Apologies if this is a stupid question or covered elsewhere - I’ve spent many hours on multiple forums trying to find an answer and haven’t had any luck. I’m wondering if my question is either too stupid (i.e. I’m using the software so badly that no one has found themselves in this predicament) or its too similar to a more common, but different, question that the search results don’t seem to be relevant. Or perhaps my expectations are unrealistic.
Fair warning, I am new to Cubase and have no background in music or DAW in general etc.
I have a project that consists entirely of standard VST instrument tracks (recorded using a midi controller and not involving any tweaks or instruments not bundled with the default software etc.) which successfully plays and can be mixed down into wave/MP3 fine, that I am trying to share with a collaborator who’s also using the same version of Cubase LE AI for PC.
When I share the entire project folder they are unable hear any audio (and nothing registers in the track meters). I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of exporting each VST track as a wave file to place in the project “audio” folder (which is currently empty given all I have is VST tracks - don’t ask how long I spent searching for the wave files I thought should be in the audio folder before realising VST and audio tracks are different…), however I’m suspicious that I don’t at all understand how to do that process (likely exchanging this problem for another) and/or might be over complicating the issue.
I don’t appear to have the “render in place” option from what I can gather (Cubase le ai limitation?)
I’m curious what enables the VST tracks to play fine on my end but not after sharing? We were optimistically hoping for seamless sharing where the other user can open the project and continue where I left off by editing my work and adding more tracks etc. without additional steps in between.
I would be eternally grateful for any guidance or feedback.
This data should all be contained in the Cubase Project file- given that you are using STOCK vst instruments that they have access to. Even if you were not… they should be able to route the MIDI tracks to a VSTi of their choice and hear something.
There is a lot of missing data here- what is happening on the other end? Can they see the MIDI? If they can see the MIDI and they cannot hear anything- that is probably just on them. Like, maybe your project has your audio routed a certain way and they have it different.
If you want you can sent me the folder and I’ll look at it. Just PM me- I have some time these next couple weeks.
Thank you so much for responding! Given both myself and my collaborator are avowed luddites there is every possibility that its due user error on either end. I will send through the project folder shortly.
In regards to the setups, we have near identical hardware/software (though our configs could certainly be different) in that we’re both using Steinberg UR22mkII. I will look into his config in the meantime.
My understanding is that he opened the project file and everything looked ok - the various VST tracks were all there with the notes etc showing, however when he pressed play he didn’t hear anything and he noticed that the track meters next to the track names weren’t showing anything.
In hindsight I do wonder if my technical insecurity has led me to jump at shadows (like I did with the lack of audio files in the audio folder), perhaps it is as simple as changing his config.
Thanks again for your help, it really is the generosity of strangers that keeps the world going!
Yeah he should just troubleshoot normally. Can he make sound with the VSTi using it’s interface? Can he pencil in a MIDI note and make noise? etc. until it’s sorted.
To avoid wasting your time I’ll troubleshoot further on his end and, should we not succeed, send through the project folder to confirm if the issue is isolated to his config.
I’d try making a simple test Project on your friend’s DAW and make sure it is working properly before trying to sort out why a Project from your DAW isn’t playing.
When you send it to your friend have them check in the connections menu and check routing. These can be lost sometimes and nothing is routed to the outputs.
Thanks so much for the suggestions and apologies I seemingly abandoned this thread - we found a fairly simple workaround where my friend just created a new project, added the same instrument tracks in the same order and then copied the midi recordings from the original project across to the new project. Not ideal but we were just happy to stop troubleshooting! thanks again