Cubase LE AI Elements 7
Windows 7 (networked with roaming profiles)
First of all, I’m a Network Manager (for a school) and I’m not musical. I deal with installing software and getting it working, not necessarily using it so I am not going to know all the ins and outs of Cubase and the terminology, so please excuse me and bear with me.
We have some students who are using Cubase for the first time, when they Add Instrument Track, Halion Sonic SE (this is one they will mostly use but I understand it’s the same with the others that are installed) and then go to add an instrument (sound?), the list is empty.
This doesn’t seem to follow any patterns. Some classes we’ve had everyone but a few working fine, some we’ve had everyone but a few not working. Sometimes it’s everyone on a particular computer that doesn’t work, sometimes it’s only those on a particular computer that do work (different computers). Sometimes someone who doesn’t work can log on a different computer and it works, sometimes not.
We can’t see any patterns and it’s driving me round the bend. I have no idea where to look – I’ve tried resetting profiles and copying AppData from a working user but it still doesn’t work. I’ve even compared registry exports of the user.dat although I honestly don’t know where to look that might affect this.
Any help or pointers would be very much appreciated.
When Cubase was installed, did you choose the option to “Install for All Users” If not, please reinstall and select that option. If they open by right-clicking and choosing “Run as Administrator” does it work properly? Also, try choosing the Reset filters option (arrow pointing left) to have the presets rescan.
If that still fails, here are instructions to reset Cubase to it’s factory defaults:
First, please shut down Cubase. On the Desktop, create a new empty folder and name it “Old App Data”. Go to Control Panel, Folders, and select the View tab. Select the option to Show All Hidden Files and Folders.
Go to your C:\ Drive, Users, your user name, App Data, Roaming, Steinberg. This will put you in the Steinberg app data folder. Move any Cubase or Nuendo folders from this location to "Old App Data. This will reset your key commands, preferences, sound card settings, etc. It also should help to clear up the problem you are having. Restart Cubase. You will need to reset your audio outputs (Devices, Device Setup, VST Audio System).
If you still have the same problem, please let us know.
Thanks for the reply. It was installed using the install script provided - but I assume it’s installed correctly because it works for some users. In fact probably most users - the intermittent/random problems are mostly with the Year 7s who haven’t used it before.
Students can’t normally “Run as Administrator” for security reasons, but when I allow it, nothing changes.
I’ve also tried removing as well as replacing AppData with AppData from working accounts as mentioned.
Reset Filters does nothing either.
I would suggest doing a reinstall with Run as Admin and Install for All Users. Other than that, my best guess would be that some of the users accounts do not have Admin privileges to access the locations of the content.
No student accounts have admin privilages and yet most of them work fine. I have just tried a manual install and there is no “All Users” option for the install, this is default install for the .msi. Wouldn’t you agree that if it works for even one user (on that computer) then it is unlikely to be an issue with the install? If I had any computers that don’t work for all users then I would rebuild it from scratch (i.e. a wipe and install of Windows then software) - this is automated and I have even tried this on several computers anyway which again makes no difference, it is still intermittant/random.
I was hoping for something a little more specific and technical like an explanation of how Cubase looks for these files, where the settings are and how they can be changed/reset. Where can I look for a way to make this work consistently for all users?
I would suggest contacting your local support so they can dive further into the issue directly on the systems. Generally speaking, some of the Content Files would go into the User name, App Data, Roaming, Steinberg, Content and some would go under Program Data, Steinberg, Content. But rather than trying to manually move files, I’d suggest following up with your local support to take a look at why the issue might be occurring.