Hi Rene,
Welcome back to the world of computer based recording - you’ll be happy to know that at least the basic concept is the same - however, as it always was, the devil is in the details. The good news is once you are configured things run extremely smoothly from there.

You have a MONTAGE and a UR824 that each can act as an audio interface for your computer. You will need to decide which of these two devices will act as your principal audio interface.

The principal audio interface will be responsible as the device receiving analog inputs from your various musical sources and converting analog-to-digital signal to be sent to the computer. It is also responsible for receiving digital audio signal from the computer and converting digital-to-analog signal to be output to your speakers.

So you must select which of these two devices is going to be that principal audio interface. Then you can configure your setup accordingly.

The MONTAGE does not appear as an option because you have (probably) selected the UR824 as your principal audio device. This means the DAW (Cubase 9.5) is looking for digital audio input from the UR824, and will output digital audio to the UR824.

To hear the MONTAGE you must connect the Main L/R Outputs of the MONTAGE to a stereo pair of inputs on the UR824.

In a situation where you set the MONTAGE as the audio interface, it will give you 32 bus Outputs from the synth to the computer, and you would connect the analog Outputs of the UR824 to the A/D Input on the MONTAGE. In this setup you would connect your speakers to the MONTAGE, and you would monitor through MONTAGE.

Cubase allows you to “hot swap” (change Audio devices mid-session without having to relaunch) audio interfaces so you can setup and reconfigure as necessary.

Hello Bad Mister,

Thank you for your reply.

I am aware that both UR824 and Montage can be used as output.
I have connected speakers to UR824.

I can record audio from montage (and even with midi at the same time)
audio is then output to speakers thru UR824
midi will not be heard
only when I assign: Micrsoft GS Wavetable synth
I hear the midi.
But that's not what I want.
I want to hear the Montage and have no idea how to make that happen.

Something else that frustrates me is that as soon as Cubase is on I can no longer hear the Montage - not even with headset plugged in-
It's silent but it does produce midi output (i see that in cubase)
I only hear montage when there is a track pointing to montage and with the Speaker icon on.
I should be able to play montage by itself still , or not?

I have connected speakers to UR824.

Okay, here’s what you need to do to hear (Monitor) what you need in this setup.
You cannot use the Cubase “Montage Stereo Recording” template because you are NOT using the MONTAGE as your principal audio interface. (Those setup templates are for those using MONTAGE as their principal audio interface).

In order to setup for MONTAGE use the following steps for a new Project:
File > New Project > under the MORE heading select “Empty”
Click a “Track Instrument“ > Select MONTAGE CONNECT

Then you can create Audio Tracks or MIDI Tracks as you need them...

In order to get audio from the MONTAGE into your system, you need to connect the main L/R Output of the MONTAGE to a pair of inputs on the UR824. The UR824 will also be responsible for getting the MONTAGE audio to your speakers.

When you record audio from the MONTAGE it will be via the analog Outputs to the UR824, the UR824 will convert the analog signal to digital. You will need to select the Direct Monitor option on the UR824 in order to thru the audio from the MONTAGE to your speakers.

There are going to be slightly different setups for when you are recording MIDI from the MONTAGE and for when you are recording audio.

When recording MIDI
You would set Local Control = Off
The MIDI Signal will need to arrive at an active MIDI Track in Cubase set to Receive MIDI IN from the MONTAGE Port 1 and set to OUT data back to the MONTAGE on Port 1. That circuit must be completed for the MONTAGE Tone Generator to sound.
Press [CATEGORY SEARCH] > touch “Init” > select “Multi/GM”
This sets up 16 Parts ready for multi tracking.

Now the audio (sound) will be Output from the main L/R Outputs which you need to connect to two inputs on your principal audio interface (UR824).
In the audio interface you can select to monitor the input ... called “Direct Monitor”... you are sending the incoming audio signal “directly” to your monitor speakers.

When recording Audio
You would set Local Control = On
When you trigger the MONTAGE keyboard because Local is On, it generates audio right away... the audio signal travels from the main L/R Outputs to the UR824, this time you route the audio from the UR824 via USB to an Audio Track in Cubase... you can choose to monitor either the Direct Monitor Signal (in which case you would Mute the Track) or you can choose to monitor the Audio Track (Direct Monitor = Off).

It is important to understand the difference between MIDI Recording, and Audio Recording in your setup.
With MIDI you have signal going to and from Cubase befor Audio is even generated.
With audio you wind up with audio going directly to your speakers and the audio that goes to Cubase and then back to the UR which routes it to speakers. To avoid doubling you must select which audio path you wish to monitor.

In general, you listen to the Direct signal and mute the track (this completely avoids any latency). You would opt to listen to the signal coming back from the computer if you are processing it with computer based plugin Effects.

Thank you Bad Mister this was really helpful, now I can hear the midi and start recording music!