Using Cubase 11 without the audio driver(as a midi sequencer for hardware only)

Ive noticed that Cubase can still sequence midi without an audio driver selected

Has anyone used Cubase this way reliably?

Sure! with physical midi gear.

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Hey thanks, so to be clear you have had no issues then by not having an audio driver selected.

I haven’t tested it specifically for long periods. Maybe someone else has… What is your purpose in doing this?

I can see no reason why this wouldn’t always work, as long as you don’t do anything that requires audio.

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Just want to eliminate as much overhead from the cpu as possible, seeing that midi is a fairly small small calculation compared to audio for the CPU.

The day that Cubase no longer works as a MIDI-only sequencer (e.g. on a computer with no audio device present, and no audio drivers installed) will be the last day you will see me here.

I have a number of computers with (lesser editions) of Cubase installed that serve mainly as MIDI “sequencers”. You can disable onboard audio in the BIOS of a PC and Cubase will still work perfectly with just a MIDI interface.

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For anyone else reading this it will only work with outboard gear which would have to go through a mixer. You can not use software synths.

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Well thats a firm “Yes it works without issue” if i ever saw one. Thanks!

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