Hi, I still have ongoing unresolved Cubase Elements 9,5 problems. This software does not remembner any of the Montage hardware settings. Everytime I want to record I soon give up in frustration because I just don´t remember how to set this up each and every time and then I lose my song idea and will to be creative and just want to scream.

You should take a few minutes and learn to use Cubase. This is best done by not speeding ahead but taking the time to setup and store your settings. By contrast, every time I open a new Cubase Project, it automatically sets up an Initialized MONTAGE Performance with 16 Parts ready to record. And every time I open a Cubase Project that I've have done some work on, it automatically recalls the exact MONTAGE Performance setup exactly as I last left it. Every time! This is what you want to aspire to accomplish! Read on...

What can I do so I can use this software? Or maybe switch to anyther one that works? please recommendations. I am willing to give up on Cubase if anyone can tell me which DAW really works with Montage because after 2 years of not even being able to set this one up so it works INSTANTLY when opened I think it´s time to move on to something else.

There are literally thousands of MONTAGEs in the field, with literally, thousands of users working happily with it. You, yourself are half a post away from joining them. Read on...

How can I start homerecording without constant despair?

Read carefully, follow each step. If you get stuck post back here.

I have created a special Montage template: no luck, settings are not remembered
I have Montage connect open and no luck: Cubase uses a generic asio driver and I don´t know how to select the Steinberg driver anymore

We’ll start with creating a MONTAGE Template that opens MONTAGE CONNECT, which will automatically load this template to your MONTAGE. There is no such thing as a Steinberg Driver, perhaps you mean the “Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver”?
And it is imperative that you use that specific Driver.
“Generic” doesn’t know, doesn’t remember, doesn’t work... not for what you want to accomplish.

another song idea is lost today and I´m turning the Monty off. so sad.

Indeed! This will be the last time... read on.

Let’s begin...
in all your complaining, (and we fully understand the frustration), you never mention what computer type you are using (helpful information in helping tailor our answer specifically for you).. It is why we have this Forum... to help people get started and over the basic hurdles.

We therefore will skip this and assume you know what computer type you have and that you installed the “Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver” version for your particular computer type an operating system. If this is still an issue, let us know...
Mac = Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver version. 1.10.2
Windows = Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver version 1.10.3

Prepare the MONTAGE
Power on
Press [UTILITY] > “Settings” > “Quick Setup” > Select “MIDI Rec On DAW”
This will make the eight critical setting to prepare the MONTAGE for Recording MIDI data to an external DAW via a working USB connection to your computer.
For a complete explanation of the details — we point you to this article: (you can read it later)
MONTAGE MIDI Settings Explained

Launch Cubase AI 9.5
During the Cubase launch the computer will scan all hardware ports as one of the many things it does... it will ‘notice’ that you have a device connected via USB that it has a Driver for. (You see, it is very important to have the MONTAGE connected and powered On during the Cubase launch!) unless you have instructed it to stop asking you, it may ask you if you want to use the MONTAGE as your ASIO Device... if it does not, don’t worry we will instruct you on how to set this up manually. And from then on, until you change it, it will set this up each time.

The Steinberg Hub opens... for now please select the “MORE” Option and select the “EMPTY” template. Click “Create”
It will ask you to create a target folder for this Project... click “New Folder”... name it something like “Test”.
A blank Cubase Project will appear.

MIDI Setup
Go to STUDIO > STUDIO SETUP... > MIDI > MIDI PORT SETUP
In the column labeled "In All Midi Inputs" mark "MONTAGE 1" Only.
Click APPLY
Click OK
MONTAGE MIDI Port 1 will do all the communicating between the MONTAGE and your Cubase MIDI Tracks.

REMOTE (Control) DEVICES
On the left side of the screen... select the REMOTE DEVICES folder
If it does not appear, click the “+” to add “Mackie Control”
Set the MIDI In to “MONTAGE Port 2”
Set the MIDI OUT to “MONTAGE Port 2”
MONTAGE will do all Remote Control commands to start/stop/arm tracks, etc. etc., on MONTAGE Port 2
Click APPLY
Click OK
That completes the MIDI setup.

Audio Setup
On the left side of the screen... select VST AUDIO SYSTEM
This is where you can set the ASIO DRIVER...
If you have a Mac select the “MONTAGE”
If you have a Windows PC select the “Yamaha Steinberg USB ASIO driver as the ASIO Device. If you have more than one device connected that uses this driver pick the MONTAGE.

