Always ask users where to install ALL programs, content and presets too !! Total Location Control
Give users the option NOT to save anything in My Documents, which has lots of non-music related content. Ideally upon first setting up Cubase there would be a quick setup where users can plan paths and other important workflow choices. (see bottom explainer)
Give users the option to bail out/erase/bypass your system, for example Cubase Save/load Track loads menus with way too many styles/built-in presets, a mess means users may not want to use this. Give option to clean things up/start from blank. EG a producer doing EDM may never want to see Cubase tags such as Blues, Banjo, etc…
All metadata everywhere in the hands of the user, eg favourites, category, tags …
Allow users to delete or hide presets and other non-vital content, tags or categories they don’t like to see
Some reasons why this may be uber important for many of us :
we may do a fresh Windows install every couple of years, so want ALL important stuff OUT of the C drive including personal presets, preferences, macros etc…
we like to use external drives for all Libraries, samples, presets, making for an easy reinstall and the mightily important backup ( go do it).
If Windows or C goes down, we can have everything just as before with pretty much just an OS and Cubase reinstall. Not have to go through resetting all kinds of templates, presets, preferences, etc…
Other OSs and DAWs might work better, I wish next iterations of Cubase and perhaps of the vst standard would improve on that organisation part.
Out of curiosity, you mention that one major reason for allowing users this kind of power is ease of wiping your system drive without the risk of loosing data, preferences and settings. It begs the question, but what about the myriad of other settings that are stored on your system drive? The Windows registry for example or any other installed application or driver?
Yeah great point Johnny, I don’t know numbers but I do think most of us will either crash/update/renew our setups at some point, right?! Then having this neat organisation already sorted out should avoid us all a big headache don’t you think?
You’re right that not everything would be backed up.
But if we can have our favourite synths presets + general Cubase preferences saved because they’re all on an external drive, then it’s already a great deal don’t you think?
I know it’s possible to use the Profile Manager to export it, but how many really do it? And it wouldn’t do a thing for presets.
What I advocate for is a general simple clean up offered as an option for those who like to tidy as they wish. And those who don’t care can just skip and let Cubase decide !
You and I both know the Microsoft OS is NOT a cleanly arranged environment.
I don’t ask for miracles, I just hope Steinberg can give the option to fully choose paths as it’s currently split all over the place.
Hopefully it doesn’t require any change from the OS. What I’m not sure of mostly is the compliance from 3rd party plugin manufacturers. They may not play ball. But if at least Steinberg is on top it could give a nudge.
It’s not a major issue btw Can still produce. Just would like a tidier paths management for backup and browsing presets.
I, too, used to be a person thinking “most of us”. I learned over the years that “most of us” usually resolves to “a few of us”.
I don’t mind that you post your request even if I don’t agree with it. I just get a bit tired of people posting in a way that suggests they speak for the majority of Cubase customers.
The only thing from your list of reasons and request that I can agree is that it would be nice to conveniently save all user defined settings/presets/whatnoughts in order to be able to use these items on a fresh, clean install of Cubase.
For the rest, it’s a no from me.
Very glad we agree.
Thanks Johnny and I hope Steinberg will notice this small yet important stuff.
They must know we like to protect our settings and presets and whatnoughts as you say, even if it’s just for the “few of us”
This has nothing to do with Cubase. It is a plugin vendor issue.
Also:
A plugin’s preset system is absolutley no part of the VST specification and I doubt that Steinberg is still in a position to make it one.
Again, you need to adress every single plugin vendor with this one.
Yes I was aware this would probably be too challenging, though hoped worth a mention.
But ok I’ll edit it and stick to Steinberg’s internal stuff.
If the paths control thing can be implemented in 14 it would be great and can perhaps seduce other users in terms of clean data and backup, workflow+content personalisation type of feature.
Cheers.
If you save your presets as .vstpreset files, they default to your My Documents folder. (This folder location, along with several other user paths, can be changed to any drive.)
If you use the plugin’s native preset system, then you’re in the hands of the plugin developer, as Johnny mentioned above.
I’m sorry to say that I do not think it is a great deal at all when you consider all the other things on your system drive that can not have a custom path. Those would still have to be backed up separately and adding one or two more folders to that backup strategy does not make much of a difference at the end of the day the way I see it.
At the very least, all the ones that have experienced devastating data loss due to lack of backups.
I should’ve been more clear, it is a Windows system wide setting and it’s right up your ally.
Right click the My Documents folder from a file explorer. Select Properties and navigate to the Location tab.
This lets you relocate the entire My Documents folder to a location of your choice. This works for a number of Windows user folders such as My Downloads, My Music etc.
A backup strategy is still needed and those do not care one lick on what drive your data is stored.
This still applies:
You can’t get away from backing up parts of your system drive if data integrity is of concern. Even if you relocate all these files you mention, wouldn’t you back them up still? Then ask yourself, what difference does it make if I have to back up Cubase settings from the D: drive as opposed to from the C: drive?
I don’t think the file locations of Cubase settings is the real issue here, I suspect it is a lack of a solid backup plan.
Personnaly I just backup the whole user folder, which contains all my prefs, for all apps. I never had to restore (yet) on windows, but on linux it works like a breeze: make a temp account, log in, create the desired account, restore user folder, log out, log in again, check everything, delete temp account.
I have run Cubase for 20+ years. I switched to a PC in the studio some time ago, for budgetry reasons. IMO, the most critical part of this setup is taking a regular complete snapshot of the C drive from a USB drive running Acronis True Image - 2017 (!). I wish I could convey how many times this has saved me. In 15 minutes, I am back to the last snapshot, like nothing happened. As far as paths go, I have my Documents redirected to another drive and I back up the Steinberg folder every so often. All my regular backups are done with FreeFileSync. Except for sounds, I prefer to let Steinberg place their preferences wherever they like. If you have a reliable snapshot of the entire drive, you can have complete peace of mind, every time you click “Install”.
Very useful reply, thanks a lot!
I used FreefileSync before and just checked now, it does upload to google Drive so that makes a double security, I like to have one backup online for major files, then everything on a second drive.
I’ll do the same as you for My Documents.
For True Image, it’s now called Cyber Protect Home, about $50 per year. I personally won’t do this part as I’ve installed then uninstalled too many plugins and will actually prefer to redo a clean install next time, longer but cleaner, avoiding leftover stuff in the registry and startup.
Thanks again and all the best!
I’ve been using Cubase for 20+ years too, from SX I believe it was then. Looking forward to carry on my musical journey with Cubase !
Many issues with the connections to the server when installing, when creating the licenses… (Even if my computer is connected to Internet, I had to create a license file from another computer)
Many time, when opening the VSTconnect dll fails (I have this problem now and find no solution, even afte using the last VST connect Pro… last version)
The preferences file create unstability
Sometimes Cubase loses my Icon midi controller, I have to reboot everything
The midi part is complicated and randomly work or not. (Depending on the weather !)
Those issues sometimes make me forget all the good features of this Daw !
(Sorry for the mistakes, I’m french. Do not hesitate to tell me if something is not clear.)
It would be nice when working with a project, that the current directory is where all future import/export, save etc., and navigation starts from.
The Preferences thing is annoying yeah, simple settings are lost each time and SB changes settings from time to time, altering the balance of convenience.
Can still produce. Just would like a tidier paths management for backup and browsing presets.
