Roland Fantom X6 and Cubase Elements 10.5

Hello to this great community,

I’m using cubase for ages but I’m not experienced with external instruments and midi at all. I’ve watched several videos during these years and studied a few things. I’ve recently bought a used Roland Fantom X6. I’m using a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 2nd gen as an audio interface. What I want to do is to just simply record midi from fantom into Cubase and the bounce every track to audio. I will give you guys an explanation of my setup. Midi In from Fantom goes to Midi Out on Scarlett, Midi Out from Fantom goes to Midi In on Scarlett. I’ve also connected audio L-R Stereo out from Fantom to Scarlett’s input. I have sound which is a good sign and whatever I do on the Fantom can be heared in my speakers. The issue is that I have no MIDI activity in cubase, I can’t see any MIDI Signal from Fantom to Cubase. I did several tries with settings that I’ve seen in videos from Steinberg’s official youtube channel but without result. Do you think that it might be the settings in Fantom X?

Thanks in advance.

Hi and welcome to the forum,

The easiest would be connect Fantom via USB directly to the computer. Then you can select Fantom as the MIDI Input/Out. In your case, you have to select Focusrite as your MIDI Input/Out. Did you do this?

Hello Martin,

Thanks for your fast reply. I didn’t try to connect the fantom via USB. I thought that it will work through MIDI IN/OUT only. If I will connect my Fantom via USB, do I have to keep the midi cables connected as well? I’ve checked the MIDI Device Manager inside cubase and the midi ports are mapped and active (Focusrite MIDI IN and Focusrite MIDI OUT), although I’ve selected midi in and out on the midi track but without success. There might be something that I haven’t understand or it might be something that I have to check on Fantom.

Hi,

No, you don’t.

How did you set this up, please? Do you have a screenshot.

Btw, there might be also a settings on the hardware, which describes if the MIDI Out goes to the MIDI or USB or both.

Hello there,

Sorry for the late reply but I didn’t have time to do some tests. I’m still using Fantom with MIDI cables. Suddenly I can see the midi signal triggering in Cubase. The problem is that somehow when I press play any notes on Fantom something is returning back. Even on recording the piano roll records more notes than those I play and some other times a note stuck playing and then I have to change the preset in order to stop or deselect the record circle on midi track. This is pretty weird.

Here are some screenshots:

Thanks in advance, I appreciate all your help.

P.S. I’ve been watching videos all day but I can’t find any solution.

Hi,

Try to enable the Direct Music driver in the MIDI Port Setup, please.

Tried that but no success. I can play normally keys without looping weird sound only when I deselect the red record button.

Hi,

Is the Local Control switched to Off on the hardware to prevent double notes to the synth engine?

Tried that right now and no sound when I play notes on fantom. Checked the midi channel and the midi meter shows properly midi signal coming from fantom. I’ve checked also the audio outputs. Nothing.

Hi,

That means the MIDI data don’t go from Cubase to Fantom.

Hello there and sorry for the delay,

I’m so depressed, still can’t figure out what’s going. I’m thinking to sell the soundcard and the fantom. It’s so annoying that I can’t find out what’s the problem. I tried everything, I read everything , I’ve watched several videos (even from other synthesizers setup) and still no luck. Another issue that came up is that after many tries and settings on fantom, Scarlett’s control panel becomes unresponsive. That’s a common issue when an external synthesizer sends continuously midi notes. The best solution that I read was from 2006 when a roland fantom user was trying to setup the synth with an akai mpc. Basically exactly the same thing but in my case it’s the computer instead of the mpc. Settings recommended from Roland Support team:

Local Control off
transmit: bank change program change off
USB mode storage
Soft through off

Did exactly the same settings on my fantom (I’ve seen several videos and every user recommends local control off on every synth). Still no sound coming from cubase and the midi signal in cubase still flashing like crazy when the red record button is “On” on the midi track.

Haven’t had these kind of issues 10 years ago when I was using Focusrite Pro 40 with Cubase 5 and external synths like Roland Juno D, Korg TR Rack and Ensoniq TS12.

I really appreciate the time and the effort you put Martin in my issue!!!

Kind Regards.

Hi,

I would definitely recommend to connect Fantom via USB, to avoid the communication over other device.

At your screenshot (the Project window), I can see, the MIDI Track has no Record Enabled.

This is necessary to make sure, you don’t send the MIDI data from the Fantom keyboard to Cubase and also to the Fantom synth. If Local Control would be enabled, you would get doubled sound then.

I can imagine, this makes sense for MPC, but I would let Roland to send the Bank.

Btw, how is your Preferences > MIDI > MIDI Filter setup? By default only SysEx has been filtered out (filter enabled) for the Record and Thru.

I’m not sure about this one. I don’t know, if this doesn’t filter the MIDI data to send out.