My digital piano has no MIDI In/Out, just a USB

WaveLab
#1

Hi Guys,

I am proud to say that I am finally using Cubase Pro 8. I bought it last year but I never used it until now. I just bought the UR22 but plan to purchase the UR44 eventually this year. I am super excited but I have a few minor problems. My digital piano (Williams 88 Key Legato) can be used as a MIDI keyboard according to the manual and it has a USB slot for the PC. So, how can my interface pick it up? I am still learning Cubase Pro 8. The last Cubase program I used was back in 2008 when I was in music business school, and the entire program has changed for the most part. I am currently watching the Steinberg tutorial videos on YouTube but it’s somewhat daunting and intimidating. And normally, my brother does all the recordings and mixing; he’s a Pro Tools user (producer level); I normally just compose the music and don’t do anything else. Any guidance will be helpful for mastering the software like other websites, books, etc. It will be much appreciated!

Not sure if this will help, but my system is Windows 8.1 (I refuse to upgrade to Windows 10) and my PC is from the Lenovo Y series. Thank you for taking the time to read my post, and I’ll be looking forward to some responses. Have a good one!

Alex

#2

you can just connect your Williams 88 Key to your computer, why you want to attach over the UR22?

I´m using three things as same as you: Cubase Pro 8.5, on Windows 8.1, with an UR22

#3

Question:

I can set the tracks to my digital piano from Cubase? Let’s say that I have 3 tracks set up in Cubase. How can I link those tracks to my digital piano? I know how to do it if the instrument is directly connected to the interface. Any help will be appreciated.

I am fairly new to this recording process, so please bare with me. I can play a mean piano and write a lot of songs but I need a lot of time before becoming a pro at Cubase! It’s something that I want to do very badly!

#4

Connecting your piano to your PC with USB will give you MIDI I/O.
You can record midi in cubase from your piano, and play back the recorded midi to the piano to hear the results.

If you want to record actual audio from the piano though, you’ll definitely need that UR22, because the USB connection from the piano doesn’t carry an audio signal.

I suggest you start with getting the MIDI I/O figured out. Once that’s working we can look at audio.
Usually, midi is as easy as connecting your piano USB lead, start Cubase, create a new empty project, add a midi track and set the in- and outputs of said track to the Williams Midi interface. If you press a key on the piano, you should now see the midi activity meter in the transport bar move. Record enable the midi track and hit record, and you should now be recording everything you play. From there on you have a plethora of options of editing the recorded midi, but for now just try playing it back and if that works you’re off to a good start :slight_smile:

Let us know if you get stuck anywhere! If not, great, we’ll move on to recording audio :slight_smile:

#5

I’m stuck! I was out for a few days, so I couldn’t get down on some Cubase. Now I can, and I’m stuck…I connected my Williams keyboard, Cubase picked it up, and linked my track to the keyboard as well. However, no sound comes out! When I play the keyboard, it has the regular sound from the speakers but Cubase isn’t picking it up from the software. Any tips?

#6

-Make sure you have a VST instrument loaded, with channel number and track output routed correctly
-Make sure in preferences “MIDI thru” ia on
-Make sure input monitoring on the track is on
-Make sure, MIDI Filters are off.