I’ve been switching between Pro Tools and Cubase over the years, but I’d really like to stick with Cubase because of its superior MIDI editing, Logical Editor presets, and macro capabilities.
However, I can’t find a simple solution for the following workflow:
In Pro Tools, virtual instruments are loaded as inserts. If I want to move an instrument from one track to another while keeping all the settings I’ve made inside the plugin, I can simply Alt-drag it, just like any other insert effect, and drop it onto another track. It’s extremely useful when I’ve already created multiple MIDI parts but haven’t yet decided which instrument should play which part.
Is there a way to do this in Cubase quickly without duplicating a track?
To be clear, I do not want to duplicate any MIDI data. I simply want to quickly copy or move a VST instrument, including all of its current settings, from one instrument track to another.
I seem to remember being able to do something similar in older Cubase versions by using Alt-drag, but I am not 100% sure and can’t get it to work in Cubase 15.
Am I missing something or is there another workflow for this?
The quickest way I think would be to save a Track Preset by right clicking the track in the sequencer window. And loading that preset on another instance of the same vst instrument (Halion in case of this gif). You will retain all the instrument and channel setting of the first instance of your vst with duplicating the track.
Although I love to work with track presets, I prefer working with this method, too, in this use case. Doesn’t this macro come as a default with Cubase? I assigned a key command to this macro years ago so I can’t really tell. Same name, same commands. Just wondering…
Thanks a lot for taking the time. This is of course a bit slower than in Pro Tools but I guess you can’t have everything everywhere. Appreciate it a lot! Thanks
What works even better in my case is to save the preset inside the instrument window and then load it in the track presets of the edit view. This way you don’t have to have the same instrument loaded but also keep the insert and send chain seperated from the instrument.
It would be fantastic to have more key command possibilites for that.
Save as current Preset (inside Edit Instrument window)
Load current Preset
This is very useful. Thanks for taking the time!
However in my case it would not work as intended because I want to import it onto another track that already might have its own MIDI data and Insert/Send Chain.
I am guessing you created these multiple MIDI parts using a temp instrument since you have not decided on the final instrument. If yes, did you use Rack Instruments or Track Instruments to load this temp VST instrument?
Wanting just the VST instrument settings, wanting just the channel settings, wanting both, wanting just instrument settings while retaining midi data, wanting both while not wanting midi data, but wanting the channel settings - every imaginable combination can be achieved. But knowing if you use Rack or Track to load instruments might help us give you a very specific solution.
P.S - You might want to look into using a Rack instrument instead of Track instrument. Since a Rack instruments can be connected to any existing MIDI track, be it blank or with MIDI data. But I would recommend using Track Instruments, since what you want can still be achieved, and retain the ease and speed of working. I ditched using Rack once I got my PC upgraded. It somehow pushed me to decide on the instrument and finish tracks faster.
