New Project Without Choosing a Project Folder

Cubase
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#1

I would like to be able to create a new project without needing to identify a project folder. I often open Cubase to experiment with a new idea or try out a new plugin. Often, these don’t become saved projects. If they do, I can always save them as a project into a specific folder.

The problem with the current method is that my Projects folder becomes loaded with abandoned one-off folders. And, although it’s not significant effort to name a folder at the start, it’s an added barrier to getting straight into the creative process.

The result of this is that I end up often opening up another DAW such as Ableton Live, where it takes me straight into a project screen with no need to create a folder. And of course, there are no extraneous one-off projects crowding up my projects folder.

Logic supports going straight into a project without identifying a location as well. They just require you to create at least one track when it opens. And Studio One allows the user to also go straight into a project. It defaults to a folder name, but if the project is not saved when exiting the program it deletes that folder. Ableton is ideal, where it does not create a folder and does not prompt to create a track. Would love to see something like this for Cubase.

#2

Are you on windows? Because here, after I select ‘Create Empty’ in the Hub, I am prompted to ‘Select Folder’ which doesn’t involve creating or naming a folder. I simply hit the ‘Select Folder’ and I’m away.

#3

I am on MacOS. I get the same behavior if I select the “Prompt for Project Location” radio button. That brings up a window to select a folder, and I can select one. The problem is that if this folder is not unique from the start, then it becomes crowded with files from several different projects. If I decide to keep a song and do File -> Save As into another folder, the project media files are not moved into the new folder. I would have to use the Back Up function to both save the project and copy the files into a new project folder.

It all ends up being a mess, and is not conducive to jumping in and making music, and cleanly saving the newly created music into a new folder if deciding to keep it. Ableton, Studio One, and Logic all handle this in a much better way.

#4

This bothers me a little too. If at least it was consistent I’d know what to expect, but it sometimes leaves a folder in my Cubase Projects folder, and sometimes it doesn’t.
Also in Logic you can rename the project at any time from within the application, and it handles the folder names itself. I haven’t found a way to do this in Cubase.

#5

If you use the ‘Use default location’ option, Cubase creates a folder automatically. Then when/if you save your project, that’s when you name the folder. The newly created audio tracks will be saved in the audio folder that was created inside the new folder. One tip though, you will have to clean up this default location of all the empty folders from time to time.

#6

+1

#7

+1

#8

Very true. The ‘Save As’ did not operate like it does in the other DAWs which would create a new project with everything in there. The first time I tried using ‘Save As’, expecting it to behave like the other DAWs I was used to, the supporting files were still left in the pool of the other song and not in the new renamed one. In the other DAWs, it would create a new renamed folder and renamed project with everything ready to go as a new song.

#9

+1