When using as a MIDI with a VST instrument in Cubase 9.5 elements, such as Halion SE, I have no latency, it is perfect, however, when I try to use it as a direct MIDI track instrument (I like some of the sounds my Casio has) the latency is unusable, it is about one second lag. I have tried lowering buffersize, it makes zero difference at 512 or 16, same latency. Is there a simple solution to this?, if not, the my Casio is only good for using as a midi instrument for the VST’s.
I can direct record via a focusrite 2i2 from the output jack on the Casio to use the casio synths etc… but I need to be able to correct my errors (not a pianist by trade) hence would prefer midi data, not just as an audio track.
You can record midi and output it to your Casio and record the audio via the audio input of your Focusrite. But when you want to play real time without having to deal with latency you need to make sure that ‘direct monitoring’ is enabled on your Focusrite. This means that you are directly listening to audio inputs on your audio interface. Think of it as an external mixer you connect a headphone to that only monitors the input channels? Once you’re done you can playback the recorded midi track and make edits where needed. In this case you are controlling the Casio via USB midi but still directly listening to the audio inputs. So still no latency. You start to get latency once you want to listen to your Casio after the signal has been processed in Cubase. For instance, if you want to add a vst like reverb and send this back to your audio interface?
So for recording and direct listening what you are playing without latency use ‘direct monitoring’. For processing and adding effects to the incoming audio and listening the latency can increase. When only processing and editing it doesn’t matter there is latency. But you can notice it when playing and listening back the processed signal.
You don’t mention what version of Cubase you are using? But the pro version has something called ‘instrument tracks’ that is perfect for this situation.