Ok this is getting ridiculous. I just upgraded to 9.5 and the first things that comes to mind is : Why have I made this upgrade.
The upgrade experience is simply awefull once again.
All the presets and stored settings are gone. Key commands, gone! color scheme, gone!, logical editor presets, gone! Control room preset gone! And I’ve loaded my profile in the Profile Manager all right but for some reason it did not work.
Where are all our settings stored? In a hidden appdata folder that is pain to get to! Why can’t Cubase open a simple file explorer dialogue to store and load presets to our own locations like every other software?
where C: is your program drive; [username] is the Windows account user name; and x.x is the version number of Cubase. If you didn’t uninstall your previous version of Cubase, the files should still be there in the respective x.x-named folder. You can copy what you need into the 9.5 folder.
Yes, having to copy some files from one folder then dropping them into another folder right next to it is a perfectly valid reason to skip one of the best received Cubase upgrades ever…
I agree that this could be made easier, but it’s nothing that warrants the clickbait title and the absolutely ridiculous overreaction (here and in another thread). This is basic computer stuff.
Note that past versions did automatically import the settings from the previous version during the first start. This is likely just a small oversight (EDIT: which apparently doesn’t affect everyone) that will be fixed in a few weeks.
My installation went perfect. ALL SETTINGS REMEMBERED.
Layout, Keycommands, I/O Port set up, MIDI devices mapped, VST selection folder as defined, Personal Quick Controls in drop down, Media Bay selection of folders to scan (it even added my favourites to the new tile in the right zone). Templates and saved channel presets.
Only thing was the drum maps. But Cubase went straight to the right location.
Maybe I did overreact a bit and the title too dramatic but it very frustrating when you spend months refining what can be a very complex setup. Having a logical standard way of backing those setups is very basic stuff. The fact that your workflow might be significantly affected by a very minor upgrade is a very good reason why you should think twice about upgrading. I know all about the hidden appdata folder but a lot of people don’t. Yes this is basic computer stuff if that folder is clearly illustrated and easily accessible when saving your settings. Why is it hidden? Why do they insist on making this complicated?
The very specific and complex way some of us setup our sessions is far more important than the minor changes brought by this upgrade. Steinberg should not overlook those small details. They should concentrate on all the small details before advertising and capitalizing on new features not even implemented yet like Studio One integration “comming soon” and the new video engine to “eventually” export video. Let’s face it, they released this version because we’re coming on black friday and it’s all about timing the releases and making money. They made pointless changes like renaming functions (Device is now Studio… ok why not) and reorganizing the preferences list before addressing real issues.
A few additions are welcome I have to admit and it feels as if they have been listening to some of the features requested witch is very positive but overall this was not a pleasant experience.
For some reason, my profile was checked and loaded but nothing had followed. I had to copy all files manually. Some of them where all over the place in that hidden folder so eventually, I copied the content of the whole folder. This worked out fine but If your drive dies or if you need to format for some reason, you better have a copy of this somewhere else. It is by no means a backup of your settings and Cubase will not let you save most of these settings to your desired locations.
Isn’t backing up data on computers something we have been taught to do since the beginning of computers?
Seriously though, I feel like they could add a nice feature to VST Transit for storing preferences/settings/user-generated content/etc and not just sharing projects with other users. I might actually use the thing in that case.
I am constantly considering other DAWs. And yes when I’m close to a important deadlines, thinking the upgrade will help my workflow and I spend more than an hour searching for all my preferences, i0 routings, logical editor presets and keycommands, it does affects my sanity. Spending 60 hours per week in a dark studio does not help so yes, small details are important to me. I don’t know what is it you do with Cubase, maybe you’re ok with all those workarounds and spending time troubleshooting if this is a hobby to you. To me, loosing a few hours for a simple upgrade is totally unacceptable. So yes I snapped.
I knew about the folder, did not know about the start menu so thanks. I still think we should be able to store and load from and to our chosen locations from inside Cubase without having to go through google, forums or the manual. Cubase can then duplicate duplicate the files to it’s hidden appdata folder for all I care.
I’ve got a grudge about this hidden appdata folder because I once tried to un-hide it and it created major bugs inside Cubase so I had to make a clean install and keep the folder hidden.
I’m not used to storing anything in the user or documents or whatever folder windows or softwares want’s you to by default because I’ve always used partitions and separate drive since the old 486 days in the 90’s. I never store anything on de OS drive if I can help it for obvious security reasons. Usually, I want to be asked where to save preferences. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for a software as complex as Cubase 9.5.
I’ve decided to change the title of the thread an modify the OP as it had a bit of anger to it. Also if you know about all this, it should not prevent you from updating. I hope it grabbed Steinberg’s attention. I’m happy that for some of you, the profile manager seamed to have grabbed your all you settings, presets and IO routings. The profile manager is a good tool for quickly switching from and to different stations.
I’d still love to see a standardized way of storing every preset, template, routings, logical editors and preferences. I have learned my lesson and will never upgrade unless I have a day or two ahead of me to make sure everything’s in order. That’s on me. I think that knowing where Cubase stores everything is one thing but for everyone who are used to keeping all of that in a separate location, away from the OS drive, it does bring needless frustrations.
