Cubase

Cubase is a digital audio workstation (DAW) piece of software for music composing and audio recording. The software is made by Steinberg, a German company based in Hamburg. It was originally developed for the Atari system in 1989 and only supported MIDI. Cubase has come a long way since the Atari and now runs on Mac and Windows with a fully featured plugin suite of synthesizers, drum machines, and processing effects.

Steinberg introduced the VST format for virtual instruments and plugins with their release of Cubase in 1999. VST (Virtual Studio Technology) is a standard for creating instruments, voice banks, or audio processors. The format has become adopted by some audio software manufacturers but is strongly resisted by others. Notably Steinber's primary competitor, Avid, who manufactures Pro Tools.