Hi I have sorted it. Not ideal but working.
so despite what SSL told me, you cannot add two mackie devices and have this work.
The minute you add the second mackie device it screws up even if you have not got layer 2 or 3 active.
Be aware that you cannot in any way set up the UF8 to automatically jump to track in the Cubase mix console unless you are in the current bank of 8. I think SSL have been quite sneaky when mentioning V2 360 improvements
The only way this works is if you use one of the layers for the SSL plugin mixer. Also the plugin mixer on the UF8 looks much better than the setting using Cubase layer. Also note that you cannot change or program any of the buttons and faders on the SSL mix plugin layer. So it’s a lot of getting used to how they have configured things. However you can customise the other two layers. So this is how I have it and I hope I am wrong on some of the above and another user enlightens me.
Go to 360 interface under setup do the following
DAW 1 Cubase not the ports are pre set for each of the 3 DAW choices. You cannot change
DAW 2 set to midi cc
DAW 3 set to Cubase
The two options below for transport I have both set at DAW 1 Cubase
Stay in the 360 software and go to UF8
set Layer 1 to DAW 1 Cubase
If you need to change the fader max level from 6 to 12dB do it here default in Cubase is 6
Scroll down the page and tick this layer is the transport master. This can be changed anytime
You should then set layer 2 to DAW 2 midi cc also and Layer 3 to plugin mixer. Note you cannot change have these in any order.
To make sure I was along the right lines in layer 2 find the settings for page right under the layer 2 tab. Make sure number 1 is selected I went through all options below and changed the channel to 5. Make sure you save as you go along.
Change the page to 2 and change all below to channel 6, then page 3 to 7 etc
you can now assign a midi cc to each button or slider and change the label to a suitable name. The name will display on the UF8 when you are on layer 2. You can assign these later as you will need to also assign commands for layer 1, however these left as they are or changed to DAW command ( a minimal set of commands are available) but better than that keyboard commands. So you can use or create your key commands in Cubase and then add them to any programmable buttons in the UF8. Even better the UF8 allows you to create custom macros in the 360 software. Great feature
I won’t go into
Layer 3 as there’s not much you can do. There are 5 tick boxes and I have them all ticked apart from the touch fader select.
For layer 3 I strongly recommend going through the manual to see how they have set up each button and options ( plugin in mixer)
Note pressing the 360 button on the UF8 brings up the 360 page and 360 plugin mixer
So now go into Cubase studio/studio set uP.
If you have more than one mackie controller delete them to leave only one
In the top right make sure you choose midi input as ssl v midi port 1 and then output as the same but destination 1
I unticked enable auto select but that’s a personal preference for the faders
Below the ports you have some custom settings but I would leave these for now.
While you are in this window go to midi port setup and if any of the ssl input ports are ticked under In all midi, untick them and apply and ok
Next go back to Cubase studio/ more options/ mackie control and look for the small mackie control window that pops up, usually top left. Make sure this is set to Cubase and then close it.
I think that’s prettty much it
I have a couple of ultra wide monitors side by side so I have created a UF8 workspace with mix consoles 1 and 2 across them. I created a template with all the pretty colours etc and have 16 channels of drums, the next bank (3) has 2 bass, 3 piano and 3 keys etc as its nice to have the banking and channel logically in banks of 8. I have 8 synth channels but even if I only wanted 7 I would add an 8th one or spare just to keep the banking nice. Same with the busses and fx channels
So in summary you should have your standard Cubase setup on Layer 1 with all your buttons preset and lots to add or create your own.
Only down side to using this is that if you are on channel 6 for example and want to go to channel 26 clicking on Cubase channel will not automatically scroll to it on the UF8. It will be selected but you need to bank or scroll on the UF8 to find the selected channel ( major error in my opinion).
However you could select layer 3 and this would automatically scroll to the channel and select it. It’s a pity there is no hack to be able to simply go back to layer 1 and have it magically appear.
However if you are not using the faders or fader buttons, any of the commands you carry out on layer 1 will still apply as the channel is selected just not in view on the UF8,
I apologise if this reads badly as I did it on a phone. If it’s riddled with errors I will amend when I get on computer
Also if requested I can upload some screen shots and supply my Cubase and SSL template
Good luck.
PS if any one has any tips and tricks to get Cubase layer automatically moving to selected channel I would be very grateful
I’m actually thinking of doing the free SSL Harrison and Slate plugin trial as that would probably mean 90% of my time would be on the SSL Pretty plugin layer