OK Svenne so I forgot the Read button, sorreeee, he still wanted to kiss me, a little concerned about that:-))))))))))
Dave you assume Pianofiend is male, but no one actually said that. 
I say, if someone wants to kiss you on the internet, go for it! I would prefer to be kissed than corrected.
Hi, I am trying to record a stereo audio track. I will try to include as much information as possible to hopefully get some helpful feedback. I am amateur with studio recording in general, so most of my results have been figured out purely by trial and error. I’ve gotten this to work in the past, but I am now having trouble remembering what I “did” that got the desired result as I don’t record very often.
I am operating the Cubase elements version of 7. I’ve bought the Power Tools for Cubase 7 by Hepworth book and I am not finding any information related to my problem and feel like I have tried everything. I am starting to wonder if there is something wrong with a: my interface, b: my stereo cable, or c: my digital piano that I am plugging into my interface. I don’t think it is C, because the sound from my piano is coming through stereo just fine through my headphones plugged directly into it.
Interface: Fasttrack by M-audio
PIano: Yamaha CVP 96
Here’s what I’ve done. I’ve set up an audio track using a stereo bus. I’ve made sure it says that it is connected to my interface and that both left and right stereo are selected for line 1 and 2. I’ve tried connecting the cable to my piano to both the headphone jack and the audio output stereo jack. (I’ve used the headphone jack to record output with other programs and it has functioned just as well as the audio output jack.) Anyway, the LED display only shows one side of stereo playing. When I record the track, it shows one flat line and one with sound. I’ve tried recording on a mono track also, and it is still only recording and playing back on one speaker.
Here’s another puzzling thing. I recorded a sample track for this project back in May, and it recorded a stereo track just fine. It plays back stereo. It shows stereo in the track display lines and LED. So I looked at all my settings, and found that I had the stereo bus set to only the L port for recording on line 2. The other was set to not connected. Then I also had a Mono bus connected to line 2, I’m assuming for my vocal track. So I tried these same options on the new project and I am still getting only mono recording and playback. I then tried line 1 instead of 2 for both L and R individually and got nothing–which concerns me. Does this indicate a problem with my cable or interface? I am so frustrated!
Obviously, I’m not recording very often. I would like to, but I’m a busy mom of four, so opportunities are few and far between. Any chance I get to record I want to make the most of, so it’s really disappointing when things aren’t working!
Please help me connect the dots here! And I appreciate patience, as there is still so much I don’t understand about this software and studio setup/jargon/etc.
Thanks in advance 
LOL, yes Dave, I am female, but I wouldn’t actually kiss you since I’m married 
. However, it’s amazing how getting over one little hurdle makes such a huge difference in my mood! Would appreciate some feedback on my new thread about stereo recording issues!
Hi Pianofiend
At a guess!!! You may not have set the VSTConnections up properly. Go to Devices>VSTConnections. Then you can set up a Stereo bus with the left input using your Fastrack 1 input and the right using Fastrack 2. You should also set up two mono buses (use the Add Bus button) using each of the two inputs. Then in Cubase you will select the Stereo bus as an input for a Stereo track. Then plug the physical piano outputs to the two Fastrack inputs and it should work. If not we would have to troubleshoot to see if there is a faulty cable or input or…Hope this helps
Best Regards
Dave
Hi Dave!
Thanks for replying! Yeah, I’ve done what you described, guess I didn’t explain very well above . My fast track has only one input, and I am using a single stereo cable from the piano from the dual L/R output to the fasttrack. So from what I’ve done, the problem seems to be with line one, because isolating it as the only line produces nothing, where using line 2 for either L or R produces a mono track. So I’m wondering now what is the more likely problem–cable or interface. Really, really hoping it’s not the interface!!
New problem, no sound on playback. Disabled monitoring. Audio output is setup. What the?! I’m trying not to lose my cool here… 
Update***ugh, nevermind I figured out what was wrong.
Can you provide screen shots of these winodws?
- VST Connections - Input
and - VST Connections - Output
I’d be happy to SteveinChicago, how do I get them from my phone onto this post?
edit: figured this out 
pics coming!
Looks good. Are you sure your cables are okay?
Using the original FastTrack (the mother of all misnomers…), which is an ancient USB 1.1 interface, with Cubase 7 and Windows 8 is like begging: “please please trouble, smack me hard across my face!” 
