Is there anyway I can long distance collaboratively write with Cubase files?
My friends writes music but can’t produce/engineer anything - he works on Midi notation, structure, Audio inputted themes ideas etc… but then gets stuck beyond this. So I offered to help out.
We both have Cubase 6 Studio/Full/Biggest/Most Expensive/Whatever you call it edition, but cant find any easy way for him to digitally send (largefilesasap.com or sizeablesend.com) me an exact copy of what hes been working on. I know its slow cos of audio file sizes… but here are the options Im looking into
1). OMF - Pros: keeps things sync’d up. Cons: Doesnt export Midi data (also need to sort file formats as I use a Yamaha N12 desk and he doesnt - should be rectifiable provided he exports OMFs at 16 bit, not 24 or 32-bit float [whatever that is] right?)
2). .zip up the project folder - Pros: should contain all the files and retain structure. Cons: Potentially MASSIVE audio folder (too big to email +2gb!), missing bits of audio (if theyre saved outside the project folder, for whatever reason)
or…
3). Cubase design and integrate a new export option feature - Having worked in Print design a few years ago Quark Xpress always seemed to battle with a very similar issue, long before internet: how to pull together all your documents files for print? Its been a while now, but I believe they employed a ‘Consolidate all Files’ type feature. This allowed you to export for Print (or email in this case), and then see what, if any, images may be missing from your document (project)… it then offered to manually locate/search for any potentially missing files. You could even tick off the files you didnt require but referenced somewhere within the document (audio pool).
Anyway, its just an idea that would help me, and hopefully other users (such as those moving between studio venues/sessions) work more efficiently in the future.
I’m using something called drivehq that has it’s own custom software (FTP Client) which allows you to use DropBox in addition to creating custom links for social networks.
The system offers basic collaboration and other services for free but there are paid subscriptions as well.
If you have a private domain, you can access some very reliable cloud storage without a need for a browser (web is still supported) or WebDAV.
3). Cubase design and integrate a new export option feature - Having worked in Print design a few years ago Quark Xpress always seemed to battle with a very similar issue, long before internet: how to pull together all your documents files for print? Its been a while now, but I believe they employed a ‘Consolidate all Files’ type feature.
That would be Cubase’ backup project to new folder option. Choose not to copy unused audio to get your folder size down & then zip it.
I can usually get a fairly sizeable work in progress down to around 600Mb or less.
I would forget OMF… if you both use Cubase it would be crazy not to use the project files.
& FYI Cubase Studio is not the same as full version so if he has full & you have studio you might still not transfer perfectly.
Curteye: thanks, Ive already got a dropbox account so may have to set up another for exactly this use only!
Henshaw: Ill look into this drivehq thing - is it better than an iCloud account; which incidentally I could use instead of dropbox!
Grim: YES! this sounds like what might do it!.. OMF is a format that I used between a vocalist (in the US) and myself a few years back and seemed to work well - but then midi wasnt used in these cases. Thanks, Ill give it a go!