How to rename Quick Controls in Cubase 13+

[Guy Rowland]

Back in the bad old days, you could name Quick Controls in Cubase by double clicking the name. Because that was too simple, since Cubase 13 Steinberg removed this option entirely. It's a major PITA if you use QCs frequently as I do to control Midi CCs over EuCon - there's only a few characters on EuCon displays and Cubase now defaults to useless long names with generic labels like "All CC - CC 2 (Breath)" instead of something helpful to be used in anger like "Vibrato".

Anything you have previously renamed - or presets you have made - will still display the custom name you gave it, but no new names are allowed.

There is a workaround, but brace yourselves - it's more of a hack than a workaround as it involves editing an XML file. It's not as bad as it seems if you follow the steps but I'd understand why many will not want to bother.

If you haven't already got it, get Notepad ++ or some other simple free code editor, it just makes it easier to see, but you can edit the XML file in Notepad if you prefer.

1. Create a new preset in Cubase with all the QCs you want to rename. Give your new preset a distinctive name (my example is SSO 5, which has 5 ccs for Spitfire Symphonic Orchestra) - this will help you out in a minute.

2. Navigate to the following folder:

WIN
C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\Cubase [YOUR VERSION NUMBER] 64\Presets\

MAC
/Users/[user]/Library/Preferences/Cubase [YOUR VERSION NUMBER]/Presets/

3. Find the file "Quick Controls.pxml" in a text or code editor, then make a copy somewhere else just in case you screw something up and need to put the original back.

4. In the live folder, open "Quick Controls.pxml" in a text or code editor.

5. Use the app's search to look for the new preset you just. So in my example's case, I search for "SSO 5". You should now see something like this:

6. I've circled in red above all the values I changed to be useful to me - 5 red circles for the first 5 Quick Control labels. By default they will be the same as the OriginalName tag 2 rows up from each, so the first will default to "All CC - CC 1 (Modulation)". This is what you will want to change to your useful labels as I have done in this example.

5. Save the xml file.

6. Restart Cubase.

7. Voila - you now have your new helpfully named preset that you can load on any channel.

Rather than make a new preset for every instrument, I did a sort of master preset for SSO and removed all the Quick Controls weren't in any given instrument. Saves a lot of faff.