Well, you cannot "master in MIDI". MIDI has never been heard - it is a series of coded messages that trigger a synth tone engine and then become Audio.

_ You can print audio tracks by going to DEVICES > VST CONNECTIONS route the XF audio directly to an Audio Track. You would do so by either recording directly to the audio track or by playing back your Cubase MIDI Tracks to the XF tone engine and then have the XF RETURN Audio to an Audio Track via an assignment made on the VST CONNECTIONS > INPUT tab.

_ You can print audio tracks by DEVICES > VST INSTRUMENT > External > MOTIF XF VST... The Cubase MIDI track will output data to the XF VST which will cause the XF tone engine to RETURN audio to the Motif XF VST virtual Audio lane ... Where you can further process it with effect plugins, if you wish. While audio is returned via VST Routing, you will be able to use Cubase's EXPORT AUDIO MIXDOWN to render Audio Tracks when ready to "commit".

The advantages of each, you should discover for yourself. The former "commits" to audio immediately. The latter allows you more flexibility and more time to change your mind before "committing" to audio; and is the way to process the audio with VST Effect plugins.

I think that's what I was doing so far......so you suggest doing mixing and effects in midi and then to do audioomix to let's say my desk top and then dropping in back to cubase for mastering right?
When I do audioomix down this way I end up with one audio track for all instruments, in all the toutorias they have separate audio track for each instrument . They are explaining how to record each midi track to audio track but I have 16 midi tracks, I don't think I have to do it separately for each midi track, there has to be an option for "write each midi track to separate audio track " all at once right? I'm definitely walking against the current here 🙂
I have 16 midi tracks recorded via fire wire from motif , I did some editing in cubase. Now shall I mix in midi ?and then how I convert 16 midi to 16 audio tracks? Or maybe have midi and audio on additional tracks at the same time? So much confusion with theses non music issues....

These are music production issues. In general, you print a separate audio track for a particular musical part if you are going to process it separately from what you already have in the Motif XF. Since in the Motif XF each PART has its own 3-band EQ you do not have to separate them for this purpose. You have 8 PARTS that can use dual Insertion Effects at a time. If you needed more, for example, that is a reason to render some of the PARTS to separate audio tracks.

In other words, if you want to wind up with a result where each of you 16 musical parts could take advantage of the XF's dual Insertion Effects, you would need to print at least eight of them as separate audio tracks. Once printed in audio you can reallocate the Insertion Effect switches to the other 8 PARTS. Make sense?

You can, at any time, print an XF Part as an audio track (commit it to a audio - audio being a permanent snapshot of that particular instrument's performance). Once you have the part as audio you can MUTE the MIDI track.

welcome to the world or production - to say it is non music issue is a mistake - it is very much a Music issue!!! 🙂 Its a Music Production issue!

Yes I understand . I think I'm getting confused because I'm using vst editor and cubase mix console at the same time. I'm having panning and volumes and eqsualisers in both . If I'm using only 16 tracks from motif I probabily should use just vst editor right? I'm using mix console because I have the volume scale measurement there. See all these toutorias explain issues without considering the fire wire set up. So they say you have to convert to audio for mixing and mastering and they do everything in audio there. I just want know th correct steps after I edited everything I wanted in midi , I want to move to mixing and mastering steps , I was doing mixing in midi but they show everything in audio.i think for mastering I need to see every instrument audio track right? I'm just trying to get to the point that I can follow this toutorial I bought, as I'm new to many things here.

i think for mastering I need to see every instrument audio track right?

This is at the heart of you confusion. On the Cubase Mixer you can select what you would like to see. You can look at MIDI Track activity, you can look at Audio Track metering, and you can look at virtual Audio Lane metering... You can also set your mixer to view INPUTS and OUTPUTS... in addition to all the individual MIDI, audio and virtual audio channels.

If you were triggering the Motif XF without the FW connection (this would mean you were only connected by a USB cable) you would have no method to Mixdown the Motif XF for a .WAV and therefore no way to Master the project.

Because you have the FW connection you have two ways to get that audio over to Cubase. You can either route the Motif XF parts directly to an AUDIO TRACK (via the VST CONNECTIONS > INPUT Tab) or you can setup to use the Motif XF Editor VST - which returns the AUDIO to the VST INSTRUMENT's virtual AUDIO LANE. This allows you to receive audio signal into Cubase. You can process it in exactly the same way any computer-based VSTi plugin (SoftSynth) would be processed, operated and recorded. You would go to FILE > EXPORT > AUDIO MIXDOWN - when you are ready to RENDER a proper AUDIO Waveform for the data.

you can MIXDOWN the entire project - or you can select a specific Track to render as a Waveform... that is a key thing to understand. You do not have to do everything at once. And as you get more comfortable, you will relax and work with just what you need to accomplish your goal. You will have to trust me on this - it is part of the learning curve. Finding your own "workflow".

