

  • General appearance imho is much nicer in Cubase, and text is a little larger and easier to read (of course this is subjective)
  • Ability to have ruler tracks (and see time and bars/beats at the same time)
  • ASIO Guard works a lot better than Dropout Protection, I actually recommend turning Dropout Protection off in S1
  • I prefer the way Cubase can transform automation, there are some things I can’t figure out in S1 here thus far … perhaps I just don’t know how to do what I want here
  • Expression Maps are more powerful in Cubase (mainly the ability to send Note and CC at the same time which is important for some libraries like Cinematic Studio Strings)

In saying all of this, I’m so happy than S1 exists because it gives many of us a viable alternative if Cubase was to ever get too unstable or Steinberg were to take it down a path I wasn’t interested in.

I’m still on Cubase 9.5 because the last two updates haven’t really appealed to me personally. I’m looking for creative tools, influenced from hosts like Ableton Live or Bitwig Studio. Instrument layering is the #1 feature I really want in Cubase as it is incredibly useful for EDM production when building thick sounds from multiple layers.

Cubase also seems to be very picky with plugins. It seems to be the most affected by bugs in my experience. Ableton Live and S1 both are much more solid on my system.

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I appreciate this thread. Without it I would not have known about this software. I downloaded there entry level free version just to get a feel of what their software is like and I have to tell you I really like it. I’m considering purchasing the pro level version and ditching cubase. Their interface seems so much easier to use. I think it is very user friendly and efficient. They also offer a great cross grade price from cubase. It would be a lot less to cross grade into studio one then for me to update to the latest cubase version. so I figure, let’s do it. I can always go back to cubase if it doesn’t workout. But from what I see and what I’ve used so far it really seems to fit the bill for me

A suggestion is to maybe check out the Feature Requests page to see if anything you really want is missing:

https://answers.presonus.com/questions/studio-one-feature-requests?sort=votes

Cubase is a very deep program, honestly quite a bit deeper than Studio One in some areas, so it’s always a good idea to be sure you know what its limits are.

You can also get a 30 day trial of the Pro version, which I would highly recommend before spending the cash.

Ultimately for me, I have a few stability issues with Cubase which I’m trying to get sorted out. If I do, then Cubase is still superior (for me). If instrument layering and effect racks are added to Cubase and I can get it more stable on my system, then I think I will be very happy! :slight_smile:

Oh and I should say that I’ve had ZERO stability issues while trying S1, not a single crash at all.

thank you for your comments. I have been reading through the presonus forums along with anything else I could find online. I realize cubase pro is a much deeper program, at least it looks like that from what I’ve seen so far. But in my case that is probably a good thing. Personally, I probably only use about 40% of the features in cubase pro. I know that logic would dictate I should get one of the more remedial programs from cubase. But I’ve always found that knowing there is always more to grow into gives me a good feeling. Still, after using cubase for years I don’t think I’m ever going to graduate to a pro level user. Right now S1 seems to be more in line with my needs. But as I believe I said earlier, I do not take this change lightly. I’ve grown up with cubase and I feel a certain affection towards it. Moving to something else is more than just changing software it’s putting part of my past up on the shelf.

No worries at all, and I can totally relate which is also why S1 appeals to me personally. I think I could use and be happy with S1 for pretty much everything I do in Cubase, with some pros and cons on both ends.

S1 is relatively deep too, I find the MIDI in it excellent for instance, in some ways better than Cubase (the way CC data is drawn in is far superior for me).

Ultimately, I’ll be keeping a very close eye on next versions of Cubase and Studio One, for now if I can get Cubase 9.5 Pro to not lock up almost every time I close a project … I’ll be happy :frowning:

One of the reasons I am hesitant about sticking with Cubase, or at least questioning it’s stability can be quantified by post counts in the “Issues” forum for each version of Cubase. With each new version there seems to be an increase in posts.

Cubase 10 Issues = 4462 posts
Cubase 9 Issues = 3339 posts
Cubase 8 Issues = 2914 posts

It doesn’t look like things are heading in the right direction.

