I have recently set up Cubase LE 5 which came bundled with my Lexicon Alpha digital interface. I am starting off with a simple voice acting studio. I have an Audio Technica 4040 large diaphram condensor microphone connected by XlR to a Presonus TubePre V2 pre amp with phantom power. I then have connected the pre amp into the Lexicon Alpha XLR out of pre amp to 1/4 in. The Alpha is then connected to my lap top via USB. I am pretty sure I have the VST selections correct. The Alpha ASIO in, outs are recognized by Cubase. When I open Cubase and select New Project, empty, then add track-audio, mono, I can hear myself through headphones loud and clear through the Alpha headphone jack. However I’m not seeing any VU activity in the Cubase transport panel, mixer, or anywhere in the project window. I do see VU levels from the microphone in the pre amp and Alpha. When I do a test recording there is no soundwave activity at all in Cubase and of course nothing on playback. I’m now thinking it may be a setting in my lap top. I have a Toshiba Satellite A505 with an Intel Core 2 Duo TT6600 at 2.2 GHz, 4GB RAM and a 64 bit op system, Widows 7 Home Edition. I have checked some settings and the Alpha interface is recognized by the computer. If anyone has any ideas or similar situations, I would greatly appreciate some advice. Hopefully it’s just a simple setting that I’ve overlooked. Thank you.
Make sure, your device port is connected to the correct Cubase input bus, and set that bus as track input.
Thanks for the reply. I did what you suggested and still had no input or output activity. I actually deleted what I had in the in/out busses and re-entered them. I did import an audio file successfully but on playback could not hear it through the headphones. I don’t have any speaker monitors yet. I also went through the steps posted by JHP “The first things to do when you start up Cubase”. Still nothing. I also checked to make sure the Alpha was first on the list in my computer’s “USB Audio Device/ Universal Serial Bus Controllers” window. I think I may try a fire wire connection from Alpha to computer instead of USB. Maybe it’s a cable.If that doesn’t work I may download Audacity just to see if that works. I had a VO friend who has been using Cubase 4 for several years take a look and she couldn’t figure out why my set up wasn’t working. Maybe I should start from scratch again and uninstall LE 5 then re-install. Still open to any and all suggestions. Thank you.
You will eventually find out, the Lexicon Alpha is a USB interface…
OK thanks. Any other ideas?
What does it say in device setup are the in - outs shown as “active” or “inactive”?
You may be on to something here. The in-outs are indeed "inactive. The “visible” box next to the “inactive” state are all marked with “x”. And in the VST System Link window it also shows the ASIO input/outputs as “not connected”. I removed the “x” but that did nothing. What next please?
As I had said before already
If you had done that, as you have told me, they would not show inactive.
Right, Not sure what happened there, however I’m happy to tell you that I finally was able to figure it out enough to actually do some test recordings Woo Hoo! Thanks for all of your help…for now.
Hi folks,
I’ve revived this topic, because I have a similar problem, which is not quite answered by the above. I’ve just bought a Lexicon Alpha, but I’m not using the Cubase 5 software that comes bundled with it - because I already have a copy of Cubase LE7. I’m trying to set things up to record, and I have the same problem as the OP above - no signal registering in the Cubase window. Unfortunately the suggestions above are quite confusing, as things look different in the LE7 interface. How do I “make sure my device port is connected to the correct Cubase input bus” - in “LE7 speak”?