Now for some serious advice: get a used Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (on EBay for $70-80), which is way way way better and faster than what you have and the drivers are perfectly compatible with Win 8 (unlike those of the FastTrack, which is something that was released when XP was the current Windows.)
From a quick glance at the manual for the fasttrack I would say this is only a mono input…it will not be possible to record stereo using this interface.
What you hear while playing the keyboard and what you must have previously recorded, is not actually stereo, it’s in both speakers but is mono.
So your only option with this particular interface is to record to a mono track…this will then be centred between the speakers.
EDIT: If the keyboard has one of it’s outputs labelled mono use that one!
Hi again Pianofiend
From what I can tell having looked at the manual, it IS possible to record in stereo but it’s a bit “messy” as the level settings and cabling are going to be all over the place. You would connect the 2 outputs of the piano, one to the mic (XLR) input and one to the Jack input, this should ideally be set to “line” but because the other input is going into the mic input would probably need to be set to guitar, then keep the output of the piano quite low so the input doesn’t clip, then record as normal
THE OTHER POSSIBILITY, I’m not sure but I think your piano has a USB port which supports midi which means you could kinda do everything “live” as it were, record the piano onto a MIDI track, I suppose at some stage you’d still need to get it into Elements somehow but!!! Not sure if this is any help, best I can manage
Best Regards
Dave
You would connect the 2 outputs of the piano, one to the mic (XLR) input and one to the Jack input, this should ideally be set to “line” but because the other input is going into the mic input would probably need to be set to guitar, then keep the output of the piano quite low so the input doesn’t clip, then record as normal
Of course correct in theory, but in practical terms probably not worth the bother?? Maybe with a D.I box you’d have more chance of balancing the stereo, but again this is more copmplexity.
My advice would be that you either live with recording in mono (as that’s exactly what you are currently hearing) or buy a cheap interface with a stereo line input.
Or get an audio device with 2 discreet mic/line inputs if you want to record stereo…
Hi All
Re Grim’s comments, I totally agree with him, it is pretty impractical to do things the way I suggested, but IF there is no other way!!! One other thing I didn’t mention, if you are using Elements, the Halion SE piano is “OK”, you could use the CVP as a Midi Master keyboard and use it to drive the internal Halion Sonic SE sounds, that would at least get the audio into Elements in some form!!
Best Regards
Dave
Thanks for all the suggestions! So Dave are you saying that with the fast track it’s possible for it to randomly record in stereo or mono? I am positive it recorded in stereo before and not mono because the LED indicators on cubase showed two audio lines versus a single fat line. Sorry I know these aren’t probably accurate technical terms but that’s the best I can describe it lol.
Steve, that is what I’m trying to determine, without having to buy another one :/.
Everybody–recommendations on an affordable interface that will do a decent job? I will try the cable route first to see if that’s what’s going on. Really don’t want to spend a lot of money if I don’t have to.
So Dave are you saying that with the fast track it’s possible for it to randomly record in stereo or mono?
Though random channel selections is an interesting concept that’s not what Dave meant 
If you are using a single cable into the M-Audio line input then I can promise you that you have never recorded in true stereo.
You may have somehow recorded dual mono by selecting the same input for both sides of the stereo bus. This would have no advantage over a mono recording.(And possibly some disadvantages)
Steve, that is what I’m trying to determine, without having to buy another one :/.
No cable is going to give you stereo with the mono input on this interface.
For an interface designed for 2 channel recording Steinberg’s own UR22 for around $150 would do a good job but if you want a cheaper option Roland Duo Capture at $80 is worth a look…anything much below this price point I could not personally recommend.
Grim, thanks for making that clear to me. I really had no idea that it wasn’t designed to record stereo! I bought it a few years ago and used it with the starter Pro Tools Essentials software, always played back in both ears so I never thought twice about it.
So if I record a track in the Mono bus, shouldn’t it still play back in both speakers? Or am I still not understanding how this works lol? Do I need to record each track twice, assign it to opposing sides, in order to get equal playback? That sounds like a lot of work!
Sorry for my limited understanding–I recorded for years and years using Acoustica MP3 mixer plugging my piano directly into the line in on my computer lol. Always got the job done and was pretty straight forward/user friendly. I want to learn how to use the more sophisticated software like Cubase, but it seems my learning curve will take some time. Thanks for being patient with me!