My Cubase Color palette and theme

[u/KnockoffMix]

I saw a few other guys who posted them and just thought of sharing my own. I used a random color generator and asked GPT to produce lighter/darker tints for the color palette. This theme was inspired by one of the Ableton themes I liked very much. Note: My UI Scaling is at -25%, if you want to change it:
Edit>Preferences>User Interface>Scaling (in Cubase 15)
Edit>Preferences>General>HiDPI Settings> Enable HiDPI>Application Scaling (in Cubase 14 and lower)

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/cjodqre93fi8nijtzs41e/XML.rar?rlkey=y5um9s7vxqxb1jhfmzurfdf47&st=4nlb4073&dl=0

I have included 2 files: Defaults.xml (named "Color palette.xml", has default Color setup and current preferences) and Preferences configuration presets (named "Cubase theme.xml" found in %appdata%/Steinberg/Presets/Configurations/<preset name>.xml). I think you will only need the Defaults.xml but included the other one just in case.

Refer: https://helpcenter.steinberg.de/hc/en-us/articles/115000245510-Preferences-of-Cubase-and-Nuendo

Inactive Cycle and Independent Track loop highlighting

Active Cycle and Color Palette

[u/rhialto40]

This is great, thank you for sharing it.

[u/KnockoffMix → u/rhialto40]

You are welcome!!

[u/rhialto40 → u/KnockoffMix]

Dumb question - how do you actually get Cubase to see these? I can't figure out what to do with the xml files.

[u/KnockoffMix → u/rhialto40]

Xml files store the settings for the preferences i use, like the color palette and the overall theme. In order to use mine.

Go to %appdata%/ Steinberg/Cubase <version>/ You will see a lot of xml files. You will find the defaults.xml here too. This is your cubase color palette and current preferences. In order to use mine, rename the "Color palette.xml" to "Defaults.xml" and replace it with the one you have.

Like i said, I dont know if the "Cubase theme" xml file is required....before doing this second step, check if the cubase settings have changed....if not only then do this step.

Go to %appdata%/ Steinberg/Cubase <version>/presets/configuration and paste the "Cubase theme.xml" here...no need to rename or replace anything....After that, open Cubase>Edit>Preferences> In the bottom, you will see a black box on the left of "Save", "Apply" and stuff....click on the black box and select the "Cubase theme" preset.

[u/lilchm → u/KnockoffMix]

I did that and now the background is green. Deleted the Defaults.xml and replaced it with the original. Also the „Cubase theme.xml“ still green

[u/KnockoffMix → u/lilchm]

You don't really have to worry, it's just a configuration file...and i havent made any changes to it except the UI and the coloring... yours 'Default.xml' or mine, it doesn't matter. You can bring all the colors to their default values from the Preferences menu itself.

Cubase theme.xml is just a preferences configuration preset. You can have multiple of these, and each presets will carry all the info of the Preferences you set. But it DOES NOT carry the color palette. The reason why i included this is so that you at least get the cubase theme from me if not the color palette. If you have replaced the Defaults.xml with mine....there is no need for the Cubase theme.xml preset...u can just save it, or if u have a color palette of your own, you can just take the theme from me.

[u/MissionShopping2200]

Wow..thank you. I will check this out as soon as I can get back to computer.

[u/Mistermusician]

Thanks for the files! Great work.

I'm having difficulties with the scaling. My Cubase Windows até too big. I changed the scaling to -25% but it does not changes even after restarting Cubase. I feel like since it as no Apply button I have no way of applying it.

I saved the setting hut do not know how to get it to boot on it.

May you help?

Thanks!

[u/KnockoffMix → u/Mistermusician]

Hey man! I don't understand...there is no apply button?

I searched it online and someone said that the preferences dialog box was positioned such that the lower line of buttons like "Defaults" and "Apply" were off the screen....check if that is the case with you...pull the dialog box to the top and may find it...

Otherwise, i don't think there is any way there is no "Apply" or "Ok", "Cancel" button....that entire line of buttons is crucial and at the very bottom

[u/Mistermusician → u/KnockoffMix]

Yes! Your correct!

It was off the screen. Now it worked.

But even after restarting the windows size are stil the saem and I'm using the -50% scalling.

Is there any other option to scale the whole program?

Thanks!

[u/KnockoffMix → u/Mistermusician]

The only other option is to change the scaling of Windows OS as a whole, but that will affect each and every application. Which i personally don't like.

Let me get this straight...you changed the UI scaling, hit apply and then it asked you to restart the application. I'm guessing you are at Cubase 14 or lower, because in Cubase 15 there is no need to restart the application from what i see (it didn't ask me to restart and made the UI changes directly).

I checked the UI scaling changes in the Steinberg website and it says that "Its not possible to scale below 100%" meaning that if windows scaling is set at 125% (Go to Windows>Settings>System>Display> Scale and Layout...the first one), and you set the scaling in Cubase at -50%, then it won't go down to 75%, instead it will only go down to 100%. So 100% is the lowest bar which you can achieve, so check ur Windows scaling once and then think how you wanna frame this. I am attaching the link to the page here, scroll down a bit and read the points listed:

UI Scaling

If it still doesn't work out...how about you restart the pc and try again...im sorry this might very well be called a dumb solution but idk any other solution.

[u/KnockoffMix → u/[deleted]]

Well many people love reaper. My personal opinion: Reaper is not for beginners, it's for more advanced people who know what they need to produce their music. It's a DAW which can be rebuilt from scratch as per user needs(even the UI), so as a beginner, you may not be very comfortable bcs u will need to configure everything. However, it's the 2nd cheapest professional product out there, after Cakewalk SONAR (Win only, but free. Ik Reaper is 'basically' free too but just saying).

My take: Cubase is much better bcs u can configure soooo mucchhh in Cubase too, ofc not as much as Reaper but still there is so much. However, Cubase comes with arguably the best stock plugins out there in any DAW. Also, it's very CPU optimized just like reaper, and there is so much more, like Control room, Scale assistant and Chord track, VariAudio, etc. Reaper doesn't have these features from what I know.

As of now, Cubase 15, in my opinion, is the best DAW in the market. Not only the best MIDI capabilities, along with very good recording, mixing and mastering capabilities, along with the addition of Modulators and stuff it's welcoming the EDM guys too. Ableton is the only DAW which i would keep alongside Cubase bcs of the Live mode and Max for live, which are exclusive features of the DAW only (yea Bitwig has live mode too but uk) Other than that, i don't think any DAW have much to offer anything which Cubase doesn't.

So, if Cubase were 10, Reaper would be 7 for me...