Using Dual Computer Set Up

I’m using Cubase 12 Pro on 2 Mac computers - an iMac and MacBook Pro. I want to use and work on projects on both computers by saving the projects to iCloud. However, having saved a recent project over the weekend I note that any audio files recorded (guitar, bass etc) are not saved to iCloud but stored locally on the computer which they were recorded onto. Is there a way I can save all the relevant files, to iCloud so that I can use either computer to open and work one them? I assume this would mean setting the preferences so that audio records directly to iCloud?

Any help gratefully accepted.

I would highly advise against storing any Cubase files (esp. audio files!) in any cloud-managed folder. You’ll just run into all sorts of issues when both Cubase and the cloud agent are trying to access these files at the same time.

Instead, store those files in a local folder on a fast, local SSD drive (not USB) to remove any performance bottlenecks. Then, synchronize those files into a copy onto whatever cloud service you like (iCloud in your case). I happen to use GoodSync for this, but any decent sync software will work.

That way you’ll have a copy of your files in the cloud, without having to worry about performance/compatibility issues, and you’ll have a backup of your projects and files to boot.

On that second computer, just download those files from the cloud onto its local SSD storage (again, synchronization software can do that efficiently and effectively for you), and re-sync any changes back to the cloud.

Hi Timo00, thanks for the response. Is it possible to set up all files so they are saved to “documents” as this will sync across all my Macs, but will only do this once they are saved, rather than when they are active. That way they will not only be stored locally, but accessible through the cloud once sync’d, and could then be downloaded locally to the 2nd computer. If so, does this need to be done manually for each project, or can you set the default setting to save them to the preferred location automatically?

Once you save the project file (.CPR) in a certain location (like that Document folder you’re referring to), it will stay put.

By default, Cubase will create an Audio subfolder to put the audio files into, but you can change that:

Hopefully your Mac sync software is smart enough to not interfere with Cubase when it’s trying to sync. I’m on Windows, so I’m out of my depth with that :slight_smile:

Personally I recommend using a portable drive or something. It’ll be much faster.

Unless there have been some significant changes/improvements in Cubase 12 that I’m not yet aware of…It’s also better to do a ‘project backup’ to the drive before plugging it into the next system. (As opposed to simply copying the folder, or syncing it to some device/cloud/whatever).

Why? Cubase can get pretty confused about where files are. There’s no quick and obvious way to change the links in the pool. It can indeed lead to weird problems with the wrong files being written/read from the wrong places…or lost all together! Doing the ‘backup’ insures that the next time Cubase open the cpr, it does a proper hunt for the media pool rather than just ‘assuming’ it’s all ready to roll.

So, after a session on system 1, do a proper project backup first. Then begin on the second system from that ‘backup copy’. Repeat the ‘backup’ process on System 2 before going back to system 1.

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Hi Both, and thanks for your help.
I have found out that if I set up a folder in iCloud specifically for Cubase projects then this is accessible from all laptops/computers so if I’m away from home I can take a laptop and still access the same files. Any changes made will be sync’d with iCloud. However (and this is an interesting point) all files (midi, audio, etc) will also be stored locally in Library>Mobile Documents so I can work off-line. These files will then be sync’d with iCloud once Internet has been reconnected. Obviously for this to work Cubase needs the same plug-ins and file paths/names. I had an initial problem with Scaler 2 being named Scaler2 (no space) so had to sort this out.
Finally, I have a back up set up so that should files get corrupted on iCloud, or there are any issues I have a separate copy that can be accessed.
Here’s hoping it all works moving forwards!