Then again, if Steinberg is successful and is selling more licenses then the amount of posts will likely go up as well. And then you’ll have to add misunderstood re-designs, new and old features.

I think a better indicator typically is the list of fixed bugs in the release notes’ / version history. If there’s a bunch of them over several releases after an x.0 version then it’s worse than if there aren’t.

I totally agree. I wasn’t trying to set the stage and try to indicate the only metrics were mine. I do agree about the misunderstood threads. A large majority of them are probably resolved with a reading of the manual, or just stopping to think for one minute. And, many of the posts may actually be in the wrong sub forum.

I have to admit that many of the problems people are experiencing I have no idea even what it is they’re talking about. Sometimes I have to go and look it up. As I said, I’m not really a power user so many of the complaints that I read and see have no bearing on my usage.

studio one 5.1 just released : man,their team really works fast and with great ideas.
.1 update with many improvements and features for free… very tempting,looks like a great DAW that in every update goes much further than what cubase brings unfortunately(well that’s what i feel at least)

What specific thing does it do that you want, that Cubase doesn’t do? I use a bunch of DAWs and I haven’t found one that is a superset of another.

Concretely speaking, I can see that there MUST be things Studio One does that Cubase doesn’t do, and vice versa. I have only put about 20 hours into StudioOne evals and I’m about 5K hours into learning Cubase, and so far, Cubase fits my head, so here I stay.


As Matthias says (Hey man!) the volume of posts going up probably means more people are using it. Which may mean that in general, the use of DAWs worldwide is becoming more common. Cubase as one of the oldest, and one of the top three most popular ones, probably would be increasing, so would Logic and so would Pro Tools, probably. It would be very bad news for Cubase if the forums where people post bugs and complaints became less active, that would mean people gave up on it.

All really useful software has bugs, essential life changing software has even MORE than less complex stuff. More lines of code always is more bugs.
So StudioOne 5.2 will have more bugs than 5.1, even if they fix 50000 bugs in one release, if they add any new features at all (a thing STudioOne and everyone else probably will do), they will also introduce new bugs.

You might use both Cubase and STudioOne and not see any bugs. But that just means you didn’t try hard enough to test it. HiDPI scaling is hard to get right, I write software for a living, I do know how hard it is to get right. Especially since Cubase is a cross platform C++ app.

The versions of Cubase and Halion that supposedly fixed it for HighDPI didn’t make the user interface any more pleasant to use on my high dpi systems, so next time I try StudioOne demos that may be a selling point.

As Matthias says (Hey man!) the volume of posts going up probably means more people are using it

naaa hahaha… well if that’s the indication for sales and popularity maybe steinberg makes bugs intentionally :laughing:

anyway, cubase is a great DAW that has many years of usage and history, so it has a good side and a bad side.
but it seems steinberg struggles to keep innovation and new functions that newer Daws achieve, i cant say if its because cubase is old coded, steinbergs strategy goals and priorities of features, or they got no vision and connection to their users, or just cant keep up cuz of not enough manpower ?!

i see there is a try to make cubase more fluent but its here and there and its not really cuts the modern workflow in many areas like in other DAWs in my opinion.
If we look at S1,every update they make lot of new futures that are really useful for “workflow” and even refine feature they had for free. many of the features makes ease on tedious repetitive tasks others are new ideas and concepts that makes sense.

in my opinion there are mandatory things that cubase needs to catch up.
1:gapless audio (all major Daws have it even Dinosaur PT now)
2:snappier GUI,(for example when opening vst/i GUI it flashes in white then the gui shows and it takes more time then needed{win 10 })
3:work more on solutions for less clicks, two examples 1: better inspector handling(its a click festival there to get around) 2: opening and closing plugins when mixing its a mess (S1 solution ,tabbed insert floating window,that as the option to follow track selection, also for VSTi)
4:multitrack Audio wrap, move tracks in MC, new modern clip gain envelope automation, range tool in key editor and multi zone range selections etc…
5:cant think of all right now(the FR section is full of ideas) but in general focus on ease of workflow, if its with new tools, refine old features, new approaches in general even if its not always compatible with the old versions and old usage and workflow.

