It is the role of the “Audio Interface” to do all analog-to-digital conversion placing audio on the computer, it is also responsible for all digital-to-analog conversion sending audio from the computer to the Speaker System. Therefore, it acts as both Input and Output for audio that we can hear.

There are 2 options available - use your computers built in System (soundcard/speakers); or use an external System (MODX/Monitor Speakers).

If you use the MODX as the audio interface, then you need to connect a pair of monitor speakers to the MODX’s Main L/R Outputs. The MODX will then serve as Input and Output device for all computer audio. (Completely taking the place of the computer’s own soundcard and speaker system).

If you choose to use the built-in computer soundcard and speakers (not recommended), then it is the Audio Interface… analog signals must connect directly to the computer soundcard, so the soundcard can do analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion. And the sound will come out of the computer speakers which are connected to your computer’s soundcard. Most sound cards do not feature the kind of connectors you will be using, and they often do not offer much more than stereo in and out — I am generalizing here.

The reason this is not recommended is because the soundcard is typically designed to do minimal recording and playback. Consumer level record/play functions only. Either you can record… or then you can playback. It is the third function where the built-in soundcard/speaker system usually falls apart… it’s when you need to both playback and record simultaneously … commonly called “overdubbing”.

The audio interface must be able to playback some already recorded Tracks while simultaneously adding new tracks. You can see that a consumer might want to record, a consumer might want to playback. But when you want to “overdub”, (as musicians want to, immediately) that’s when an external Audio Interface and good pair of Studio Monitors come in.

When you hit the spacebar to playback an audio file on your computer’s built-in system… it may take between 200-300ms before the audio begins. No time at all to non-musicians — no one sweats that delay, but imagine hearing yourself 200-300ms after you hit the keys, or hearing the music your want to play along with late.

As a musician 30ms delay is intolerable. This is where the whole external Audio Interface, Studio Monitor section comes in… it’s an entire industry of devices found in almost every modern music store.

Computers are not built to record music…(it’s one of the things you can do if you add the right components)… it is the clever engineers and software folks who figure out how to make the computer into a viable recording device.

Until you get a pair of studio monitors, you can connect your Headphones to the Phones jack on the back panel of the MODX. The Main L/R Outputs of the MODX are always matched in the Phones.

It will allow you to use the Yamaha Steinberg USB ASIO Driver for low latency audio. The MODX has its own 10-input/4-output Audio Interface for your computer.

It is written from the computer’s point of view… when you connect via USB your computer will see the MODX as 10 audio bus inputs… when you write audio onto your computer hard drive using DAW software. You can send 4 audio outputs back to the MODX. One pair goes to the Main L/R Outputs of the MODX (to the Monitor Speakers), the other pair goes back to the MODX’s internal mixer (as Digital In).

External audio too… Any audio device (synth, CD Player, microphone, etc., etc) you connect to the A/D Input on the back panel of the MODX can be routed to the computer as digital audio, assigned its own discreet audio bus, assigned its own two Insertion Effects and recorded to its own discreet audio track on your DAW.

You can play and sing simultaneously — recording everything to its own Tracks.
I’m not saying there are not built-in sound cards that can do all of this, but they are not standard.

It will allow you to use the Yamaha Steinberg USB ASIO Driver for low latency audio. The MODX has its own 10-input/4-output Audio Interface for your computer.

as far as I can tell, there's no way to get this below about 6ms. Stably, there's seemingly no way to get it below about double that.

Hi,
Thanks BadMister for taking the time to explain all this.
The problem was indeed with the DAW not sending things the way it should have and the manual was no help. Before I could not use MODX as monitor either because only one track was playing back on it, with the rest playing back on the other monitors via ASIO4ALL driver and I didn't know how to configure it so it all goes in one place. This is where I was before:
There are two ways of recording in Studio One, I presume this is the case with other DAWs also:
1. MIDI data recording which can be done via USB cable from MODX directly to the computer, OR
2. Audio recording via ¼” jack cables to an interface. I have a FireStudio interface but I prefer not to use it all the time unless it is absolutely necessary (for when I'm really ready to record) because it only has IEEE1394 and my new PC doesn’t like the aftermarket IEEE 1394 card I put in for it and it crashes all the time.
So for just recording ideas I wanted to go the easy way through USB cable without all the crashing aggravation and not have to use two extra cables for L/R audio. With the MIDI data recording method, I've been using the ASIO4ALL driver. Are you saying even ASIO is not recommended, or are you referring to like a Realtek computer card?

