Hi,
Setting up external instruments works great by automatically compensating for changes in soundcard latency. However, this prevents the use of VSTi Editors to control external synths because VSTi Editors (e.g. for DSI Tetra or Moog) require exclusive use of the MIDI port connecting to the instrument being controlled, so such instruments cannot be set up as external instruments.
The current workaround I’ve found for this is to manually set the track delays every time a change in latency is needed.
So my request is that Instrument tracks should have a setting to tell Cubase that they are in fact controlling external instruments routed into Cubase, and therefor would be automatically delay compensated for soundcard latency changes in the same way as external instruments.
One way of somewhat adjusting for delay for an external instrument could be:
From cubase, send out a midi note to the synth as a “ping” signal. (Going through all devices inbetween cubase and synth)
Configure the external synth to send that same midi signal note value back to cubase
cubase measures the midi note loopback of the device and adjusts the delay compensation
(A measurement of 1-X notes could be taken and the average value would be used)
Hi ggc,
I’m not noticing issues with delays caused by MIDI itself, but every synth I use is on its own discrete MIDI port.
External Instruments and External Effects automatically compensate for ASIO buffer size changes, so Cubase is aware of the settings required. If the same automatic delay compensation could be switched on at the Instrument track level then it would be possible to use VSTi type synth editors without having to adjust the delays every time the ASIO buffer setting gets changed.
So the current options appear to be:
Forget the VSTi editors and set up External Instruments
Use VSTi Editors and manually adjust the delays every time as required
Use VSTi Editors and mix the synths externally (such as with RME TotalMix or equivalent) and only bring them back into Cubase during final mixing so that the delays have to be set only once
None of these are ideal compared to having a button on an instrument track where you tell Cubase that the track is driving an external synth through an audio input.
