We’ve been reporting this for years!
Time to actually fix it Steinberg!
If you don’t know what the problem is… time to pay somebody who can fix it!
yep, been an issue since I started using cubase a decade ago. Cubase has always recorded midi notes early.
today I was playing around with this midi notes early problem and got an idea,
I tried to find a vsti that could pass thru midi data and found this little free tool “NoteMapper”-
http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=NoteMapper&id=2169
the NoteMapper’s GUI dont’ work properly in my cubase 7.5, but it can pass midi data alright(notes, controller data etc.). So I insert an instrument track loaded with NoteMapper, insert another midi track and rout the input of the midi track to NoteMapper midiout, here’s the result:
first lane is the instrument track for NoteMapper,
second lane is the midi track record from NoteMapper,
third lane is another instrument track with Addictive drums sent to group,
fourth land is audio track record from group.
as you can see the midi track record from NoteMapper is perfectly in sync with the audio recorded from addictive drum. just setup an intrument track with NoteMapper in your project, use it as your midi source and you no longer suffer from the midi notes early problem.
hope this helps~
Interesting. Am I correct in saying that the difference in timing observed between tracks 1 and 2 is attributable to the way Cubase handles midi data? What’s puzzling me here is that the data on track 2 (recorded by NoteMapper) should also have passed through Cubase to some extent, no?
Thanks for the suggestion, but I do not see how this helps, if the problem is that the MIDI and the sound that actually gets recorded has different timing vs the original input, which could have been somebody playing. Am I missing something here?
BTW, it would perhaps be easier to test this with one of Cubase´s MIDI plugins (see the manual Steinberg Plug-In Reference).
Perhaps one like “Density”, which set at 100% leaves MIDI notes unaffected.
I am not at my home studio to try this out today.
Still no Steinberg… 
bump
the idea was base on the test that previous poster did with record midi and vsti output simultaneously, if you think the recorded audio preserved more of your live playing and touch, then recording midi thru a vsti might do for you.
I always quantize my midi so the midi early thing doesn’t affect me much, my friend play piano is annoyed to death by this, but althought record midi throught NoteMapper makes the timing look in line with the vsti’s audio, when zoom in closely can still see midi jitter making notes drift abit.
I tried andrewtuna’s suggestion. It made a difference, but the MIDI notes are still early and manual intervention is still needed after recording.
eg instead of my MIDI notes being 65 ticks earlier than the audio, they appear 38 ticks early instead.
Nice try though!
According to this post in another thread, the problem can be fixed simply by turning on the “asio latency delay compensation” button on the MIDI track:
It puzzles me how there are so many posts about this problem, but none of them (except the one above) mention this apparently simple solution… which leaves me a little sceptical about how effective it is. Maybe nobody knows about it(?) (not even Steinberg)
Can someone verify and post the results? Not got C8 myself but if this genuinely fixes the problem I might actually upgrade…
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Steinberg seems to think some of these issues are “solved”:
But there are also several Issue Reports pending:
I thought I had this problem but did a loopback test and seems it works fine, for some reason I just play too early. The Asio button didn’t seem to make a difference good or bad though.
For me in Cubase 8.5.20, enabling ASIO Latency Compensation on the MIDI track reduces the discrepancy by ~75%.
How to do what are you talking about?
I want to bump this post CUZ IN CUBASE ducking 9.0.2 THIS BUG STILL EXIST. And it’s pissing me off. I have just googled it and found this topic.
I didn’t read through this whole thread but…
Until this gets fixed, try using the “Track Delay” function (Inspection section, 1st tab, field looks like a clock with arrows pointing left & right) to adjust the timing +/-.
Regards 
@Prock track delay isnt good if you want quantize something.
Uncheck this setting seems fixed the issue a bit.
I’m dealing with this issue as well: How to get super-tight MIDI playback? - Cubase - Steinberg Forums
I think every one is at some tiny scale, just unknowingly!
I am having this problem with cubase 9.5.10 and yet didnt before I upgraded from 7. it’s possibly related to the audio card since I am also not using the Mackie blackbird firewire since upgrading, yet.
The record latency for Midi is terrible and really obvious, about 1/8th of a note early after I play it in live from record mode. what works for me is setting the ASIO Latency compensation per track then the midi notes record into their correct position (slightly out actually, but enough to feel real)
‘‘ASIO Latency Compensation’’ can be found by right clicking on a Midi track from within the main project window. choosing Track Control Settings, and adding the option from the left pane, into the right pane.
If you then expand the track itself to reveal all its options, you can see what looks like a little button with a pacman chasing a circle. enable that and it may fix the issue.
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Turning off ASIO-Guard all together is what fixed it for me. ( Cubase Pro 9,5 on OSX )