This is a strange one I can’t fathom and probably not a Cubase bug.
First of all I need to mention that the external instrument definition file is one I’ve created myself. Its for a Waldorf Blofeld organised by all factory banks A1-H128.
Also that this problem only seems to be consistently happening with my Blofeld and not other external MIDI devices.
If I select the patch from the Program Selector of an instrument track, the Blofeld correctly switches to the right patch every time. So my definitiion script file seems good.
However If I save the track preset and then load it, the track program selector shows “Temp 4 Unisono Stereo” every time, regardless of which patch is in the saved preset. The Blofeld shows “Unisono Stereo”, which is actually patch F004 (MSB 0, LSB 5, PC 3).
I even cut the definition file down to just 1 patch and it still did this even without “F004: Unisono Stereo” being in the file!
If I try this with a MIDI track using the same definition script, the presets save and load correctly with the expected patch. It only happens with instrument tracks.
I can’t think of any logical reason why this might be happening and why this patch is being selected. Does any one have any ideas?
Also does anyone know why Cubase puts the “Temp 4” prefix in? Does this signify a particular preset loading problem?
I just found that .trackpreset files are actually just XML and thus are readable in a text editor.
I hunted for the patch name in good presets for other instruments and compared with . What I discovered under the “PMidiPreset” class was that it’s not the loading that is the problem but that the preset file is being written out with “4 Unisono Stereo” as the patch name every time, even though the value of PresetIndex is correct for the patch it should be in each file I checked.
(By the way Bank = -1 and Patch = -1 may look odd but seems to be normal in good files.)
This is useful to know but still not easily explained as due to a bad definition file or something.
It seems this is something different in Cubase 13 after all.
I just tested with the same definition script file in Cubase 12 and it worked correctly. I even went back to Cubase 13 and loaded the track preset saved in C12 and that loaded the correct patch.
Its odd how,
- it doesn’t happen with all external instruments
- it doesn’t happen with MIDI tracks
- it chooses that particular patch to write out to the .trackpreset file incorrectly.
I’ll mark this as a C13 issue now.
In an attempt to get to the bottom of this today and perhaps provide some useful feedback of a specific bug, I’ve been saving and loading track presets for external instruments for a couple of hours and finding a lot of inconsistent and frustrating behavour round this whole area of Cubase 13:
- Patches not saving/loading correctly from track presets
- Wrong external instrument name in VST selection box after loading track preset
- When going to correct the incorrect VST, finding plug-ins list shows another instrument name but after selecting that name, the track’s selection box does show the correct name.
- The patch selection box on the track showing a different name then in the Inspector’s selection box (out of sync)
- The External Instruments tab not showing any available MIDI devices, even though there is definitely one available (and can be selected for a MIDI track). Often the only way out of this is to remove and re-install the MIDI device with a new name as somehow the old name is tied up somewhere invisible.
- Unable to remove an External Instrument as Cubase thinks its in use when it is not but closing and re-opening the project clears this (mentioned on another topic).
- Lots of serious issues reported that require saving the project under a different name and also complete crash outs… I have had 8 of these this afternoon and sent the dump files to Steinberg each time. These suddenly randomly happened in the Track Preset load selection box when clicking on a preset.
I then went through this same exercise in Cubase 12 and did not have a single problem or crash. My presets saved and loaded fine every time. Something is very wrong in Cubase 13 around this chain of functionality and its making it hard to work at all. I’m thinking of going back to 12 until there’s an update released.