Let me explain ;
I opened an instrument track “glass choir” .
Pressed the “Edit instrument” button .
Pad shop opened up -
In pad shop there is a keyboard where you can press with your mouse and you’ll hear audio .
How can i record that keyboard? meaning , pressing with the mouse on that keyboard would be recorded into the track.
I tried normal record but it didnt work , i tried with read and write enabled and it didnt work (only for automation?)
(i have a midi controler , but its easier to do slider with the mouse , and its fun! )
Unless the VST plugin has a through mode to transmit such interaction inside its own interface, there is no way for the DAW to have any MIDI event data to ‘record’. When VSTi plugins include an interactive keyboard display it’s mainly meant to be a ‘status’ indicator to show you what’s being played, or to have a quick and handy place where you can click to hear things while making edits in the plugin itself.
Generally when you record a MIDI performance to a track, the DAW will route your input from a controller such as:
A MIDI keyboard
The built in Cubase mini keyboard (It is part of the transport bar, tap alt-k to make it active)
The Cubase ‘chord pads’ (In v8.5 hover the mouse at the bottom of the screen until you get a pop-up where you can activate/deactivate the chord pad)
MPC pads
Wind-jammer
Etc…
These events flow through the following:
The track inspector of a track…where you can apply real time transformations and effects. Here one can pass on the RAW settings of the initial controller unaltered (Things like channel, transposition, velocity curves, etc.), or process them through the track inspector (I.E. change the channel or transposition before it goes forward to a plugin or MIDI device).
On to the ‘parts’. Part events are just big containers for individual MIDI events that help you keep things grouped and organized. When you ‘record’ something directly from a MIDI controller, it generally goes into a part event container. Automation lanes (If you use those for CC automation) don’t have part containers per se…so the lane itself serves as a kind of container.
Parallel to the ‘Part’ events that have already been recorded, any additional real time playing, along with your recorded MIDI ‘Parts’ on a track are forwarded to the VSTi plugin, or on to a physical MIDI device/port. For the real-time playing portion of MIDI routing to be active, one must ‘arm’ the track with either the record or monitor button. Of course the ‘parts’ play when the transport is ‘in motion’ (provided the track, parts, or individual events aren’t ‘muted’).
MIDI tracks can also support AUX Sends, so it’s possible to route (echo) a single track to more than one plugin or device at the same time. Sends can be set up to pre Track inspector, or post track inspector.
This is why clicking the keys from inside a plugin aren’t going to be recorded to any track. Most VSTi plugins are NOT going to provide a way to loop ‘MIDI events’ back to a DAW track. There are some exceptions however.
I.E. If a plugin has a ‘built in sequencer’ or some sort of ‘arp engine’ that you are working with.
I.E. The plugin offers a VST output as a kind of loopback port.
I.E. Groove Agent 4 (The full version) has a VST ‘thru’ output, so one could set up a new Track in the DAW to ‘record’ live clicks, or playing agents inside the plugin. Personally, I mostly use it to light-up my MPC pads during playback (set up a monitoring ‘MPK Lighting’ track that gets input from Groove Agent and sends its output to my MPK2)…but it can be useful for a whole bunch of purposes. Groove Agent 4 also has a built in pattern sequencer that can record things clicked directly in the GA UI.
True, one can record ‘the audio’ with a send/cue if the transport is going, but not the ‘MIDI performance data’ (Unless it’s a VST3 plugin designed to provide a MIDI Output from the plugin).
