Cubase 9. Will it open Cubase 3 or 5 files ready to play in the mixer?

Cubase
1

Hello Everybody!

This is my question: Will Cubase 9 open my Cubase 3 or 5 projects (as in ready to play in the mixer)? Or will it render my projects into separare audio files with no form or structure and I will have to rebuild all my projects?

I posted this in the older version forums and got no replies, so I am posting it here.

Please, would anyone answer my question?

Thanks!

2

In general Cubase Projects are both forward & backwards compatible. Of course if a Project is using features that don’t exist in the earlier version those won’t work (but it will remember them). Likewise there are plugins in Cubase 5 that don’t exist in 10, especially VSTi’s.

In any case if you copied the Project & all its files you can just try opening stuff and see what works or doesn’t. In nearly all cases this won’t damage anything & even if it did it’s only the copy.

3

Yes you can open version 3 and 5 files on Cubase 9.

The only likely issue may be old plugins (32bit for example) that don’t run. Sometimes they will translate to the new version sometimes not.

4

Hello.
Thanks for answering my questions.

The thing is: Will it ask for the location of every audio file or will it locate them automatically so that the full project opens in the mixer?
What I mean is: If I install for example Cubase 9, will it locate the files or will it request I type in the location of every audio file?
There seem to be pointers that are stored somewhere within Cubase5 that direct Cubase5 to the files. Will these pointers correlate to Cubase9?

Any replies would be immensely appreciated.

Thanks.

5

If the old Project knows where it is storing its audio files (as it must to open in C3 or 5) then it will tell C10 that is where to look for the audio.

But again, the simplest way to find out is to just give it a try. Probably want to make a copy first though.

6

For some reason I still have a version of Cubase Elements LE 5 on one of my PCs. I’ve just created a project in this old version which opens as normal in Cubase 9.

But as Raino, says, why not give it a try for yourself (a free month long trial version is available).

7

…another thought, by Cubase 3, do you mean SX3?

Files from there definitely open fine in later versions as that’s the version I’ve used in the past to bring in even older files (from pre .cpr days).