When I created the external instrument, I was asked if I wanted to create a MIDI track assigned to that device. Why would I need a MIDI track for the device, when what I want to do is route MIDI that I already have on tracks in the project so that the external device can return audio to tracks in the project?

If you already have your MIDI Tracks you don't need to create one... But you do need to assign all MIDI tracks that you want to generate audio using the Motif XF hardware to the "Motif XF VST -MidiIn"

When you do that MIDI data will travel through the Editor VST to the XF hardware, the XF hardware will generate audio which it will RETURN to Cubase as audio to the VST INSTRUMENT > Motif XF VST subFolder... Which is where you find the "Audio Lane".

When you create the EXTERNAL > Motif XF VST, folders for VST instruments and the Motif XF VST, specifically, are created in your Track Inspector.

If you create you MIDI Tracks in Cubase, the MIDI OUT should be set to the "Motif XF VST - MidiIn"; even if the tracks were imported from the XF, make sure each Midi Track is routed specifically to the "VST MidiIn" - you know this is the case when you see the notes reflected on the Editor's keyboard. Audio generated by this will be routed back (called RETURNed) to Cubase via the VSTi SETUP within the Edtitor to the VST AUDIO LANE. You will see the stereo meter reflecting the arriving audio.

Sorry, due to technical difficulties I'm currently unable to download your attachment (standby, we hope to have this fixed in short order)

I finally got it working!

I did something simpler instead of the external instrument. I set up an audio track to take input from my XF7 via FireWire. This required me to set up a stereo INPUT in VST Connections to take input from FW ASIO inputs MOTIF XF7 Main L and R. The audio track takes its input from that INPUT.

Then I recorded to that audio track, and it recorded all of the tracks of my song in stereo audio.

This all works fine now, except that every time I open the project, all of the FireWire inputs have Visible unchecked in Device Set up. So I have to set Visible on MOTIF XF7 Main L and R. Then I have to go into VST Connections and set the left and right channels of my INPUT to be MOTIF XF7 Main L and R. When I do this, I get a warning that “The selected device port is used exclusively. This connection will be ended. Do you want to continue?” I tell it to Continue, and I get the setting that I need. I have to do this separately for both the left and right channels.

Cubase 8 Pro says that something called the “Return Bus” has those inputs. I don’t know what that is or where to find it. Is there some smarter way to set things up so that I don’t keep running into this?

You can download my project from: http://spot.pcc.edu/~mtrigobo/music/MrDSad.zip

Finally, I don’t know what you mean by an “audio lane” in the VST Instruments folder. Can you tell me where it would be, what it looks like, and how to use it?

I found the “audio lanes!” You turn them on/off in VST Instruments. So now I have all 8 of them enabled under MOTIF XF VST in my VST Instruments.

I figured out how to route output from the Motif XF to the lanes by setting the “Output Select” column in the VST Editor for each of the Parts in my song. And now I understand what I’m seeing in the Editor when I look at the VSTi Setup dialog.

So far, so good.

What I’m still not clear about is what I can do with these “audio lanes.” Can I record into them somehow? Can I record from them into an audio track?

Also, there seems to be something special about the MOTIF XF 1 audio lane. When I assign parts to that lane, I can’t hear them. Perhaps this is related to the mysterious “Return Bus?”

One last thing: I can’t edit any of my messages in this thread. I get an error that says, “Unable to load composer.”

I, too, am getting that message... they assure me they are working on it (apologies).

What I’m still not clear about is what I can do with these “audio lanes.” Can I record into them somehow? Can I record from them into an audio track?

The whole virtual synth and effect routing scenario is built around this concept: The audio is considered "virtual" because it is not actually printed. It is a "What you hear is what you are going to get..." when you finally render the audio you are hearing to an audio wav file.

Until you execute "EXPORT > AUDIO MIXDOWN" or you execute a "FREEZE" or you actually "RENDER IN PLACE", the audio you are hearing is virtual (heard only) there is no documented .wav data, there is no printed audio file. You are simply 'monitoring' the returned audio. The audio is generated and routed to the speaker system without having created a waveform that remains on the computer!!!

