Something to consider for anyone thinking about switching to Cubase

Cubase
#1

I use Cubase Pro 9.5 professionally. A while back Cubase started crashing when I load certain projects. I promptly sent a support ticket to Steinberg with all relevant information and attached crash logs. This was a month ago, and my support ticket remains open and untouched:

I’ve since lost the client, who is now threatening legal action unless I send their new mix engineer the tracks of the projects which I can’t do until I’m able to open them. I’ve also lost a lot credibility and my reputation has taken a hit.

Does Steinberg think a month is an ok support time for premium software that cost several hundred euros and people use professionally?

I absolutely hate having to make this post. I’ve been using Cubase since I was a teenager and it came on floppy disks, so switching to another DAW is something I hope to avoid, but it’s what I’ll do unless my support ticket gets handled asap.

#2

I assume that you live in Europe. Have you tried contacting phone support?
https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/en-us/articles/206530864

Depending on where you live, the cheapest way to call them is by using Skype.

These are the numbers you should contact for more urgent stuff like this. Unfortunately it seems that the “normal” support is flooded daily with silly newbie questions and other stuff that could be asked in the forums, which slows things down for everyone.

You might be able to open these projects by using the safe start mode. Give that a try:
https://www.steinberg.net/nc/en/support/knowledgebase_new/show_details/kb_show/safe-start-mode-resetting-the-cubase-preferences.html

Another thing you can try is temporarily moving your VST plugin folder. Your issue could have been caused by a third party plugin misbehaving on reload.

#3

Have you tried opening your project in an older version of Cubase? One of the nice things about Cubase is the backwards compatibility. I’ve been working on a project in 8.5 that was originally created in 9.5.

#4

Really? :open_mouth:

I was sure that only Protools can open sessions from newer version.

#5

Steinberg isn’t special. All companies have to deal with customers.

There always seems to be an excuse. Poor support has been an issue for years now and nothing appears to have been done about it.

We can all understand that a company may have increasing request for support as their software becomes more popular, but the increasing revenues that go with that should be invested into support for new customers.

If it takes a 4-6 weeks to get a reply - which sometimes doesn’t even provide answer the question - then something is clearly very wrong.

#6

You can definitely do this with Cubase too.

#7

This^

And this^

And THIS^!

Excellent post, RT!

If “certain projects” aren’t working, it’s most probably an issue related to third party software. Installing plugins is a great power that comes with great responsibility.

That said, the standard of support sometimes reported on these forums does seem awful. In my personal experience the support has always been top notch.

#8

Another thing to try while you’re waiting for a response from Steinberg is:

  1. start Cubase after rebooting your system and open a project/template (that does not crash) similar to the problematic project
  2. next, open the project you’re having trouble with but do NOT activate it
  3. then close the first project (this will automatically activate the problematic one)
  4. if the problematic one loads successfully, go through it looking for potentially problematic plugins and disable them
    5 . lastly save the project with a different file name, quit and restart Cubase (preferably after another reboot), and see if it loads now

This technique works so well for me that it’s actually part of my workflow. I’ve created a few ‘crash-recovery templates’ that contain stable patches from plugins that usually cause Cubase to crash (e.g., Omnisphere and Soundtoys). When a project does crash I just load the appropriate crash-recovery template (as described above) and I’m good to go.

I hope this helps…

#9

Alternatively you can import tracks from the inactive project - the one that won’t open into the active project - this will include all the plugin and sends provided they exist in the active template. Well of course that is if the project will open in an inactive state.

You could try taking out the vst plugin folder and see if the project loads without any plugins. If it does then there is an issue right there. Have you recently installed one that you used in the offending project? Obviously re-adding a small group at a time until Cubase won’t load will get you the problem vst. I have faced this issue a couple of times, possibly because of an unhealthy fondness for plugins and every time it was the fault of a third party software.