Cubase 15 Pro: Expression Map + rack instrument - how to make CC1/CC11 follow MIDI channel?

Hi everyone,

I’m using Cubase 15 Pro with a multi-timbral rack instrument and I’m trying to figure out the correct workflow. I’ve spent almost 6 hours on this problem without a solution, I apologize in advance, if I am missing something obvious..

I have one MIDI track routed to one rack instrument instance. Inside the instrument, I have several patches loaded on different MIDI channels, for example:

  • Channel 1 = Patch A

  • Channel 2 = Patch B

  • Channel 3 = Patch C

What I’m trying to do is use one MIDI track to switch between those patches/articulations by MIDI channel, while also using CC1 / CC11 for swells and fades.

If the MIDI track is set to Any, I can manually set individual notes in the Key Editor to channels 1, 2, 3, and the correct patches play.

The problem is that the CC1/CC11 data seems to stay on channel 1. So patches on channels 2 and 3 do not respond unless I manually change the MIDI channel of the CC data as well. That works technically, but it is not really practical (there are dozens of data for a single note.. so it may go up to thousands of data on the CC1/CC11 lane that I have to select the channels manually.)

I also tried creating an Expression Map with sound slots using MIDI Modifier Channel 1, 2, 3. With that setup, CC1/CC11 seems to work, but the notes no longer switch properly to channels 2/3 and everything plays using the Patch A assigned to channel 1.

So I seem to be able to get either:

  • manual MIDI note-channel switching, but CC1/CC11 does not follow

  • Expression Map active, where CC1/CC11 works, but the notes do not switch channels correctly

May I ask… If anyone can advise, what is the correct Cubase 15 Pro workflow for one MIDI track controlling a multi-timbral rack instrument, where articulation switching by MIDI channel and CC1/CC11 dynamics both work properly?

Should this be done with Expression Maps, MIDI Modifiers, Logical Editor/Input Transformer, or is a different setup required?

Any guidance would be very appreciated.

Many thanks in advance for the help.

For me the expression map approach is working to separate Notes and CCs across different midi channels. I’ve never encountered the issue you described that the notes aren’t properly distributed to channels 2 and 3, and stay on channel 1, when I use the midi channel modifier in the expression map to set the channel.

Maybe double check your setup or recreate the expression map approach from scratch, if it’s still not working this might be a bug.

On my system this is still working properly in my template, I just checked, but I’m still on version 15.0.10