Hey folks, I’m new and trying to get basic MIDI functionality working. I am running Cubase Elements 12 and an Arturia Keylab 49 mk3 with the control script installed.
I’m finding that MIDI notes generated outside of the DAW are being relayed to the VST instrument regardless of what channel it’s coming in on. I can see that there’s a MIDI output channel selection, but surely there’s an easy and obvious way to say that I only want a VST to receive messages from a specific MIDI channel that I am missing.
I understand that each instrument track has its own virtual MIDI port, which is running on a siloed channel 1. However, that’s only useful if I can assign what messages are to be directed into that channel.
No. Each MIDI or Instrument track in Cubase has to be assigned an output channel. It can be 1 through 16 or the Any setting, where Cubase then just relays the midi as it comes in.
Surprisingly not. That feature was only added with Cubase 13.
I’m having a heavy and serious “wait, wtaf?” moment. Cubase was the instigator of the VSTi standard, wasn’t it? How was this not table stakes a decade ago?
I am really upset by the notion that I would have to pay (more) money to gain access to such a basic concept, or that it took them decades to implement it at all.
Not for nothing, this “functionality” is available in the free Lite version of Ableton. It’s stuff like this which makes someone really question what counts as a compelling argument to stick with Cubase when so much of the energy is focused on Ableton and the many rising open source solutions.
Yes, there is a cognitive and financial switching cost. However, I’d prefer to be using a tool because I love it, not because I’m being held captive.
I can understand your disappointment but let’s not throw words around that are not related to the issue.
Being able to select an MIDI input channel for a track has nothing to do with VST whatsoever. It is pure MIDI support.
Cubase was always awkward in this regard, having had a very weird solution for this several decades ago. That got ditched at some point. Why it took them more than 20 years to bring the solution back into the program (and in an improved way, I might add) is beyond me.
I feel you wanted to express something else here, but the sentence does not make much sense to me. Whose energy?
Anyway, I empathize with your frustration, having been frustrated about this missing feature myself for many years.
All fair points. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify.
The “energy” I’m talking about is more than a vibe and not something I could defend in court. It seems as though the vast majority of YouTube personalities have settled on Ableton as a sort of de facto default, and it’s hard not to notice that when purchasing an Arturia MIDI controller such as the Keylab Mk3, what requires a janky “MIDI remote” script in Cubase is just automatically supported in Ableton.
Ableton has Max For Live, which is actually a pretty big deal to a lot of experimental artists.
And it goes without saying that nobody is producing hardware that is Cubase-first. Perhaps this is the single most tangible manifestation of the “energy”.
Cubase seems to mostly ride on its reputation as being the tool of choice for big name composers. That’s not nothing. But it’s little solace when confronted with solid evidence that they are now selling updates which should really be backported to all versions still in use. Someone who paid good money for a tool shouldn’t have to keep buying new versions to get basic MIDI functionality unlocked.
Ableton Live is great for live performances and for working with imported audio samples and loops.
Other than that Live has a different approach how to mix in a DAW. Cubase takes a rather traditional 90’s studio work approach. Steinberg tried to rival ProTools on that sector and overlooked that the new generation has never worked with hardware mixing desk and doesn’t care for learning those ways.
That and the fact that there was no free trail version for many years were, as far as I can see, the two major strategic mistakes by Steinberg.
I think Steinberg is currently trying to amend those mistakes.
Ableton, on the other hand, has recently bitten off a little bit more than they could chew and had to severly downsize their company. Steinberg, the boring traditionalist, has had a steady income during the same time. We’ll see in the future whether Ableton manages the turnaround or will have to downsize even further.
But that’s stuff from behind the scenes.
Sadly, layoffs were pretty common across the tech space last year.
Going forward, I hope that Steinberg can truly embrace that being the sort of company that people love so much they defend is the only kind of marketing that provides multi-generational returns. One of the best ways to move in that direction is continuing to improve earlier versions, especially when it comes to stuff like basic MIDI functionality.
These days, if customers feel like they aren’t respected, it’s all too easy to navigate to competitors.
hi! Cubase 12 Artist and I have to admit that about MIDI it is funny, if not that I am losing plenty of time with it.
No possible ways to give a MIDI channel to a track, even if there is a small MIDI number in the inspector window.
As result, playing drums I get all channels playing together as well as playing the keyboard (same results).
It is completely non-understandable, I used other software more than 20 years ago much more easy to use and with normal standard basic needs fulfilled in few seconds. And if I remember correctly, even Cubase was able at that time to use MIDI channels in the correct way.
For what it’s worth, this seemingly stupid problem was formally enough to make me commit to ditching Cubase after a half-decade and (finally?) learn Ableton. It’s unacceptable that this is even something to be discussed in a v12 product.
I doubt that Steinberg cares, or they would have fixed this. But I hope this message ends up in a slide deck at company HQ as they try and reflect on how they got here.
Cubase Artist and Cubase Pro have a feature called Track Input Transformer which can perform tasks such as filtering an instrument track and limiting the midi channel received on it. (Unfortunately Cubase Elements does not have this)
One use case is that if you have an instrument that can send midi to channels 1-4 you can set up 4 instrument tracks and record the midi from each channel separately at the same time
Appreciate you, @kenk! That does look like a solve, but it’s a solve that would cost an additional few hundred dollars to implement.
The point, the problem and the outcome is that that is freaking insane. Assigning MIDI channels should not be a premium feature, because not being able to assign MIDI channels is a bug.
The version of Ableton that comes with every Arturia keyboard can do this for free, as can literally every other DAW… because it is basic, table stakes functionality.
This topic is about being able to chose one of the 16 channels for input, thus blocking or filtering the other 15 channels.
When you say all channels are playing together it sounds more like an output routing thing.
Like I said, this situation was enough to make me jump ship. That’s past tense.
Even though it’s true an Elements upgrade from 12 to 14 is available at a bargain basement price of just $58, that’s $58 more than it should cost to map an instrument to a MIDI channel.
In my case, it was also $58 more than it cost me to install one of the Ableton Lite licenses I got for free with my controller purchase.