With the 2nd method, it’s clear that analog sound is transformed into digital by the interface and sent to the computer.
But with the 1st method, I’m not understanding what is the role of the FireStudio interface since MODX is sending MIDI data directly to the computer and the sound card is ASIO4ALL, not the interface. The Presonus people helped me to configure the ASIO and open the right channels in ASIO4ALL. Then they said I can open more interface inputs from within ASIO4ALL, but couldn’t tell me how to do it and I’m so confused about what does the interface has to do with ASIO4ALL since it’s either one that’s in use or the other.
Still, I have a lot of unanswered questions I could not find answers to in the Studio1 manual nor their resources. I understand it’s a big learning curve with the computer DAW’s but I just feel a bit overwhelmed with not being able to get a sound in and have to work at it for 2 days to fix it instead of recording. Is Cubase a better DAW, more intuitive, easier to get answers, would you say?

So then, I can use the MODX sound card instead of ASIO4ALL and it probably has better latency too, (I think the lowest in ASIO was 10). And do it all through the USB cable, without the audio cables? So if I select Yamaha Steinberg USB as Audio Device in Studio One that will make MODX my interface? I didn't know that.

Thanks

Using the MODX as your audio interface has distinct advantages.
You deliver pristine 24-bit audio to your computer via USB via 10 audio buses. This gives so much flexibility when rendering audio to your DAW.
The A/D In on the back panel of the MODX can also be routed discreetly to your DAW, as the MODX is not only an audio interface for itself via USB, but for anything you connect to the AD IN — It has access to its own 2 Insertion Effect blocks, and its own channel and routing Out via USB.

To use the MODX as your Audio Interface, you select the MODX (Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver) as your ASIO Driver.
The MODX similarly acts as it’s own MIDI Interface, via 3 Ports (Port1 - music data; Port2 - DAW Remote Control; Port3 - acts as MIDI interface for one external device via the 5-pin jacks on MODX back panel).

The choice of what DAW is up to you. We naturally recommend Cubase, but you’ll find configuring MIDI and Audio is pretty much a similar thing on whichever DAW you choose to use. You are provided access to Cubase when you purchased the MODX — we hope you’ll give it try, see what you think.

If you get stuck you can post questions here.

But with the 1st method, I’m not understanding what is the role of the FireStudio interface since MODX is sending MIDI data directly to the computer and the sound card is ASIO4ALL, not the interface. The Presonus people helped me to configure the ASIO and open the right channels in ASIO4ALL. Then they said I can open more interface inputs from within ASIO4ALL, but couldn’t tell me how to do it and I’m so confused about what does the interface has to do with ASIO4ALL since it’s either one that’s in use or the other.

If you do not want MODX to make any sound and are ONLY using MODX as a controllers for plugins/virtual instruments in your DAW - then you don't need the FireStudio. That's because you would be using MIDI only to send messages (NOT SOUND - MIDI isn't sound, MIDI isn't audio - it's just instructions like "note #56 for track 1 ON" "volume for track 3 set to 100" etc. Naturally - this isn't sound at all. Just instructions to something else that (probably) makes sound. Or - possibly an instruction back from your DAW to MODX to tell MODX to do something. Not audio. So if your MODX is just there to "play" instruments in your DAW and MODX doesn't need to make any sounds itself - the Firestudio isn't needed. All the MIDI connection is there for is to pass instructions back and forth not sound.

Now - if that doesn't match what you're after - and you want the MODX to generate sounds - then you'll need that audio to go somewhere. It doesn't go through MIDI. Sorry in advance for being (overly) redundant. Audio routing can either go directly out to studio monitors connected to MODX or the audio can be fed to your DAW for further processing, recording, etc. If the audio needs to make its way to the DAW for any reason - then you need some audio interface to handle that. This is where the Firestudio would come into play. Your MODX's Main L&R outputs would go 1/4 inch from MODX to the audio inputs of the Firestudio. Your DAW would route the audio to your existing speakers that you hear the other (software) instruments coming from.

Using ASIO4ALL isn't easy. Particularly if you're just learning the ropes. Other than the fact that your computer constantly crashes - I'm not sure why you cannot use a single audio interface. MODX won't make your computer crash (I'm guessing) so that's a stable option. However, if you must have an audio interface that's not MODX - then find either an audio interface that is compatible natively with your computer (USB, PCI, or whatever is best suited for your computer) or find a firewire interface that won't crash your computer or figure out the magic bullet that would make your existing configuration more stable. ASIO4ALL isn't going to be the best "3rd wheel" to throw at this and tends to unnecessarily complicate things. Yes, it can be used for certain things - but I'd rather see your setup walk before you run. Is this for podcasting or some other reason why you need to say use the PC's built-in soundcard for a microphone or ... ? Not sure why you would need ASIO4ALL when you say MODX is only MIDI connected and not audio connected.