Just below the VST AUDIO SYSTEM is your selection (Montage) and on the right side is “Control Panel” this is where you can set your Buffer Size. Set this according to your computer’s ability to process data... initially set this to 128 or 192. This should give a single digit latency. Cubase will tell you exactly how long it will take signal to arrive and leave the computer. As long as you are getting no clicks and pops you’re fine. When recording you will never have to deal with Latency because you can monitor your hardware direct (zero latency). More on that at a later time.

Click APPLY
Click OK

CLOCK Settings
On the main menu bar find TRANSPORT > PROJECT SYNCHRONIZATION SETUP... > MIDI CLOCK OUT > MIDI CLOCK DESTINATIONS > Check the “Montage Port 1”.
This setting will make Cubase the clock master. You will set the Tempo in Cubase, and all MONTAGE Tempo driven functions will follow the Cubase tempo. This includes all Arpeggios, all Tempo driven Effects and LFOs, all Motion Sequences set to reference Tempo, etc.

Using the MONTAGE multi channel recording Template
Let’s launch a NEW PROJECT TEMPLATE that will automatically setup Audio and Midi Tracks, assigned to your MONTAGE; and it will setup the MONTAGE CONNECT as a VSTi within Cubase... here’s how:
Click on FILE > New Project...
The Steinberg Hub appears
Select “Recording” > “Yamaha MONTAGE multi channel recording”
Choose to Activate this Project

This opens the MONTAGE CONNECT, it creates 17 MIDI Tracks (one for each channel and one for Sysex Data), it creates 16 Audio Tracks.
Use them as you require. Midi Track assigned to Channel 1 is selected...

Setting a Default Preset for Cubase
On the MONTAGE
Press [CATEGORY SEARCH]
Touch “Init”
Select “Multi/GM”
This is the basic starting point for 16 Part Multi-timbral Recording (traditional sequencing).

We will set this as the initial start point for each time you open a New Project...
In Cubase on the MONTAGE CONNECT panel find the Cubase Sound Cube - it is a small cube icon located just below the MONTAGE CONNECT title.
If you click on that and select ”Save as Default Preset”, Cubase will remember this... as it does it’s thing you will see your MONTAGE bulking the current settings to Cubase. Cubase will memorize the MULTI/GM settings and restore them for whenever you open this Template

On the MONTAGE CONNECT front panel activate “Auto Sync” (green) = ON

On the Cubase menu bar click on FILE... and near the bottom of the drop down, click on “Save as Template...”
You can Overwrite the “Yamaha MONTAGE multi channel recording.cpr” or give it your own Name...
Click OK
This is the template you will use whenever you start a new Project.

Searching and Substituting
When using the MULTI/GM template you want to first SELECT a PART:
Press [Part Select 1]
Hold [SHIFT] + [CATEGORY SEARCH]
This launches the “Part1 — Category Search”
Very important: the top line of the MONTAGE screen will always tell you where you are “Part1–Category Search” is telling you that the item you select will replace just Part 1. If it doesn’t say PartX, you are going to replace something else...

Set the Bank = All
Set the Attribute = Single
The grid will now show you all appropriate instrument sounds to fill “Part 1” of your Multi/GM
Each composition will have different instruments... but you can place whatever instruments you want in each Part.
Set the Main and SubCategories to narrow your search...
Select an instrument and begin your recording to Cubase.
Part 1 to Track 1
Part 2 to Track 2
and so on....

Do a test recording — the Key here is it doesn’t matter what you are recording, I usually suggest C major scales... the thing to concentrate on is the logistics of “selecting a Part”, “arming the correspondingly numbered Midi Track”, “recording something”, “playing it back” and then moving to the next one and repeating... then Save the Project... giving it a Name. Close Cubase.... change the Performance on the MONTAGE... Then open Cubase, open the Project that you saved and play it back... Cubase should restore everything! You, literally, should be able to click to open it and immediately hit the Spacebar to play it back. Let us know.

On a Windows PC there are a million ways to mess up USB audio drivers. Something like Montage, at least for me, is constantly unplugged and plugged back in. It would be easy to change USB ports on the PC side and this would throw a curve at the computer's settings. Over time, you could allocate past Windows's limits. Also, just moving ports can throw some software a curve having you reconfigure.