in the studio i work at,we have Nuendo 10 and Cubase 10.5 as main DAWs, lately Also protools for mixing(the owner thinks it has better cleaner defined sound :unamused: ) and Studio one 4 just because it had ARA where Cubendo didnt have it at the time.
we dont use S1 anymore cuz all our projects and are done in Cubendo and it has ARA now, but from my experience it has lot of things that i would like in cubase’,workflow wise ídeas and tools.
i personally have Cubase 10.5 at my home studio started from cubase 5 and some other software and hardware from steinberg,and Studio one 5.1 from what i see really seems to fill my needs better than cubase now,so maybe i switch, but its a hassle :confused: of course there are things that cubase has that i will be missing if i switch,but will see what future will bring

Studio One may not have as much features as Cubase but whatever feature they add, they do it the simplest way with minimum clicks and menu diving and with the best workflow.
Clip Gain Envelope for example. no need to change tools. Just done with pointer tool easily. Added workflow with combined range tool etc. Can bypass, copy etc.
Inspector is cleverly designed so one can see everything all the time without clutter. No closing, opening empty drawers all the time. Fader does not change place, always where you know it is not higher not lower or not collapsed.

Note Repeat is within the program, not something exclusive to full version of Groove Agent etc…
I believe Cubase needs a big workflow update to make the program more immediate and easier to navigate instead of new features plugins.

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I think the Studio One 5.1 is a great update. It adds retrospective recording (at least!) and many improvements to this DAW. I use both of them (Cubase 10.5 Pro and Studio One 5.1) and now - in my case - SO5 has a one advantage: Key Switches. I use orchestral libraries and need to change articulations. In Cubase 10.5 are some bugs in Expression Maps that they are not fully functional (and they are also less convenient to use than Key Switches in SO5).

Update 5.1 for SO has also text filters - you can easily hide/show tracks using a phrase matching the name, in main window, channels in the mixer or search for project in “startup window”. Small thing but I love it :slight_smile: And I wish have it in Cubase 11 :smiley:

By the way, I notice great similarities between Cubase and SO - even some of the keyboard shortcuts are identical :slight_smile: I love both of these programs and can’t decide which is better :smiley:

I was thinking of definitely adopting Cubase, but I just subscribed to SO 5.1 with Sphere, even though the visual interface is not my favorite (which is secondary, as I don’t paint here). I explain why.

I learned recording and mixing in Pro Tools (it’s over for me with Avid). I evolved with an essential thing, in particular for the mixing of the voice: the clip gain. Indeed, the gain clip is used to adjust the end of syllables or notes, to adjust the articulation of words without overwriting everything by compression (which must be used for something else!). However, Cubase’s gain clip and envelope volume are ridiculous tools (and volume automation is no substitute for them). The pencil is poorly maneuvered, without indication, and the gain is reduced, but without the possibility of increasing (without long and stupid avoidances). I have mentioned this elsewhere on the forum several times. I waited for Steinberg to wake up. SO acted faster.

I also think SO handles ARA better with fades (I’m checking). In addition, you can move the tracks in the mixer.

I needed (mainly):

  1. Quality gain clip
  2. ARA (really functional) for Melodyne
  3. Full integration of Console 1 and Console Fader from Softube
  4. Track management by the mixer
  5. Import-export from AAF
  6. French version and quality French manual

Cubase-Nuendo? OUT (1 and maybe 2, and 4)
Pro Tools? OUT (2 and 3, and 6 for the latest versions)
Reaper? OUT (5 and 6)
Samplitude-Sequoia? OUT (3 and 6 - partially)

Only SO is all right (if 2 goes well, which I believe).

I had no intention of leaving Cubase after a lot of hard work and learning, but my natural workflow forces me to do so.

I’ll see what happens!

I confirm: no problem of fades with melodyne in Studio One. Everything is well managed. :smiley:

One of the biggest advantages is the Studio One is available on Splice, meaning you can rent to own if you don’t have the capital to buy Cubase.

@Crotchety are you really saying that, or is it hyperbole to make a point?

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