Chord Pads Output Should Be Routable via MIDI Out -> Input

The current implementation of Chord Pads does not allow the user to precisely control which channels receive the MIDI data they generate.

Using the monitoring switch to control this is not sufficient, because it is a common use case to have several channels with monitoring enabled but to want only a subset of these channels to receive the Chord Pads’ output.

Therefore, an obvious solution would be to have Chord Pads as a MIDI output and to be able to route this output as a MIDI input for the channels one desires. This is very intuitive and provides much better control.

The feature has implicitly been requested by several users in the General discussion forum:

I’m all for opening up the port routes inside Cubase MIDI.

I’ve been able to do what you ask but through a hidden routing section. It’s not pretty but it works. What you suggest, much better.

If it makes MIDI, I should be able to connect it anywhere that hears MIDI!

Don’t forget the MIDI sends!

Currently there are odd limitations such as this Chord output. And VSTi MIDI outputs not being sendable. More obscure is the missing send to a MIDI track. Still I implore Steinberg to consider why any port should not be available.

wilcofan, can you please elaborate on the solution you have found?

Hi, sorry I was on vacation. The trick is to send the chord track to a vsti with a pass-through midi output. Then from the tracks you want to use, for each one set it’s input to this “VSTi Midi Out”.

A few plugs from PizMidi will do that. Remember to turn input monitoring on for the “routing” plugin.

Hi wilcofan, thanks for your input, but if I still need to enable input monitoring to get the Chord Pads MIDI data, then it’s not a solution to my problem, unfortunately. The main issue that I have is that I need to enable input monitoring on other tracks that are not supposed to receive Chord Pads MIDI (but data from other sources instead). And currently, it seems there is no way to prevent them from receiving the Chord Pads MIDI data - or am I missing something?

I found the solution to my problem. It was somewhat easy to miss, but since Cubase 8.0.2, it is possible to set the player type in the “Chords” inspector of MIDI and instruments tracks to “No player”, such that they will not be triggered by chord pads even if input monitoring is enabled.

Although it is not as intuitive as the solution I proposed, it achieves the same thing, so I am happy it’s sorted out. I’m slightly surprised that no one pointed me to the solution though…