In order to be included in the Export AUDIO MIXDOWN, a track must be either already an AUDIO Track or it must a virtual AUDIO Lane... (audio returned via the internal or external VSTi routing scenario)

MIDI, never gets to AUDIO MIXDOWN without the above two methods - MIDI cannot be heard. Which one of the two you use is up to you. I suggest you try both - learn to use both. Get comfortable with both. Then you will begin to feel comfortable with which will best serve your creative needs.

I can walk you through them, (one at a time, however) but you should endeavor to work both methods of transferring audio from the XF to Cubase. It will help you get comfortable when you understand what each is doing and how they work.

You probably are thinking about things in nice neat blocks - that is how we all think before we start a Project. "I'll rcord all the tracks, then I'll mix them all down together." But there are going to be times when you need to do things in separate passes. You may decide to do something special to a Bass sound, you might simply render just the Bass to an audio track - in this case, you would then MUTE the MIDI Track (once you render the bass to an audio track, you no longer need to have the MIDI data triggering the XF tone generator)... you can "keep" that MIDI Track as a safety (backup)... many Cubase power users simply create a TRACK FOLDER for such tracks - they drag that track into it and close it so it doesn't take up room on their track screen. You can keep all you muted tracks in a separate Folder.

The examples they give in the Tutorials will apply, in general to all devices you might connect or use. There is no synth that has 16 bus outputs via FW like the Motif XF - so I guess it is a bit different. But there are certainly other MULTI-Channeled VSTi... and the Motif XF can be treated exactly like any of those. You can only run one instance of the 16 Part engine because you only purchased one Motif XF 🙂

I suggest rather than experimenting on your project - setup a temporary experiment Project to learn about the routing, step-by-step. That way you can see what your options are. Take your time. It will come.

Thank you Bad Mister for your help.
Yes, so I menaged to do audioomix down into the project window. I have an audio track (of all the MIDI tracks) under midi tracks .
Im Thinking that just to keep it sample i will do mixing in midi and use only vst editor and I think that you said that if I will need more then 16 tracks I can just freeze them and add another 16 tracks and use vst editor for them as well right? And then I will do audiomixdown (like I just did) into project window and start mastering. Does this plan sound good , am I missing something?

Also what is my stereo out put channel , the one that is deciding of my general volume when I do audiomixdown? Because it's not in my project , is it the Motif XF Main?

As in any multi-track mixdown, your overall stereo level is a sum of all the individual Tracks that make it up. When you you ask "...what is my stereo out put channel..." - are you looking for a single fader that controls the overall output of the DAW? That can be found on your MIXER (if you have chosen to show it) - It will be labeled STEREO OUT and is typically found on the right side of the mixer.It is a SUM of all the individual channels being routed to the main Stereo Bus.

I don't have stereo output channel, I have 3 output channels :
Motif XF Main
Motif XF Asgn
Motif XF FW
And they all change volume when I move them , I just don't know which one is the equivalent of "stereo output channel" the one that ajusts final audio when exporting?.

Perhaps I am not understanding the question. The "one that adjusts final audio when exporting" is found, again, on the Cubase Mixer and is labeled "STEREO OUT".

The audio coming from the Motif XF - each Part has a volume slider (CS) that affects the level accumulated to make the stereo result. The CS determines how much each Part is sending to the mix. If you need to turn up or down the entire signal being exported to EXPORT > AUDIO MIXDOWN - it is found in Cubase on the Cubase Mixer, labeled "STEREO OUT".

There is nothing called stereo out. Even in the search track /channel option at the left top of cubase mix console. Here is the picture attached.....

Picture

In your third screenshot you are showing the Motif XF VST settings. Do you see the other Tab partially hidden by your MOTIF XF VST channels, You can see part of it underneath, it's labeled "VISIBILITY", look there and make the STEREO OUT channel visible.

I'm away from my gear right now, but to put the Stereo Channel fader in your Mixer you must Mark it as visible... You can choose to show or hide any of the channels, as you desire. By default the Stereo Out usually shows, so you had to have deselected at some point, it if it does not appear.

Yes, I've been in the visibility many times , it's not there, that's why started using search option thinking maybe it's hiding somehow else.
Then I thought it must be one of the channels with red sliders on the right but under different name.