DESPERATE MIDI HELP NEEDED

[Old Music Guy]

I am at my wits end and I need some sage advice. 

Simply, I have been unable to integrate a MIDI keyboard/controller into my rig. 

I am running Cubase Elements 10 on an Acer i5 laptop with 16GB RAM. My DI is a TASCAM 16x08. My main keyboard is a Yamaha MO8. 

I normally record live into the DAW using the analog inputs. I now have a need to record ancillary parts that are available within the Cubase library. 

My goal is to use an outboard MIDI controller to access the voice library in Cubase. I don't have any need to control the DAW from the controller. I just want to be able to use the 49 note keyboard to interface with the libraries and be able to use the voices in the mix.

I have NEVER been able to integrate the MO8, plus, I prefer it as a stand alone. 

I recently purchased an M-Audio 49 MK3. It came with Ableton Lite. Meh. Moreover, I don't want several pieces of software to do one job. 

What I'm looking for is a 49 note keyboard, that will work with Cubase, where I can access the voice libraries, and have it available to me in the mix without any additional hardware or software WITHOUT having to configure the rig every time I use it. 

I'm not a computer dummy, but, apparently, I am deficient in the ways of Mackie Control, CC, ports, channels, gazzintas and goesoutas.

I would like whatever controller I get to act just like this keyboard I'm typing on. 

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, or if I can clarify something, please let me know. 

Thank you all in advance. 

[stoken6]

You can integrate the M-Audio with a simple A-B USB cable. I don't know Cubase Elements, so I don't know how it would show up in there, but you have what you need - you don't need a different 49-key keyboard.

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Nathanael_I]

Your Yamaha MO8 has USB MIDI.  You just need to plug it into your laptop.  That's it.  No Mackie Control.  You should be able to plug it in, record arm your VST instrument track and record MIDI.

[ElmerJFudd]

I don’t have Cubase Elements 10 specifically.  But Steinberg keeps certain basic things similar in their DAW versions.  Your USB controller keyboard may be class compliant (uses Window’s USB midi driver upon attaching).   Or it may need a proprietary driver supplied by the manufacturer.  Check MAudio’s website for your  49 key mk3.  If it is fairly new it should need no drivers.  
 

Setting Cubase to listen for the correct ports is explained below.  From there it’s about creating a midi track and sending it to the VST loaded in your virtual rack (that’s how they used to do it).  Or possibly in newer versions of Cubase they may have VST instrument tracks.  I’m not sure for most recent versions. 
 

 

1 minute ago, Nathanael_I said:

Your Yamaha MO8 has USB MIDI.  You just need to plug it into your laptop.  That's it.  No Mackie Control.  You should be able to plug it in, record arm your VST instrument track and record MIDI.

If he uses his MO8 he definitely needs to install Yamaha’s USB midi driver.  

[Nathanael_I]

Here's your USB MIDI driver from Yamaha:  https://usa.yamaha.com/support/updates/index.html?c=music_production&k=MO8

[CHarrell]

This should be a really easy problem to diagnose, so let us know if none of the above solutions happen to work. There are some simple settings in Cubase that might need to be tweaked, but we'll see where you're at first. To confirm, you just have software instruments in Cubase that you want to control and play using your MO8, yeah? Not playing your MO8 sounds themselves in Cubase?

 

I'm a Cubase user, so am pretty intimate with getting MIDI controllers dialled in.

[ElmerJFudd]

This bloke has Elements on a Mac.  But the layout should be the same.  Helpful?  
 

 

[Old Music Guy]

1 hour ago, stoken6 said:

You can integrate the M-Audio with a simple A-B USB cable.

Did that. Nope. 

 

28 minutes ago, Nathanael_I said:

Your Yamaha MO8 has USB MIDI.  You just need to plug it into your laptop.  That's it.  No Mackie Control.  You should be able to plug it in, record arm your VST instrument track and record MIDI.

I did that, too. I've updated all the drivers including the USB to MIDI driver. I also tried bypassing my TASCAM I/O. Nada

9 minutes ago, CHarrell said:

To confirm, you just have software instruments in Cubase that you want to control and play using your MO8, yeah? 

No. I want to keep the MO8 as a stand alone. The "software instruments" in Cubase are what I want to control from a 49 key. 

32 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

I don’t have Cubase Elements 10 specifically.

This video is Cubase 12. Very different. Notwithstanding, I have been totally unable to update to 12 from 10. They require that I set up a new account to "buy" the update, but, they won't allow me to set up a new account to buy it.

Go figure

 

13 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

This bloke has Elements on a Mac.  But the layout should be the same.  Helpful?  

I've seen this video n+1 times. What is on his screen is not what is on my screen. Not even close.

 

I appreciate you quick responses. Now you can understand my frustration. 

Keep 'em coming!

[ElmerJFudd]

Which version of Windows are you running?  There used to be an issue with too many USB midi ports in the register and we had to go in and manually delete them.  

[Nathanael_I]

You have something fundamental wrong.  Any MIDI keyboard with the right drivers should just work - your MO8, an M-Audio thing, whatever.  They can all work at the same time even.  I've been on Cubase/Nuendo for a decade - well before Cubase 10.  If you are on Windows, have you opened the Device Manager to ensure the drivers are correctly installed?

 

In my studio, I'd next be opening MIDI-OX to ensure I'm receiving MIDI from the keyboard.  It's a free download. But maybe that is more complex for you?  I don't know.  But I'd be making sure that MIDI is getting through the driver to the OS and into software, and MIDI-Ox is how I would do that.  Then I'd know that the rest is in Cubase.

 

[CHarrell]

10 minutes ago, Old Music Guy said:

No. I want to keep the MO8 as a stand alone. The "software instruments" in Cubase are what I want to control from a 49 key. 

