First Time Importing from Cubase – Observations & Questions on Workflow

[CSAM]

Sorry for all the posts recently — I’m currently trying to get familiar with the software, as I’m planning to use VST Live for a live gig this summer for the first time.

Since VST Live clearly isn’t designed for detailed recording and editing, I tried exporting a Cubase project and importing it into VST Live for the first time today. Here are some observations I made, along with a few questions:

• Tempo and signature tracks are imported correctly — great!
• Solved. The Arranger track does get translated into parts, but it seems all timing information is lost. You have to manually reassign positions to the parts. That feels like a missing or incomplete feature — or am I overlooking something? Solution: Select Create Triggers on import settings.
• Kinda solved I often work with Kontakt in Cubase, using one instrument track with multiple MIDI tracks, each assigned to a different MIDI channel (e.g., Channel 1 for piano, Channel 2 for bass, etc.). That’s seems to be the correct way to avoid multiple Kontakt instances in Cubase.
  In VST Live, however, this doesn’t seem to be possible — MIDI tracks and instrument tracks appear to be the same. It seems I would have to load a separate Kontakt instance for each instrument, which obviously isn’t very power-efficient.
  Alternatively, it might be possible using a global layer — I haven’t tested that yet. However, the drawnback to this solution would be that instruments settings can’t be prepared in Cubase. Is there any best practice for this use case?
  Either way, I guess I’ll need to either prepare projects differently in Cubase or expect quite a bit of manual work in VST Live. Solution: Use Virtual Midi Channels, see below or a (global) layer.
• Solved: When importing, the entire project is overwritten in VST Live. I had hoped I could prepare individual songs as Cubase projects and import them into VST Live as separate Songs — but it seems that’s not possible.
  As far as I can tell, this means I’d need to prepare all songs for a live set within a single Cubase project, which isn’t always practical. Or am I missing something? Solution: There are import settings.

These are just my first impressions. Are there any recommended workflows or plans to expand functionality in these areas?

Thanks in advance!

[fkalmus]

@CSAM

I had hoped I could prepare individual songs as Cubase projects and import them into VST Live as separate Songs — but it seems that’s not possible.

It is! Just need to click the corrensponding radio button

@CSAM

In VST Live, however, this doesn’t seem to be possible

It is possible, look for this icon “ |> “

@CSAM

Alternatively, it might be possible using a global layer — I haven’t tested that yet.

You will love it

[CSAM]

Thanks so much — I totally missed the import settings…

As for the other issue (instrument track routing), I’m still a bit stuck.
On a MIDI track, I can select a VST instrument instance as the output (|->), but I don’t seem to be able to route it to another existing MIDI track that has a VSTi selected as its output. Maybe you could explain in a bit more detail how you set it up? I’d really appreciate it!

You will love it.

I’ll test it for sure. However, as far as I understand, it probably requires me to either set up the instrument configurations again or save them as instrument presets, since there doesn’t seem to be a way to define one of the Cubase instrument tracks as a global layer in VST Live.

[Jihem]

@CSAM , you pointed exactly what is slowing down my workflow, maybe because I’m also missing something. I work all the same as you, binding Midi tracks to multi-timbral VST Instruments in Cubase, and having to do it again in VL to avoid loading tens of instances of instruments where a single Multi would fit.

@fkalmus , what do you mean by “|>”?

[CSAM]

I took another look and noticed the Virtual MIDI Inputs and Outputs in VST Live. I thought this could be a way to route MIDI between tracks.

For example, I was hoping to send MIDI from multiple tracks (comparable to MIDI tracks in Cubase) to VM Out 1, and then receive it on another track (comparable to an instrument track in Cubase) via VM In 1.

However, it seems that VM Inputs and Outputs are completely independent?
When I send MIDI to VM In 1, it doesn’t seem to pass through VM Out 1.

So I guess I’m misunderstanding the concept of these VM ports?

@Jihem

what do you mean by “|>”?

Probably the output icon

[CSAM]

@Jihem

you pointed exactly what is slowing down my workflow, maybe because I’m also missing something. I work all the same as you, binding Midi tracks to multi-timbral VST Instruments in Cubase, and having to do it again in VL to avoid loading tens of instances of instruments where a single Multi would fit.

I just took another look into the Virtual MIDI channels — and I actually got it working now!
The key was enabling monitoring on the instrument track.

Here’s my current setup:

• A MIDI track with Input: VM In 1 and Output: VST Instrument, in my case, Kontakt, loaded with multiple libraries, each on a separate channel.
  Important: Monitoring must be enabled on the instrument track — otherwise, no MIDI data gets through.
  This track is basically the equivalent of an Instrument Track in Cubase.
• Then, I have multiple MIDI tracks sending data via Output: VM Out 1, with each track assigned to the corresponding MIDI channel that matches the instrument library inside Kontakt.

This setup essentially replicates the Cubase workflow of using a multi-timbral VST instance with multiple MIDI tracks feeding into it.

However, after importing from Cubase, the VM In/Out routings need to be set manually.

[CSAM]

I also tested the global layer workaround (to be precise, it could also be normal layer, depending on your song structure) using a single multi-instrument (e.g., Kontakt with multiple instruments loaded on different channels).

It basically works, but as expected, it comes with a few downsides — particularly regarding Cubase integration:

After importing from Cubase, you can’t directly use the imported setup with a global layer.
You either have to manually rebuild the multi-instrument setup in VST Live,
or use instrument presets saved within Kontakt in Cubase and then load them in VST Live.
(I haven’t tested the preset route yet, but I assume it should work.)

Overall, the Virtual MIDI channel method is definitely the more straightforward option if you’re coming from a Cubase workflow, since it mirrors the structure much more closely and doesn’t require rebuilding instruments.

That said, the global layer setup is otherwise pretty simple:

• The global instrument should be set to MIDI Channel: Any
• Your MIDI tracks can then target this global layer as output on the according channels

However, there’s one important aspect I noticed:
The global layer appears to only accept either a ‘regular’ MIDI input or track-based MIDI input — not both at the same time.
Meaning:
You can’t directly play, for example, Channel 1 live with your MIDI keyboard, and feed Channel 2 from a track at the same time.

But there is a workaround — using (once again) Virtual MIDI channels:

• Create an additional global or local layer with input from your MIDI controller and output to a Virtual MIDI port, let’s say VM 2
• Then create a track with Input: VM 2, Monitoring: On, and Output: the global multi-instrument

This setup allows live playing on one channel and playback on another — all through the same global multi-timbral VST instance.

As far as system resources go, this is probably the most efficient method, since only one instance of the VSTi is needed.
But admittedly, it gets a bit convoluted — and managing multiple instruments on different channels across different parts can most certainly quickly become messy and hard to maintain. My assessment so far is that it probably remains clearer to use layers only for live instruments and tracks for playback.