I’m still using Cubase 13 Pro. Over the years I had amassed quite a few of my own pre-sets for various plugins. Reverb settings, amp settings, compressor settings, etc. When I moved to a new computer, none of my personal settings came with the Cubase I moved. I”m wondering how to recover them and if it’s possible to migrate them with a USB stick from my old computer to my new one.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. stick form my old computer to my new one.
You don’t say if you are on Mac or Windows, but for the latter have a look at the backup script here (a fabulous project by two users here on the forum), which can also be used to transfer all Cubase settings and VST presets to a new system:
For Mac, I don’t know whether something similar exists, but the file locations are somewhat documented here:
I guess my question now is, can I recover my pre-sets? It’s not a massive deal if i can’t. I’ve been making them since I stated with Cubse 7.5 and they always jsut came along whenever I updated. I expect they’re still on my Cubase DAW on my old computer.
If you still have your old computer than it is possible to transfer your presets.
First of all, we definetly need more info to be of help:
You still haven’t told us if you are on Mac or PC…, what specific OS is on your old and new computer?
What’s the latest Cubase version you want to use as a basis to transfer your presets to Cubase 13?
Another really important question: What kind of plugins do you have in mind? Are they all VST3 or are there VST2 plugins as well? Are these Steinberg stock plugins or 3rd party plugins and if so, which ones? 3rd party plugins can also be saved as vstpresets and thus easily be transferred. If 3rd party plugin presets are saved in their own format then it’s a different story altogether but also doable.
I’m a PC guy. My old computer is running Windows 10 and my new one is windows 11. I’ think I’d be grabbing my Cubase stock VST 3 plugins from Cubase 12 Pro. I do have a bunch of Waves plugins too. I”m mainly concerned with trying to get back my Amp Rack presets as well as my Reverb ones. I mostly use the stock plugins. and I think they are all up to date as VST3 ones.
You’ll have to forgive me buy I’m not a great computer guy and my file saving skills are weak at best. I do appreciate you trying to help me!
Last year has been a hard one. Surgeries and things.
Steinberg Plugin User Presets
So here’s some good news. You should be able to retrieve most of your Steinberg stock plugin user presets from your old computer by simply copying this folder:
C:\Users\Username\Documents\VST3 Presets\Steinberg Media Technologies
This folder contains all your user presets which are related to Steinberg plugins. After copying the old one you should rename the folder on your new system temporarily as “_Steinberg Media Technologies” before you insert the old one. It shouldn’t be necessary but it’s always better to be safe than sorry. This simple trick should revive all Amp Rack and Reverb presets and most other stock plugin user presets.
Waves
Did you save your Wave plugin preset as vstpresets? This happens automatically whenever you save a preset here:
In this case all your user presets reside here:
C:\Users\Username\Documents\VST3 Presets\Waves"Plugin-Name"
Otherwise, you’ll find them here:
C:\Users\Public\Waves Audio\Plug-In Settings"Plugin-Name" User Presets
Cubase
I assume you also had customized key commands, settings etc on your old system. Why you are at it do yourself a favour and create a Profile . You can copy that profile (make sure to read the instructions in the link first) and you should have almost everything on your new computer just by copying and activating that profile.
All in all it’s just two folders and one profile file in your case if you are just looking for these presets.
Backup & Restore function
The Backup & Restore function that @fese mentioned above is compatible from Cubase 12 upwards. This is the most elegant way to do all that stuff and much more. Definetly worth looking into!
Since it’s only two or three files you can do it manually, too, of course, like I described above.
Kind of repeating what @Reco29 wrote here: the folder to copy from the old system would be C:\Users\Username\Documents\VST3 Presets.
This is the place were all presets (FX and VSTi alike) that are saved by the user via the VST Preset Browser are stored. There will be subfolders for every developer and plugin.
If you saved your presets that way, you can simply copy the whole folder over and get everything back in one go..
Note that if the presets are saved via the plugin menu instead, they will get saved where the developer chose. On Windows, this could be ProgramData, AppData but other positions can be used as well, so it can get complicated.
On Mac the path for user .vstpreset is ~Library/Audio/Presets.
Hope it helps and that you are doing fine now, all the best @Jeremykeys
Just a tiny addition to @Fabio_B 's post with regard to VSTi presets:
The VSTi presets themselves are stored in that location with each VSTi having their own folder. Just keep in mind that associated audiofiles which might be needed for a preset (e.g. Halion, Backbone etc) can be stored right there but also someplace else depending on your personal settings. If it’s the latter you need to copy these files, too. If they are based on copyright protected vstsoundfiles there’s a reference to that particular vstsoundfile which must be installed on your new system as well.
Sounds complicated? It isn’t once you got the idea behind it. The concept is actually pretty much straightforward and well thought through .
3rd party plugins and their presets are a different story. It can be quite simple, too. But that’s not necessarily always the case…
Thank you guys! I appreciate all of this a lot.Hopefully I’ll get to trying to locate my presets on my older computer today. It all depends on how my back feels. Back in October I burst a vertebrae and even though it’s healing it’s still sore and in order to reconnect my old computer, it means a lot of crawling around on the floor under my desk. It’s not a laptop but it is right beside my new computer so the cables easily reach.
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