Cubase has a built-in keyboard switch which can be found & activated automatically on the “Transport Bar”…this will allow your keyboard to input midi…
To view the virtual keyboard, select it from the Transport’s display menu by right-clicking on the Transport and then selecting Virtual Keyboard from the top of the menu. By default, the keyboard appears in (what I call) “QWERTY mode.” In this view, you see your QWERTY keyboard laid out in a pattern similar to that of a piano keyboard. The letter Q represents the pitch C, the number 2 represents C sharp, and so on through to the letter I, which represents one octave above the original C. Numbers 1, 4, and 8 are irrelevant on the QWERTY keyboard because they fall in non-piano keyboard-like places. This means when you type a Q on your QWERTY keyboard you should hear (and input) a C-pitched note. You can adjust the single octave to focus on any of the seven octaves in the keyboard’s seven-octave range (C1 through C5) by using the virtual buttons located just below the virtual keyboard. You can adjust the input velocity by using the slider on the right of the keyboard. You can also switch the view to a keyboard that has more of a piano-style look. Keep in mind that with this display you can still only utilize the same keys on your QWERTY keyboard, but you can also use your mouse to play other keys (or perhaps do one of those Jerry Lee Lewis piano slides). Not that you’ll be playing this virtual keyboard like Liberace—you can only play two notes at once.
Unfortunately, this means that no triads or full chords are possible in real time. Of course, in order to hear anything, you’ll need to have a MIDI track with its output selected to an activated VST instrument (or external synth). You can also use this virtual keyboard to audition your synths when using the MediaBay. So even though this little keyboard is limiting, it can be a handy feature to have at your disposal (especially for the ever-expanding group of laptop DAW users out there).