Cubase automatically replaces some plug-ins used in old projects?

I am assuming this behavior still exists in Cubase 12.0.52, released today: “We have improved the automatic replacement of plug-ins in older projects when newer plug-in generations are available” (from Cubase 12.0.51 release notes).


Sometimes I won’t want my older projects altered at all - and I’m concerned that upgrading the plug-in may break the old project by making it sound differently than it was intended when I finished it.

One example of where that could take place is with PianoTeq. I have old projects using PianoTeq 6, PianoTeq 7, and PianoTeq 8 on my computer. Some old projects that work well with PianoTeq 6 and PianoTeq 7 may not work well with PianoTeq 8 (since version 8 requires more computing power than the earlier versions).

Also of course, there may be other old projects I have that may sound differently than intended if Cubase replaces a plug-in I used there with a newer version of the plug-in (if the two plug-in versions don’t happen to sound identical).

Would @Yvan (who has helped answer questions about this feature in another thread) or someone else please help with the following three questions?

  1. Am I indeed correct in understanding the release notes to say that Cubase will alter my older projects with notification but without my permission by automatically replacing plug-ins?

  2. Do I have the option to override that Cubase behavior? Am I able to tell Cubase, “No thank you, leave that plug-in used in my older project alone please” in circumstances like I describe above?

  3. The 12.0.51 release notes say, as above, the plug-in replacement has been “improved” … does that imply it was introduced in a version prior to 12.0.51 … if so, which one?

  4. Why does Cubase think this automatic plug-in replacement is helpful to the user?

Thank you very much for any help in understanding all this!

Didn’t he answer your questions?

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First, it up to the plugin developer to decide a) whether they implement that feature at all (which I guess most won’t do) and b) make sure they only allow replacement for older versions if the new version can reproduce the sound of the old one reliably
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It is a most useful feature and I do hope that it gets widespread use. Just recently I loaded an old project which had an instance of Battery 3, which was not installed anymore on my computer. But I have Battery 4, which can load Battery 3 presets and could be programmed to replace B3 and read it’s session data. Brilliant
Same with Kontakt. No worries anymore that you open a project with an old Kontakt version that can’t be installed or authorized anymore, if Kontakt 7 has the ability to replace it.

But again, I suspected that most developers won’t use the feature anyway, as so many butchered the VST2->VST3 automatic migration which was already possible since the beginning (but in a more limited way, that’s what they’ve now improved)

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Apologies, I’m still not sure I’m understanding the Cubase replacement process as well as I should.

Does this mean replacement with Kontakt 7 will only occur if Kontact 5 is used in the project but is no longer on the computer?

Does he mean if you do not remove the older plugin from the computer (as opposed to from the project)?

If so, great, no problem here, and I don’t think I see a scenario where I would want to override that behavior, thank you!

One question unanswered from my post @steve , as far as I can tell … am I missing that from what you posted, apologies if so!

Thank you!

That is very interesting info @fese , thank you! Where can I find that in the Steinberg release notes or elsewhere?

Yes.
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