Hi, I just bought a Korg Keystage in the hope of seeing both good poly aftertouch and MIDI 2.0 integration to VST instruments. It has a dedicated Cubase help page, and a setup script for use. But I can’t get it to work with anything in Cubase beyond start/stop playback stuff and volume/mod wheel/ pitch bend. I’ve applied the Korg script for it as a controller, and I can see it as a MIDI Remote, but I can’t see the 8 controller knobs, assign them to QCs etc. They simply don’t appear in the MIDI Remote Mapping Assistant, only the Play/Pause button set are shown and learnable (and they are setup fine for me out the box).
On the Korg side, it has ‘Scenes’, each of which contain multiple pages, and in each page the 8 knobs are assigned to different MIDI CC channels. These are configurable. So maybe I can set some CC stuff there on the Korg as Scenes that Cubase can respond to - but that doesn’t sound like it would work with QCs and each scene and page I would tie to an instrument, I guess, somehow (don’t actually know how…)
Also Korg has a ‘scene’ for its own VST plugins, like the WaveState. When I run the WaveState standalone, I see full MIDI 2.0 goodness - the LEDs beneath the 8 knobs show the param names that are applicable on each page. It’s like having a hardware synth! But when I run the Wavestate as a VST plugin and use the same ‘scene’ on the Korg, I only see the bare CC0, CC02 etc. The integration no longer works.
What am I missing? I’ve never really used a MIDI controller with Cubase before, except my trusty CC121, and I realise there are new things in Cubase for MIDI 2.0. Any help appreciated!
As a supplement, here is the MIDI remote control as offered by Korg as a script to download (Korg_Keystage_61.midiremote). There’s just the default page.
So the very helpful Saulo from Korg UK provided me an additional midi mapping file for the 8 controller knobs and now it is an effective Cubase controller:
This in addition to the main Cubase transport midi controller panel that is already published on the Korg website, with instructions, here
So now it’s a great midi controller. The unmapped key in the main transport panel turns out to be the annoying blinking Tempo button - I’ve remapped mine to “Locate Previous Marker” which is handy for me. I did ask Saulo to raise a feature request for the Keystage to allow the Tempo light to stop blinking.
Meanwhile it’s not acting like a MIDI 2.0 controller as far as Cubase is concerned. The Korg WaveState plug-in plays nicely with MIDI 2.0 parameter name passing and shows up clearly on the Korg LCDs, but only in standalone mode. As a VST plug-in, it’s as dumb as any old MIDI 1.0 interface as far as I can see (and the same for every VST that Steinberg bundle with Cubase and also random 3rd party plug-ins I tested).
How do we find out what needs implemented in Cubase to enable the 2.0 capabilities? Korg suggest its on the DAW to enable features like Property Exchange. Does anyone know anything about the current state of MIDI 2.0 in Cubase?
I picked up a Keystage 61 at the weekend.
I’m using Cubase 13 on Windows and also finding the Korg VST plugins are not sending the parameter info to the Keystage, but work as standalone.
Cubase does have a Midi-CI option in preferences which I’ve enabled. Using this means the keystage is recognised as a midi-ci enabled device on the midi devices page. But i’m not seeing any other functionality over midi 1.0 myself either.
Looking at the Korg website, it does suggest that the parameter display only works with the standalone opsix, modwave and wavestate native software, not the plugins. So it could be both Steinberg and Korg need to impement further functionality?
Hey Steve, I opened support tickets with both Korg and Steinberg on this.
Korg have effectively closed it at their side after investigating with their engineering team: they confirmed that the Keystage is fully able to send parameter info (i.e. Property Exchange) over MIDI 2.0 compliant messages - but that currently there are NO DAWs that support this MIDI 2.0 feature. As of last week, they noted that several DAW manufacturers are in discussions on forums about providing this capability in future - but they didn’t say if Steinberg was one of them.
So I asked Steinberg the same question. If I get a reply, I will update this thread.
CI-Support? I had not tried or set it (and it hadn’t been suggested to me yet I think) - what does it do? I’m not near my Keystage this week to test it…
Yeah, I hadn’t quite realised the Windows drivers were still in preview.
I’m assuming the stuff that does work in Windows is because of particular Korg integrations/drivers e.g. the standalone software instruments and a few things in Ableton Live, including Korg Gadgets.
Does at least showcase the potential and the poly AT works out the box which was my main draw.
@Johnny_Monteo , sadly the CI flag didn’t improve things. Thanks for pointing it out though. I found a latest Keystage software update that promised improved Property Exchange too, but no changes. The Keystage is still a nice controller, it’s just not the MIDI 2.0 controller it could be within Cubase. I wonder if v14 might bring anything in this space?
Hi there, I’m currently working on a script for a newly purchased Keystage 49.
I’m not using MIDI 2.0, which as @Johnny_Monteo correctly stated, is not officially supported in Windows yet, but even if it was, I find no need for the moment when talking about communication with Cubase.
Here’s for example how my display looks right now, with an instrument plugin loaded:
It’s just MIDI 1 combined with Steinberg’s MIDI Remote API. I will soon upload the script in this forum, so you and other friends interested in having such functionality with the Keystage, can have a look
Hey I grabbed this earlier and just tried it, it’s amazing! Only just touched the surface of what you’ve done I think. The link to the original is gone though? Any chance you could map the annoying Tempo button for us? I have mine set to Go-To-Previous-Locator, much more useful!
Just to be clear, talking about the “Tempo” or the Shift+Tempo? If I remember correctly, I have left the “Tempo” button to perform the “tap-tempo” internal functionality of Korg, plus moving the jog wheel, changing the tempo, and then sync this one with our project.
I think this one I have set to Holding the Loop Button and then turning the second knob.
