For an easier tracking of things and backups…is there a way when saving a Track Preset, Instrument Preset e tc. to define a location for it instead of going by default to the User Contents folders in AppDataRoaming? The reason is, i know how to add folders and stuff in Media Bay but i usually keep back ups on other drives. Instead of everytime copying each preset if it was possible to manage all this stuff easier, like when saving to be able to choose a location for that Preset and just send it to one of my own folders on my other drives. Also same goes for VST 3 instruments, when you save a Preset in VST 3 Instrument to be able to SEND it wherever you want, not to DocumentsVST3Presets e tc…
I almost never change any defaults in larger systems, if I can avoid it. Just too many problems. Even if some allow for customization, it is my personal experience that there are too many weird quirks that the companies didn’t think about. (Not always of course, but too often to keep me from doing it.)
Anyways, so what I have done is create a few scripts that I can run (or are run automagically) when needed. The VST Preset folder, as you mention, is copied off periodically for safe keeping. At some point I had the Cubase settings folder copied off too, but it really didn’t help me with anything I ever needed.
I totally understand your frustration, and it’s sad that in 2015 we still cannot have a systematic way of operating, mainly because of propriety and “eco-systems”. Really a mind-blower that one, IMHO. So instead of waiting for solid solutions or hope that the companies are working for ME, I do it myself, on my terms.
I back up every project after every time they’re worked on, even dated so that they can be traced back. May seem like overkill to some, but I don’t like to spend quality time only to have it converted to no quality at all.
Thanks Elektro, i do the same, every night before i go off, i copy manually everything to:
An internal extra HDD, 2 external WD Books and my other networked Computer’s HDD.
So it is backed up on 4 places. One WD Book usually goes in and out of a Bank Safety Dposit
Box. I copy everything there needs to be copied, its overkill and takes time. Presets of synths,
of effects, Cubase tracks and stuff, Cubase projects, Audio folders e tc. I know how to read from
a Custom Folder in Media Bay but there is no way to Write to a Custom Folder. The reason is at
least then i would skip one place of copying, they would go straight to my other HDD.
I work with at least 12-14 HDDs of which 3 are 850 EVO PRO SSDs, between my network and external.
+1 for an overhaul of where all these things are stored. It seems to me that its got worse with VST3 and then the Media Bay again because there’s now so many different places that we need to back up!!
An example of a simple request to steinberg to address custom user locations. I asked them some time ago if the imported user sample location for Padshop pro could be modified in a change to the VST as it was not possible to choose where to keep the samples( In my case cluttering up the SSD where I did not want them). And the solution tech support gave was for me to change the windows documents location from C to somewhere else , yeah O.K that will work but not the solution I would have liked. In other words “no we are not going to change anything and this is the way it is, like it or lump it”
I am OK with MediaBay and managing sample libraries. I use a sample store of a bit less than a half TB (~500 GB) and have had nothing but great help from MediaBay. I do wish MB could be used as a stand alone application and that it would contain simple management tools, such as sample mono ↔ stereo conversion, split and join length AND width wise, etc., i.e. simple sample FILE handling. It only seems logical to me.
I agree whole heartedly with your coverage of Padshop Pro in which, as a prime example, I should IMHO be able to USE MediaBay to choose samples (the way VST Presets work) or at least list samples from the locations defined in MediaBay. Not a separate folder which cannot be altered, that is just… well it creates more work and management of media, not creativity (which should come first, eh Steinberg? ).
).