I first wanted to congratulate and praise the Steinberg team for implementing DAWproject files into Cubase. I can’t imagine how much time it took to get it up and running, and considering this is the first version, I an SHOCKED at how well it works.
Here are some bugs I found:
When importing a DAWproject file into Cubase, sometimes the audio files become misaligned if the audio wasn’t consolidated before exporting as a DAWproject file. This also happens with MIDI, but less so.
HERE’S A BIG IMPROVEMENT YOU CAN MAKE:
When importing a DAWproject file into Cubase, convert Folders into Group Tracks if they have FX on them.
In DAWs like Reaper and Logic Pro X, you can put plugins on Folder Tracks. In both these DAWs, they call them Folder tracks, but they are identical to Cubase’s Group Tracks. Plugins on Folder Tracks are used EXTENSIVELY in both these DAWs. If Cubase could simply convert any Folders that have plugins into Group Tracks, all the plugin information would remain intact.
The current implementation is already doing this with FX Tracks. You guys were smart enough to have Cubase recognize that if a Track has a bunch of Sends going to it, and it has FX on it, and no audio… THAT is supposed to be an FX Track in Cubase. And it works flawlessly. All I’m saying is to do the same things but with Group Tracks.
I can provide detailed screenshots, simple projects as examples, etc etc. And thank you all for doing this at all! This is a dream come true for people like me who (unfortunately) need to use and collaborate in multiple DAWs.
I figured it out!! By the way, this is another little bug… when importing a DAWproject file, you have to hit the blue “OPEN” button, then magically, the window closes, opens back up and then you can click on the DAWproject file to import it.
I think I found what’s causing the issue… its the name of the audio item.
Look at this image. The audio file that is out of sync is on the track titled “R Kick Out”. See how the Items named “R Kick Out-04 render 001.wav” “R Kick Out-06 render 001.wav” are not in sync with the rest of the files, but “R Kick Out-07.wav” IS IN SYNC. The only files in the project that went out of sync had the rendered tag on them (because I was rendering a mic emulation there). All the other files throughout the project are perfectly in sync as we would expect.
… if no project is active, Cubase needs to create a project first. And this project needs a project folder. That’s why the process asks you for a folder (DAWproject Bug Example) and then you can select the DAWproject file.
… thank you. I could successfully import your project. Question, please : How did you create the DAWproject file? With Bitwig?
… that was a good hint. Those files are correct. The other files have an offset and this offset is ignored from the Importer. That’s why it get out of sync.
We’ll push the fix to the next Update. Please have a try.
Ah I see! I have a feeling you’re going to get a lot of bug reports about this because its a little counterintuitive, but makes perfect sense. You guys should consider cutting up Greg’s videos from the Q&A livestreams, and make them separate videos so people can find the answers more easily. I bet you can find someone on here who would happily do that for the community!
I used Jürgen Moßgraber’s Project Converter, used to convert Reaper projects into DAWproject files. I hear he is in touch with you guys now, so that makes me happy! Between you all, I bet you’ll be able to get this functioning flawlessly in both directions pretty quick!
Thats great news! I’m already using this feature extensively and it has been a godsend for me! It’s also letting me use Cubase more because if there’s something that I don’t know how to do in Cubase, I can just port it to Reaper real quick, do what I need to do, and port it right back into Cubase!
Now if we could just get the Logic guys to join the party… do you know anyone at Apple?
Oh yeah! Here’s another thing that you should try to coordinate the Dawproject team and Jürgen Moßgraber… having the Importer import Folder Tracks with plugins as Group Tracks… here’s why:
In some DAWs like Logic, Reaper, and Studio One, Folders can have plugins on them, but in Cubase and Pro Tools, you cannot. Those who can do this use Folders EVERYWHERE, and we use plugins on those Folders. When sending a DAWproject to Cubase, Cubase won’t load the plugins onto the Folders because it’s not supported… but Cubase DOES let you put plugins on Group Tracks. So basically, Cubase’s Group Tracks are the same as Folder Tracks in Logic, Studio One, and Reaper. My question is: Could the Importer import Folder Tracks as Group Tracks when plugins are present so they would retain the plugins that are on them? You guys were savvy enough to know that if a track has FX on it, but no audio file, that it should be an FX Track, so I assume this is possible!
… that was the bug. The Plug-Ins of those Group-Track weren’t loaded to the Cubase Group Channel. It’s fixed now and had been added to the next Cubase update.
Good to see that a couple of the bugs have been fixed already. Looking forward to the next update. I posted about my experiences transferring projects from Studio One v6 into Cubase 14 in this thread:
If all DAWs can nail the compatibility of this file format it would be an AMAZING feat!!
Hey! Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask. I don’t see the DAWProject menu item. Do you need to have a particular version of Cubase to import DAWProjects? I have Cubase Elments 14. I saved a song from Reaper, and I am dying to use Cubase to rework it!
I upgraded to Artist and moved over my DAWProject from Reaper. I had done a lot of sliding the timing of guitar parts around, and so it didn’t translate all that well. I decided instead to output all the MIDI from Reaper and import it into Cubase (since I was going to re-record the guitars anyway). That worked great. I copied the MIDI into new instrument tracks that used the same VSTs.
It took a few more steps, but they were worth it, as it sounds exactly as before. If the guitar parts were worth keeping, I could import them as well. This is the approach I will use for my other songs.
I updated to Cubase 14 Pro today, and was excited to try out .dawproject as I have the latest Bitwig here as well… Unfortunately - it didn’t work at all, the export dialog didn’t even show a progress bar, it was just a blank bar with an ‘abort’ button. it sat there for a long time, and apparently finished. I found the 2+ GB saved file, and then attempted to open in Bitwig 5.2.7. it said it couldn’t open the file! LOL! so then I attempted to restart the machine and try the whole thing again, well, this time Bitwig showed me an error, it was a SAX parser error, and then it quit without opening any tracks at all.
So, for me at least, the new .dawproject export in Cubase has a ways to go it looks - Or is it something on Bitwig’s end? who knows! but it doesn’t work at all here. I have had the absolute worst luck with Steinberg support here in the USA, as we are talking to Yamaha and they usually just tell me all the Cubase devs are in Germany and there’s nothing they can do.
I am sorry for your experience. Do you think it is possible to download your *.dawproject file? You can send me PM with all the download links. Then we can analyse the problem. And it would also be very helpful, if we can get access to the *.cpr Cubase project file.
… thank you very much for your PM. We were able to analyse the project and found the cause of the problem. Your project contains disabled tracks. Those disabled tracks will trouble the Exporter. It’s fixed now and has been added to the next Update. Meanwhile use the workaround and remove or enable the disabled tracks. Then export again.
Sorry and thank you very much for your help,
Michael.
