OK, I’ve managed to get Cubase running on my laptop now and can import MIDI files, change the voices and play them back through my headphones.
Next I would like to think about an external soundcard. I need MIDI ports on it and my laptop does have USB and a 4 pin firewire port (I think that’s what it is anyway). Which external cards should I be looking at? (I’m in the UK)
Before you go firewire make sure you have a Texas Instruments firewire chipset in the laptop. If not, go USB.
Maybe, I should just go USB…
Which USB models are worth a look?
It’d be good to know what you want from it. How many inputs/outputs, digital IO, amount of MIDI IO etc. And of course your budget.
Thoses are fair questions:
I want to produce backing tracks to go out and perform with. At the moment I only intend to buy/download MIDI files and edit them. Once I’ve mastered that, I would like to try recording some parts too.
I will probably save the MIDI files as .wav and then just use audio out with dome MIDI patch changes and maybe some MIDI notes to control a harmoniser.
When I’m ready to start performing, I will probably treat myself to a rack mounted DAW so just need something for now to use with my laptop. My speakers have XLR inputs so I don’t know whether I need balanced XLR outputs or whether I can manage with jack sockets and then use Jack>XLR cables.
I don’t think I need digital IO do I?
I don’t really have a specific budget in mind, it’s more about how much I need to spend to get what I need. I’m not adverse to buying second hand either
Does that help?
For live gigs I’d just mixdown the backing tracks to CD and play to that. Less equipment to get damaged or stolen as opposed to dragging a DAW around for such a simple task.
I want to play MIDI as well as audio though.
hi stonker
imo the muto ultralite hybred 3 is a really good soundcard , you can use it on the fly as an external mixer , it has midi i/o , and its own fx ,eq ,compression on every channel, in’s ,outs,mixes in the cue mix ,but the best part about the hybred is its firewire and usb2 , ive been using mine for a while now had have no issues with it at all , if your after an allin one soundcard ,this little half rack card is really worth the dosh ! IMO
I forgot to add all inputs and outputs are balanced / unbalanced so no probs with your monitors to balanced jack
regards
freq
That Muto does look the business but it may be a bit OTT just to get me started with the laptop.
Would the Emu 0404 USB make a decent choice?
Looks fine specs wise. I personally avoid anything that has to do with Creative, but that is based on low-end stuff I bought a long time ago.
Do I actually need an audio card or could I just manage with the headphone socket on my laptop to play audio and then get a USB MIDI interface for my MIDI signal? (This is only for practicing at home)
So just render the MIDI tracks to audio. 
That’s what I was going to do, save the MIDI file as a .wav file but then I want to run MIDI on top of that just to control patch changes and a harmoniser.
As I’m looking to buy a new mixer anyway, I’m wondering whether a firewire/USB mixer may be the best option?
Can cubase route the audio out through one device and then route MIDI through a USB/MIDI interface?
Yes, that’s perfectly independant. Cubase will recognise any audio and midi interface connected and you’ll be able to route midi as you wish.
Do let me know what you think if you find a nice small audiointerface/mixer, as I might be looking for one as well. I currently use an analog mixer with it’s output to my soundcard which only has a single input, so I can record just a single track at a time.
OK thanks. To do that, do I just need a USB/MIDI interface?
I’m not sure what you mean with ‘to do that’, but here’s an example.
I have an EMU 2x2 midi interface (usb) and my firewire soundcard also has a single midi IO.
I connect my keyboard midi output to the midi input on the EMU interface, and the midi output on my soundcard to the midi input on my eDrum kit.
Now I go to Cubase and create a midi track. If I select it’s input to be the EMU in 1 and the output the soundcard midi out, I can now play my drumkit from my keyboard. (I could also just take a single MIDI cable and plug the keyboard straight into the drumkit but hey, what’s the fun in that 
)
Now in theory I could also put my drumkit midi in to midi through, route it’s output back to the remaining midi in on the EMU interface and use that input on another midi track to play any instrument. This is a total mess routing wise and could be done much better, but it’s just to show off what you can do with separate midi interfaces. Sorry if you couldn’t follow that, I was making it up on the spot 
Yes I get your drift.I think all I want to do though is mix a MIDI file down to a WAV file and then lay down some MIDI patch changes and additional MIDI notes to tell my harmoniser which notes to use to create harmonies. I then want to output the audio (frm the WAV) to my mizer but the associated MIDI info to a MIDI interface