Cubase 12 and Nuendo 12 are the first releases to offer native support for Apple's latest SoC processor generation ("Apple Silicon"). While many components Cubase/Nuendo uses have been updated to offer native support as well, there are still some limitations in place. The most important ones are listed below.

Plug-in Compatibility

The native Apple Silicon version supports VST3 plug-ins only, and only if they are available as an Apple Silicon version or a Universal Binary.

If you want to use VST 2 plug-ins, you can start Cubase/Nuendo in Rosetta mode. Instructions for activating Rosetta mode can be found in this article.

Also note that since Cubase/Nuendo 14, VST 2 plug-ins are no longer enabled by default.

You can find out how to enable VST 2 plug-ins in Cubase/Nuendo 14 in this Help Center article:
Using VST 2 Plug-ins in Cubase 14 / Nuendo 14

Video Support

While the video engine has been updated to support Apple Silicon natively and no longer requires OpenGL, there are some limitations:

• No Thumbnail track support (yet)
• No DV/DVCPro video format support
• No MJPEG/PhotoJPEG video format support

MPEX algorithm

The following features/functions are not yet available in native Apple Silicon mode:

• MPEX time-stretch and pitch-shift algorithms are not available
• When loading projects from previous program versions that used MPEX as a Direct Offline Process, it will not be possible to modify these processes. Attempting to edit them will prompt you to either make the Direct Offline Processes permanent or cancel the operation.
• For time-stretching, you can optionally switch to élastique time-stretch modes.

Rosetta or native: Changing the default mode

If you want to use features that are not available or only partially available in native mode, you can open Cubase/Nuendo in Rosetta mode.

Note that Rosetta is no longer installed by default on every Mac. If you need to install Rosetta, instructions can be found on Apple's website: If you need to install Rosetta on Mac

Follow these steps to use Rosetta mode:

• Make sure Cubase/Nuendo is not open
• In Finder, go to the "Applications" folder
• Right-click on the Cubase/Nuendo app
• Select "Get Info"
• In the "General" tab, check "Open using Rosetta"

The next time you start Cubase, it will run in Rosetta mode.

To use Cubase/Nuendo in native Apple Silicon mode, make sure the "Open using Rosetta" checkbox is not selected.

Cubase 12 / Nuendo 12 - Default mode: Rosetta

For best compatibility, Cubase 12 / Nuendo 12 uses the Rosetta mode. However, there is an issue with the option found in the Application folder → select the app → open "Get Info" panel.

In the app info settings, you can choose whether Cubase 12 / Nuendo 12 should "Open using Rosetta" or not. After installation, this box is not ticked, yet Cubase / Nuendo starts in Rosetta mode anyway.

Currently, the workaround for this error is as follows:

• Tick "Open using Rosetta" (check it)
• Close the Info window
• Open the Info window again
• Tick "Open using Rosetta" (uncheck it)

With the next start of the application, Cubase 12 / Nuendo 12 will run in native Apple Silicon mode. You can verify the mode using the macOS Activity Monitor app. Look for the Cubase/Nuendo app and check the column "Kind":

• Apple = Native Apple Silicon mode
• Intel = Rosetta mode