Cubase 13 - colors scheme customization thread

Dark grey is the darkest it will go, you can’t choose black for the scheme.

Because the image is edited (or a screenshot from a video) the colours and contrast were probably adjusted to make the image look more appealing.

muk said:

@48khz posted an example that looks great

Click to expand...

Hi,
I saw this somewhere on YT, it's just a screenshot, I´m sorry.
But I'll check again which video I got it from.
It's not very difficult to recreate it, I think.

Sometimes I´ve grabbed the colours of a nice DAW screenshot in Photoshop with the Eyedropper tool.
Then simply transferred the RGB values into Cubase´s colour managenemt system. It works good mostly. Hope this helps a bit.

found it, new Screenshot:

Link to the YT video below. (Attention, it is in german)





TC 6 m 12 sec

ok, I'll write to him, maybe he can publish his C13 colour value settings here.

Thank you @48khz! Though I think @MarcusD's caveat is true. At least I haven't been able to set a black background, only dark grey.

Will see if there’s a way to try to force the values in some way, highly doubt it’s possible though...

Here's something, similar to the green theme, I've quickly made.

EDIT: attached the .XML as a Zip file. Hopefully works, just double-check your preference settings after, as they might get altered if yours are different from the default settings.

@48khz

@MarcusD great job, thank you!

For my personal taste, I really like it when all these colors are consistent.
I did something similar in previous Cubase versions (10, 12) with red, ocean blue or purple.
Channel EQ and inserts colours are mostly identical.

Maybe as inspiration for C13, here are a few older screenshots of the GUIs that I had used.
It took some work to make it that way. But it's really worth looking into it.


light brown+red style:





Cubase 5 style:





dark+purple style:





don´t forget that you can freely adjust these colours in Cubase:

- arrangement background
- channel EQ
- Inserts, sends
- fader meters
- fader caps
- event appearance
- big CR summing meter

and many other things.

It should be clear that we will have to get used the new "modern" C13 GUI design. Despite the problem of some buttons when it comes to contrast, I know. But these color settings above are still possible as in previous releases.

Here is my work in progress soft set that I posted on Cubase Forum
Using Pastel Color Set that that I found online

Ozinga said:

Here is my

Click to expand...

very nice!


I like it.

Viewing these, as well as others in different forums, just goes to show how subjective users are. Many posted here I would never tolerate. I'm not a fan of bright brash bold. I like soft pastels that make it easy for me.

As you can see I don't even use console track colors. A glance at the bottom is good enough for me.

Since I use 4 Ultra-wide displays, use the 4 mix consoles and constantly changing views via Metagrid, I'll just post a couple. My 4th display is for meters, track edit, and history so that's not shown. Console 1 is linked to Console 2 and this is a basic template so that's why there is lots of extra wasted space.

Regarding the meter, I'm a Oregon almamater so green into yellow makes me happy. Red makes me notice. Blue says maybe I should back off. Hot pink I went too far. I teased PG@ Wavelab because this is one area Cubase exceeds where Wavelab is playing catch-up.

Colors originally were Irlos years ago, but then modified for more pastel. Chris Selem has a nice basic starter set that's close to this.

Go Ducks!

Just discovered some additional functions for colour picker while messing around on the Macbook...

With the colour picker, hold CTRL, CMD or Option and move the cursor outside the colour picker window, and the cursor will change to a + symbol. You can then click anywhere on the interface of Cubase and it'll match the colour of your selection.

Also, if you hover the cursor over the colour wheel hold ctrl you will get an option to copy, (or just use Ctrl+C short key) to cut and you can then paste into another window.

48khz said:

It should be clear that we will have to get used the new "modern" C13 GUI design. Despite the problem of some buttons when it comes to contrast, I know. But these color settings above are still possible as in previous releases.

Click to expand...

I think the basic flat design due to numerous reasons especially design for the future will not change. Buttons, contrast, fader caps and lots more I think will gradually evolve to a C13 improved state. Keep in mind user perceptions and how over time perceptions often adjust. Almost a year ago with C13a I felt the same way as many complaining. But with gradual improvements, and my own color preference adjustments, for me...it's not a significant issue.

I think it's an interesting unintended consequence of the new GUI that people are experimenting again with retro, grey colour schemes that are miles away from Cubase's current branding. Here's mine, which I find helpful for reducing the fatiguing high contrast of the factory settings:

greggybud said:

But with gradual improvements, and my own color preference adjustments, for me...
it's not a significant issue.

Click to expand...

I´m with you, that´s exactly my point.
As we know, Steinberg always needs a few attempts *cough* with such major GUI changes. Everything will be fine, I'm sure.

Did anyone experienced the introduction of the new C7 Mix Console back then?
THAT was a real disaster! But not what we are currently experiencing with C13.

Do you remember?

gradient as gradient can.
"contrast? never heard of her."








NOT funny...

That's why I think the new GUI design is quite good so far.
A few corrections and it will be fine in C13.

I was one of those people who used Cubase 13 and felt that "the white color just jumped out at me!" I was one of those who felt "The white color jumps out at me!

I started adjusting the colors in Cubase 13 with some frustration, thinking, "I wish the previous version was better.
I decided on the colors of the EQs, meters, faders, and other parts of the mixer, taking into account my own sense of regularity and harmony.

As a result, the white color, which I had felt was so noticeable, no longer bothered me, except in a few areas.
Not only that, but when I compared it again with the previous version's screen, I even felt that the previous Cubase looked kind of wild and old-fashioned.

In other words, I was so blinded by the initial shock of the white color that I did not see the subtleties of the "radical design improvements" that Steinberg had undertaken.
Now I find the Cubase 13 mix console to be functional and stylish, coupled with the new workflow.

That said, it goes without saying that I would like Steinberg to provide "some kind of font color adjustment" for example.
This would make it more accessible to those with color vision impairments or problems.
I basically agree with the path Steinberg is taking and will continue to support them.

The impact of the redesign has been so great that there has been some intense negativity on the official forums.
Perhaps with time, the good and beautiful qualities of the new design will gradually spread, but for that to happen, Steinberg itself may need to say more about the design concept it is trying to achieve.

Testing some new themes.
i'm using cubase for Rec/Arrangment/mix/master/editing. and always its hybrid type of work, so i need different set of tools always

MarcusD said:

Will see if there’s a way to try to force the values in some way, highly doubt it’s possible though...

Here's something, similar to the green theme, I've quickly made.

EDIT: attached the .XML as a Zip file. Hopefully works, just double-check your preference settings after, as they might get altered if yours are different from the default settings.

@48khz

Click to expand...

Looks impressive. Thank you MarcusD. I am just too daft to install it. Opening as a preset returns this error message:



(Invalid Preset!)

I also tried to replace the Defaults.xml with this file. Doing that results in no changes whatsoever. What am I doing wrong?

muk said:

Looks impressive. Thank you MarcusD. I am just too daft to install it. Opening as a preset returns this error message:



(Invalid Preset!)

I also tried to replace the Defaults.xml with this file. Doing that results in no changes whatsoever. What am I doing wrong?

Click to expand...

Hmm, are you on windows? I’ll have to check the process and see if I can get it to work.