Interface + midi/usb. How?

Steinberg Lounge
#1

Hi. I have a cluster of questions, which are all related and I bet can be answered at once by some of you.

I’ve been recording to Cubase Elements 9.5 on PC, with ZOOM R16 as the audio interface. Now I’d like to buy and record with a midi keyboard, something which I have zero experience of. The Zoom doesn’t have midi connections at all, and the output is usb.

I just found out, that some midi keyboards have usb output, and not the traditional midi connections anymore. Am I right?

In that case, does anyone know, if Cubase/PC lets me connect and use BOTH the Zoom (as an interface) AND the usb keyboard simultaneously in two parallel usb ports? Would I bump into problems such as Cubase only detecting one usb device at a time etc.? That’s obviously an important questions, because my monitoring outputs and all the other audio inputs would go through the Zoom. Or would there be latency problems? My PC only has two working usb inputs, but I guess using a usb hub would be ok. In general, is it a thing that people do?

Or do I have to buy a new audio interface with midi or usb connections for the keyboard?

Are there some questions I’d like to ask, but don’t know exist?

I’m sure all this information is somewhere to be found, but it’s not easy, since English isn’t my first. I tried.

Thanks a lot!

#2

Of course

Usually not

Depends on your setup and projects

Yes

Depends on your computer, usually not.

#3

“Depends on your computer, usually not.”

What should I check about my computer regarding to this?

Thank you a lot!

#4

Hi!
Just install the Midi keyboard drivers / software, plug your Midi keyboard in via USB and you are fine! You can run several devices / hardware parallel in Cubase.
You have to check if you have to setup / configure your midi keyboard in Cubase under “Studio” / “Preferences”…
click the “+” button and add your device.

By the way, you can find all these setup / installation informations in the Cubase manual and most of the times also in the manual of the Midi keyboard.

Have fun,
all the best

#5

Ok, thank you!

#6

Nothing you could check, it´s just if you read around the forums, there seem to be some hardware configurations that work for the majority, but do not work for some.

#7

I just read in the YamahaSynth forum that Cubase will NOT work with multiple USB devices simultaneously.
I found this to be hard to believe! And here in this forum svennilenni says multiple USB devices no problem.

So just to double check, using Cubase LE AI Elements 10.5 (the freebie that came with my MODX7) I can
connect both the MODX7 keyboard USB ‘to host’ (MIDI plus 10 audio channels from and 4 audio channels to)
AND my Steinberg UR22 USB (MIDI plus 2 audio channel inputs and 4 audio channel outputs) is that right?

I would just try it but I left the interface at the office.

#8

Always read carefully and reflect on what you read. multiple USB MIDI devices - Yes
Multiple USB devices, one for audio and several others for MIDI - Yes
Multiple USB Audio devices - in general No.
Cubase can use only one ASIO Drive at a time and unless the two devices are aggregated to one device by the Yamaha driver, you can not use both audio interfaces at a time. There are 3rd party solutions depending on computer architecture that can accomplish that, but may have negative side effects sometimes.
So without that, you should be able to use the MIDI ports from both Interfaces, but only on Interface as audio interface.

#9

Oh, the post did not specify the “USB keyboard” was only MIDI. (I guess you did not read carefully.)

So if I want to use the MODX and the UR22 it would be better to just connect the MODX midi connectors to the UR22 as the UR22 audio inputs would be a better place to connect a nice microphone than the MODX audio inputs. Using the MODX USB audio connection is something that would have more of a specific use then, like to include additional audio processing within Cubase or the MODX, or to mixdown the final audio.

Are there any other examples of using the MODX USB audio connection into Cubase?

#10

Just be aware that some midi keyboards that have both midi and usb connections, that the usb is used only for power and cannot be used as a midi device.