Moving midi tracks between Cubase projects

Cubase
1

This may be a stupid question but I’m trying to find the best way to move midi tracks between Cubase 7.5 projects. This is the scenario:

  • I created a song using a template with certain VSTi I have, the song is finished and was created on Cubase 7.5
  • I upgraded my sample library and created a new project template with all these new upgraded VSTi
  • Instead of going back to the original project and changing each channel, instruments, kontakt instances, etc. I would like to take the tracks from the original project and move them to the new template.

Questions:

  1. Can I open 2 projects at the same time and drag and drop the tracks as I please?
  2. If not, if I do a midi file import and dissolve it, is there a way to know what instrument each track is supposed to be (the song has 42 different tracks)

I’m away from my studio for a couple of days and have not been able to test what I’m asking, I appreciate anybody that can point me in the right direction.

Thanks

2

I recently tried to find a way to do something similar to what you are doing. You can’t copy and paste tracks. You can duplicate tracks within a project and you can copy and paste parts between projects but not the tracks. You can save track presets and load them into a different project but then you don’t have the parts. You can export a MIDI file and import into another project but then you don’t have the instruments much less the settings for the instrument. I could find no good way to do it. One way or another, you would have to depend on naming things so that you could make the right associations.

[edit]

I discovered track archives and was going to point them out but meta-redundant has already explained below. The only downside is that folders don’t get saved. If you range select, you get all the instrument, midi, and audio tracks but the folders just get left out. Would including folders really make things that much harder implementation-wise I wonder?

3

  1. Yes, you can open 2 projects at the same time.

  2. If the tracks are named correctly you should be good.
    I recently had to do this and the midi file opened just like the song it was exported from.
    All tracks had their names etc…No dissolving required.

Another way…export the tracks as “midi loops.” Ahh but you have 42 tracks to export.
I just did this the other day, only needed to export 4 tracks though,
but bringing them into the new session was very easy.

Probably other ways of achieving this as well.

4

  1. Not the tracks but the PARTS on the tracks. Select a part in one project and drop it in a blank area in the new project. It will also automatically bring the tracks’ settings like EQ etc over.

  2. But, the best way is probably to select all the tracks in question, then go to File → Export → Selected Tracks. Then do File → Import → Track Archive in the new project (selecting the file you exported a moment ago). That should bring everything from the other project into the new one.

Good luck!

1 Like
5

Thanks all for your input, I will try all the suggestions.

6

In Cubase Artist 7.5, there is no “Selected Tracks” under Export, only
Midi File…
Midi Loop…
Auidio Mixdown…
Notepad Data…

is this only available in the Pro version or is there a new way to do this in Cubase 7?
I still don’t see an easy way to do this especially if the part doesn’t start on bar 1.

7

I do this all the time.

  1. No problem opening two Cubase projects at once - only one can be “active” at a time but it really doesn’t matter which one.
  2. Having plenty of screen real estate is a help
  3. Highlight the tracks you want to copy - and as stated above, the “data/parts” on the track i.e. the actual wave file or midi data itself - not the track on the far left.
  4. drag and drop wherever you want it/them to go - You can do multiple tracks at once.
  5. I drag into existing tracks, not sure how it works if you go into a blank project, etc.