How to import Profiler file ie all Preferences, rom another computer?

Cubase
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I have spent a couple of days learning and setting up Cubase Pro 9.5 Preferences/presets, a Workspace, Configurations, recreating a Colour menu, and redid all my Key Commands as I was unable to import them from Cubase Elements 8.

Despite many tries and reading the Knowledge base pages regarding Preferences and Profiler, and all the relevant threads I could find here, I was not able to get the various preferences reflected in a single Profile. So I tried replacing .xml files in the hidden Library, and then found I could not retrieve any preferences except on a Project-wide basis. Unfotunately I mae some of these presets/preferences/configurations in different projects, and thought they would save globally. After all this I found that even my Studio/Audio Connections preset was absent, and I’m pretty sure that is globally accessible? It has been in cubase Elements 8.

So I transferred my licence to my slave computer, where Pro 9 is a fresh install. I did all the configurations/Preferences/Colour menu/Key commands from scratch, made a new Profile, and exported it. It offered a .srf file creation in a folder named Steinberg, so I saved it there, but despite my best efforts I could not determine where that folder is. I assume it is in the hidden library/Preferences?

Then I ran Cubase in the master computer, and tried to import the file, but cannot access hidden library through the network directory.

So I made a copy of a couple of .xml files from the preferences of the hidden library on the slave where I made the new set of prefs…but copying them to the hidden library on the Master did not provide new options in Profiler.

(I plan to reinstall cubase on the master after all this, as it may no longer be in good shape.)

I tried to import the new Profiler file from the slave to the Master, but I do not know where the .srf file is.

Can anyone help? I need both help with the immediate problem of importing the new Profile file from slave to master computer, and with knowing where each type of prerence/configuration/preset is stored and whether/how ithe file can be replaced via the Finder if needed…and if not, how.

thanks

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I had successfully copied an .srf file to the slave desktop, and was too tired to see it…I have now successfully imported this .srf file into the Master computer via Prolie Manager, with the desired results! Any further clarification of which files are saved where, and may be copied as needed, would still be useful and appreciated.
Update: Actually it seems the Colour menu has not been imported, perhaps because it is by project only - i would have to make it Global Default before exporting?

Also - how and when is the Profile updated? ie which changes applied during a session become part of the global Profile? Does saving the Project save them to the Profile, (surely not?) How do I create a new Profile? Does Rename in Profile Manager do it?

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Thanks for reminding of that list Steve. I had found it this morning but it is very helpful but doesn’t answer all my questions, and in time I will be able to use many of those files if I know which ones it is ok to copy across or replace from TimeMachine.

Is it correct that the ProfileManager doesn’t incorporate the Project-based settings; eg track controls settings, or colour menu, or KS commands presets previously stored. Is there some way to make these settings globally available, so I can go into a Project and apply them and update the ProfileManager so it uses them next time, or has them available to new projects?

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I think the Profile Manager does work the way it’s described to, i have not used it many times, since I mainly work on one machine.

I did just use it to export a profile from Cubase and import into Nuendo, and it worked, at least for the stuff I noticed- key commands, prefs and whatever else. I think that is better than manually moving files, though I do do that.

If you’re inspecting the contents of those have a look at …/presets/RAMPresets.xml that’s where the track control presets reside, as well as quantize presets, and other stuff.

Colors, iirc, are buried somewhere in Defaults.xml. What I do with that is, create a project with the colors I want, and save that as my back up. If and when I lose my colors, I open that project and the color menu and do “Project Colors…>Save Current Set as Program Defaults”

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Thank you Steve, that’s good to know.

Key commands, configurations,prefs and a workspace did get imported. Unfortunately in the process I lost track controls, colours and I don’t know what else…what’s worse is, I tried to “update” my profile by making some corrections and, as i did not see a way to “Update” or "Save " the new profile, I “renamed” it. There seems no way to combine the wanted features of several profiles, each of which was intended to incorporate all the settings I’ve made.

The way you describe to save colour menu presets is what i have had to resort to, repeatedly, over the last 48hrs, including finding trashed test projects and opening huge ones that take ages to load, as I failed at any stage to introduce my palette into the Profiler, ie make the palette available to new projects.

I decided this morning to accept the fact I had been ill-equipped to start making these setups, and had best start again from scratch. Now I am no further ahead, other than having become more familiar with the set up options:)

I cannot currently face starting again until I have an understanding of how, when and in what manner this work is going to become part of my Profile, ie available to me any time I open a Project. It sounds like losing colour palettes can happen despite making the palette a Global Default and saving the profile correctly? How about other settings? If a backup project is needed to store these things, the Profiler would seem to be redundant?

