Help With new installation of Cubase 10.5 free upgrade to 11

Hi, new user here and not sure if I have done this right.

I bought Cubase pro 10.5 with free upgrade to 11.and followed the instructions in the box re the download manager. Everything activated okay and in the download manager I clicked Cubase on the left hand side and when the list on the right came up I clicked download on each individual item and then either ‘open’ or ‘install’. Unfortunately I didn’t note the installation location at the top so think it went to my downloads folder. I now have a Steinberg folder on the C drive and a VST folder on the C drive.

So, first question is, I wanted all the sounds on a different drive, which ones are they and is it easy to move them?

Second question is how do I check everything is where it should be?

Third question is should I have downloaded anything else from the download manager on the left side?
After not using Cubase for years I clicked on the demo expecting it to open up and got a message saying files were missing, so presumably I have put something in the wrong place.

5th question, no sound! I will be using a focusrite 18i20 audio interface, also new and never used before, is there a certain way to hook it up? I did change the setting to low latency audio driver but still no sound.

Do I have to put the usb stick in every time I use it? What is the library manager for?

Apologies for all the questions, total newbie and want to make sure everything is set up properly before I start using it.

Many thanks!

Yes on USB. Use the Library Manager to move the sound libraries you accidentally put on the C: drive.

Very unlikely things are not in the correct place as far as the Program goes. Even the misplaced libraries were not in a wrong place, just not where you wanted them.

Hard to answer without knowing the specifics. Since we don’t know what you did download it is hard to speculate on what if anything else you should have downloaded. Likewise with the error message. Maybe a few pics would help clarify.

You want to find and install the 18i20’s ASIO driver and use that. You might also want to look at the Cubase channel on YouTube and see if there are videos on setting up the audio interface. Unfortunately this is one of the more complicated things to setup, especially as it will vary depending on hardware - yet it is one of the 1st things a new user has to tackle. Good news is you only need to do it once.

Hi thanks so much for taking the time to reply! With regards to what I downloaded, I clicked on Cubase on the left and just downloaded everything that came up on the right. I just wondered if there was anything else that came with the program but wasn’t under the heading of Cubase.

Stupid question, I want the sound libraries on a different drive but I don’t actually know which ones they are, is it the Halion program?

Thanks again for your help and Happy New Year to you.

No, everything that comes with Cubase should be listed under Cubase,

If you go into Library Manager at the top are tabs for different VSTi’s. When you select a tab it shows you what content for that Instrument is installed. So the content you want to move is not just Halion, but all the other content in the other tabs too. You can sort by size to see which content libraries are largest. And if you click the Details button it will show you where that content is currently located.

That’s great thanks so much! When I move everything, does it sort the shortcuts on the desktop out as well?

Not sure what you mean by desktop shortcuts. These libraries are just data-structures and not programs that can be run - so they wouldn’t have shortcuts. The actual Virtual Instruments, like Halion, are installed like any other program on your C: drive. Which is where they should be. The programs are small but the content libraries can be huge, which is why folks need to move them around & don’t want them on the C: drive.

Hi, I thought most people put all the sounds on another drive, and then projects on another drive, that is why I was looking to move them. So would you suggest leaving them where they are?

The libraries = the sounds. Using the Library Manager to move the libraries from the C: to another drive results in putting your sounds on that disk. I think you are confusing the Sound Libraries and the Virtual Instruments that play those sounds. While they do interact with each other, they are two different things.

Yes this is the most common way to set things up. Here is what should go where under that scheme.

C: Drive - OS, all installed programs (Cubase, Photoshop, Excel etc.) which also includes any plugins (3rd party & from Steinberg) and Virtual Instruments (Halion, Kontakt, Padshop, etc.) but NOT the Sound Libraries used by those instruments. (Currently this is where you have your libraries, which you want to move)

Project Drive - Put your Cubase Projects here. For best results every Project should be in its own unique Folder.

Sample Drive(s) - This is where you put the Sound Libraries

The only thing the Library Manager does is move (or delete) Sound Libraries. It doesn’t mess with the Virtual Instruments themselves or any other installed programs or data.

Hi, thanks so much for the clarification, being a new user I just want to set everything up properly from the start. You are right about the confusion between the vst and the sounds. So, in order to move the right sound libraries to set up as per your clarification, Can you help with what exactly I need to move From the library manager?

I just moved the whole lot to a folder I created on my fast sample m.2 drive.

Make sure with your audio interface you install the software that came with it. In studio in Cubase you can choose which driver to use. Choose the Scarlett asio driver. Don’t choose any of the others as they are generic. You will need to set up connections as well to enable all the ins and outs of your interface.

Hi Thanks for the reply. I haven’t hooked up the interface yet. I didn’t know about setting up the inputs and outputs so that will probably be my next question!

The simplest would be to move all of them. If you don’t then you’ll have Libraries scattered across multiple disks, which is a bit more complicated to keep track of.

But you really can’t do it wrong. From Cubase’s perspective it doesn’t care where you put your Libraries. The reason to put Sample Libraries on their own disk(s) is to improve performance. If you load a VSTi with an instrument that uses a lot of samples, it will generally load faster from a dedicated disk than if they are on your C: drive. That’s because on the C: drive it is competing for disk I/O with the OS & other programs where on a dedicated disk it can use all the available I/O. Now if you are just loading a handful of VSTi’s when opening a Project the difference might not even be apparent, but if you are loading 200 VSTi’s with a orchestral Template it could be a significant time difference.

And don’t forget to do an OS level backup when you get it all how you want.

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Fantastic, thank you so much!