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.

• 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)

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.

• Basics - Hallmark features of Cubase Essential 4 include an intuitive interface and exceptional ease of use. With Cubase Essential 4, you’ll find it very easy to stay on top of the action and quickly achieve the desired results.
• Audio Recording and Editing - Endowed with professional audio features, Essential 4 is the perfect system for studio recording, live recording and creative audio processing.
• MIDI Sequencing - Powerful MIDI editors, extensive quantization functions, creative MIDI effects - Cubase Essential 4 is your ticket to highest-end MIDI sequencing.
• Mixing - FX returns, group channels, fully parametric EQs, and many more - the feature-laden Mixer of Cubase Essential 4 offers all the functions you need for professional mixes.
• Automation - Mixers, effects, VST instruments – you can automate nearly all parameters in Cubase Essential 4 to create fades, pans, filter sweeps and many more effects.
• Plug-in Set - As a fully-featured virtual studio, Essential 4 offers a complete set of effect plug-ins for mixing, mastering and creating innovative sound effects.
• HALion One - HALion One is a special player version of HALion and comes with a complete set of ready-to-use instruments derived from Yamaha Motif waveforms.
• Media Management - Cubase Essential 4 offers a revolutionary media database system, making management of all types of media on your system easier than ever before and integrating media resources directly within the creative production process.
• Video - With the benefit of the Video Thumbnail Track and the support of numerous video formats, Cubase Essential 4 is an excellent tool for composing movie soundtracks and scoring videos.

Minimum System Requirements

The minimum system requirements state the minimal specification your computer must have to be able to use the software. A more powerful system may be required for certain tasks or larger projects. You can find more information about computer system specification and setup here.

• Mac
  • Mac OS X Version 10.4 or 10.5
  • Power Mac G4 1 GHz or Intel Core Solo 1.5 GHz
  • 512 MB RAM
  • DVD drive required for installation
  • CoreAudio compatible audio hardware is required
  • USB port required for Steinberg Key (copy protection device)*
  • Internet connection required for license activation
• PC
  • Windows XP Home, XP Professional or Vista
  • Intel / AMD Prozessor 1.4 GHz
  • 512 MB RAM
  • DVD drive required for installation
  • Windows DirectX compatible audio hardware is required (ASIO compatible audio hardware required for low latency operation)
  • USB port required for Steinberg Key (copy protection device)*
  • Internet connection required for license activation

*The Steinberg Key (USB copy protection device) required to run this product is only available in the full version. Customers who are upgrading or updating from another version or product and who do not own a Steinberg Key must purchase one separately. The same Steinberg Key copy protection device is then used for all Steinberg products that require it.