Open a project that contains a sampler track that had a WAV file dragged into it
Back up this project (using the “Backup Project” menu item) into a different directory
Close the original project and open up the backup project
Remove all audio and VST tracks, including the sampler track [it might be sufficient to just erase the sampler track, haven’t tried that] from the backup project
Move unused pool files into the trash and empty the trash using the Erase option
Close backup project and open original project
The WAV file that the sampler track in the original project depended on will have been erased from the original projects’ Audio directory (instead of from the backup projects’ Audio directory)
It seems like files referenced by the sampler track don’t get copied and/or properly pointed to when backing up a project to a new directory, and instead Cubase uses the original project location so that when that track gets deleted in the backup project, and the pool’s unused files erased, the original file will be gone!
Luckily, I have a strict backup regimen and could get those WAV files back, but this seems concerning.
I fell victim to this a long time ago too, If you understand you correctly we are talking about the same thing and Cubase isn’t deleting your sample, but just not backing it up.
I think this has been like this since the introduction of the sample track and I complained about it before.
You would think the logical step with a sampler track was at least to have an option to backup sampler track samples to a folder in the new Backup Project folder.
From what I can tell Cubase keeps pointing to the original sample location of where you imported the sample. If you have the sample inside the audio folder of the project you are backing up (and eventually deleting) you will get the missing file when opening your backup project.
I have since that moment tried to remember to import samples directly from my sample folders, but even that is not a bulletproof solution.
This should be fixed ASAP. If you backup a project you would expect to get all the files to that project inside your backup folder.
Yes it is true, samples are copied but not reasigned. They are linked to old location so they are missing after back up. Nobody in Steinberg needs to back up projects😀. This problem is ignored since sampler track is added to Cubase. They did something on the problem but still it stays unfinished problem.
It is pure negligence I think…
Ah, well, I’m not glad that this bug exists, but I’m glad it’s a reproducible Cubase bug and not something specific to me.
I would think that something that is, in the end, destructive (not backing up files, resulting in missing data) would get priority attention from the development team, so I’m hopeful that this sits pretty high in their bug fix queue, and look forward to seeing this resolved in a future update!
Not a bug. an oversight, bad design or whatever reason it is, it’s been there since the start of Samplertrack so I am not very optimistic about getting it fixed anytime soon.
The best solution I can think of is that cubase asks, if you open a sample in the sampler track if you want to copy the file to the project directory and the audio pool. So not afterwards when backing up but beforehand.
Just as on other audio actions, like importing and rendering.