How to Change The Default Pool Location of a Project?

I’m embarrassed to have to ask this question, as I’ve never come up on it before.

In the past my Project always seemed to keep it’s audio pool relative to the location of the cpr project.

I.E.
If I saved a project into
“D:\Cubase Projects\My Kick Ass Project”
It would keep a pool by default in:
“D:\Cubase Projects\My Kick Ass Project\Audio”

Well, I seem to be in a pickle, because I can’t find a way to make this project behave.
It keeps doing everything audio in:
“%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Cubase Projects\New Folder\Audio”

I tried browsing the new hyper-linked manual (I hate these things when they don’t have a ‘next page’ link at the bottom to read a manual in ‘sequence’…it’s a pain in the butt to have to scroll around for ‘links’ in a different html frame to read a complete manual in sequence!)

I see something about adding a new sub-directory to the pool, but I can’t find a way to change the ROOT to match my actual project location. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like in the past the pool path was:
“./Audio”
Where the period means “directory of current cpr file”.

Sorry if I’m pulling a bone head and missing something obvious, but I’ve never run into this issue before. For quite some time in versions 7-8.5 I’ve been able to start with a template project from where-ever I like, then do a ‘save-as’ to a new directory/drive and then begin project specific work. In the past it would always change the pool to something relative to where the main cpr was stored.

What am I missing or doing wrong?

Thanks…

Hi,

In the Pool, you can set the Project Folder and the Pool Record Folder, in the center of the toolbar.

Search this forum. There are several threads on where to download the pdf manual.

You cannot set the location this way. Can you describe exactly what you mean?

You are right, I’m sorry.

Then…

Backup your project to the [/b]%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Cubase Projects\New Folder[/b]. Then the path/Audio will be used, as the Pool folder.

Thanks for the replies…

So far I mostly like Cubase 9, just stumped by this pool thing as it’s a problem I’ve yet to encounter, and I’ve been managing projects across many drives and directories for years now. OK, I’ll come back and hunt for the PDF (never had to do that before I paid for the UPGRADE). My comment about the documentation is mainly a personal annoyance over current trends in documentation (Others out there are even worse than Steinberg here lately), but I really don’t think it would hurt to add links for next/previous sections in sequence so we do not have to scroll all the way back to the top to find the list of links in the left margin again before going to the next heading/section of the manual. Some of the links only have a few sentences under the heading, and instead of just clicking we must go back to the top of the browser and find another link. I can see where we get a more robust search engine now in the documentation, and for that I am appreciative…I just hope someone will add sequence links in the body/context as well (I.E. Next ‘section/chapter’, previous ‘section/chapter’.

I’m confused about ‘backing up’ my project to an invalid destination that’s not meant for ‘this project’. Are you suggesting that if I move my project here, I can then move it back ‘where I want it’ and it will work?

The “%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Cubase Projects\New Folder” is meant to be kept empty other than some template projects I sometimes keep stashed in there. I’ve kept that particular location clean on my system for years (It doesn’t even have an Audio folder since it’s not meant to be a ‘working’ directory for Cubase).

Most of my project work areas are on alternate drives that get swapped out often (not the system drive). There’s nothing in there but things that I often ‘import’ into other projects such as drum/expression maps.

I start from project templates that technically should not have an Audio directory yet. Before I start making tracks, adding inserts, etc…I typically do a ‘save as’ into a new directory. In the past, Cubase would always treat the “\Audio” file as the default pool location. Now when I pull in projects, it seems to always want my audio pool to be in this same location :frowning:

So, I need to move the project to the ‘bad location’? That doesn’t seem quite right. I don’t want to move my project, I want Cubase to use the proper location of my choice. Part of the reason I need to change the pool in the first place is to take advantage of larger/faster media that is isolated from the %systemdrive% and %userprofile% areas.

Something doesn’t seem right…it’s not typical of what I’ve been getting for years and many dozens of projects. Should I try clearing preferences or something?

Thing you need to understand here is there are only 2 ways to define your project folder location, you can’t change it after the fact.
1 During New project creation, you have 2 choices where to start from. A scratch location or a unique location (your path here).
2 The other way is when using command “backup project”, moves everything to a new, empty folder and asks if you’d like to change the name.

Interesting,
So I need to backup all of my projects to the same location they’ve been in since Version 7? No problem. Thanks for the tip.

OK, the backup process worked, kind of…it did change my pool location to the ‘new directory’, but it didn’t move my versions though, only the most recent loaded project version.

It’s going to be a pretty big pain, as in the past I could just plug in hard drives and go back to work where I left off. Cubase figured out that everything that goes with that Project lives in the same folder. Now it’s wanting to defer to some other location, and some of the projects I was just working on in Cubase 8.5 without issue (and they were finding the proper directory…I.E. the “Audio” directory sitting right next to the cpr itself…not something off on some other hard drive that’s never actually been used for an Audio Pool…EVER).

OK, deeper digging…

Apparently I began my last couple of projects with a base project that may have lived in that %userprofile% location at some point instead of a true template. Oops.

In the past I’d used a proper template instead of migrating an actual project to a new location.

When I go back a few months (many projects back) things are normal again. So it’s not as bad as I’d feared.

Thanks for setting me straight.

Brian,

I’ve moved some projects from one drive to another without a problem. I first did a Save As on the project placing the new file on the target drive, in the pre-made directory for it. Cubase created the file structure it needs for the project. Then, I copied all the audio files from the Pool on Drive Old to the Audio Folder on Drive New. When I opened the project, Cubase told me it couldn’t find the audio files and then using Locate I selected the Audio Folder where the Project was now going to reside and it opened right up on the new, faster drive. Perhaps this is not what you’re attempting to do and forgive me if I’m missed the point.