This is why in the AUDIO LANE of any VSTi soft synth or VSTi representative of a hardware synth - there is a meter but no drawn graphic of a Waveform... you are simply monitoring the audio in real time. So you are listening to the data as it will sound when you do "print" it by one of the following methods:

Exporting Audio Mixdown - the process of rendering the audio return to an actual waveform and proper AUDIO TRACK

FREEZE - the process of rendering a temporary audio file, this is done so that when you have high track counts, the CPU of your computer does not have to process everything in real time. These temporary audio files can easily be undone and discarded. They are kept in the POOL folder and are great for when you are 'trying out' ideas and not yet fully "committed" to the performance. The MIDI Tracks are locked and muted while the FREEZE is in place. You can unfreeze them later and still have your original MIDI data to trigger the tone engine. The "thawed" audio can be kept or discarded, as you desire.

Render In Place - this new feature of Cubase Pro 8 allows you to set a region (using the L and R markers) of any VSTi routed track and create an AUDIO Wave at that point in the linear time line. Unlike Freeze, the audio is placed at the markers and written as an actual wav to an audio track. the MIDI data in the selected region is MUTED.

One thing you must be clear on:
The VST CONNECTIONS > INPUT Tab allows you to route audio from a connected device to the inputs of Cubase.
The VSTi SETUP found within the Motif XF VST Editor, disconnects the "VST CONNECTION > INPUT Tab" connections described above, and connects the Motif XF to Cubase via the VST Editor, instead.

It is an either/or situation... if you use one, you disconnect the other. If you use the VSTi SETUP, it will disconnect the VST CONNECTIONS > INPUT Tab.
If you use the VST CONNECTIONS > INPUT tab to make your connections, it will disconnect the VST Editor!!!

Once you realize these are two different pathways to route (return) the audio, you will be farther along in the understanding of the routing. The path that is set by the Motif XF VST EDITOR allows you to create an AUDIO LANE for each STEREO RETURN. So it is possible to have 8 stereo audio returns simultaneously from the Motif XF via the VST EDITOR.

OK, that’s clear.

I had my four-track arpeggiated backup band set to output to FW1&2 in the VST Editor. I decided to change them to L&R to see what would happen.

The backup band output now went to MOTIF XF 1 instead of MOTIF XF 2, which I understand.

My questions are:

1) Why did those four tracks get louder even though I didn’t change anything but the FW output channel.

2) Two controls (Chorus and Reverb) appeared for each of the four tracks. Why did those two controls appear? Why weren’t they were there all along?

Thanks…

1) Why did those four tracks get louder even though I didn’t change anything but the FW output channel.

The FW OUTPUT pairs all have there own separate Output Level setting. The L&R are considered the MAIN outputs as they have the SYSTEM Effects (Reverb and Chorus), the MASTER Effects and the MASTER EQ... the individual assignable FW Output pairs do not go through the SYSTEM EFFECT< nor the MASTER Effects nor the MASTER EQ, they are "direct" outputs that are sent to the DAW "pre" (before) the SENDS for Reverb Chorus, "pre" the Master Effect, "pre" the MASTER EQ.

The purpose of the Assignable FW1-FW14 assignable outputs is when you want to isolate a PART or PARTS from the communal effect and treat them separately in your DAW. They PART assigned to FW1-FW14 will go to that direct out with their INSERTION EFFECT but because of the physical routing position, the signal is sent away PRIOR to the option to send signal to the REVERB SEND, or CHORUS SEND, and certainly before the signal arrives at the MASTER Effect and EQ.

The OUTPUT LEVEL of your OUTPUTS is set:
Press [UTILITY]
Press [F2] I/O
Here you can see the Output Level settings for the Outputs +6dB or 0dB - set as required.

2) Two controls (Chorus and Reverb) appeared for each of the four tracks. Why did those two controls appear? Why weren’t they were there all along?

The Reverb Send and Chorus Send are available to all PARTS routed to the MAIN L&R Outputs ONLY... they are not available (for the reasons given above) to any PART routed to a direct (assignable FW) output.

In the screenshot above you can see the MIXING at the top with its multiple PARTs. Eight of those PARTS can have Dual INSERT EFFECTs active. If you were to show the FW assignable outputs in this graphic it would appear as a line allowing an OUTPUT directly from one of those 8 PARTS

In the screenshot below I've added four lines representing the FW outputs, they are traveling OUT (away) from the PARTS - they leave the XF at this point and go directly to Cubase via the FW connection... they have no opportunity to go through the REVERB or CHORUS sends, they have no opportunity to go through the MASTER EFFECT or MASTER EQ, they routing simply takes the signal AWAY from the normal *(Main) signal flow. Make sense?

