Do not modify audio files used in a project outside Cubase and save them with the same name.

Cubase
#1

in order to avoid corrupted projects with glitches, noises, CPU and Disk Cache peaks warnings, …
If you modify files outside Cubase, save them with another name and import them manually inside Cubase after. (ie boring…)

It will work perhaps using Wavelab but all others programs will cause you nightmares and headaches.

I spent one week finding a solution to repair corrupted projects after converting “false” stereo files to mono outside Cubase using Stereomonoizer.
Especially because the warnings Cubase sent you are not appropriate. (CPU peaks, Disk Cache peaks, ppm meters @0dBFS, …)
Maybe you experienced sudden Disk Cache peaks in your projects and perhaps this is simply due to modified files.
See one solution at the end.

It would be nice for a professional program to warn the user that the files inside the pool have been changed and to suggest to update them.

But for the moment, if you change the files outside Cubase, neither the images (.peak files), nor the cache file (.csh) will be updated, and worst, the pool will be unchanged.
Even if you delete the ‘Images’ folder and the *.csh files, all the modified files are not likely to be updated inside the pool, and the project will still be broken.

These solutions are not enough:
https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34005
https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=125995



One Solution:

  • Close the broken project;


  • Delete Images Folder;


  • Delete corespondings *.csh files;


  • Create a Temp folder;


  • Move the modified files to this Temp folder;


  • Open the project;


  • Close the Pop-Up window asking to look for missing files;


  • Open all the tracks in the projects window ie open all folders tracks to force rebuild waveforms;


  • Open the pool;


  • Right Click inside the pool and choose ‘find missing files’;


  • Point to the Temp folder, now all the modified files are finally updated in the pool;


  • Save the project;


  • Close the project;


  • Move the all the files in the Temp folder back to their previous location;


  • open the project again;


  • When the Missing Files Pop-Up window open point to the right folder;


  • save the project again.
#2

Your suggestion for correcting a messed up project will work but…

Some thoughts/questions for you…

  • When you say you are modifying files outside Cubase, I guess you mean you are accessing the audio files using file explorer. Right? If yes, then you will definitely mess up an existing project because files modified outside of Cubase or through the Cubase project pool will be changed and the associations/references that Cubase was using will get messed up/lost. Thus creating a “broken” project. And, of course, Cubase will not warn you of anything until you start the project.

  • If you can, always try to modify audio files while in the Cubase project pool or through functions that Cubase offers.

  • If you need to modify files outside of Cubase then I would suggest that you perform a Cubase “Backup Project” function first. This will create a new project with an audio pool that is not associated to the original project. Then you can do your file mods and import them back into your original project. You may have to edit things in your original project to use the newly imported audio files especially if you chose to overwrite existing files with the same name (which I rarely do).

Regards :sunglasses:

#3

I totally agree with you.
I just think that my title should be written in the manual in capital letters, because Cubase is clearly designed like that (for the moment).
I used Stereomonizer to automatically detect mono audio in stereo files and convert them to save disk space, disk usage, CPU… (It is useful with 32bit float files.)
This function doesn’t exist in Cubase.
With Stereomonoizer you can replace the old files (to save hard disk space), create a backup or create new files automatically.

I agree with you, the good way is to create new files and import them manually in Cubase, and then optionally erase the old ones inside Cubase.

I thought many of us use other audio programs for batch processing, … and came to a broken project. So I tried to explain what happened and how to solve the problem.