Having paid, Steinberg directed me to a download page for the 1.8Gb upgrade file and its authorization code. After download, clicking on the file decompressed it then offered the option of checking for any on-line updates. I agreed to this and it downloaded another 750Mb. Installation was then pretty swift and left me with Artist 8.5 still available (apparently) as well as Artist 9.0. I've only opened 9.0 since, and I've not yet licensed it, although I'm sure I will within the next few days (using the installed licensing suite and dongle).
Generally, it went very well, with just a few minor issues. Cubase 9 now allows ONLY 64-bit plug-ins, so I got a few warnings about 32-bit plug-ins that were no longer permitted and were consequently 'blacklised'. Luckily, I either already had, or could get hold of, 64-bit versions, so that was soon solved. I also got warnings that Kontakt could not be found (because for some reason 8.5 had been pointing at my 32-bit Native Instruments folder, and 9.0 had inherited the same path). Again, that was soon sorted by adding a new path in the 9.0 plug-in manager, and the rest of the NI plug-ins then became available too. That was about all I had to do, and the Artist 8.5 projects I've tried so far all seem to open in 9.0 without any problems. I assume that if I save them again within 9.0 I'll then no longer be able to open them in 8.5, so I'll be sure to save new versions each time.
I've only had a quick skim through 9.0 so far, but there are some cosmetic differences. The main one is the amalgamation of some previously separate windows and looks convenient for those of us who work with just one monitor. The sampler seems nice, but maybe there's a lot more going on 'under the hood' too. Its hard to tell yet whether the upgrade price was worth the cost (which wasn't huge), but I'm happy to be up-to-date with Steinberg's latest offerings. Still, I would have been much happier if I hadn't missed out on a free upgrade because I licensed 8.5 about 9 days too early!
It is now even more powerful and more streamlined with its enhanced workflows.
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