Cubase Pro 11 - Suddenly unable to insert plugs on any tracks even brand new sessions? Help!

[dellboy]

Hi event2020,
What Windows 10 Version are you using?
There is a limit on older Windows versions that prevents vstplugins from loading. Its called FLS-Slots and was remedied with Windows 10 - 1909.

This is how this limit works:
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/windows- ... indows-10/

This is when they upped the limit:
https://forums.steinberg.net/t/plugin-f ... ews/120753

Hope this helpful.

All the best,
CS.

Clever answer !

You seem to have highlighted what the OPs problem is. So I guess the moral from this story is, if you choose to stay off the internet, then periodically reconnect to update windows.

By the way, I found an FLS slot checker app.......................

https://forums.steinberg.net/t/fls-chec ... gin/106744

[antic604]

Didn't the OP said he can't even add plugins in empty/new project?

The above issue solved the problem of the limit - only concerning some plugins, not all, e.g. Arturia's stuff - so I'm not sure that's the solution.

[dellboy]

Didn't the OP said he can't even add plugins in empty/new project?

The above issue solved the problem of the limit - only concerning some plugins, not all, e.g. Arturia's stuff - so I'm not sure that's the solution.

Yes, the OP did mention new projects not loading. Maybe he still had another project running in the background ?

I am not sure what you mean by a limit to slots ?

I have just run the app and loaded slots and it always says that 128 are available ?

[antic604]

I am not sure what you mean by a limit to slots ?

I have just run the app and loaded slots and it always says that 128 are available ?

128 was the old limit. Now it's upped to 4096. It says so in the devblog you linked.

Problem was, e.g. Arturia's plugins "ate" more than 1 slot per plugin instance.

[dellboy]

I am not sure what you mean by a limit to slots ?

I have just run the app and loaded slots and it always says that 128 are available ?

128 was the old limit. Now it's upped to 4096. It says so in the devblog you linked.

Problem was, e.g. Arturia's plugins "ate" more than 1 slot per plugin instance.

Why is my Cubase 10.5 still reporting 128 slots then instead of 4096 ?

Yes, I get the point about Arturia.

[antic604]

I am not sure what you mean by a limit to slots ?

I have just run the app and loaded slots and it always says that 128 are available ?

128 was the old limit. Now it's upped to 4096. It says so in the devblog you linked.

Problem was, e.g. Arturia's plugins "ate" more than 1 slot per plugin instance.

Why is my Cubase 10.5 still reporting 128 slots then instead of 4096 ?

Yes, I get the point about Arturia.

Maybe it reports 128 slots regardless of how much plugins you have loaded until the cumulative number gets to (4096-128) and then it'll finally start decreasing?

[dellboy]

I am not sure what you mean by a limit to slots ?

I have just run the app and loaded slots and it always says that 128 are available ?

128 was the old limit. Now it's upped to 4096. It says so in the devblog you linked.

Problem was, e.g. Arturia's plugins "ate" more than 1 slot per plugin instance.

Why is my Cubase 10.5 still reporting 128 slots then instead of 4096 ?

Yes, I get the point about Arturia.

Maybe it reports 128 slots regardless of how much plugins you have loaded until the cumulative number gets to (4096-128) and then it'll finally start decreasing?

Yes, I would think that is the answer.

[zvenx]

Didn't the OP said he can't even add plugins in empty/new project?

The above issue solved the problem of the limit - only concerning some plugins, not all, e.g. Arturia's stuff - so I'm not sure that's the solution.

Exactly..
I know about the FLS issue, but that only limited how many you can add,but doesn't limit you from adding any at all.
rsp

[zvenx]

Unless of course what he calls a Brand New Session starts with a template which has plugins already in it (all my templates that I start projects from has some stuff in them already)
rsp

[Weasel-Boy]

About 3 months ago, I bumped into the OP’s issue on C11 after loading what I remember as a Project created in C10.5. Insert slots became unusable. As I am on the Mac platform, I deleted the Cubase Preferences folder (Boot HD/my name/Users/Library/Preferences/Cubase 11) and let Cubase rebuild it upon relaunch. That solved the problem. Further investigation proved the Defaults.xml as the culprit. It had became corrupted. This file becoming corrupted is not all that uncommon.

The OP has stated that he went back to C10.5 to discover the same issue. The thing is, when Cubase rebuilds a missing or deleted Preferences folder, it grabs a lot of preferences from the last Cubase Preferences folder it sees in the system Preferences folder...in this case: C10.5. This leads me to consider that the issue may have started there.

So, my suggestion is to temporarily move or rename the current C11 and earlier Cubase Preferences folders (C10.5, C10...etc) and let Cubase 11 rebuild its Prefs without being influenced by previously installed versions. I would combine this action by temporarily moving or renaming the VST plug-ins folder before initially launching C11 after moving or renaming the prefs.

If this doesn’t clear it up, I’m out of ideas.

I realize I am describing Mac file locations, so perhaps a PC user familiar with both platform’s file hierarchy could make the appropriate translations for the OP.

[zvenx]

I think WB's advice is spot on.

For that reason I keep tons of backups of my Default.xml files

i have even more on PC where I don't have access to TimeMachine backups from days or weeks before.
rsp

[Weasel-Boy]

I should have been crystal clear on my suggestion, so I edited this paragraph:

"So, my suggestion is to temporarily move or rename the current C11 and earlier Cubase Preferences folders (C10.5, C10...etc) and let Cubase 11 rebuild its Prefs without being influenced by previously installed versions. I would combine this action by temporarily moving or renaming the VST plug-ins folder before initially launching C11 after moving or renaming the prefs".

[Weasel-Boy]

Zvenx wrote:

For that reason I keep tons of backups of my Default.xml files

Excellent suggestion. I do that as well, by keeping compressed copies of the entire Cubase Preferences folder. I do this almost religiously once every week or so. I can't tell you how many times this practice has saved me from corrupt prefs disasters.

[zvenx]

Tbh I started years ago when default.xml did get corrupted often enough. I think however I have been fortunate in that it has only happened maybe twice in the last five years including beta versions i have tested.

But others may not be as lucky.
rsp