C7 OSX 64bit and the Frontier Alphatrack

[Doctor Lupo]

Owners of the Frontier Alphatrack who are using C7 64bit in Mac OSX will be aware that Frontier (who seem to have closed down) never released a 64bit OSX plugin for Cubase 64bit.

This means that the unit can only be used if set to Protools HUI mode, where, thankfully some of the basic functions can be used, even if not as smoothly as the native mode.

In my workflow there are two main problems I find with this:

1) Selecting a track in Cubase does not automatically bring up the track on the Alphatrack
2) The final 7 channels in the project are not accessible from the Alphatrack. This is likely to be due to the "groups of 8" protocol in the HUI and can be worked around by inserting 7 empty tracks at the bottom of the project page.

I am trying to find a way to create my own remote device to work around these problems and would like to know whether there is any way to determine the midi messages Cubase sends out to a remote controller when selecting a track, for example, and whether these messages can be edited. Perhaps there is some document with all the midi message protocols that I have missed?

Any ideas?

[Martin.Jirsak]

In my own opinion, the best protocol is Mackie Control for this. This protocol listen all of these messages – like, which track is selected, what is the volume, pan, etc., of the track. And of course, you can define all (or lets say almost all) function of Cubase and of currently selected track.

[Doctor Lupo]

Unfortunately the Alphatrack responds to the Mackie HUI protocol, but not the Mackie Control protocol

[Satt]

Ever since I upgraded to 7.0.2, I have been unable to get my alphatrack to control anything other than the first track. Before the upgrade, I could move between tracks without any problem. I would really appreciate if anyone has a solution for this.

Regards,

Satt

[Doctor Lupo]

Ever since I upgraded to 7.0.2, I have been unable to get my alphatrack to control anything other than the first track. Before the upgrade, I could move between tracks without any problem. I would really appreciate if anyone has a solution for this.

Regards,

Satt

If you post your specs someone might help you

[Satt]

Doctor Lupo,

Thank you for your advice.

The relevant part of my setup is; Cubase 7.0.2 64-bit, iMac 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 12GB RAM, Alphatrack, Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP, Novation Impulse 61 and Steinberg Channel Controller.

It seems someone else who uses Faderport is experiencing the exactly same problem. So, it goes beyond a particular setup.

Regards,

Satt

[Doctor Lupo]

You can't use it in Native Mode - Frontier made no plugin for Cubase 64 bit and it seems like they're out of business. Set it to Mackie Hui mode and you will get some functionality. Add Mackie Hui in Devices and set the midi ports to alphatrack.

[Satt]

Thank you for your feedback.
I have been using my Alphatrack under the HUI mode.

Regards,

Satt