Imported tracks using a flash drive. Audio inputs and outputs are connected to audio interface. Sound levels are showing as track is playing but completely silent. I noticed that output routing says “not connected”. Is that the issue? If so, how do I fix it?
Welcome, @austinh
Yes, it’s probably the issue, unless you are using the Control Room (Pro version).
The best for us would be to see a screenshot of your Studio > Audio Connections > Outputs panel (and the Control Room one, if you are using it).
The fix depends of your interface and its audio outputs available : the relevent busses must be created in the same panel, with the Add bus button, which opens a list of the hardware outputs reported by the interface driver, allowing you to choose the relevents ones (usually a pair, as most of the time its a stereo output that will be used for hearing/monitoring).
OK. So, the Outputs are actually connected. Could you make another screenshot of the track used with its inspector showing both the fader and the Routing section unfolded ?
Sound playing but not hearing anything. (Motif is not connected by the way. Was trying to do everything remotely. Should it be?)
Looks like you have transferred midi across
Midi has no sound.
You’ll either need to assign a virtual instrument to be played by your midi or you need to record the Motif as audio.
The signal that you are seeing are actually a MIDI messages flow, not audio one. You should look at what is actually contained on your flash drive. If they are .mid files instead of .wav (or equivalent) ones, you won’t hear anything directly.
What I see on your screenshot are MIDI tracks which won’t give you any sound : you have to associate these track to :
- either an instrument track (with a chosen VSTi), via the Output Routing dropdown list in the inspector.
- or via an instrument rack previously loaded.
Okay, I connected all three tracks to HALion Sonic - MIDI as an instrument and the routing output was successful. Still no sound though. Should I just keep trying with different instrument packs?
Did you load any sounds in HALion Sonic?
Not sure how I missed this reply. Okay, I loaded sounds which are connected to each track’s channel. Still nothing. Not hearing anything on the virtual keyboard either.
No, just use Halion Sonic and its libraries, for now at least, as a troubleshooting tool.
Beside this, on your screenshot, there was no Record enable or Monitoring buttons enebled on your tracks. But it seems that you have already fixed that, seeing your next screenshot.
OK. Could you now make the same screenshot as previously (the one with the track inspector), but this time for the Halion Sonic 01 track ?
I still think that there is a routing issue, on your end, and everything from the stroke done on your keyboard up to your hardware audio outputs needs a careful check, concerning both the output routing of the tracks involved and the MIDI channel(s) used.
No. The inspector from Cubase with the track HALion Sonic 01 selected.
Great ! Now, the next step : getting sound from MIDI files recorded on your Flash Drive. As you are using the Pro version, there are two ways to achieve this : one simple, and one more complicated… 
The simple one :
- route your MIDI track(s) to the MIDI output port which is connected to your Motif XF MIDI input, instead of a given VSTi such as Halion Sonic.
- if not done yet, connect the stereo output of the Motif XF to a stereo line input of your Focusrite interface.
- create a stereo track with its Input Routing set to this input.
- adjust the MIDI channels and monitoring/record enable to taste, and you should be done.
The more complicated one. It consists of creating an external instrument related to your Motif XF, so it can be used as an instrument rack within Cubase, as any other VSTi. I won’t enter in the details, but it’s worth the hassle if you feel to do so. More details in Cubase Operation Manual, p. #41 and after (PDF version).