Midi CC from cubase to controller?

Cubase
1

Hi,
Is there a way to send midi CC data from a midi track back to the remote controller during playback so endless encoders display correct values, etc (and parameter values don’t jump when tweaking)?
Thanks

2

Not sure what you’re trying to accomplish - most smart controllers, i.e. Mackie MCU Pro, etc. have a dedicated control surface driver that handles this. What kind of control surface are you using?

3

I’m not referring to control surfaces for fader/plugin control (Mackie, general remote Etc)…rather just for controller data in midi parts.

4

Cubase can do that, set the right parameters in the Generic Remote.

5

Hi,
Can’t see any midi cc options under generic remote.

In case I could’ve explained better:

  • I’d like to dedicate a control surface to midi CC’s … ie, for various expression controls when playing in/editing midi parts.

  • I’d like it to be able to receive/display current state of those midi CC’s on the selected/record enabled track

  • so, if I’m editing - for example - mod wheel data on a track, my controller’s encoder led’s will display current state of modulation data and new data will be recorded over existing when I turn the knob (without there being any “jump” in value)

Hope that’s clear

6

Care to mention just what brand/model of controller you have?

7

Bcr-2000 and bcf-2000 (behringer)

8

https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro_artist/v9.5/en/cubase_nuendo/topics/remote_control/remote_control_generic_remote_device_t.html?hl=generic%2Cremote

9

Thanks Steve, but I fully understand the generic remote feature …please note that it does not allow for automation of cc data in midi tracks/parts.

10

Oh, I see.

As with any midi device, you simply send data from the track. You can use a midi send for that, since the output is already set to your instrument.

Whether the device will respond is entirely dependent on its capabilities. I’ve never tried to set that up exactly, but it’s possible the bcf/r will respond when it receives the bytes a particular control is programmed to send, eg. program knob 1 to send CC1 the device updates the display when it receives CC1. You might have to send a certain channel, etc.

11

Thanks.
Yep …midi sends certainly makes for the value appear, but it’s all a bit clunky in terms of the way it plays out unfortunately. Also no sends on the instrument tracks, unless I’m mistaken.

12

It’s clunky because you can only blindly echo midi data back to the controller to get feedback data displayed on the bezels - and you have to create the sends yourself to do it, yes.

To have an intelligent feedback mechanism from the host would appear to require support on the host side - and so would likely require a dedicated control surface driver - which is where I was going with this topic. That has to come from Behringer.

13

I haven’t experimented with it, but you might check out Quick Controls for this. There you can configure it to send CCs, so no send is needed. I don’t know what is sent to the output, since I haven’t actually tried this but I suspect it would work. There’s a limit of 8 controls though.

Another thing you might check out is using it in Mackie mode with the Quick Controls. This, if I remember correctly will allow you to use paging to access more slots, but I don’t remember much about it. I had a BCF years and years ago, and played with this and BCF received the data back from Cubase I think… I found it overly complex to actually use, but I thought I’d mention it.

14

Try the Generic Remote Device. It can echo any valid controls coming into it back to the controller.
I.E. Motorized faders…

If for some reason you want to record your controller movements onto a MIDI track in RAW MIDI form use a virtual MIDI port (I.E. loopMIDI). This way you can route the input of your Generic Remote Map as the virtual port, and route your controller input through a MIDI track that has its output set to this same Virtual port.

I.E. MIDI Controller > CuBase MIDI Track > Virtual MIDI Port > Generic Remote Device > MIDI Controller

Arm the track when you want it to work. Disarm it when you want the remote device map ignored.

Routing the controller through a MIDI track and a virtual port also allows one to take advantage of the many MIDI recording modes (I.E. retrospective recording), easy processing/editing of controller data via Logic Editors, using various MIDI effect plugins like LFO generator, and more. Once you’ve got it recorded, it’s pretty easy to transform that over to VST automation lanes if you like.