 

Oh whoops, thanks for the correction. So at the moment you're looking to connect your M-Audio? Do you know how to take screenshots on your computer? 

 

Could you do me a favor, as your controller is plugged into your computer and turned on, can you go to the top menu in Cubase, hover over "Studio", then go to "Studio Setup"? There should be a device list, and from there a MIDI port list. If your controller is plugged in and powered on, theoretically it should be listed there. HOWEVER, sometimes there are checkboxes next to your controller's name that should be checked, but aren't. Can you check on those for me?

 

[Dave Bryce]

Here’s a possibility:

 

Some DAWs instantiate a software instrument on a track set up for audio playback, but then require a separate MIDI track set up/routed (via a device list like CHarrell mentioned above) to control the software instrument, just like you’d do if you were recording/controlling external instruments.  

 

That can be confusing the first time you come across it.
 

dB

[timwat]

It could also be a channel mismatch. Have you checked what MIDI channel the controller is sending on (or is it set for Omni), and what channel Cubase’s instrument is set to receive?  I occasionally run into this with my Mac rig. 

[CHarrell]

I think the major "bottlenecks" to diagnose are as follows:

 

1. Does the computer recognize the controller? (this can be determined in Window's hardware or whatever they call it list from I think the control panel), though honestly you should be good if you just hear the USB sound effect upon plugging it in and you get the message "Setting up ..." at the bottom right of your screen

 

2.  Does Cubase recognize the controller? This can be determined by what I wrote in my last post. You can also tell at the bottom right of Cubase, there's the little monitoring bar. The "fat" bars are audio, but there's actually teeny skinny bars to the side of those that are MIDI monitors. If your controller is recognized by Cubase, you should see that bar jump up by feeding Cubase MIDI messages, such as pressing a note on the controller or moving the mod wheel.

 

3. Are the Cubase tracks and MIDI controller on the right channel? This is what timwat is addressing. Say you have a VST track with MegaDeathScream Choirs Lite. To the left of the track, where you have things like levelling, panning, etc., there should be a couple of boxes outlining the MIDI routing. If everything's all set, you should either see "All MIDI Inputs", or if you wanted to make it very specific, your controller's name. You should also see the MIDI channel it's routed to. As Tim mentioned, Omni is a really safe bet if you're not trying to do anything fancy or multi-timbral.

[Old Music Guy]

2 hours ago, ElmerJFudd said:

Which version of Windows are you running?  

10

 

2 hours ago, CHarrell said:

Could you do me a favor, as your controller is plugged into your computer and turned on, can you go to the top menu in Cubase, hover over "Studio", then go to "Studio Setup"? There should be a device list, and from there a MIDI port list. If your controller is plugged in and powered on, theoretically it should be listed there. HOWEVER, sometimes there are checkboxes next to your controller's name that should be checked, but aren't. Can you check on those for me?

1.) My devices (both the MO8 and the M-Audio were recognized in the studio set up.2.) HOWEVER... Yes, I struggled with that. While I was able to check/uncheck the visibility boxes, I was unable to change the inactive/active state. I've had this issue more than once with Cubase wherein Inputs/output states can't be changes, though they should be.

 

Question: Is it possible that the TASCAM DI (even though it is recognized in Cubase) could be the issue? It seems to me that the ASIO 16x08 driver seems to be the gating item in terms of communication. 

???

[Old Music Guy]

2 hours ago, Nathanael_I said:

MIDI-OX

Thanks for this!!! I will get on it first thing tomorrow.

It's not beyond me, but thank you for pointing out a tool that will help me troubleshoot the signal chain.  

THIS is a tool I can use

Thanks

[Nathanael_I]

Your audio interface (Tascam) should have nothing to do with MIDI.  It's a separate interface as far as the operating system and Cubase are concerned. 

 

MIDI-OX won't make a sound, of course, but if everything is working, you can choose your keyboard as the MIDI input to monitor.  Then the Input monitor page will show you every note you play, velocity, etc.  As long as you have data in MIDI-OX, you know that the OS is correctly receiving MIDI and can pass it on to a program.  This clears your keyboard, cable, USB driver, and operating system as potential problems.  Then, you know it's can only be a configuration item in Cubase.  And Cubase, as deep as it is, only has a few MIDI input things to get right.

 

The directions about studio setup are correct above, as well as the indication to look for flashing MIDI activity.  If you have that, Cubase has the MIDI data coming in.  Then you need to get it routed to a VST Instrument track so it can play whatever sound you are after.

 

As noted above, correctly setting up VST instrument tracks takes a minute the first time.  It is very well documented in the manual and online, but it may not be intuitive the first time. 

 

Take it step by step.  My orchestral template has almost 600 virtual instrument tracks all routed and playable from a standard MIDI keyboard, no different from either of your two.  You'll get there!

[stoken6]

+1 on MIDI-OX, thanks @Nathanael_I

 

Cheers, Mike

[Red Ranger]

One other thing to check on the MO8 is whether you have USB or 5-pin midi enabled. (I know you don't want the MO8 as your controller but maybe it would help to get *something* working, just for diagnostic purposes.) It's a setting in Utility/MIDI/Other.

[CHarrell]

14 hours ago, Old Music Guy said:

was unable to change the inactive/active state. I've had this issue more than once with Cubase wherein Inputs/output states can't be changes, though they should be

 

Honestly this sounds like the culprit right here, those boxes need to be checked active. I had this issue before, don't remember how I solved it. Are you able to take a screenshot of this screen and post it?

[Old Music Guy]

The MIDI-OX was a God send! I know now that the keyboard is talking to the DAW. Perfect. 

I purchased an M-Audio Oxygen 49 MKV controller and plan to start from square one. 

I appreciate al your help and suggestions.