Hi all,
I recently sold my Mo6 to this very kind person.  They wrote me a question that I kinda have an idea what might be happening, but I dont want to send them “chasing thier tail”.
Heres what they wrote me:

Hi! Hopefully you remember me from when I bought the synth. I was just wondering if you could help me out on a small matter. I’ve finally gotten all my gear in and set up...but keep in mind I’m new to recording. I have the synth hooked up via MIDI (in and out) cables to my interface which is hooked up to my computer. I also have a digital audio out cable running to an analog in on the interace. I set up a MIDI track in Cubase, and see the levels rise when I press a note on the synth...but I can not hear a thing (yes, I have the monitor button on). Now I have already figured out how to record straight audio from mic’s and have used my synth to control the VST intstruments in Cubase, but I am so frustrated because as of now I cannot use my own synth’s sounds!! I was wondering if you could be so kind as to give some assistance.
Thanks, Erik

I myself havent used Cubase in over a year (did all my recording on the onboard work station).

Im thinking a setting in device manager in Cubase (in-out maybe) but they have a monitor level reading.Or a setting in midi within the keyboard. (in-out also)

They also wrote, “I also have a digital audio out cable running to an analog in on the interace” Just for my knowledge,doesnt this signal the spdif (digital) out (keyboard) have to go to digital in (audio interface)? How could they be getting audio with digital out to analog in?
Thanks everyone. I’ll sent a link back to Eric to this posting and remind them to pullup a chair for a long stay and make this thier favorite website.
Best to all you kind folks,
-Dez

Re: Can you kind folks help out a new user?

I also have a digital audio out cable running to an analog in on the interace.

You’re right, I see a problem right here. You cannot connect a digital Out to an analog In… that simply is not going to work.

Perhaps the user is also not aware that the MO has a built in MIDI interface which allows you to connect it directly to the computer via a USB cable. The USB connection will take care of the MIDI communication back and forth to the computer.

Audio is a different matter… You only need to connect audio to the computer if you are going to record digital audio to a program like Cubase.

The audio Output of the MO should be connected directly to a quality sound system. It appears like they think sound is going to come out of their computer speakers (mostly that is not what you want to do)… Computer speakers and the soundcard that comes with most computers are not designed for music production, even at the hobbyist level (they are fine for games and audio like “you’ve got mail” or sound efx but not for critical music production. So what people do is get an external audio interface. (Like the AudioGram units)

If they buy an external audio interface - that interface would then connect to their monitor speakers. And folks typically get a pair of quality studio monitors for mixing.

Yamaha Mixers and Audio interfaces

Yamaha Studio Monitors

Re: Can you kind folks help out a new user?

Thank You as always Bad Mister.
Can you or anyone adress this part of the question they had also…
“I set up a MIDI track in Cubase, and see the levels rise when I press a note on the synth...but I can not hear a thing (yes, I have the monitor button on). “
Im thinking they can see the monitor bars rising on a track in Cubase, but cant hear any sound. So, cubase isnt playing back through the synth to the monitors?
I have not a clue of thier gear,ie if they have monitors or are trying to playback through thier PC. If thier trying to playback through thier PC,it sounds like a soundcard setting or line-in setting? I also dont know what or if a audio interface involved.(sounds like they have one)
I’ll try to get more info from them.
Thanks all
Dez
Thanks everyone,
Dez

Re: Can you kind folks help out a new user?

MIDI cannot be heard, technically speaking. So you can be sending MIDI data and Cubase can be receiving it… and all this could take place with not even a sound.

MIDI data is like the paper roll that goes in a player piano. The holes in the paper represent the musical notes, but without a tone generator to interpret those holes the roll of paper is, well, just a roll of paper.

So without knowing how the MO is setup audio wise… as you determined correctly connecting a digital output to an analog input gets you nothing.

This is why I stated that I think they are thinking that sound will come out of their computer speakers (which is not the case). If they plug in headphones or connect the 1/4” outputs of the MO to a sound system, I am sure they will hear its sound. 

But as far as I can tell, without more detailed information, they are not hearing the MO at all at any time (has nothing to do with Cubase). You have to connected to a sound system.

Re: Can you kind folks help out a new user?

I do hear sounds when I connect headphones to the synth or connect the synth to speakers. 

Sorry if I havn’t been clear.  I would to MIDI the synths sounds to my interface (ultralite mkIII)....that info to Cubase.  But I need an audio signal being sent to to my interface as well so 1) I can use the interface’s eq and effects
2) I can have audio running out of the interface so I can listen to the performance I play as I record it through Cubase


Thanks for the responses!