Odd behaviour in CPro15 Win11

Cubase
1

Hi,

All my work in Cubase is mixing projects, consisting of audio tracks only. I record my band, usually on 12-16 channels, both mono and stereo, 44.1/24.

I use group and fx tracks in my projects, typically a drum buss, a bass group, a viola group, with some sends, usually for snare plate, guitar fx, vocal fx, viola fx and synth fx, and reverb.

My workflow consists of roughly the following steps, and is based on emptying my last finished project from all contents (all audio files for individual instruments, any automation and tempo track) and starting with that as a template:

  1. Import the audio files/recordings
  2. Add Spectralayers Pro (ARA mode) as Extension on Drum OH and Vocal tracks respectively, apply Unmix Song and then unmix Drums and Vocals. Drag the unmixed tracks from Spectralayers into the Cubase project, on new tracks, and then remove extensions from the processed tracks. Disable and hide the original Drum OH and Vocal tracks.
  3. Editing, composing, mixing the recordings.
  4. Export mix.
  5. Empty project as described above, saving it under new name, and then starting over from 1. again, going through the exact same steps.

Now, my question is this: When I go from a project with vocal and vocal fx tracks to one with no vocals, I remove these two tracks. This would result in a less taxing project, one would think. However, the other day when doing this, the resulting project - with one less audio track and one less fx track - surprisingly resulted in the smaller project now overloading the Asio Guard, while the bigger original project had no such issues.

Is there any reasonable explanation for this counterintuitive behaviour?

Does my workflow, basically consisting of “recycling” the previous project as a template for the next, cause this behaviour? If so, why? And how could I avoid this in the future?

Any ideas and suggestions would be more than welcome.

My specs can be found in my signature.

All the best,

Magnus

2

Hi,

First of all, I would recommend you to use Project template.

Do you also clean the Pool?

3

Hi Martin,

Thank you for replying.

I do not clean the Pool, actually. But there is no Pool or Audio folder in this particular project folder. Should there be one?

I don’t record in Cubase, but use an external solution for that (two synced Zoom F8s, with a total of 16 tracks). I then import these wav files into Cubase. So, if I understand Cubase’s pool correctly, in my case, the Pool wouldn’t actually be used. Is that correct?

So in order to create a template, do I just save one of my projects as a template? Is that it?

All the best,

Magnus

4

How did you import the audio and not have it end up in the pool?

5

Yes, good question. It seems I have been using this function incorrectly for years. When I open the Pool window for the project I asked about, it turns out that the Pool is in another, completely different project, probably the one I started saving new projects in, as described in my first post.

So, now I wonder: How can I create a template project with the exact track structure (including fx chains etc) that I use in my projects?

I think my original mistake is that I import my recordings into the project folders not through Cubase, but by importing directly into the respective project folders through Explorer.

I just don’t understand how to get a clean Audio Pool from start for a project.

This is so confusing, since I have been using Cubase in my own strange way, obviously, for so many years…

I just created a template for these projects. But opening the template, this still creates a project referencing the pool in the other, different project. None of the contents in the pool is present in the newly created Audio folder in the project.

Best,

Magnus

6

OK, so starting the new project from the template I made, and then opening the Pool window, actually shows the correct path for the pool to this project’s folder - not as before, to the other, earlier project folder.

But the Pool window still showed a lot of irrelevant audio files. So I used the Remove Unused Media function, and this removed all but the audio files for this actual project. This, incidentally, shrunk the cpr file by about a third.

So far so good. So should I start every new project by removing unused media?

One thing I don’t understand is why the Audio folder in the project folder is empty. And so is the ARA one, despite performing the Unmix process described above.

I attach a screen grab of the folder structure for this project. Basically, every separate recording session is placed in its separate folder, and then all Cubase projects related to that session are saved in this main folder.

The folders named 1-8 and 9-16 contain the wav files with the recorded material (drums, bass, guitar etc).

So what I really don’t understand is what the contents in the Pool actually refers to. Is it just to the bits and pieces of the recorded wavs that are actually used in the project? So in my case, to the contents in my folders 1-8 and 9-16?

I guess I will never be too old to learn… lol

All the best, and thanks again for any kind help here,

Magnus

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7

Thanks for asking this very pertinent question. I think what I meant is that there was no Audio folder in the project folder. There is of course a pool with contents, but see my previous post for more on this.

Best,

Magnus

8

I’m guessing that you saved the project template with audio files still in its pool and when you create a new project based on the template, it pulls in these files (even though not used).

I would suggest that you make sure all the audio (media) files for the project are removed BEFORE saving as a template to ensure that you aren’t picking up these superfluous files.

I would generally immediately do a “save as” on the new project to create a new project tree.

If you begin creating projects that point to other project pool/other directories, it can quickly lead to confusion and accidentally deleted audio files.

I think your best bet is to create a new project to act as your template project, then save the template project BEFORE recording any audio.

9

Hi Dave,

And many thanks for helping me get my head straight here. I will make a new template and use the Remove Unused Media feature before saving it out.

Funny how I have been just using Cubase in my own odd way for so many years only to realise this late in the game that I never really understood how the Pool works.

Presumably, my confusion started with the fact that I record externally, and then copy/paste my recordings into the Cubase project folder (instead of recording in Cubase or importing my recordings into the projects).

All the best,

Magnus