Cubase project in 2 computers while travelling

[victornf]

Hi there

From time to time i must develop projects between one PC and a laptop. This happens whenever I have to travel in a middle of a project. My composing projects consist of VST instruments (usually Kontakt) and few audio/video files. So my intention is to start a project off in one computer, let the cloud sync, and then download it from the other pc, continue working perhaps repeat the process and so on.

Despite having same Cubase (12 pro) and Kontakt (6.22), I am facing 2 issues:

1. files “absolute” path: it seems Cubase stores files using the full path from the drive unit, although I’d have expected that files path would be relative to the cpr location. So, even if I respect the subdirectories structure, i find no way to avoid losing the files in each pc change, having to search for them manually… do you guys have any idea please?

2. Kontakt empty: when opening any of the vsts after changing pcs, there isnt any error message, however kontakt instances are empty. Even if name of vsts are equal. Is it becauae again the location of the samples is different?

Well, I’d really appreciate any help.

Many thanks upfront!
Victor

[fese]

Hi,
regarding your first issue: Cubase does use relative paths for everything in the project’s audio folder, you can copy and move them around and open them, and everything’s there. At least that’s how I always experienced it. Are you sure that every audio file you have in the project is actually located in the project or project audio folder? You can check in the Pool.
Here is a section of the manual that can be helpful for making sure your project is fine for transferring:

Self-Contained Projects

Second issue: That should not happen. However there was just recently a thread with a very similar issues, also with Native Instruments plugins:

Native Instruments settings not saving when shifting between computers

Hello all! Long time CB user here, but turned up something I can’t seem to find an answer for. I managed to blag a copy of NI Komplete last year, and have been having a bit of fun with it. At work, I’m playing with Kontakt and Guitar Rig, and it works pretty well. I get back the next morning, and it’s all fine. However, when I shift the project to my home rig, almost every time, NI software completely forgets all the settings and defaults back to the… uh, default. I do have a solution to this…

The plugin’s settings are saved with the project, and Kontakt or whatever should be able to load them back on the other computer. If there are missing sample files, it should query for the location.
It’s not yet sure what the problem is, but make sure you update NI stuff to the latest version on both your systems. Maybe it is a bug.

[raino]

Have you considered removing the cloud & syncing from your workflow and instead use a portable external drive? Then independent of which computer you are using the Project files can always be the originals and not copies. Maybe even install your Kontakt libraries on it too.

[victornf]

Thanks Fese, your answer led me to the solution, I’ll explain.

On the “absolute paths”, your firm statement made me wonder if i was doing things correctly, and i wasn’t. The point is that when moving the project and I was prompted about missing files, I was reacting wrongly. Now essentially you click on [folder], which leads to tell to the system which is the project folder (obvious, lol) and this way the rest of files are then directed accordingly. Super easy when clicking the right button, a bit dumb if you try to mess around… But it is true that before any transfer from computer to computer, it is a must to self-contain the project as you were pointing out, otherwise you may ran into furthe rissues… thanks!

On the Kontakt thing, well it is even more simple than the previous one. You need to grant same Kontakt version and, very importantly, same VST mode too. In my case, I had VST2 in the laptop and VST3 in the computer. As a rule, and this may help other guys like me running into this issue, any previous versions of Kontakt (no matter if “almost”) or even same exact version but different VST mode, will simply not be able to interpret the coding of the samples call, and simply ignore them. It will work from the higher to the lower (or VST3 to VST2, I have tested it), but not the opposite. Once you grant to have it corrected, then Kontakt prompts you for the sample path, as usual, and from that point on, you can crack your project.

Hope this thread may help other guys as it took me a couple of days totally mad. Thanks fese again!
Cheers
Victor

[victornf]

Hi raino, thanks a lot for your alternative proposal, it looks interesting. In my case, i have a previous bad experience with external drives (it fell off from an aircraft seat table during a long flight) which somehow created a trauma… (lol) however you are right that if you manage to assign the same unit letter in both systems then it is super cool, as you need to do nothing but take the drive with you. Big thank you raino for the idea.
Cheers
Victor

[The_Button_Man]

I’m still investigating this one (didn’t have time at work last week). It does seem to be NI instruments… doing a version check tomorrow… Very odd indeed.

[Jari_Junttila]

If any of you use Serato Sample, copy sample to project folder, before you use. I had a project that I started on laptop, then copied the project to desktop and everything was messed up in Serato Sample

[vinark]

I am pretty sure that with kontakt anything done in the vst3 version will load empty in the vst2 without an error prompt. The other way round vst2 to vst3 works reliably here. So just make sure the vst3 version is also on the laptop and make certain both are the excact same version no. Loading newer version in older does not work and will give an error always.