But when the Montage is in Record/Pattern mode and I start Cubase playing, the Montage Pattern starts playing too after Cubase has played a bar. I would like to stop this from happening. I don’t want to have the Montage playing the Pattern in this situation.

Is there a way to turn this Montage behavior off?

Yes, there is. We are going to assume you have setup MIDI SYNC = MIDI (causes the MONTAGE to follow Clock Tempo messages from Cubase), whether or not the MONTAGE runs and stops when you start and stop Cubase is a separate parameter.

[UTILITY] > “Settings” > “MIDI I/O” > set “Song Play/Stop” Receive = Off
This setting prevents the Sequencer from responding to the Cubase Transport Control.

I would also like to understand why the Montage waits for one bar before it starts to play the Pattern.

This is because you have the preCount set to 1 measure. PreCount is the number of measures it counts down before entering Record (see the Measure/Beat Counter in the Pattern Record screen which is counting down one measure before Record begins (the default)
Touch “Click Settings” on the Pattern screen to take the shortcut to the “Tempo Settings” screen — set the PreCount as you require... Off, 1-8 measures.

Thanks, Bad Mister. Exactly what I was looking for (and didn’t find).

While trying to figure this out myself, I ran into this in the Cubase 10.5 manual:

Project Synchronization Setup Dialog -> Machine Control Page
...
MMC Master Active
Routes transport commands to any device while sync is enabled.

I suspect that turning this off would be another (more complicated) way to accomplish my purpose. Would it work?

In any case, I like your method better.

While trying to figure this out myself, I looked at the MIDI Data Format section of the Data List. The RECEIVE FLOW section shows what I think are the transport control messages (START, CONTINUE, STOP) under the heading SYSTEM REALTIME MESSAGE.

To the left of that it says, SW3. What does SW3 mean? Is it just a reference to the footnote at the bottom of the page? I wondered if it might represent some sort of data being sent.

Also, what is the purpose of a CONTINUE message? It seems to me that START and STOP would be all that you needed.

To the left of that it says, SW3. What does SW3 mean? Is it just a reference to the footnote at the bottom of the page? I wondered if it might represent some sort of data being sent.

Switch 3 addresses Sequencer Control, coming and going.

Also, what is the purpose of a CONTINUE message? It seems to me that START and STOP would be all that you needed.

Start = begin play from the beginning
Stop = stop the transport where it is currently
Continue = becomes necessary when you want to continue playback from the current position.

Without “Continue“ you’d only be able to play from the top (beginning).
Your basic transport controls are Start, Continue, Stop
Your location can be changed by “Back to Top”, “Rewind”, “Fast Forward” using Song Position Pointer (which counts the the distance from the start of the sequence to precisely locate the transport). Without Continue, all Play would begin at the top of the sequence.

Switch 3 addresses Sequencer Control, coming and going.

Can you say some more about what these switches are? Is information about them contained in the MIDI data (i.e. is there a “switch” field somewhere in the data), or are they just useful categories?

The information found in the “Receive Flow” section of the Data List booklet can be understood as what happens, or what can happen, when MIDI data is Received. The Switches are each described at the bottom. See these as the options you can set on the “Setting” > “MIDI I/O” and other Utility screens that have to do with data reception.

Switch 3 = the parameters dealing with Sequencer Control
The “Song Play/Stop” Receive Switch defeats both Song Position Pointer (locate) and the Start-Continue-Stop functions of the internal Sequencer. In your Motif XF this function was called SEQ CTRL.

Each Receive function is activated or deactivated by the described Switch. By looking at this page of the MIDI Implementation, you can figure out what MIDI data is received and under what conditions. For example, F8 is clock. There is a Switch condition that will allow MONTAGE reception of MIDI Clock messages (those concerning MIDI Sync) — you cannot however, defeat the MONTAGE from receiving FE (Active Sensing).

Often a combination off Switches is used to accomplish a goal. The Flow chart outlines how the parameters are grouped.
You might want, for example, to have the Arps play at the Tempo from your DAW, but not have the MONTAGE Transport run when Cubase is started.

This is because you have the preCount set to 1 measure.

I actually had Precount set to Off. Can you think of any other reason why I might’ve had that one bar delay?

No, but then again, I have no idea what you are doing.

You have the MONTAGE set to Record?
Are you playing back Cubase but recording in MONTAGE? correct? That is unclear - since part of your question was how NOT to get it to start the MONTAGE (?) Very confusing...
You have the MIDI SYNC set how?
You‘re saying when recording into the Pattern Sequencer it waits a measure ... I suggested that when doing a preCount the MONTAGE Measure/Beat counter shows the count in... are you saying you don’t see the count in? Actually, you don’t say anything about it... what does the MONTAGE do during this measure? Is it counting?
How do you know it is one measure?
If Sync is External then the MONTAGE will start when the external clock tells it to do so.

Are you transferring data from Cubase?
Are you playing on the MONTAGE keys?
Why not just set “Key On Start” if you don’t want a count in?

What are you doing? The questions are out of context and the issue is best figured out with all the details.

I tried it tonight, and couldn’t reproduce the behavior. But now that I know how to turn those transport items on and off it’s not so much of a problem anyway.