I thought the program handled the kind of move I’ve described very well. If you’re talking about large volumes of audio tracks over multiple projects, there’s likely a much better way. This is what works for me on a case by case basis. Good luck and thanks for all your excellent posts.

Stephen

Thanks Stephen,

In this case I had not yet made any audio tracks. There were many VSTi tracks and when I began to render various tracks to make some CPU headroom I realized the Pool was not going to be where I wanted.

My mistake was that in the past I had always began projects from a true ‘template’, made a few adjustments, and then did a ‘save as’ to a fresh directory. In that scenario, Cubase doesn’t seem to assign a Pool directory until I actually get ready to use one, and from what I’ve seen here so far it uses the “./Audio” directory at the same directory level of the freshly saved cpr file from then on.

On a few more recent projects I’d apparently NOT began with a ‘template’ project, but instead had copied some actual base projects into a new directory as a starting point, and when I got ready to use the audio pool I realized it was pointing to a place I did not like. In short, I should have saved those base projects as ‘project templates’ instead of regular cpr projects.

No big deal now that I understand where I went wrong. Another notch on my ‘best practices’ list. Still, I think it’d be nice if we could manually change the audio pool path on demand. I’m even OK with the ‘backup’ procedure, but it’d be nice if we could keep it in the same directory (if overwrites are necessary it would prompt with ‘are you sure?’).

This has resulting in my losing valuable audio files. They get stored in a “Random” location unknown or noticed by me. Naturally, I assume they are stored in the new project that I created. I do a bunch of recording. Then, delete an old Default project in Windows (i.e. Untitled-05\Audio…)

Shazam! All my audio files for project \MyKickButtProject\ are now gone! The ability to unknowingly create precious audio in a directory unrelated to the original project is a terrible idea. The fix is create a backup as mentioned. This is a very clunky work-around. There certainly needs to be more visibility and control of the location of Default Audio Files. It should ALWAYS default to the Project\Audio.

I absolutely love Cubase! But simply oversights like this cause many to overlook the amazing power of the program because you can’t get over fundamental mistakes like this. Steinberg, please fix this.

Cubase does not put audio in a random folder. It always puts the audio in the Audio sub-folder of the Project folder. However it is possible to unintentionally put the cpr file in a folder that is not the Project folder. This seems to be what the OP did by using an existing project instead of a Template to create the new project.

Say you have an existing project in D:/ABC/abc.cpr

Its Project folder is D:/ABC

Then you open this project and decide to to make a new project from it. So you do a “Save As…” (FYI, this is the wrong thing to do) to D:/XYZ/xyz.cpr.

The Project folder for xyz.cpr is not D:/XYZ. Its Project folder is still D:/ABC. And it will save its audio in D:/ABC/Audio.

Why? Because you didn’t really create a brand-spanking-new project. You created a different version of the abc.cpr project with a different name & then saved it in a folder other than its Project folder.

The correct way to create an entirely new project based on an existing project is to use “Backup Project…” instead of “Save As…” This will let you create a new cpr file, in a new folder and that folder will be set to be the Project folder.

In general only use “Save As…” for variants of a project that are located in the original Project folder, like D:/ABC/abc-bad-vocals.cpr.

When creating a new project from scratch or a template it’s best to put each project in its own unique folder. The easiest way to make sure you do this is to check the “Prompt for project location” option in the dialog that opens when creating a new project.

I think it’s unfortunate that the command is called “Backup Project…” since that’s not what it is really used for. An OS level backup program is what should really be used for backing up projects (and everything else on your disks too).

CHANGE PATHWAYS BEFORE NEW FILES RECORDED?

Indeed, I didn’t encounter and contend with this Project Directory/Path issue until relatively recently. I’m still running 7.5.40 with intent to scoot to 9 after updating to Sierra (or Mojave) from Mavericks, and I’m already puckered up in anxious anticipation, for I know it will be an asscramp. Not too auspicious to learn that this Directory thing will perhaps be a more acute prob in the later versions, but I remain guardedly hopeful.

The “backup project” did NOT solve the problem of new recorded files finding their new destination, and there doesn’t seem to be any work around I can sniff out or study in manual.

Hopefully, those who are happy with a progressive and progressing cpr version can do the wav by wav rendering and start a new proj with a new initial path. Or build a template with saved channel settings and import rendered wavs, starting with the new path and destination.

If anyone knows how to simply re-target the new recorded wavs BEFORE they’re recorded, I’d be all ears.

Many Thanks~

~JDC

Did anyone get to the bottom of this? I have the same issue, using “backup” or not. The Audio always defaults to the incorrect location; I have to set it manually when using RiP.

The default location is set in the Templates window.

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Meh, this has caused me to lose a load of recordings…

Obviously when i created a new project i expected the audio to be recorded to the location of the project, however, my PC died and on reinstalling everything and wiping my C drive as i expected all my audio to on different backed up drives , when i’m opening some of the older ones its directing me to damn c:/user/documents etc a place i never once wanted any recording to go to.

I haven’t gone through all my files i’m praying its just a couple of random starts that never saw the light of day, but, yeah i think Steinberg need to address this and make it so that the audio record path is set project audio when saving for the first time…

Not sure why that wouldn’t be a thing in 2020 tbh…

Then you simply should have specified that when creating the project. If you don ˋt specify a dedicated folder, Cubase will use the default path, which is visible for everyone in the project assistant.

Since some people start recording before saving the project file for the first time, there is not much use in setting the audio record path in the location where the project file is saved for the first time.