I am new to Cubase and mystified by quite a lot of it. I am completely at a loss about the difference between midi and instrument tracks. I have read numerous threads and watched equal numbers of You Tube videos but am still none the wiser. Can somebody please explain? Please assume that I am an alien who landed a month ago who now hasacquired some basic English but no background in DAW based recording.
An Instrument Track is a MIDI Track with a subsequent VST Instrument combined in one track, so that its output is an audio signal (like an Audio Track).
Hi Jeremy and welcome to the forums!
I’ll do my best to demystify these track types.
A MIDI track is used to record and playback MIDI data. MIDI is a protocol (or language if you will) composed of digital instructions that tells an instrument what to play. It is not too dissimilar to the perforated roll of paper that some self playing pianos were using 100+ years ago and that you’ve might have seen in an old western movie.
Before the advent of virtual instruments, MIDI data could be recorded (or drawn) in a MIDI sequencer (the precursor to DAWs) and played back. A MIDI cable would connect the sequencer to whatever instrument that was meant to play the sequence back—a synthesizer or drum machine perhaps.
Fast forward to modern day Cubase and we still have MIDI tracks for playing back MIDI data that can be received by either a hardware instrument, by the means of a physical MIDI connection, or a virtual instrument (VSTi) by the means of a virtual MIDI connection.
In Cubase we have the option of creating virtual instruments in two ways—as a Rack Instrument or a Track Instrument.
The first option behaves similar to the times before VSTi’s. We need a MIDI Track that has hosts the instructions for what to play and this needs to be connected to the VSTi. The instrument in turn will output audio that shows up in Cubase as an audio return channel. Whenever we press play in Cubase, the MIDI data on our MIDI Track is sent to the VSTi, this instrument will generate sound which comes in on audio return channels. The audio return channel is shown in the Mix Console and from there we can further manipulate the sound with EQs, effects, etc.
The second option for creating a VSTi in Cubase is by creating a Track Instrument. It behaves very much like our previous example with the exception that only one track type is needed, the instrument track. This track type combines the MIDI Track with the audio return channel. It hosts MIDI data just like a MIDI Track does but has the benefit of having a built in audio return channel for the VSTi.
In most cases, a Track Instrument is preferable to its older sibling the Rack Instrument if you want to create a VSTi.
Hope this helps.
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Thank you very much for taking the time and trouble to respond. I think what I can’t get past is the fact that I use Halion for both. What informs the choice about which to use? I don’t get the advanatge of using an instrument track (unless it allows you to combine different instruments in a new sound, is that it?) Surely midi is easier to edit than audio and when you mix .it becomes rendered to audio anyway… I’m sorry I must be thick and I’m missing something obvious but what is it?
@mlib has already described both options very clearly.
Imo, the Instrument Track is preferable to the combination of MIDI Track + Rack Instrument. It is more compact (MIDI and sound generator together in one track), more modern (the more recent concept) and better performing (uses fewer system resources). The Rack Instrument actually only exists for reasons of compatibility with old projects (and users).
Here’s a real world analogy.
An Instrument Track is like a self-contained hardware synth, for example a Nord Stage where you play the keyboard & sound comes out of its Audio Output.
A MIDI Track/Rack Instrument combo is like a keyboard controller which does not have self-contained sounds, for example an NI Kontrol S61. To get any sound you need to connect it to a separate hardware synth like a Moog Minitaur.
For most stuff using Instrument Tracks is better because it integrates the MIDI & Audio together. From the perspective of MIDI it behaves just like a MIDI Track (with a few obscure exceptions). And for Audio it’s like any other Audio Track. Everything is together in the Project Window. In contrast if you use MIDI Tracks you need to jump back and forth between the Project Window for your MIDI stuff and the MixConsole for your audio stuff.
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