Because there are multiple ways and different symptoms related to driver "corruption" (or just decay over time for different reasons) - there's really one best way to get the drivers back on track. I do this occasionally - not frequently - but every now and then when something "croaks".

What you do is fully uninstall (remove) the old "Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver". Doing this will clear out the gremlins. Then you install the latest driver freshly downloaded from the Montage yamaha.com support page OR the Steinberg driver page (which tends to have a "newer" version - with fixes or updates not really specifically for Montage). Installing the driver would tend to change your default audio interface back to Montage and generally align the stars a way that seems familiar rather than "messed up". As long as you haven't settled on the generic driver - Cubase will start using the Yamaha Steinberg USB (ASIO) drivers. If you did select the generic drivers, you'd need to go back into the "Studio" menu, then "Studio Setup" option in that menu, then "VST Audio System" on the left side "Devices" area of this window, then set the top right-hand option for the driver back to the "Yamaha Steinberg USB ASIO" driver.

Also, over time as firmware updates - you need to be sure to refresh your drivers and Montage Connect to keep everything aligned. It's always best to uninstall before installing rather than upgrading drivers and packages "in place".

thank you, but it seems that no matter what I do Cubase will not remember
1: the transport settings (midi destination Montage 1 is always unclicked even thow I have created a template with it activated)
2: the audio settings. I have to search everytime where the presets are where one can chose different usb ports, like 16 stereos or 16 monos etc
and on this particular day it even changed the asio driver, which is usually not such an issue
but there´s always something that doesn´t work...

yes it´s a windows computer.
with cubase not having all settings under "settings" (which would make a lot of sense) but all over the place like under "transport" or "vst studio" etc it´s just so boring to search each time where this and that setting is hidden...

I did follow all those steps many times but it doesn´t help in my case.
I guess I need to write down where all the settings are and hang this up on the wall...

also the Montage USB connection is sketchy on my PC. I often have to turn the Montage on and off 3 times before the USB connection finally works....

I have a very long USB cable - it's probably around 15 feet - just shy of the spec's maximum cable length. This is a good "test" of how reliable a USB design is as the "IR" losses in the cable cause something called "eye closure" which will cause USB to stop working. Poorly designed USB interfaces would not be able to tolerate long runs as one of the first things that causes the port to break. There are 3 components to a reliable USB connection - the device (Montage in this case), the cable, and the host (your PC). Any of these can be a weak link. The easiest part to "swap out" is the cable. As a side note: notice, although theoretically possible, I didn't include hubs in the list of components. This is because hubs are not recommended with this device. You may have swapped out cables already and determined your cable is fine. The PC is more difficult to swap out. The easiest part of your PC to swap is the driver. You may have done that. Then there would be other "software" pieces like removing any other MIDI devices that may conflict or other USB devices. If this is your music PC without lots of "other stuff" - you may even consider a reinstall of the operating system to start from fresh.

Unlike Apple - that has a limit on hardware configurations - PC land is more fractured and varied. This causes the Windows/PC experience to sometimes be a headache and requires more manual labor to get to something stable.

Your PC may even have a hardware issue with its USB ports. If you have more than one port, you may try moving around to different ones to see if any other port is more reliable. You may have to uninstall/install the driver when you move ports at some point.

If all else fails - even though not recommended - you can try using a powered USB 2.0 hub. One possible failure is an overcurrent condition on the port which will be hidden when you use the hub. The hub will see what are called the transient response and your PC will always have a USB connection to the hub - so it will not see any difference electrically when you plug the keyboard into the hub or remove.

All of that said - there is variation that occurs in the manufacturing process. If you theoretically plugged your Montage into my computer with the same cable I use - maybe I'd see the same problems recognizing your Montage that you see on your PC. If, in this thought experiment, that happened - then we would point to an issue with the Montage hardware and a warranty/service event would be appropriate.

Certainly the USB recognition issues is a different silo than the Cubase configuration. I do agree to some degree that some features that seem related are spread out in different places and isn't as intuitive as it could be. That said - this is typical for "powerful" software and requires learning the ropes. Writing down the locations doesn't seem like a bad idea if you do not venture into these areas of the software regularly.

Hi again, I have now gone thru the ordeal of putting SSD drives in 2 old PCs (which made them very fast), reinstalling Windows etc and designating one PC to music producion in the hope that this will resolve my issues.

me new cubase template seems to work now and remember the settings, but all the old projects are a mess and when I open them they don´t even have the Montage assigned as the midi device...

thank you