I have a session open where some audio files have been moved, from the OS. Cubase doesn’t seem to be aware that the files are missing, it just shows “image under construction”. In the pool, it doesn’t show as missing, and when I do “find missing files”, it comes back with “no file is missing”. And yet right there on the screen, all the audio regions are blank and there is no playback. How can I get my audio back if there aren’t basic search/replace functions in Cubase?
I have the same issue. It seems to be related to the following reproducible bug.
System: Mac OS 10.12.6
Cubase: 9.5.20 (but I feel the bug has been around for some time)
unrelated to third-party plugins
- create new empty project
- create audio track
- record-enable and record some audio OR import existing audio onto track
- switch to Mac OS Finder and rename / move audio file
- go back to Cubase and open pool
- open dialog “find missing files…”
→ popup “No files missing!” (which of course is wrong) - save project
- close and reopen (or revert) project
→ Files missing dialog is not shown upon opening project
→ File path in pool now references the folder that originally contained the audio file (e.g. “Audio”) without the wave file name
→ dialog “find missing files…” again results in “No files missing!”
→ Waveform display keeps showing “image under construction”
→ putting the audio file back using Finder does not help because Cubase has lost the path
→ since Cubase does not allow to change the reference to an audio file in the pool, it cannot be restored
→ the Cubase project is now corrupted
Apparently, this only happens if step #6 is included. However, I’ve had other situations in which moving referenced audio files would corrupt a Cubase project nonetheless. Although I have not been able to reproduce them, the behavior described above is certainly buggy and must be expected to cause trouble.
I understand that as a user it is wise not to mess around with referenced audio. However, I think as long as a software allows importing of and maintaining references to files stored anywhere on a computer (not just inside a project folder), better fault tolerance must be provided by the software. As a frequent user of Adobe Premiere, e.g., I am spoiled by its flexible detection and handling of “offline media”, the search and replace functions as well as the ability to specify and organize referenced paths used in the project. In comparison, Cubase’s approach to interactive file and path handling is outdated.
serious bug that we must report to support, all of us that have the issue