Hello Everyone,
I am a newbie to the whole DAW scene and am having a problem that is probably due to my ignorance and hope that I can get some help. I recently purchased a DAW that had the Cubase LE bundled with it. The program loads up properly and starts out with a virtual amp, etc. The problem is that my guitar only plays dry. I can’t seem to get the wet sound at all. If I go to the plug in manager and right or double click on anything nothing happens. I can play the drum loops supplied with the program (rock, blues or whatever) and they work perfectly, just no wet guitar sounds. Can anyone help?
The plugin manager is only for organizing your installed plugins in cubase. To use a plugin on your guitar track you need to select it on an insert slot in the inspector or the mixer console. There are also some other possibillities to use a plugin.
Please take a look in the cubase manual and read the sections about vst plugins and inserts.
Thanks Svengali for the advise, but I’m still having the problem. I’ve done a little more playing around and here’s what I’ve found. Following the set up instructions I downloaded an audio track and it plays perfectly. It will also play any midi loop perfectly. Unfortunately it won’t play anything else. I can bring in any virtual amp and move any of the controls, but with the guitar still being dry they don’t have any effect on my sound. I’m using a Focusrite DAW which seem to be working properly (the indicators lights work when I strum the guitar). I have the input set for mono L&R and the output set for stereo L&R using the Focusrite drivers. I’ve also tried using my onboard soundcard drivers with the same results. I know that the music industry likes the Mac better, but I already own a PC running Windows 10 which will run any other program perfectly. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
Where have you set your virtual amp into your routing? Can you upload some pictures of the cubase settings?
On the VST screen the input is set for mono L and the output set for stereo L&R. I took screen shots and will send them asap. Do I need to do it from photobucket? I can’t thank you enough for all your help.
sounds like you have direct monitoring set, you need to monitor through cubase.
Thanks for the reply. How do I do that?
In device settings, there is a check mark for direct monitoring.
Well, the saga continues. 
. I thought that the problem was with the Focusrite DAW so I went and swapped it in for a Seinberg UR22mkII. Hooked it up, loaded the drivers, etc and guess what, same problem. I went to the device settings and the box for the direct monitoring wasn’t available. (It was grey, not black). I feel that this is some simple thing that I keep missing and when I find it I’ll feel super stupid. So far though nothing. I really appreciate everyone’s help so far, but if anyone can think of something else please don’t hesitate. This is driving me crazy. Thanks again everyone.
Oh, one more thing. If I bring up the Mix Console the vu meters will show the guitar’s input working, but the stereo output vu meter doesn’t move.
Do you have activated the monitor button on your track? Do you even hear dry guitar sound when you play a recorded event.
The Steinberg unit has a control that goes from input to daw. When I have it on input it’s dry when it’s on daw I get no sound at all whether the program is on or off. I can play any of the songs I download or any of the drum tracks. When I strum it the vu meters on the program are active showing that the signal is coming in but I can’t hear them. It doesn’t make any difference whether the track is active or not. If I open up the mix console the signal chain shows as follows: Mono 1, no source to vocals; mono 2, no source to 3 targets (Distortion guitar, downloaded song, drums); distortion guitar, mono2 in to stereo out; Recorded song, mono 2 in to stereo out. I never set them this way and the program and won’t let me change them. I have the VST input set to mono 1&2 and the output set to stereo 1&2. Needless to say I’m at a loss. Thanks again for the help.
Activate the monitor button on your track. Read in the manual the chapter about vst connections.
First off, thanks everyone for all the help and advise. I bit the bullet and bought a new iMac. Guess what? It works perfectly. I don’t know if it was problem with my PC or not as it seems to do everything else well. On the plus side, I really love the Mac. Thanks again everyone.