Now ... if you again get rid of ASIO4ALL. Get rid of the firestudio. I mean in configuring - you can keep firestudio on the shelf. Then you can have your existing virtual software instruments feed through MODX. You would use what would be seen as MODX's Digital Main L&R output (now on the DAW side) to route your virtual instruments out. This would now place all of these instruments coming out of studio monitors connected to MODX's Main L&R 1/4" outputs on the back. And MODX itself would sound through these same outputs. There's a USB audio knob on MODX you can turn up/down to balance. I'm not sure what your existing speakers are that are not connected to MODX and if it would be advisable to use those connected to MODX or not. Depending on the answer - you may need to make a purchase for this configuration to work optimally unless you are fine with using headphones only. There's other things to configure on the MIDI side of things - and "quick template" settings to help ease the setup of this. However, the focus I have is mainly on the audio path since that's most of the struggle here.

Now - if that doesn't match what you're after - and you want the MODX to generate sounds - then you'll need that audio to go somewhere. It doesn't go through MIDI. Sorry in advance for being (overly) redundant. Audio routing can either go directly out to studio monitors connected to MODX or the audio can be fed to your DAW for further processing, recording, etc. If the audio needs to make its way to the DAW for any reason - then you need some audio interface to handle that. This is where the Firestudio would come into play. Your MODX's Main L&R outputs would go 1/4 inch from MODX to the audio inputs of the Firestudio. Your DAW would route the audio to your existing speakers that you hear the other (software) instruments coming from.

That's what confused me too, I assumed the USB cable can only transmit MIDI information and I needed an external interface (Firestudio) to record audio. (By the way, I tried recording audio via the Firestudio interface with 1/4" TRS and it recorded a nasty hiss/crackling noise. I tried 2 different cables with the same result. Then I recorded a mic with XLR in the same input of the Firestudio to see if the interface was bad, and it recorded clear without any noise as if it was digital. So either all my 1/4" TRS cables are bad or I don't know what's with that loud noise. I wonder if that's normal and why would you then even go that route with audio out from MODX via TRS).

I did not understand that audio can be transmitted through a USB cable. In fact I was frequently gathered that it cannot, only MIDI info can. But it does. I completely disconnected the Firestudio, used the MODX's own interface, and recorded audio tracks in the DAW using only the USB cable.

Using the MODX as your audio interface has distinct advantages.
You deliver pristine 24-bit audio to your computer via USB via 10 audio buses. This gives so much flexibility when rendering audio to your DAW.

Now I got it. You really meant audio audio, not midi info.

Thank you both for all the valuable information.

Still puzzles me about why the TRS cables make noise, as they are quite new, haven't been stepped on. If at some point I'll have to use an external interface with the MODX I won't like that extra noise from the 1/4" cables. This particular interface is not bad, as the XLR test testifies... hmm

Still puzzles me about why the TRS cables make noise, as they are quite new, haven't been stepped on. If at some point I'll have to use an external interface with the MODX I won't like that extra noise from the 1/4" cables. This particular interface is not bad, as the XLR test testifies... hmm

The MODX doesn't have balanced outs, so TRS is of no help here (does no better job than a TS).
If you need pristine signal over longer cables, you'd probably want a DI box.

Hi again,
I'm back to this problem. I've been using my Tascam DAW to record because it's just so easy- plug it in and it works. However, I do not want to use the Tascam because it does not record via USB. This is why I have to use the computer DAW instead which I do not like because I could have recorded a whole album since I've been fiddling with the computer DAW trying to get sound through to it from MODX, unsuccessfully yet. So with Tascam, I would have to use an audio cable going out of MODX and the sound is 10 times worse compared to USB. I understand this is because the MODX doesn't have balanced outs. Fine.
I do know that sound generated by MODX can be recorded via USB cable in my computer DAW because I've done it before. I don't know the reason it worked but it did. I must have clicked on everything. Now I'm back to staring at a screen.

With the computer DAW, it seems that it randomly either works or doesn't work and it is incredibly daunting to look at the thing and have no idea what makes it work. I'm basically like one who's staring at an unplugged, unresponsive device and hitting all the buttons because I don't understand that I have to plug it in. And they don't make it easy to understand that you need to plug the blasted thing, and where. Where does the wire go? and why? - the electrical current goes through this cable see! No, I, as one who's never heard of electricity, have to figure that out?

Going past the bad similes now, 🙁 sorry, in actuality:
Big Goal1: I want to record sound generated by MODX onto a StudioOne track on my computer.
Big Goal2: I want to record virtual instruments (VI) into S1 (Studio One) tracks, using MODX as a controller, and thus in this case preferably NOT hear the MODx's generated sounds simultaneously with the VI, but only the VI sound when I select the VI track and play.