The way I’ve been working for years with KCs and Audio connections is, if I make a change, I store a new preset. I always give it today’s date, so I will know what is most current. I don’t need to revert, but it lets me know I’m looking at the up to date one. That’s the way I’ve been setting up Track controls, but somehow in my confusion I suppose, I do not have access to any of my attempts.

Due to possibly unrelated graphics issues, crashes and keyboard/mouse issues, I am not at my best right now, and will put it aside till tomorrow. Perhaps it will make more sense another read of the manual and study of the Library folders and the Knowledge base page you linked to.

Thanks for listening and any further insight.

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Running Synergy keyboard/mouse sharing software (generally excellent), VEPro 6 and Cubase Pro 9.5, my iMac 2009 El Capitan has crashed requiring hard reboot about 20 times in a week, the most recent resulting in disc failure to reboot requiring Disk Repair of a brand new SSD, the previous 3 year old HD having failed after multiple graphics failures and crashes while trying to use Cubase Elements 8 with MIDI over LAN via MIDI Setup. Maybe the disc died of old age, but I remain wary of this undertaking with this computer.

I have now:

  • reinstalled my keyboard sharing software

-reinstalled VEPro on Master [Cubase wanted to blacklist the plugin, presumably because I didn’t run VEPro before starting Cubase, as was not intending to use VEPro but unintentionally, looking for colours, opened a Project which contained preserved instances of VEPro- maybe part of my problems]

  • further edited my Pro 9.5 prefs/presets/KCs on the Slave (MacMini 2012, MacOS 10.12 Sierra, more robust?), in an unspoilt Cubase 9.5 installation.

As I expect to reinstall 9.5 on the Master in due course, I am taking the risk here of trying to manually modify its Prefs folder by addingl my user-created preferences/presets/configurations from the Slave, since they do not seem to be imported with the Profile.

Following the advice on

On the Master I trashed the entire folder User Library/Preferences/Cubase 9.5.

On Slave I exported my new improved Profile (.srf file) to desktop then transferred it to the Master’s desktop
On Master restarted Cubase,imported the new .srf file, activated this Profile, quit and restarted Cubase, and I see that it is running with the new Profile active.

On checking the User Library/Preferences/Cubase 9.5, all the same folders and files equivalents seem to have been recreated there (though presumably they contain no user-created data except this new Profile- whose location I have not yet located - unless it’s reading it off the Desktop?).

Not a single user-created preference setting, configuration or what have you is reflected in my new Profile, confirming that the .srf must refer to other files.

I considered copying the entire Preferences/Cubase 9.5 Folder from the Master, but some of its contents may be customized to the OS of the other machine?

I will see what can safely be transferred, following https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/en-us/articles/115000245510-Preferences-of-Cubase-and-Nuendo, and hoping these recommendations work across different OS.

any advice/experience appreciated.

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Some of the .xml files are “MusicXML” filein one computer’s library, “XML document” on the other. I don’t recall ever having tried to open them in the past, but don’t know for sure…could I have changed their format accidentally? Are MusicXML files correct? Perhaps in the installation on the newer OS?

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Probably means that on one Mac you use a program that knows about MusicXML, on the other you don’t. Mac OS is just reading the suffix and matching it to something installed on the computer. It’s just plain old text files, all these xml files. Look inside them.

I will make one comment, and I hope I don’t offend you in the process. I suggest you just use things as they are designed to be used, and wait a bit before you try to be creative with settings files.

One of the many traps you risk is that things will be changed in an update, without notice, since this stuff is undocumented. Also it’s possible that not every single line in the doc I linked is up-to-date.

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Thanks Steve, that’s great news about the XML files.

I’m not offended, and I agree. I am trying to learn how the tools (including settings) are intended to be used, as many functions are no means clear to me, even after multiple readings of manual and watchings of videos and readings of forums.

I am glad I just studied my Libraries and went through the list in that link, as it does help to know what’s where. I only replaced the files in the manner described on the Troubleshooting for Macs page. It didn’t occur to me it might not be entirely up to date though!

I plan to uninstall Cubase 9.5 shortly on the iMac, followed by a clean reinstallation. I am about to search the Knowledge Base page on how to Uninstall completely, as I’ve had problems before with updates. Do you have any advice on this?

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It seems that the ProfileManager creates a new BLANK profile when asked to create new…and that changes made during a session are changed to the Profile that was in place at the time. This would explain a lot of the difficulty I’ve had, as I didn’t know which way it worked, eg in saving KCs, the changes are not saved till a new file is stored by naming it.

Confirmation from anyone would be useful, thanks. In the meantime I’ll see what settings can be saves working on this basis.