Motu 828 setup help: What am I doing wrong?

[tekara]

Hi guys,

Recently picked up a copy of Cubase and followed the instructions carefully in the operation manual (yes, I actually read the manual).

For the intermediate to expert guys out there, I seem to be at a stumbling block and I am not quite sure what I am doing that is wrong.
I currently have a Nord Lead 2X keyboard that I would like to control within Cubase 4. I'd like to record the MIDI notes, perhaps even add some MIDI effects on it,
and then print it down as audio into an audio channel.

From my interpretation of the manual, this is what I have done so far.

- The Nord Lead 2X is connected to channel 5-6 (stereo) input on my MOTU 828.

- The MIDI cables are plugged into port 5 in/out on my MIDI interface, MOTU MIDI Express 128

Cubase Settings:

1) MIDI Device Manager:
- clicked on INSTALL DEVICE
- selected NORD LEAD (mine is NORD LEAD 2X but I assume this is fine)
- selected MOTU EXPRESS 128 PORT 5 (since the MIDI cables are plugged into port 5 of the MIDI Express 128)

2) VST Connections:

-INPUTS - Bus Name: By default, there has been no Bus added, so I went ahead and added a new bus. Renamed it NORD LEAD 2x
- Under Audio Device, I selected my MOTU 828mk2
- Under Device Port, I selected MOTU 828mk2 channel 5/6 (since the output on the Nord Lead 2x were plugged directly to the inputs on 5/6 on my Motu 828)

-OUTPUTS - Bus Name: by default it was set to "Stereo In"
- Audio Device: I selected it to MOTU 828mk2
- Device Port: I selected it to Motu 828mk channel 1/2 (my monitors are not physically plugged into 1/2 channels, rather they are plugged into "Main Out L+R" for monitoring purposes.
I suspect this might be the problem of why I can't hear anything. But then I took the plugs out of L+R and plugged them into 1/2 to troubleshoot and I still couldn't hear any audio, so it
doesn't really make a difference)

EXTERNAL INSTRUMENTS - Bus Name: I selected Nord Lead
- Audio Device: again, I selected Motu 828mk2
- Device Port: I select Motu 828mk2 channel 5/6

Okay, so far so good.

Next I follow the instruction of the manual and click on "ADD INSTRUMENT TRACK" (by pressing F11).
I then see my Nord Lead 2x and double click on that.

In the sequencer, I clearly see 2 channels have been added. One is a MIDI channel and the other is an audio channel.
Clicking on the keys of the NL2X results in a MIDI signal on that MIDI channel, so that is setup properly.

However, on the audio track, clicking on the monitor button and striking keys results in no signal.
I hear the audio signal of course, but that is because I can hear the monitoring from CUEMIX which is the Motu828's software mixer.
But in terms of actually hearing a signal INSIDE Cubase 4, I do not see anything.

In the inspector track of the audio channel, I see that the output is routed to STEREO OUT.

Then I thought maybe this whole "instrument track" method is just a waste of time.

I decided to do it the old fashion of way of just manually creating a MIDI channel and an audio channel.
In the inspector of the audio channel, the only options i see for both in and outs are STEREO IN and STEREO OUT, respectively.

Still no audio.

Am I overlooking something very simple here? And if so, apologies for the rookie mistake. I got this to work on Cubase SX1 years ago
on my Virus, but for the past 6 years, I ditched hardware and went full VST. Now that I am experimenting with hardware gear, it seems
like I will need to polish up on some basic audio/MIDI routing capabilities.

Any help would be great, thanks!

[lodstudios]

Seems to me, if you are wanting to trigger sounds from the Nord, you will need another MIDI cable to tell your DAW that you want to use those sounds...no?

[artright]

Man , don't you remember the days of the 2" tape MCI recorder and the big AKG box timbre echo unit and the patch bays, the MCI 72/48/8/2 Mixer direct from England. The stuff that Brian Ferry did some of those great tunes on. Made a guitar sound like it was coming inside your head. Now I'M stuck on stuff like trying to work with the manufacturer directly for a home system.

Remember the days