MAJOR CONFUSION WITH EXTERNAL INSTRUMENTS

2019 10:01 pm
Hello all I am a new user and going through a steep learning curve.
I am just going crazy trying to setup and route external instruments in 9.5 and it’s confusing the s***t out of me(are we aloud to curse here because that’s what I feel like doing) does everyone at Steinberg not use hardware, because I called there too and told me, most people don’t
?? Well ok, I guess I’m a dinosaur at the young/old age of 40. I have alot of hardware, and I want to use it, but there are things that I’m just not understanding.
I’m using a pc and my Presonus AR16 mixer as an interface along with my motu midi PATCHBAY, and a nektar p4 controller and quite a few full synths THAT I don’t want to use with a controller, or it would defeat the entire purpose of working with classic synths, with all of the knobs, bells and whistles, already on them. I had to repeat that close to five times when I called Steinberg. They told me “most people dont do it that way , they control full synths with a controller” unbelievable and I also have modules with no usb connections, only midi and I am having a really tough time getting everything right.
I can deal with the hardware that have USB connections, I create an audio track and choose not connected in the inspector and it works, but with no midi and I’m sure there is a better way than that. But as far as the ones with no USB, I’m screwing up really bad…
If anyone can be kind enough to give me some pointers, doo’s and don’ts it would be of great help, because I’m really starting to think it’s me, and I feel like I’m SLOW , LOL. Thanks and I’m looking forward to everyone’s comments.

No one can offer you any advice based on this post. You have included zero information about what you are specifically trying to accomplish. Also you might want to scale back and just focus on getting one specific synth working instead of everything at once. After you’ve done that the rest will be similar.

Things like:
I have an ABC synth that is connected to my XYZ audio interface on port N, and its midi is connected to…
In Cubase I’ve configured the Input & Output Busses like…
I’m trying to get it so when I do blah, blah, blah this specific thing happens

I assume you’ve read the section of the Ops Manual on configuring External Devices.

Thank you very much for your honesty, when I read my post, your right, I’m not specific, about what I’m doing, I guess I was speaking more out of frustration than being clear for this forum for anyone to reply to me, any type of answer or help. I will look everything over and post it as soon as I can. Thank you !!

No problem. DAWs are big complicated beasts and it’s easy to get frustrated when you can’t quite sort something out.

48 year old dinosaur here…
Your post is indeed a bit confusing…
I don’t have much gear that classifies as classic synths, but my Alesis D4 and Quasimidi Quasar (and my old Roland W-30 that I don’t really use anymore) only have Midi, no USB. I use my old eMagic Unitor8 Midi interface to “control” them.
But I don’t understand why you have a Nektar controller, when you don’t want to use a controller?? :confused:

The easiest way ist connect the Synth to your AR16 mixer.
In Cubase under VST Connection (F4) build a new input connection for each available AR16 input.
Under Audio/ASIO System turn of direct monitoring, because you here directly from the AR16 mixer itself.
Now you can select the individual inputs on each track.