Import/export Cubase files.

[johnstaf]

Hi all.
I am really excited at the prospect of using Dorico. It looks like it could be perfect for my needs, but I wonder about sending files back and forth between Dorico and Finale. I’ve had trouble using music XML files between Cubase and Finale/Sibelius. I wonder if Dorico will be able to import/export native Cubase files eventually.

Many thanks
John

[Laurence_Payne]

What information is there in a Cubase MIDI track (the only kind that would have any meaning to a notation program) that isn’t transferred in a MID file? Much like working with PhotoScore, it’s advisible to sort out rhythmic alignment and quantisation BEFORE exporting from Cubase though. The tools are there.

[dspreadbury]

It’s not likely that Dorico will be able to import or export Cubase projects directly in the foreseeable future. The reason for this is that, like most applications’ file formats, the Cubase project file format only really makes sense to Cubase itself. For Dorico to read Cubase’s project file format, it would have to have most of Cubase’s code inside it; and while Dorico does share some code with Cubase, of course, in order to provide playback, that shared audio engine doesn’t deal with Cubase project files.

However, we hope that over time we will be able to build a more streamlined workflow for getting data back and forth between Cubase and Dorico than only using MIDI, even if it does involve an intermediate file format of some kind.

[johnstaf]

@Laurence Payne

What information is there in a Cubase MIDI track (the only kind that would have any meaning to a notation program) that isn’t transferred in a MID file? Much like working with PhotoScore, it’s advisible to sort out rhythmic alignment and quantisation BEFORE exporting from Cubase though. The tools are there.

I’m not talking about exporting unquantised MIDI. MusicXML between Cubase and Finale doesn’t work properly. There are bugs that Steinberg acknowledged three years ago that still haven’t been fixed.

[johnstaf]

@Daniel at Steinberg

It’s not likely that Dorico will be able to import or export Cubase projects directly in the foreseeable future. The reason for this is that, like most applications’ file formats, the Cubase project file format only really makes sense to Cubase itself. For Dorico to read Cubase’s project file format, it would have to have most of Cubase’s code inside it; and while Dorico does share some code with Cubase, of course, in order to provide playback, that shared audio engine doesn’t deal with Cubase project files.

However, we hope that over time we will be able to build a more streamlined workflow for getting data back and forth between Cubase and Dorico than only using MIDI, even if it does involve an intermediate file format of some kind.

Thanks Daniel. A streamlined workflow between Cubase and Dorico would be wonderful. I can’t wait to try Dorico!