I recently purchased a Yamaha S90XS and have been getting accustomed to it for the past couple months. It came with Cubase AI4 and I have never used DAW software before. Because of this, I can’t seem to get started up. I’m fairly certain everything has been installed properly on my laptop and I have the synthesizer plugged in directly through USB. It appears Cubase is recognizing the input as I see an orange bar moving when I play the keys, but the only audio I hear coming from my laptop when I play or try to record is strange alien-like sounds. I have read the getting started portion of the Cubase manual, watched the Cubase tutorial DVD, and read many posts on the Steinberg site as well as the SNinety website. The problem is, the lingo is all new to me as I have no experience with this, so midi-ports and VST and all that is Greek to me. What I need is a Cubase for Dummies manual, or someone who can come on over to my house and just set it up for me. I feel like someone trying to enter a new country but being delayed at the border because he can’t understand the language well enough. I would like to give Cubase a try, but am in need of much more simplified instruction than I have yet to see so far. Anyone up for the challenge? If not I will stick to my primitive knowledge of music recording with handheld digital recorders. 
This means that Cubase is receiving the MIDI input from the keyboard through the USB connection.
Can you describe these sounds? Are they like bursts of static?
Cubase will take the MIDI signal and pass it to whatever instruments you have set up.
I’m assuming, however, you want to hear the sounds of your S90XS.
Do you have the keyboard’s audio outs connected to the laptop?
The keyboard can’t pass audio through that USB connection.
Thanks for the reply Shinta215. I have an audio out from the S90SX to the mic line in on the laptop but am getting no sound from it. The strange sounds I hear are seem to be from the laptop as Cubase is showing sound levels when idle, as if picking up from the laptop’s internal mic. If I understand correctly, the USB connection is only for transmitting MIDI between the laptop and the S90SX, right? I suppose my confusion is coming from understanding how MIDI and the actual audio coincide.
It’s a combo mic and line in jack?
If so, set it to line in.
Have you set up your VST connections? (F4 key to bring it up or select it from the device menu).
Can you post a screenshot of that?
It very well may be.
Correct.
If you could post a screenshot of the VST connections window, it would be helpful. Thanks.
Also, keep the volume down on your keyboard.
The signal coming from your keyboard is at a higher level than the input is looking for.
If the sound is distorted, you may be overloading your A/D converter (don’t worry, this won’t hurt it).
Make sure the input is set to line in, not mic in (as mic in expects an even weaker signal).
Interesting…
Looks like a basic stereo in/stereo out internal soundcard.
You have two ports (mic in/line in and line out)?
What were you doing before you took these screenshots?
Were you talking in the room or playing the keyboard? Was the keyboard on?
I see that you have input and that sometime in the past it clipped (the red bar above the input meter indicates this).
You should be able to set input sensitivity (switch mic in to line in) in your audio hardware’s control panel.
Can you further describe the sounds?
Something to try:
Is you laptop power plugged in?
Unplug it and see if the alien-like sounds stop and you get the keyboard sounds.
You have two ports (mic in/line in and line out)?
I do not have a line out from the laptop. I’m hoping to get sound from the laptop speakers.
What were you doing before you took these screenshots?
Were you talking in the room or playing the keyboard? Was the keyboard on?
I see that you have input and that sometime in the past it clipped (the red bar above the input meter indicates this).
You should be able to set input sensitivity (switch mic in to line in) in your audio hardware’s control panel.
The input is set to line in from the control panel, but the levels you see still seem to be coming from the laptop’s internal mic. The bars move even as I’m typing.
Can you further describe the sounds?
Something to try:
Is you laptop power plugged in?
Unplug it and see if the alien-like sounds stop and you get the keyboard sounds.[/quote]
Right now there is no sound whatsoever. I tried adjusting levels, unplugging laptop power, disabling the laptop’s internal mic, and still what I get are levels moving in Cubase when I do nothing, like it’s picking up the room noise, as well as levels when I play the S90SX, but no audio of any kind either way. So frustrating!
Forgive me.
I’m not familiar with onboard sound devices or the Asio4All driver.
And I should have remembered that changing options in Windows control panel has no effect on Cubase.
However, I think I found the answer.
In your ASIO4All control panel (accessible via the button of the same name in the Device Setup Dialog under ASIO4All v2 [your second screenshot]),
after clicking the wrench in the lower right corner (Advanced Options)
you should be able to disable the internal mic and enable line in.
Here is the shot of the advanced options, where it doesn’t appear I can disable the internal mic. Also there is an error message regarding the VST Systems Link. Take note of the input levels. The orange bar only raises when I play the keyboard. All the other levels remain moving no matter what I do. I’m almost ready to give up on this.
https://www.box.com/s/9167e2dcf7d53a3e085f
Leave VST system link off. You don’t need it.
Leave “HpOut” alone.
Click “MicIn” to disable it.
Click “MuxedIn” to enable it.
After this, check your VST connections to make sure they’re all good (input ports’ names may change).
So I tried your suggestion and the good news is, I don’t see the levels move until I actually press the synthesizer keys. However, I am still not getting any sound. See the link for the current set-up. https://www.box.com/s/05b09b4afa03b6233648
Perhaps the issue is with the VST instrument set-up? I just don’t know and I’m feeling pretty stupid about this whole thing.
Hi
what happens if you activate the hp speakers in your asio4all driver? You have an HP laptop or?
And a screen from F4 output would also be nice 
No worry we will get you maleing music
And perhaps you also check my link in the signature. Perhaps some ??? will turn into !!!
Greetz Bassbase
To hear the actual synth, you’ll need to create an audiotrack in your project, set the inputs to the line-in, and hit the ‘monitor’ button on the track.
Note that with your current setup, I expect a fair bit of latency. Playing in realtime using this setup can be a pain, because the sound will be late. But that’s a problem for later, when you’ve got the basics sorted.
My sympathies
I bought the S90XS two weeks ago had the same problems as you and could not get sound or then get weird sounds etc.
Follow the instructions on this page :
http://files2.keyfax.com/XSPDFs/AI4_USB_WinXP.pdf
It helped me to get my system set up and you need some special setup for the S90XS as described in this document.
I still can’t get my drum patches from the Yamaha to work in Cubase, don’t know how to do it, but going to figure it out.
One more thing, if you want to use your Yamaha sounds on the MIDI channels, after setting up as above , for each MIDI Channel , leave input as ‘All MIDI channels’ and change output to ‘Yamaha S90XS - 1’.
Good luck
Here is another document specifically for the s90XS , but I look at the other one as well