I just thought it worth mentioning here that the FTP App is not even really required. For playing synths in standalone OR in Cubase.
You can use Hardware mode (or Basic mode, which is just a poly hardware mode) and just open any synth in standalone and play it. The FTP acts just like any other MIDI controller. In Cubase, you can just load your synth as a Rack Instrument or Track Instrument and assign the FTP as the MIDI input. The only thing that using the FTP App gets you is the ability to save “patches” with different synths and different FTP controller profiles and jump around them quickly. If you really want to use Halion 6 (or any other synth that doesn’t seem to behave correctly in the FTP App), just close the FTP App, open Halion 6 and assign the FTP as the MIDI input. When turned on, the FTP defaults to Basic mode which is POLY (all notes go to MIDI channel 1). If you want Mono mode (each string goes to its own MIDI channel 1-6) then you just have to hold the D-Pad up while you turn on the FTP and it goes into Hardware mode. The trick to make it really easy is to change the hardware profile #1 to a MONO mode and save it (it is a poly mode by factory default). The FTP App will copy that to the controller and when you power up in Hardware mode, the controller will default to hardware profile #1 (which you have saved as a MONO mode profile. While in Hardware mode, you can switch between about 240 different hardware configurations for poly/mono mode, different sensitivity settings, program change #s, MSB, LSB, Dynamic offsets, etc., but you just need to use the FTP App to set up those different profiles.
So, to summarize, I think two profiles will cover 99% of users applications. A Basic Poly mode, where all notes go out on MIDI channel 1 and a Simple Mono mode, where each string’s notes go out on their own channel (1-6). If you want poly mode, just turn the FTP on and start playing. If you want a Mono Mode, hold the D-Pad up while turning on the FTP and you have it.
All of this works inside of Cubase also, just like any other MIDI controller. Just put your instrument in the Rack or on an Instrument track, and assign the FTP as the MIDI input of the Instrument Track or connected MIDI track.
I also wanted to add that, for any guitarists out there that are just beginners on keys (like me) trying to add keys and synths to their songs in Cubase, a guitar MIDI controller is a huge help. When experimenting with ideas and sounds, there are things you can do on a guitar that can’t be done on keys (and vice versa, of course, hence the need to still have a MIDI keyboard) but most importantly, for a guitar player, you know your way around the fretboard so much better than the keys. Maybe even the final take is done with a keyboard but when coming up with the passages, phrases, etc., more ideas come up on an instrument you are familiar with. It is also just a lot of fun controlling some stuff with guitar. Not just synths either. Sound generators, drums, groove boxes, etc.