Very Confused W/ Virtual Instruments Options

[JOLTINJAKE]

hi, i have an edirol midi keyboard hooked up to an imac, and the imac has cubase on it. i also have an MAudio Duo hooked to the computer, which i can use for recording live instruments. now heres where the trouble starts.. when i try to record midi music onto cubase with the edirol keyboard, i see the little red and green bars showing the incoming signal, but no sound comes out.

someone recommended that i check my virtual instruments, but after reading the manual, i still have no clue what to do. i think cubase has some built in bass and percussion virtual instruments, and i thought i had those set up right, but there was still no sound coming out. ive tried selecting all the different output options it gives me, but still no sound comes out.

if anyone knows anything about this stuff, please help me!!

do i need to download/purchase virtual instruments from somewhere? am i missing a piece of equipment that allows me to hear the music?

thank you very much for any assistance you can give!

[Synthetic]

it sounds like your midi is coming into Cubase ok but... it sounds like you don't have the midi track assigned to anything as you noted. I don't work with Cubase so not sure how to do it but basically, you need a soft sampler, vst instsrument plug or whateever Cubase uses for sound assigned to the track which your midi is coming to.

Just to make sure your sound output is correct... I suggest trying to record some type of audio signal and play it back. If you see the audio waveform and see it playing but no sound... then your sound output for the whole app is not right. If you do get sound from the audio playing back... then the above problem sounds related to just setting up VST plugs to play your midi which I am no help with since I have never used Cubase. I use Logic and this is what must done in Logic for midi control to make sounds in the Logic app. I assume principles are the same for both apps but they probably do it a little differently.

[kaboombahchuck]

I agree with Synthetic on this one. First do work with an audio recording to make sure all that is working. I would help you with that, but I never could get the audio portion working in cubace!

Once you know all is well, then you are going to have to choose the midi instument you want. I don't remember how to do it in cubace, but you probably highlight a track and either change ports (from edorol, audio, v-inst, Quicktime inst. ect) to the virtual inst. of your choice. In some programs you can simply click and hold down over the port or inst (should be listed on the track you wish to use) an a window will open allowing you to choose ports, or sliders. Seems to me once you have done this you should be able to listen to a midi track being played back (as long as there is already a midi track there). An if you've really done a dynomite job of midi setup, you should also be able to trigger you v-inst with your keyboard (edorol). Otherwise you can use the keyboard in the piano roll of your midi sequencer (cubace) to trigger the instument. So if you have corectly chosen an inst, simply hit a note on the sequencer keybord (by clicking on the mouse when the cursor is over the chosen note) and you should be able to hear it comming out of your Mac. If you hear nothing, check your soundcard setting, make sure the box next to the sound through has a check in it.

Also, if I was going to stick with virtual instruments, I'd start withVsamp It's not too complicated... You can use AIFF sounds for samples, Vsamp can auto pitch the sample so that you have the full range needed without having to do all that stuff yourself. It also accepts soundfont 2, and sample cell files.

[walt]

Hi JOLTINJAKE

Still need help or am I too late ?

Let me know. I've been using Cubase since version 2 and now I am in version 5.x

Cubase can be a bit overwhelming at first and there are still some things in Cubase that just don't seem intuitive to my way of working with other midi/audio sequencers I have going.

Oh, just to be sure here, what version are you trying to work on ?

[helloktkat]

JOLTINJAKE.
did you figure this out? cos i'm having the same problem

thx!