Great to see WinRT MIDI is now an option in Cubase 12. The main issue I’ve found is a Windows thing, in that legacy ports just appear with the generic name “MIDI”, however in Cubase 12, once you’ve identified them, you can rename them and then my MIDI Device setups work again (the first time around, loading an older project complained about missing ports).
Amazingly, the trusty old Midex not only still works, but it appears with properly registered port names already! So hats off to the person who did the work on the unoffical driver.
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Can you kindly explain what WinRT MIDI is, especially in combination with the MIDEX and Cubase (12)? I own a MIDEX 8 and it is still working fine with Cubase 11 (Pro). Has there something been added to Cubase 12 for the better use of the MIDEX device? Thx
I’ve edited my original post to add a link to this Steinberg Helpcenter article about WinRT support in Cubase 12 on Windows.
WinRT MIDI (terrible name!) is the replacement of the “Win32 MIDI” (worse name!) mechanism (known as “Windows MIDI” in Cubase) that’s been around in Windows since what seems like forever. Think of it as a modern replacement engine.
There are numerous new features, one of the things it adds for example is the ability to plug in MIDI USB devices while applications are running, i.e. you don’t have to restart an application to be able to use them. Finally we can use Bluetooth MIDI devices with Cubase, and WinRT is multi-client, so you can have mutiple applications use the same MIDI port and device simultaneously.
With regards to the Midex, I was pleasantly surprised that it showed up and worked fine with “Windows MIDI” disabled … I’d expected that would have meant lights out for the Midex.
What I would say though is, if it’s working fine for you in Cubase 11, rest assured that it will work fine in Cubase 12 without any changes – the upgrade process will take care of configuring it exactly the same in 12 as in 11. You can decide then if you want to switch to WinRT MIDI – probably no advantage for the Midex – but at least now, it’s an option.
What I don’t know yet (and don’t yet know how to test) is whether the timing will still be as good, specifically if the “LTB” technology is still operational; but, yes, of course the updated drivers are unsupported …
Both “Windows MIDI” and “WinRT MIDI” can be active in Cubase 12 at the same time, so no reason not to upgrade as far as the Midex is concerned.