Cubase limitations?

Hello musicians,

My question revolves about the limitation with Cubase 8 or the limitation in which your
computer sends and receives MIDI information.

For example: Can your computer send MIDI information to 8 (or 12) external MIDI devices without problems?

Of course this has to do with the processing speed of the computer.

To explain my question in why i would like to know that i will give a little background of my wishes or the way i make music.

I make electronic music and love effects in any type of sound. In my 20 years experience making music i learned that too much “hard” work KILLS creativity or you will lose control or the grip to create the end product.
I like to experiment using effects in music or make changes in any type of sound in the song or at any point of time.

Making music is a real satisfaction but building a complete song (for me) can sometimes be a real headache. Especially when you’re not satisfied with the song and have to begin all over again.

My idea… Let’s say you have 8 audio or MIDI tracks containing a beat, melody or background sounds. Is it possible to hook up a MIDI controller or MIDI synthesizer to each separate audio or MIDI track so you can make changes on the spot or as the song is playing?

Maybe it is a little too far fetched to have a single MIDI controller hooked up to a track which only contains a single bass, kick or snare sound. But i want to make any type of change possible at any point of time in the fastest and easiest way possible.

So… is there any limit to Cubase or a computer in sending MIDI information back and forwards?

I know it will probably cost a fortune to hook up 8 or 12 MIDI controllers (or even 4 MIDI synthesizers) to a single computer to make music but i think it is the easiest way to make experimental music and keep the creativity level up.

Any ideas?

Cubase can definitely do what you ask. For every midi or instrument track, you can select a different midi input.
Like you say it’s a bit far fetched, but if you have the budget and space nothing is stopping you :wink:

If I was in your situation, I’d tackle it a bit differently though. I would find a midi controller with 8 or 16 assignable push buttons, and use Cubase Macro’s to enable monitoring/recording on 1 specific track and disable it on all others. That way you have control over every midi track at the push of a button (and if you save this setup in your Cubase template, you can even label the buttons on your controller), and you only need 1 controller.
It’ll take some time to set up the first time, but if you save it as a template then you’re good to go for any future projects.

Thanks for your reply and answering my question!

So, in theory Cubase can control a great number of MIDI devices simultaneously without causes problems?

My problem today is that i have to switch between tracks lots of times or hit record a lot of times to built a song.
This is what really kills creativity for me especially if you don’t know where you heading or end up.

I will get me one of those MIDI controllers with either 16 or 32 assignable rotators and if it still troubles me in making music then i will assign a MIDI device for each single track.

Groetjes,

+1 And do not forget, while ASIO devices can only be used exclusive, midi interfaces can be used side by side in cubase.
So when installing 4 x a 8 midi I/O device gives your 32 port of midi in and out , each midi port has 16 channels which can be used separately.

I think you do not want this amounts of controllers :wink: