Opening Cubase to a blank project is the enemy of creativity. Templates eliminate setup time, teach you professional routing, and get you straight to the fun part — making music.
Why Templates Matter
Every professional producer uses templates. Not because they're lazy — because they're efficient. A well-built template removes all the repetitive setup work that has nothing to do with creativity: creating tracks, loading instruments, setting up group channels, configuring bus routing, adding sends for reverb and delay, and colour coding everything.
Without a template, you spend the first 15–30 minutes of every session doing admin work. That's 15–30 minutes of creative energy wasted on setup — energy that should be going into your music. Worse, that setup friction often stops people from opening their DAW in the first place. "I've only got an hour" becomes an excuse not to start, when a template would have you making music in under a minute.
But templates offer something even more valuable than time savings: they teach you how professionals structure their projects. A well-made template shows you how a pro organises tracks, routes signals, sets up effects chains, and prepares a session for mixing. Just loading a professional template and exploring how it's built is an education in itself.
What Makes a Good Template
A good Cubase template should include pre-loaded tracks for common elements (drums, bass, synths, pads, vocals, FX), group channels for bus processing (drum bus, synth bus, vocal bus), FX channels with reverb and delay already set up as sends, a master chain with basic processing (EQ, compressor, limiter), colour coding and naming so everything is immediately readable, and routing that follows professional conventions.
The best templates also come with tutorial content explaining the choices behind the setup — why certain effects are on certain buses, how the routing works, and how to customise it for your own style. This context transforms a template from a convenience tool into a learning resource.
How to Use Templates Effectively
Don't treat them as sacred. A template is a starting point, not a cage. Delete tracks you don't need, add ones you do, swap instruments, change effects. The template gives you a foundation — your project grows from there.
Reverse-engineer them. Before using a template for production, spend time exploring it. Solo each group channel, look at the plugin chains, follow the signal routing. Understand why it's set up the way it is. This is one of the fastest ways to learn professional mixing and routing techniques.
Customise and save your own. Once you've used a few templates and developed your own preferences, build a custom template that reflects your personal workflow. Include your favourite instruments, your go-to effects, your preferred routing. Save it (File → Save as Template) and make it your default starting point for every new project.
Use genre-specific templates. A template built for EDM production will be different from one built for acoustic singer-songwriter work. Having a few templates for different styles means you're always starting with the right tools for the job.
What to Look for When Buying Templates
If you're buying a pre-made template rather than building your own, look for these things: compatibility with your Cubase edition (Elements, Artist, or Pro), use of stock plugins only (so you don't need third-party software to use it), included tutorial videos or documentation explaining the setup, genre-appropriate routing and instrument choices, and professional-standard organisation and labelling.
Be wary of templates that rely heavily on third-party plugins you don't own — they become useless if the plugins aren't installed. The best templates use Cubase's built-in tools so they work for everyone.
Our Cubase Templates
We've built a range of Cubase templates specifically designed for learning and production. Each one is compatible with all Cubase versions (Elements, Artist, and Pro), uses stock plugins exclusively, comes with tutorial videos showing you how everything works, includes presets and preset chains, and is built using the same professional techniques we teach in our courses.
They're designed to work both as production starting points and as educational resources — pull them apart, study how they're built, and absorb professional techniques by osmosis.
🎹 Get a Professional Head Start
Our Cubase Templates come pre-loaded with professional routing, effects chains, and instruments — plus tutorial videos showing you how to use everything. Compatible with all Cubase editions.
Or grab the Cubase Beginner Bundle which includes templates, courses, and a sample pack at a massive discount.
All the best — the Born To Produce Team ✌️
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