I recently purchased a Motif XS8 which came with the Cubase AI4 software which has been upgraded to 4.5.2.  Installed the AI driver, SM 2.0, and Editor 1.2.0. 

First off, I’m a musician/songwriter not an engineer so I don’t really understand how to do everything I need to do to get everything working correctly, nor do I have much patience for it, but I’m willing to learn.  I’ve followed numerous setup guides and tutorials about making connections and integration, but it has been like learning a foreign language.

For the longest time, I have been using a Edirol UA-4FX audio interface with standard MIDI sync using Cubase VST 5.0 to record audio from my keyboard sequencer.  Record enable Cubase and press play on the sequencer and Cubase would sync with the sequencer and record my audio using the MIDI clock as reference. 

I can’t seem to figure out how to get Cubase 4.5.2 to do the same thing with the XS… and it’s frustrating me.

So without going into too much detail, how do I accomplish this with my new setup.

The mLAN audio signal in Cubase is also very low for recording…

Any other reference material or recommendations are welcome.

Forgive me, I’m new at this… Thanks.

Hi, it will help if you put more informations about your computer.
Mac or windows, the OS ? How many ram you have on it, what processor .........

AMD64 +3200 processor, 2GB(4x512MB)Dual-Channel DDR400 RAM, Windows XP SP3.  Gigabyte K8N-SLI Motherboard.

To setup Cubase 4.5.2 as the Master MIDI clock:
Go to TRANSPORT on the menu bar
Select PROJECT SYNCHRONIZATION SETUP…
Under MIDI CLOCK OUT > mark the “Motif XS” which is mLAN port 1 (see screen shot below).

To setup the Motif XS to slave to MIDI clock:
Go to [UTILITY]
Press [F5] CONTROL
Press [SF2] MIDI
Set the MIDI SYNC = MIDI
Set the SEQUENCER CONTROL = IN

Now when you start and stop Cubase, the Motif XS sequencer will follow along. You should set tempo in Cubase.

The mLAN audio signal in Cubase is also very low for recording…

The audio signal strength going out via mLAN is a function of the velocity and track volume per track… the overall mLAN output can be set:

Press [UTILITY]
Press [F2] I/O
Here you can see the GAIN for each output. You may need to raise your outputs to +6dB if you have tracks with low velocity performances. Velocity, as you may know, is a measure measure of how strongly you pressed the keys and is scaled from 0 (off) through 127 (max). If your tracks avearage velocity is in the 50-70 range you may find that the audio signal generated by these tracks is fairly low.

Click thumbnail to see full-size image

Thanks.  I used to own the original Motif but it’s been a long time.  I knew in a general way how to setup the XS I just don’t understand the new Cubase and all the connections.  I have the ASK Tutorials on Cubase 4 but have only watched them once.  I will probably buy the Music Production PowerPak as well.  I’ve also been playing with your:

Advanced Application: mLAN Audio Setup tutorial

Cubase 4 is really nice, I like it a lot so I’m glad I’ve gotten this far.

The mLAN output is at +6dB and I increased volume on the mixer to 127.  The signal is still lower than I am used to with analog recording, but leaves overhead for mixing and effects so it’s not all bad I suppose.

Next to learn is how to record multiple audio tracks from the sequencer into Cubase 4.  Back to the connections tutorial…

in Cubase 4, in the mixer, you can adjust the Gain Input in your mixer if you feel uncomfortable with the mLan Input levels and wish to compensate them. Unlike with analog recorders, you don’t have to fear signal/noise ratio becoming bad.

Please refer to the page 143 of your Cubase 4 manual. Please note this is only possible with the top version of Cubase (not Cubase Studio 4).