Hi all

I’m having some difficulty setting up the DAW with the Montage for multichannel audio. I’m reasonable with MIDI and audio principles

. I’m trying to set up a template that has the first 8 parts on 1-8 MIDI channels, recording MIDI… and on the same template [for a subsequent playback/recording pass] recording the resultant 8-channel audio to 8 separate stereo audio tracks over USB for individual FX processing.

I don’t need all 16 channels, though I understand the principle of DAW setup would apply for subsequent channels as well.

On the Montage, I can set [MIDI REC ON DAW] with an INIT/GM template. I understand that each of the 16 parts of this template outputs on its respective MIDI channel. Further to this, I can create a user template based on the INIT/GM which assigns each part to its own USB audio output channel in the part settings. I normally use Mac/Logic Pro X but for this I’ve downloaded Cubase AI 10. MONTAGE is the appropriate audio driver, Cubase correctly shows all inputs and outputs [USB Main and USB 1-32 in pairs] in Studio settings, MONTAGE Connect and the most recent Yamaha-Steinberg driver downloaded. MONTAGE port 1 assigned IO, ports 2 and 3 not required. Mac OS is Catalina, unfortunately.

MIDI: I can either use the Cubase AI template as a basis or adopt my own, with 8 MIDI channels, MIDI input/output channel all corresponding to the track/part/channel number [rather than ‘any']; ins and outs on MONTAGE port 1. I can see MIDI data incoming on the respective channels. I can then record enabled channels, listening directly. I am able to record individual track MIDI data separately. I can now press play in Cubase, and the Montage fires into life playing the recorded data - so far, so good.

I record the MIDI first, adjust/correct as required, then use the recorded MIDI to record the audio. No arpeggios are involved here.

Audio: I create 8 new stereo channels. Each stereo channel input is assigned a consecutive USB audio pair [1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 etc] corresponding to the assigned [PART] output settings on my personal MONTAGE template. I’d like each track to output to a separate audio stream, a separate wave render, so that I can use my VST FX to further manipulate the sound. No ivories are tickled, the computer plays back the recorded MIDI [via MONTAGE port 1] on those 8 channels and I want to record the 8 audio results simultaneously onto separate tracks.

Now my issue: no matter which audio USB streams [main outs, USB numbered outs] I try and audition/record enable/input monitor, there is no audio coming into Cubase. template [MIDI REC ON DAW to AUDIO REC ON DAW] makes no difference. Audio tracks are DAW-correctly input monitored and record enabled, and I can hear the Montage playing the MIDI data I've recorded through my HS7 monitors/Main L&R analog out. MIDI data to/from the computer is working, so it's an audio pathway issue.

Interestingly, the metronome audio click doesn’t output to the Montage either, despite setting it in Cubase AI to output via audio to the direct outs. [An annoying MIDI metronome does work, though it's not something I could work with]. In Tracktion [an alternative DAW] I can hear the audio Metronome click, and perform simple stereo path recording from the main outs, so the ASIO/audio pathway does work, though Tracktion isn’t as elegant at multichannel audio and MIDI.

I’m doing something incorrectly, probably a simple mistake in my setup, and I wonder if you might talk me through a multichannel MIDI and audio setup in Cubase AI/Montage? I’ll probably curse myself for a basic error, but I have no problems being sent back to kindergarten in order to get things right! Thanks in advance…