Pre-recorded MIDI track not producing sound

[Conti540]

Yeah, I’m new. I have a pre-recorded MIDI track imported from iReal Pro that I’d like to play back within Cubase. In a new project, the MIDI file is imported with tracks labelled Piano, Bass, Drums, and one bar each of Click track and Harmony.

I “know” I need to send the MIDI information from each MIDI track to an instrument track, or rack instrument. After trying everything I can think of (and more via Claude), I can not get sound to appear.

I do have my outputs set correctly – eg, Stereo out goes to my 2i4 outputs (1/2 or 3/4). There is MIDI action seen in the MIDI tracks, but nothing is seen in the instrument. If I play the piano VST, I do hear sound. I’ve tried Halion and Kontakt 7.

My guess is that I have to route the MIDI information to the instrument, and thence to Stereo Out, but it appears that I’ve got this wrong.

I’ve tried the manual, not so helpful, and various YouTubers who don’t address this specific problem.

There are workarounds – I could import a .wav file with the actual sound – but I really need to figure out how to make MIDI work!

[cubic13]

How do you route the MIDI track output to a Halion/Kontakt 7 one ? Could you post a screenshot showing the track inspector of the involved MIDI track, showing the Routing section unfolded ?

[Resonant_Serpent]

Double-check your automation to make sure that the volume didn’t default to zero when you imported the file.

[Conti540]

Also, here’s a screenshot showing the midi track volume and the (lack of) VST volume:

Although I’m using Kontakt at the moment, the same thing happened with Halion .

[Conti540]

And showing the automation of both tracks:

[Grim]

Can you also show us the midi track inspector with routing as cubic suggested yesterday.

[Conti540]

Yes, apologies for not picking up on that.

[Grim]

Well it’s routed to your Scarlett hardware midi out not to the Kontakt track.

[Conti540]

Thank you. That worked.