Very interesting and educational. I had no idea about activation/deactivation vs visibility. Is it possible for an output to be both visible and deactivated?

I followed your instructions and deactivated all but the main stereo output. Then I tried to record audio and it still didn't work.

So I went back into the VST Editor and deactivated the main stereo output. Then I reactivated it, and it came back named MOTIF XF 1 instead of "Main," the way I previously had it. I tried to record audio and this time it worked!

I wanted to have more mnemonic names for the outputs, which is why I renamed MOTIF XF 1 to be "Main" instead. But this seems to be part of the problem, and I will never do it again.

I'm curious why it "bothered" you that I renamed MOTIF XF 1. Is there something specific you know about why that's a bad idea? Or was it an experience-based instinct you had that turned out to be totally accurate? I know about that kind of instinct because after 30 years of programming I have very strong instincts about how to write code, and it often turns out that those instincts are correct even when I have no explicitly articulable idea of why I feel that way.

But if you know something specific about why renaming an output is a bad idea I'd be happy to hear about it.

And thanks again for taking the trouble…

I wanted to have more mnemonic names for the outputs, which is why I renamed MOTIF XF 1 to be "Main" instead. But this seems to be part of the problem, and I will never do it again.

You can name it anything you want, but you have to rename the correct one... you cannot just name any one of them and think that it is the Motif XF 1, you have to rename the one that actually is Motif XF 1. Some how you did not.

I'm curious why it "bothered" you that I renamed MOTIF XF 1. Is there something specific you know about why that's a bad idea? Or was it an experience-based instinct you had that turned out to be totally accurate? I know about that kind of instinct because after 30 years of programming I have very strong instincts about how to write code, and it often turns out that those instincts are correct even when I have no explicitly articulable idea of why I feel that way.

The Setup is so straight forward I was simply looking for things OUT OF THE ORDINARY that might have led to your situation. And thinking you were renaming the AUDIO LANE was unusual and lead me to the error. Now, as I mentioned, I still don't know how you mixed up which audio output was activate... but just because you told me that you renamed the MOTIF XF 1 to something different, caused me to investigate that - simply because it is something YOU did on your own.

And sure enough that lead me to the error. It is not that you named it, but that you named something "Main" but sorry it was not the right one. You some how, again, on your own, changed the OUTPUT "Motif XF 1" - so simply redoing the creation of the OUTPUTS straightened out the issue. It is not that you renamed it, it is something you did before you renamed it - sorry, I cannot duplicate what you did. But suffice it to say, what you thought was MOTIF XF 1 was not working as it should.

Renaming it did not cause the error, Renaming it is fine (but that is not all that you did, apparently) it was something else you did. Renaming it left enough bread crumbs for me to investigate why only the L&R assigned PARTS were not sounding. That Motif XF 1 was not only renamed but rerouted to oblivion some how. Straightening that out returned things to normal.

I'm not so interested in what you did to break the routing, only in how to fix it and properly route the signal.

1) You want QUICK SETUP = "REC ON PC" (that is what you are doing)
2) You want FW MONITOR SETUP = "with PC" (that routes audio to RETURN via the AUDIO LANES)
3) If you are attempting to lay down new data, then your setting should move to "PC(Drct) "live" sound will be routed and monitored direct, all other tracks will return as per "with PC"

Renaming an AUDIO LANE did not cause the problem. It is entirely unrelated to the issue. The fact that you had activated all 8 Stereo outputs, but then REMOVED them from the Track Inspector was my RED FLAG. Do you remember removing them? When you created them and you did so by activating the Outputs (they did not get activated by themselves) they appear in the Track Inspector as additional AUDIO LANES. Each time you activate a pair of outputs a corresponding AUDIO LANE will appear.

For a Track to be changed to OUTPUT SELECT = FW1&2 and then for me to hear it without seeing the AUDIO LANE for it, made me know that you had done some NON-TRADITIONAL (we'll call it that, for lack of a better term) Programming. You hid the AUDIO LANEs that were active (not at all sure why, you would do that) I just found that out by going over your Project as you posted it.

So at that point I was not sure whether the one you named MAIN was in fact, the Motif XF 1 or not. Seems like you maybe started with a TEMPLATE, finding it did not work for you perhaps you attempted to edit it, truly I'm not sure how you painted yourself in the particular corner, I just observed that you were in the corner and followed the only clues you left behind. In order for me to change a PART to FW1&2 and still be able to hear the audio without seeing an AUDIO LANE, indicated the problem. Not the NAME. But the fact that the renamed AUDIO LANE was not behaving as it should. It was showing level, but not delivering it to the MAIN output. Obviously it was not the MAIN output.

Since you cannot get rid of the MAIN L&R OUTPUTS, all I did was DEACTIVATE the 7 pairs of unused OUTPUTS and lo and behold, the "MAIN" audio lane was restored to its functionality.

I don't really know what I did either. I suspect it had to do with my not knowing about activating/deactivating outputs. I thought I was just making the ones I needed visible and hiding the ones I wasn't using.

I didn't start with a template. I started with an empty Cubase project. I figured I would learn more by doing it that way. I think I did, but it took a significant investment of time. It worked out well. I learned some important new things and now understand routing much better.

Anyway, now things are working thanks to your help, and I'm pretty sure I won't get into that particular kind of trouble again.