How to backup your Cubase project?

How to backup your Cubase project?

If you want to make your Cubase project backup future proof then keep on reading. This post is based on the procedure proposed by Dom Sigalas and shows how I use it for my projects.

Default approach to back up a project

The default approach to back up a Cubase project in Cubase Pro 13 is by going to File –> Back up Project. This will open the next dialog window where you can select various options. I typically use the settings below to preserve everything. Not that the ‘Minimize Audio Files’ option is not about audio compression. Instead, it allows you to include only the audio file portions that are actually used in the project. Thus, if you have trimmed an audio file, then the trimmed part will be lost in this backup process. The video below demonstrates this backup procedure.

Image: Back up Project Options dialog showing settings I typically use.

Is this future proof?

This default strategy is not future proof in the sense that in a few years from now your project may not be fully functional anymore because plugins and virtual instruments might have been updated to newer versions or even may have become obsolete. To safeguard against such events one can use the Audio Mixdown function that nowadays provides large flexibility and allows to quickly make a backup of all your tracks.

I use a 3-stage backup procedure

1. Use the default ‘Back up project’ option.
2. Use Audio Mixdown, explained below, to export all tracks to a directory within the backup project that was created in step 1. The name I choose for this directory is ‘Backup Mixdown‘.
3. Backup the files to a separate location.

Backing up using Audio Mixdown

Open the mixdown dialog (File –> Export –> Audio Mixdown), which will allows you to configure your backup:

Image: Export Audio Mixdown dialog showing settings I typically use.

I proceed as follows

1. Select ‘Multiple’ and select all channels (tracks) for backup.
2. Set the path for the audio files
   • I use ‘Backup mixdown‘ within the directory created by the default ‘Back up Project‘ function.
3. Define a naming scheme for the files (use the cog wheel in the upper left corner). My name scheme is
   • Channel Number – Channel Name – Channel Type – Project Name – Tempo
   • By having Channel Number first, I preserve the order of the exported tracks.
4. I export to 32 bit floating point / 44.1kHz WAV files to prevent issues with clipping.
5. My export range is defined by a cycle marker that I have in any project and which I fix at the start of the project and never change again. This ensures that all my exports are always starting end ending at the same location. This cycle marker is named ‘ EXPORT’.
6. Finally, I setup my export queues (in the image above you see export queues 1, 2 and 3; for more explanation see below)
   • Insert and Strip: Audio files with Insert and Strip processing applied
   • Dry: Audio files no Insert and Strip applied
   • Groups/Sends (CSP): which applies the full chain including inserts, strip, mix busses, and FX channels.
   • Master/Groups/Sends (CSPM):  I typically do not use this setting because I don’t have processing on my output busses.

Depending on your project, these queues may export many files which may take some time to complete. Thus you might want to get some coffee. In recently followed this approach for one of my projects (Grow). The ‘Insert and Strip’ and ‘Dry’ together already took several hours. The ‘Groups/Sends’ was more problematic. First time Cubase freezed after a few hours. Second time, the procedure ‘finished’ after many hours but not all tracks were exported. Again restarted. This time, it finished after half a day or so with all tracks exports. In total 36Gbyte of data.

Image: Naming scheme dialog showing the scheme I use for backup.

Effects options in the Mixdown Audio dialog

• Inserts and Strip
  • Includes insert effects, EQ, and other channel settings. The channel configuration is exported post-panner, that is, mono channels that are routed to a stereo group are exported as stereo channels.
• Disabled (DRY)
  • Bypasses insert effects, EQ settings, etc. The channel configuration is exported in pre-panner position, that is, mono channels that are routed to a stereo group are exported as mono channels.
  • + Groups/Sends (CSP)
    • Includes insert effects, EQ, and other channel settings. Also includes effects and settings in all channels, for example, group and FX channels, towards the output channel. The insert FX and EQ settings of the master channel are ignored. The channel configuration is exported post-panner.
  • + Master/Groups/Sends (CSPM)
    • Includes insert effects, EQ, and other channel settings. Also includes effects and settings in all channels, for example, group and FX channels towards the output channel, and the insert FX and EQ settings of the output channels. The channel configuration is exported post-panner.

Progress indicators

Image: Progress of the audio mixdown. Get some coffee.

Notes

• Mixdown audio does export hidden tracks
• Mixdown audio does export mutated tracks, but this audio files will not contain audio.
• Mixdown audio does not export Track Lanes or Track Versions.
  • If you want to export Track Versions or Track Lanes then these first need to be converted to Tracks (Create Tracks from Lanes).
• Direct Offline processing and Extensions will be exported from any Effect setting (Insert and Strip, Dry, Groups/Sends). Thus, the ‘Dry’ export will always contain the offline processing unless manually removed prior to export.
• Unfortunately, the queue name does not become part of the filename. Instead, a number is attached to the filename for the second and subsequent queues. For example, the first track (Group channel) is exported as part from each of the three queuse as:
  • “\Backup Mixdown\001-BVoc-Group-Grow-T=98.wav”  (Insert and Strip)
  • “\Backup Mixdown\001-BVoc-Group-Grow-T=98-01.wav”  (Dry)
  • “\Backup Mixdown\001-BVoc-Group-Grow-T=98-02.wav”  (Groups/Sends (CSP))

Backing up your files

Once you made a project backup according to your liking, don’t forget to backup everything to a different location on a hard drive, NAS, or Cloud. See [here] for my backup strategy.

Video

This backup procedure is based on a video from Dom Sigalas:

A Final Word

You may also want to backup your Cubase settings (e.g., Templates, Key commands, Audio settings). These are stored in: %appdata%/Steinberg/Cubase 13_64/  (or similar) on Windows.  Or in the Cubase folder in Preferences in the Library folder on Mac (you know, the toy computers). See also Cubase Configuration for an AutoHotKey script that I made to do this automatically. And, see the video of Chris Selim below