I use this method often when doing a lot of real time fader movements. It’s nice that I can set punch points, keep the sequencer cycling, and store all my takes (many different versions). I.E. I’ve got 8 programmable faders in front of me. I can set them all to CC7 and line them all up to the starting position I like, and work my through a different shot each time the sequence cycles. Use fader 1 for the first pass, 2 for the second, etc. Then go back and compare, and choose the best bits and pieces of each pass.

I can’t say enough for being able to use Logic Editors to make fast batch edits to the automation. Some things in the MIDI Key editors are a bit more advanced (though different) than we get in the VST automation lanes.

This method also comes in handy when I want to automate things that do not get a native track type in Cubase. Nearly every function of CuBase (as well as loaded VST/i plugins) can be accessed and triggered from the remote device. I.E. stopping the DAW. Toggling record or monitor on tracks, opening and closing windows, launching macros, etc.

Example: In a live setting I can make a MIDI automation track that will automatically stop the DAW for me at a given point, where it waits for me to start it again. I can drop events into a MIDI track to arm/disarm tracks as needed (Similar to organ stops). Etc…

I have more than a dozen generic remote maps, but I don’t use them all the time. To disable the ones I am not using I simply set their MIDI inputs to ‘none’.

In the rare event you really want a single CC to do multiple things at once, you can also ‘stack more than one generic device map’ and have them all listen to the same input for the same incoming event at once.

15

P.S.

If you don’t need or want to work with remote maps, you still might find loopMIDI helpful in respect to working with your MIDI sends.

I.E. Direct a MIDI track send (instrument tracks do not have these, but MIDI tracks do) to use a virtual MIDI port, and bring that back into a new track where you could filter/process things with local, global, or track insert MIDI transformers, record it there if desired, then send it back to the controller.

This way, you can:

  1. Filter out any non relevant MIDI events with a local MIDI transformer. I.E. Maybe you don’t need note on/off events going back to the controller.

  2. Easily ‘arm/disarm’ the track as needed. Toggle record or monitor buttons off when you do NOT want any values echoed back to the controller.

16

Hello.

Has this been resolved?
I have an M-Audio Axion (Gen1) and I want to be able to send Midi values from Cubase back to the keyboard. Fader values need to be linked in and out.

Example:
In Generic Remote Device I mapped one of the 8 ‘endless’ knobs to the Stereo Out volume fader in Cubase. If I use my mouse to change the volume fader value it will not send this new midi value back to my keyboard. This means that the next time I change the volume fader with the keyboard knob I will immediately loose the value I set with my mouse–the fader in Cubase jumps back to match the last value set on the external keyboard…

Any straight forward fix to have my external keyboard talk back and forth with cubase?

17

I’d also love to see this feature implemented one way or the other.
It should be fairly simple, maybe just being able to add a “Device” in Studio Setup and select a MIDI output. And then the first selected/armed track will send its MIDI out. Then we could have MIDI feedback.

18

So is there any way or isn’t there to have Cubase send VST parameter values back to the linked hardware encoder? In Studio One this is a piece of cake to do, you just tick a box that says “Transmit value”, done.

19

Yes, in the remote device setup table. The output of remote device set-up page should be configured so its output goes back into the controller. You set a transmit flag. Once you’ve bound it to a VST control in the DAW, it should transmit feedback to a controller accordingly. Note…to bind a control directly to a VST/VSTi plugin’s control from this map, you’ll need to be sure such a plugin instance is loaded into the rack or an instrument track first. That remote device page should give you access to any VST parameter in the system, as well as a quite few things in Cubase that don’t have VST automation lanes such as macros, menus, and more.

I personally like to route it all through a MIDI track into a virtual MIDI port, then from the virtual port to the Cubase remote device map, and then back into the controller unit…that gives me the ability to optionally record/edit/automate controller movements via MIDI track as well (can bounce it to a true VST lane later…but love those global and logical editors, retrospective recording, MIDI track inserts, and multiple track/lane management abilities that MIDI tracks provide).