You can understand that with SYSTEM Effects you have SEND amount that goes to the effect, there is RETURN amount that combines the signals that were sent to the effect and return it to a stereo path that is the main output. Your direct (assignable) outputs do not participate in this at all. Their signal is completely removed from the main signal flow by the assignable to an individual numbered FW output.

So much like any professional recording console, you have direct outputs that isolate. Those signal routed in isolation do go to those direct outputs with their PART EQ and their assigned INSERTION EFFECT in tact! This is just how you want it. The SYSTEM EFFECTS are SHARED effects. The signal that is returned from the REVERB contains all signals mixed together (thus communal effects). INSERTION EFFECTS belong ONLY to the PART on which they are "inserted".

All this routing stuff is now very clear to me. I now have Cubase sitting up and doing tricks for me. 🙂

Thanks for all of your patient explanations.

Well, I thought everything was clear to me, but I've run into a new problem.

I was recording audio (via Export Audio Mixdown) well from XF channels whose output was sent to (for instance) FW1&2 in the XF Editor. But I can't seem to get audio recorded from channels set to L&R. I've looked at the FW Monitor settings descriptions on p. 33 of the XF Editor manual, and they say that for different settings you either get audio from L&R or from the other channels but not L&R. I'm not quite sure what to make of this, or even if this is what my problem is.

Also, I don't hear channels set to L&R in the sound output from my XF when I play my song in Cubase.

I'm stumped at the moment, and would be happy to hear what the latest thing I'm missing is…

UPDATE:

I think it’s possible that the answer to these questions of mine is in this article. But so far I haven’t quite been able to figure it out.

We are not sure if you are using the Motif XF VST or not. So before we delve into an answer, let us know if you are using
1) The Motif XF VST Routing situation
2) The VST CONNECTIONS > INPUT Tab Routing situation

remember it is an either/or situation.

If you are not hearing L&R, it stands to reason that you will not be able to export audio successfully. In general, you are routing and monitoring so that what you hear is what you are going to get. If the L&R signal is not routed properly you will not hear it and not be able to record (Export) it.

I'm using the Motif XF VST. All of my MIDI tracks have their output routed to MOTIF XF VST - Midi In.

I have the output of all of the channels (tracks?) in the VST Editor routed to L&R. When I play the song in Cubase 8 Pro, I see the blue vertical bars on the right side of the MOTIF XF 1 audio line dancing, so I'm pretty sure that audio is coming back from the XF via FW. (I renamed that audio lane to "Main," which doesn't seem to have caused any trouble.)

When I try to Export Audio Mixdown, I select that audio lane. But somehow the audio from that lane isn't getting recorded.

Looking at the audio lane in the track list, it's neither Muted nor Soloed. All automation is turned off. The word "Volume" is displayed, and there's a number at the top right whose value is 0.00. (What is that number?)

In the Inspector I see that the output of the audio lane is "Stereo Out." Looking at Stereo Out in the VST Connections Outputs display, Audio Device is set to Yamaha Steinberg FW ASIO, and the left and right channels are set (in blue) to MOTIF XF7 Main L and R.

I have the output of all of the channels (tracks?) in the VST Editor routed to L&R.

You have the OUTPUT SELECT parameter of all PARTs in the VST EDITOR routed to L&R. Parts belong to the tone engine. Tracks belong to Cubase and are storage locations for either MIDI event data or Audio data..

When I play the song in Cubase 8 Pro, I see the blue vertical bars on the right side of the MOTIF XF 1 audio line dancing, so I'm pretty sure that audio is coming back from the XF via FW. (I renamed that audio lane to "Main," which doesn't seem to have caused any trouble.)

If you see the audio meters of the Audio Lane reflecting audio activity, this will be exported to the audio output. You then should check the preferences in the Export Audio Mixdown dialog box.

On the Editor VST check the audio connection. Go to FILE > VSTi SETUP > this is where you set the RETURNs from the XF tone engine into the "Motif XF 1". This makes the stereo meter of the Motif XF VST audio lane move. And when properly connected you should hear the XF.

