Invariably new technology keeps emerging and with it’s added ‘enhancements’ there is usually some small price that you have to pay. This cost normally falls in the hands of the ‘old school’ – the ‘legacy’ version. You know…the code and standards that made that product what it was in the first place soon gets put out to grass once it’s mightier, more-sophisticated  new brother appears on the scene.

One particularly relevant example of this can be found in Cubase.

I started using Cubase (properly) around the year 2000, Cubase VST3.7 is about as far back as my memory goes. I’d used Cubase V1 + V2 on Atari’s prior to that but to be fair, unless you wanted to sound like Marshall Jefferson or Tyree that’s about all it was good for.
As the years have rolled by new versions of Cubase have emerged. First came VST 5.0, then the quantum leap into Cubase SX… and on… and on…. and now hear we are, 2009 Cubase 5 (or Studio 5 depending on how much you can afford). A steroid fueled, feature-rich full audio creation and production environment that will allow you to do anything you’ve ever dreamed of and then some.
Bring it on yes?
Or not might be the answer. What about my old faithful archive of VST musical creations? I mean, we are from the same blood line. However, apparently the latest incarnations of Cubase have had a technological blood transfusion and as thus, will no longer support their old formats.
There is a way round this in that you’d need to install SX3 then do all the importing/converting in there; then you can move ahead with Cubase 5. That’s a long winded way to go though I reckon. I think the answer now is to do a bulk export of all those old creations, get them all nicely imported into Pro Tools,  then hold a funeral for Cubase and say adios.

So that’s the plan.

There are a number of ways to do this, some offer very limited success e.g. using OMF export/import (this has issues with a number of features) or you could always bounce each individual track down one by one. That would be a logistical nightmare though. Some of my songs have over 100 individual tracks. You would quite possibly go mad by the end of the first days processing.
Well after quite a number of hauls round various forums, weighing up the pro’s, the con’s and the urban myths; The path to my Cubase freedom has led me to this little application.
For my situation this appears perfect. I can’t test it for a couple of weeks as it requires a trip into boot camp, which in-turn requires a rebuild after use,  but I’ve got a good feeling about it and reckon it’s going to work for me just fine.
That’s just one tiny example of how important it is to keep a keen eye on advancements in technology. If you have a habit of creating piles of ideas in an application then just chucking it in the back of the drawer for a rainy day then beware. One day you may wake up and find it’s only fit for the Antiques Roadshow.