On an urgent job and lost my control room preset. Had a good pro 14 session yesterday using my regular control room preset set up ages ago but this morning the preset was not available. Instead there were 3 presets called ‘default’ and this number seems to increase each time I open cubase. Copying an old controlroompresets.xml file made no difference. ( a different issue but thought I’d mention that in pro 13 my control room template loaded automatically with every project I opened but since migrating to a new PC with pro 14 a template called ‘default’ is used and I have to select my control room template every time - annoying - I’d copied control room presets from old PC But today I can’t even do that as my custom template isn’t in the drop down list) I did install the Youlean Pro loudness meter end of yesterday.
14.0.32 build 342. I have got my preset back thanks to Acronis backup which restored the ControlRoomPresets.xml file but the drop down list in addition to having my Simon1 preset has lots of presets called ‘Default’ . Wasted a morning part sorting this. I would like to clear this drop down list up and in fact just have my custom Simon1 as the effe3ctive default that gets implemented everytime I open a project. Alsd any ideas why this happened. No system crash. Appreciate if you can advise. I know there was a similar post on here by someone else but it never got resolved.
Cubase automatically creates one (and only one ) Default Control Room preset, which stores the settings of the last session. These settings are re-applied the next time the application is started.
The enormous number of Default presets in your list is unusual. You can delete them manually in Audio Connections - Control Room. Or, if you are familiar with editing XML files, you can edit the ControlRoomPresets.pxml file accordingly. Preset objects begin with
<obj class="FPreset" ID="[number]">
and end with
</obj>
If Default presets continue to be added, you can try to write-protect the ControlRoomPresets.pxml file.
Thanks for looking into this ASM. I’m not familiar with editing PXML files. Does it need converting to XML? (not familiar with those either tbh). There are too many ‘default’ (pages) to delete individually. Any advice on how to edit? If converted to xml presumably then need to convert back to pxml.
Have you tried? I am not sure if this works because Cubase is updating the file after you have left Cubase. In other words, this might prevent Cubase from closing?
EDIT: It seems that Steinberg has fixed these long-standing issue with ControlRoom presets in general in Cubase 15 (new folder, different file format). At least, I have not yet encountered lost or blown-up control room presets ever since. I can only guess and hope since there’s no info in the release notes
What @ASM said, solid advice!
A tiny addition: After you are done recreating your ControlRoomPresets.pxml from scratch make sure to save a copy of the file someplace else. Afterwards, create links for both folders that contain the pxml in Cubase and your backup. This way it only takes a couple of seconds to replace a rogue file. I have done that for many years - not a biggie once you have established a routine.
As I said: It seems like Steinberg has fixed the issue in Cubase 15.
Hi ASM do you mean deleting the %appdata%/steinberg/Cubase 14_64/PresetsControlRoomPresets.pxml file while cubase is running? I tried it after closing cubase but on relaunching, the presetsd choice is still the same so it is recreating the file from a higher level file.
Thanks @ASM , that’s a pretty cool workaround which never occured to me
BTW: For a moment, I thought that I accidently replied in German since you quoted a translated post of mine… LOL, you got me
I don’t understand why Cubase’s “Safe Mode” window doesn’t include an additional option such as “Use settings from [date/time]”. Similar to the auto-backup function for projects, this should also be done in the background, but for the settings folder. If something stops working, the user can switch to an earlier setting, calling up the Safe Mode screen (Ctrl/Cmd-Shift-Alt/Opt).
Power users (like us… ) are backing up the folder in one way or another anyway, but for users who don’t bother with that, it could be a real blessing.
I think the general idea is pretty good. Unfortunately, the file structure is quite complex with loads of interdependencies. It’s not as easy at it seems as you sure know.
It’s like the ongoing debate about how to best backup all presets - not an easy one. Profiles are a very powerful feature which cover a lot and it’s one of my most important security fallbacks. But they don’t cover everything - there’s a lot more. Just look at Mediabay ratings - there’s still no elegant solution in sight…
Well, I was just thinking about how many users here in the forum claim: “I started Cubase today and this or that wasn’t working anymore! Everything was fine yesterday, I swear!”
I’d say to them, “OK, then switch back to yesterday’s settings and let’s see!”. In many cases, that would solve the problem, I’m sure.
That might be, but it also might be that it confuses users even more, or that someone accidentally (?) chooses an older setting set and then you get posts here “I started Cubase today and all my settings are different”
Perhaps it would be better to fix the root issue and create more stability with all the preference files there. But with 25 years of historical growth that is maybe not as easy.
Once in a while I think about writing a program that can backup and restore all relevant Cubase settings, but I probably underestimate the complexity of it. It would be a nice opportunity to get acquainted with GUI programming, though…
The weird thing is: Steinberg have to be very careful not breaking backward and forward compatibility.
In case of the preferences, however, they could just change the entire system. Nobody is supposed to import C15 prefs into C14.
HI ASM did exactly as you suggested but there are still 80 or so presets in the pull down called ‘default’. bizzaar. Muist be coming from somewhere. I looked to delete it in the higher level folder as someone else suggested but there wasn’t a copy there only RamPresets. Looks like will have to wait to get v15 in the 2026 sale
) Default Control Room preset, which stores the settings of the last session. These settings are re-applied the next time the application is started.
olredi fixxt! 
(so matsch fan mast bi!)
) are backing up the folder in one way or another anyway, but for users who don’t bother with that, it could be a real blessing.