Cubase and MIDI

I’ve recently figured out how to use Spitfire’s Albion One with my Korg Kronos and I decided to do a quick test to see if Cubase would recognize the MIDI input from the Kronos and Albion, which it does, because I can see the level meters rising whenever I hit a note. But, the problem is, I cannot hear what I’ve just recorded over playback. I can see the track and what I played, but I can’t hear it. The audio output is set to run into my headphones through my Focusrite 6i6, which works perfectly when I’m running left and right mono inputs from the Kronos with two TRS cables, but again, I can’t hear what I’ve played in playback when I record straight MIDI.

What is the MIDI output for the track set to?

It’s set to the Focusrite USB output. The only other option that is showing is “Microsoft Wavetable synth.”

Rather than using the standalone Kontakt Player, load the Kontakt Player plugin within Cubase and then the Albion One library within that. You will then see an additional MIDI output, set the recorded MIDI track to that.

How do I go about doing that? I followed your instructions, but when I refresh the Plug-in Manager, it tells me that no VST instruments/effects have been found.

I guess it would be better to connect the audio outs of the Kronos

and btw… MIDI is only data
you can’t really listen to plain data

so you have to load at least one instrument (Kontakt?) to the MIDI in

Perhaps you need to check the installation instructions provided by Spitfire for Albion One, but in the Plug-in Manager you should at least see a lot of built-in effects and instruments in Cubase. What version (and edition) of Cubase are you using? (Pro, Artist, Elements, AI, LE etc.)

Normally, these libraries are installed using the Native Instruments utility called “Native Access”. If you don’t already own the full version of Kontakt, then the library maker (Spitfire, in this case) provides a cut-down free version called the Kontakt Player, which enables you to used the library. The Kontakt Player has two components, the “standalone” application (which I assume is what you are using in order to play anything at all from Albion One) but also the Kontakt Player plugin, which you need to load as a VST Instrument within Cubase.

So, the setup is Cubase (host) → Kontakt (VSTi plugin) → Albion One (library).

Yes, as there are three products from three different companies, it can be confusing at first. Perhap start by reading the manual section on VST Instruments and play around with some of the included VSTis to get used to the process, then load the Kontakt Player, and finally the Albion One library.