I have a ton of old projects on my old PC - projects where I’m noodling around experimenting with ideas, and I need to be able to access those projects in the future. So, for instance, I may even need Cubase SX3 for several or them…
Will I not be able to open those projects if I lose my current elicenser, or it breaks? I need to come up with a strategy here… Maybe I should start opening them one at a time and figuring out how to convert and save them? Sometimes that’s not that easy…
That’s pretty much the story. You may want to view various topics/tutorials for converting old projects now, while your dongle is functioning.
What @DosWasBest said.
Two additions:
If I am not completely wrong, you can open all Cubase projects starting from SX1 (that have a .cpr extensions) with newer Cubase versions (e.g. 14). So even if your eLicenser breaks,. you could still download the demo version of C14 and have some weeks time to convert them. The problem of course would be the plugins, which won’t open because newer Cubase versions don’t load 32bit plugins. Maybe not so much an issue for audio tracks, but definetely a problem for synth plugins.
So in the case of those, your best option would be to install the last version of Cubase that still support 32bit plugins (what was it? 9? 9.5?), and then go through the process of opening old projects, rendering everything as audio and saving the plugin presets in their native format, if possible (sometimes you can load them in newer versions).
I actually do that more or less every time before I migrate to a new computer system (6-7 years), go through old projects, see if they still open, and do some housekeeping. It is some work, but sometimes also interesting or revealing (“How did I ever think this was worth recording???”). The alternative would be to do that every time you finish a project.
I and many use jbridge within Cubendo 14 (and older cubendos). Flawlessly opens old 32bit plugins such as Trilogy, Edirol Orchestral, and all others
Ah, good to know that jBridge is still working under C14 for very rare cases like this! I bought a license many many years ago - I didn"t even know this one-man show still existed. Thanks!
I don’t think jBridge works for 32-bit Steinberg plugins… like, I needed to get access to an old synth called Embracer and had to open up Cubase 4 (or maybe 3.)
Plus, and more importantly, on this old Windows 10 machine I have, jBridge doesn’t open the GUI correctly in versions later than C11 I think it is. I believe I see a blank window entirely (it’s been a few months since I checked, I’ll check again on all this stuff and get back.) That said, this issue might only be with UAD plugins that are running on my UAD-1 card in that particular machine.
I should say, I have not tested jBridge on my current MAC. I run C14 in Rosetta mode on an M3 chip with Sonoma MAC OS 14.
There have been numerous threads like this one about Embracer – it’s not coming back, will never have a 64-bit version, and will not run under jBridge. Your only option is to get a Cubase 8.5 (32-bit) operational with the eLicenser and either render out the tracks that use it, or just hope the eLicenser never breaks or gets lost (I built one into a laptop to be sure!).
In order to be able to resurrect old projects, you would be pretty safe with just SX3, Cubase 8.5 (32-bit) and a current version.
I think Embracer was gone after Cubase 4 or something…
Regardless… I can’t count on hardware not breaking, even though I’ve never had an elicenser fail. But I did have a short happen on my machine once that fried an expense firewire device that was attached.
I think I just need to go through and make my old projects C14+ compatible.
I’ll tell ya, in all my years using Cubendo, I don’t think I’ve ever used an actual standaloneable Steinberg synth or plug other than Hypersonic for a time.
However, if we’re talkin’ 3rd party vsti/plugs from the years circa 2000+…jbridge is stellar within Cubase/Nuendo 14.
The source of terror seems to be those with an elicenser who potentially want to open arr (not cpr).
That seems to be the focus of all the various stickies/tutorials as May 20 approaches.
While I never historically used cubase versions that used arr…I did…a few months back…test install Cubase 3…or 5 (or whatever) here on Win11 Pro 24h2 to test how it opens arr files for immediate resaves as cpr.
Works beautifully. Of course, I also have a functioning elicenser dongle.
Embracer is beautiful.
I double-checked. My jBridge on Windows 10 works fine inside of Cubase 11 Elements… but Cubase 12, the GUI for all plugins, including the non-UAD ones, is completely white. I can change the GUI to the generic editor, however. I had tried fixing this problem a while ago by reinstalling the latest version of jBridge again but no joy.
Did you ever have this problem in Win10 or something? I wonder if C12 has the problem but C14 doesn’t… Or maybe it’s the way I have jBridge configured in C11 that carries over into C12 that is causing the problem in C12, like perhaps I should reopen C11 and reset jBridge to its default state and try again. Hmm…
Dunno. I clean-installed win11 cubendos and clean-installs of stuff like jbridge a few months ago…part of my yearly-or-so routine. All fine. I didn’t have issues before the complete wipe of the C drive either.
Been a long time since I was on win10 but no issues there either at the time.
Never heard of embracer.
However, I do like tech challenges here & there when I have time.
I’ve just been reading about its tech structure and I and my dongle are now heading to the ftp to experiment with something 
Wait, are you, um, ok… like… considering 64-bittishing the thing?
No, no… couldn’t be.
Or maybe a DOS version?
you mean like, we boot into DOS?!
OK, you lost me.
Hi there, I´m working with Cubase 14 PRO and my 32bit Plugins and VSTis are working perfect with jBridge. A few weeks ago i´ve contacted the developer of jBridge asking him for a tool to convert vst2 to vst3. He told me, that there is no plan for it, at the moment. But, if there is demand from users, he´ll perhaps plan to develope an according piece of software.
So if you are interested drop your demand at: jBridge ( for Windows ) | J's stuff
Please note that currently , opening previous version sessions in Cubase 14 can disrupt MIDI Remote scripts so badly that the surface in question will need a factory reset. Ticket already submitted, but no response.
This is confirmed to be an issue on multiple surfaces.
Ooh, that’s not good. Great to know. I’m still using the generic scripts. And on MAC OS, running in Rosetta mode.
Curious… the last I checked, Cubase doesn’t support the old generic scripts in Apple Silicon mode, I don’t think… Or is it just the CMC controllers I have? I’ve wanted to make the switch over for a long time but the lack of VST2 support and loss of CMC functionality as well as a few slow 3rd party developers stopped me. Anyone know the current status on this stuff?
I got a similar response from him a long time ago about fixing his current jBridge to work with C14. (But I guess it works for some folks, just not me… not the GUI anyway.)