If you cannot hear the audio routed to this output. Check your FW MONITOR SETUP, in the lower left hand corner of the Editor screen.

When I have the OUTPUT SELECT of a PART in the VST EDITOR set to FW1&2 (or FW3&4, etc) and I do an Export Audio Mixdown, I get an audio track in Cubase containing the audio output of that PART. But when I have a PART set to OUTPUT SELECT = L&R, I get an empty audio track even though I can see audio meter activity on that audio lane during the export.

It happens this way for all three settings of FW MONITOR SETUP. When I have FW MONITOR SETUP set to "With PC," I don't hear anything from the speakers hooked up to my XF7.

As far as I can tell, I have everything set up correctly. I've uploaded my project file to http://spot.pcc.edu/~mtrigobo/music/MrDSad.zip if you want to take a look.

UPDATE:

I decided to try something different. I exported all of my tracks from the old project file, and saved the VST Editor settings in an X3E file.

Then I started with the VST Recording template and imported my MIDI and Marker tracks. This caused Cubase 8 Pro to crash, but when I re-opened the project, all my tracks were there in the new file. Then I opened the VST Editor and imported the X3E settings file.

Using this new project file, I can record the Parts that are routed to L&R in the VST Editor using Export Audio Mixdown.

I don’t know what’s wrong with my original project file. As far as I can tell, everything’s set up the same way, except for this:

In the new project file, in the VSTi Setup, Port 8 is set to Not Assigned/Not Assigned. In the Inputs section of VST Connections, there is just one input. Its name is “MOTIF XF AD Input,” and its left and right channels are set to MOTIF XF7 13 and MOTIF XF7 14 respectively. Finally, the audio track that was created by Export Audio Mixdown has its input set to “MOTIF XF AD Input.”

Are FW13 and FW14 supposed to be used as the return audio channel for a mixdown?

Anyway, I’ve gotten past this latest problem. But I’d be really curious (and it would be quite educational) to find out what was wrong with my original file, if you feel like looking at it.

Anyway, I’ve gotten past this latest problem. But I’d be really curious (and it would be quite educational) to find out what was wrong with my original file, if you feel like looking at it.

While we cannot be sure what you did to tie this up in a knot, we were able to untie the knot as follows:

You want to use the MAIN L&R pair (Motif XF 1) as the output and all PARTS are assigned "L&R"

In the lower left corner of the screen set the following and assume this is how you want it when it is working properly:

Set the QUICK SETUP = REC ON PC
Set the FW MONITOR SETUP = with PC

Now, as you load and playback your file everything looks normal but is not. I found it curious you choose to rename the Motif XF 1 as MAIN (and that bothered me), as I changed the OUTPUT of PARTs to FW1&2 or any other FW output I could hear the results but not see the audio. Hmmm!. This means you did not properly deactivate the OUTPUTS and what you think is Motif XF 1 is somehow not what it seems.

In the upper right corner of the screen find a small chevron that drops down your Editor Options.

Find ACTIVATE/DEACTIVATE OUTPUTS... Click on this option and DEACTIVATE all but the main STEREO OUTPUT. This will remove all the "missing" audio lanes (which you must have removed without actually deactivating, (some how) tsk, tsk, hiding them does not make them go away... I could still hear audio going through them) You can remove these other audio lanes ONLY by properly deactivating them - you can never deactivate the main L/R outputs. So this action will restore your REAL first Motif XF VST output 1.

Once you do this DEACTIVATION of all but the main stereo Outputs, magically, your file will begin to behave normally again. Audio will be heard properly through "Motif XF 1" and should Export for audio mixdown properly. In the future when you want to add a pair of FW outputs you must:
1) Assign the internal PART's OUTPUT SELECT to that FW pair, and
2) you must ACTIVATE the OUTPUT.

You can ACTIVATE or DEACTIVATE VST audio pairs either by clicking on the small triangle chevron in the right corner of the Editor VST or by clicking on the OUTPUT icon on the Cubase RACK INSTRUMENT area> the slot for the Motif XF VST - the OUTPUT icon looks like an arrow point OUT of a bracket: [-> on the far right of the MOTIF XF VST entry on the INSTRUMENT RACK. This accesses the same parameters, namely activating/deactivating XF VST Output pairs.