Cubase 15 puts AI stem separation behind the Pro paywall

Steinberg released Cubase 15 on 5 Nov 2025 with immediate availability in its usual three editions. The headline additions are a melodic pattern sequencer, six new modulators, a beta singing-synthesis engine called Omnivocal, and built-in AI stem separation. Read the feature list at the end of Steinberg's press release, though, and one tag keeps appearing next to the AI utility producers will use most: [Pro].

What is new, and which edition gets it?

Steinberg's own "at a glance" list splits Cubase 15 into tiers. The body of the press release describes the stem tool without mentioning an edition. The edition tags only appear in the list at the end:

• Pro only: Stem Separation, the new Modulators, the redesigned Expression Maps and the UltraShaper dynamics processor.
• Pro and Artist: the Melodic Pattern Sequencer, PitchShifter (±24 semitones), Writing Room Synths and 40 new Drum Machine kits.
• All three editions: Omnivocal (beta), the automation shortcuts, the redesigned Hub, Groove Agent SE 6, improved DAWproject sharing and quick export.

Suggested retail prices are $579.99 for Pro, $329.99 for Artist and $99.99 for Elements (579, 329 and 99.99 euros). DTM Station reports that Japanese prices stayed the same as Cubase 14, and Steinberg's release says anyone who activated Cubase 14 (or earlier) from 8 Oct 2025 gets a free grace-period update.

How good is the stem tool?

It splits a stereo mix into up to four stems (vocals, drums, bass and "other") and puts each one on its own track. Sound On Sound compares it with Steinberg's own SpectraLayers Pro. In its tutorial, it finds the Cubase results closer to SpectraLayers' Fast mode than its High mode, and the tool has fewer options than SpectraLayers Pro or iZotope RX. Steinberg doesn't say whether separation runs locally, and we couldn't confirm that from the sources we read.

Four stems is the baseline, not the frontier. Apple's Logic Pro launched Stem Splitter with the same four stems in May 2024, and in version 11.2 added guitar and piano. The widely used open-source Demucs model offers four-stem separation under an MIT licence, plus an experimental six-stem model.

What does each DAW charge for built-in stems?

Here is what each DAW charges to get stem separation inside the program, as of today:

• Logic Pro: one edition, $199.99 at launch, stems included. Mac only, and Stem Splitter needs Apple silicon.
• Cubase 15: Pro only, $579.99, which is $250 above Artist.
• Ableton Live 12.3: released 25 Nov 2025. The release notes say stem separation is a Suite feature that runs locally. Suite is $749, or $400 above Standard ($349).
• FL Studio: Image-Line's comparison table lists Stem Separation for "Producer Edition and up", so the entry-level Fruity edition doesn't get it. Image-Line also promises lifetime free updates in every edition.

So Steinberg isn't alone. Ableton gates stems harder, and Image-Line gates them too. What stands out is the price: the step from Cubase Artist to Pro costs more than all of Logic Pro.

What we think

Our view is that the Pro-only stem tool is a pricing decision, not a technical one. Look at what Steinberg puts in every edition: Omnivocal, a generative engine built on Yamaha's vocal synthesis that sings lyrics typed into the Key Editor, is available all the way down to the $99.99 Elements. Stem separation, a four-stem utility in a category Steinberg already sells separately as SpectraLayers, is not. The flashy generative feature goes to everyone, and the everyday utility is kept for the top tier. That ordering suggests Steinberg sees stems as an upgrade driver, not a cost it has to cover.

For artists, this is a workflow tax more than a rights issue. Producers use stem separation for remixes when no multitracks exist, for practice tracks, and for rescuing old demos. On Cubase Artist you can still do it, but in a separate app, exporting audio out and back in, which is exactly the friction an in-DAW tool exists to remove. The free route is real (Demucs is MIT-licensed), but its main repository is archived and no longer maintained, so "just use the open-source one" comes with its own catch.

Who wins: Steinberg's Pro upsell, and Apple, whose single tier makes everyone else's ladder look steep. Who loses: the mid-tier Cubase user, often a songwriter or a self-producing artist, who is the person most likely to need a quick a cappella or drum stem and least likely to pay $250 for one feature.

What to watch: whether Steinberg moves stems down to Artist in a later release, as features often do once competitors match them, and whether anyone shows independent quality tests comparing these built-in tools. Until then, if stems are the main reason you would upgrade, price the Artist-to-Pro step against a standalone separator before you pay for the whole Pro tier.