The facts: MODX is connected to my PC via USB cable. Yamaha Steinberg driver is selected as Audio Device in S1 setup. The Receive from and Send to boxes in S1 External Devices setup are set up to MODX, modx2 or modx3. I've also tried all possible combinations.

The Symptoms for Big Goal1: In S1 you just grab an instrument from the Instrument panel and drop it on the track. The type of track is called an instrument track. There are two track types relevant to me: Instrument track, meant for MIDI instrument or Virtual instrument, or Audio track which is for wave information received from an audio interface.
So I see the MODx in the list of external instruments, I grab it and drop it in the track. In the photo, you can see the MODx is registered by Instrument track 1. I play, I can hear the sound in the monitors connected to the MODX but the Activity Meter on the track is dead. Nothing records on the track. I tried all possible combinations of Sent To /Receive From as mentioned above.

The Symptoms for Big Goal2: I grab a virtual instrument and drop it on Instrument track 2. I can see the piano keys on the virtual instrument greying out as I play the MODX, so I know S1 is receiving signal from MODx. However, there were two instances, (& the fact that there were differing instances, further makes it puzzling and nonsensical.) 1: I can hear the virtual instrument in the monitors when I play the MODx simultaneously with the sound generated by MODx. 2: I can no longer hear the VI sound, only the MODx sound now. yeah, why not? It's boring to just keep it steady one way. This change is nonsensical. I have not changed anything. That's what I love about PCs, their stability is "epic"...
When I record on this track I see the midi info being recorded, the graphic of what's been recorded, only nothing plays back. I can't hear anything on the monitors when I hit play on that track.

So now the Activity meter for the VI track is active but the one for the MODx track isn't. So the VI track is recording something, the Activity Meter is alive, but no sound plays back. The MODx track (that's supposed to play MODX generated sound), does not record anything, nor graphic appears on the track after I hit record, and the Activity Meter is dead.

I know that this would take 10 seconds to fix for someone who understands what needs to go where, but as for myself, I must experience great confusion for such things are intuitive, not.

Thanks for helping out.

Also, here's a screenshot of the activity meter being live on track 2 when I play. (The cursor is on the Activity meter.) You can also see in the red squares that the inputs on the mixer are live and registering signal on all tracks. You can see tracks 2 & 3 (that have Virtual instruments armed) have recorded something while track one could not record anything.

Sure. Here it is:

1.MODX8. Only connected with USB cable to the computer. one sustain pedal.
2. Windows 10 Pro. Steinberg USB Driver V2.0.4. MODX. Realteck High Definition Audio. NVIDIA High Definition Audio, etc
3.Studio One 5.3.0.65413 Win x64

I am getting sound OK from MODX in my monitors/heaphones.

Is there a reason track 1 isn't armed? I'm looking at track 2 you have the record (red button) and monitor (blue button) turned on. However, track 1 doesn't have these turned on. At least rec, I would think, needs to be toggled.

[quotePost id=117165]Is there a reason track 1 isn't armed? I'm looking at track 2 you have the record (red button) and monitor (blue button) turned on. However, track 1 doesn't have these turned on. At least rec, I would think, needs to be toggled.[/quotePost]

It only has the rec armed for the track you select. I had selected track 2 for that screenshot. Track one has rec armed when I select it. It just doesn't record anything.

Ok, and of course when armed and recording it would only record MIDI as an instrument track. And only on MIDI channel 1. I'm not sure if you have the keyboard in single or multi-channel mode but I'll assume multi-channel with a 50/50 chance (multi-channel is the default). This would mean CH:1 recording would be Part 1 (... assuming you didn't change MIDI transmit channels using Zone control -- which is probably not likely because that's not default behavior either). Even if no sound is coming out when you play (which is possible - but I think you're saying this working fine) -- MIDI messages should still be spilling out of CH:1.

If you have the instrument in single-channel (or hybrid) modes then the MIDI transmit/receive channel may not be set to 1. In which case there would be a mismatch of MIDI channel to record any MIDI.

I'm not familiar with Studio One - so not sure why there are two MODX external devices listed. Under different DAW software, this may be for Port-1 and Port-3. If your firmware is old enough - there wouldn't be a Port-2 (but MODX now has 3 Ports with the latest firmware). And ... I'm not sure at all if these two MODX external instances are for different ports or not.

But it's possible, I guess, that you picked the wrong "MODX" instance for track 1. I would assume there's a way to show what these are exactly and have greater visibility into exactly how track 1 is configured.