Either I’m doing something wrong, or this is a bug:

I finally got the VST editor to run on my machine.  Only problem is that the minute that the VST Editor is running in a Cubase project, then I completely lose the ability to record any audio.

I’ve narrowed down the problem.  If I go in Devices / VST connections, the Audio Device shows as “not connected”.  And of course, if I try to change that to ASIO mLAN it won’t go.  It just stays as Not Connected.

I also tried switching to my other sound card, and same problem.  The minute that the VST Editor is running, the audio inputs (In VST connections) don’t connect.

My setup: Motifs XS, PC laptop, Windows XP, Cubase 4.5 all latest updates installed.  PC and XS connected with mLAN through 1394.

Please help.

“Either I’m doing something wrong, or this is a bug”

The former, not the latter.

When you select to use the Motif XS as a VSTi you need to route your returning audio through its Editor. The VST Editor will determine where the audio arrives.

Perhaps we should start this explanation with what setting up the Motif XS as a VST Instrument actually means. As with any VST synth engine, what you are actually doing is creating a path for information to flow. Signal routing is always the key in any setup… You will be creating a path for MIDI data to arrive in Cubase, then have the MIDI data sent to the synth engine, then have the synth engines audio output return to an audio lane.

When you go to the DEVICES > VST INSTRUMENTS you launch the VST INSTRUMENT rack, and you can select the various VSTi

When you select a VSTi you are asked if you want to create a MIDI track assigned to that VST Instrument. Typically, you answer, OK and it automatically sets up a MIDI Track and a VST INSTRUMENT Folder that contains the VST INSTRUMENT “lane”. That lane will show you the returning audio signal - it is returning from the synth engine in response to the MIDI data you sent it.

What this is, in simple terms, is your routing. You are going to record MIDI data to the MIDI Track. That MIDI track is assigned to the VST INSTRUMENT (the MIDI Track’s MIDI OUT is going to be routed to the VST INSTRUMENT you selected). The VST INSTRUMENT engine will receive that incoming MIDI data and generate SOUND (audio)… that AUDIO will be received in the VST INSTRUMENT lane in the VST INSTRUMENT Folder.

The only difference with selecting the Motif XS Editor VST is that, you will notice when you go to DEVICES > VST INSTRUMENT and you launch the VST INSTRUMENT rack, the “Motif XS VST” is listed under “EXTERNAL”. Rather than the audio coming from some where else within your computer (like with a software VSTi), the MIDI data is routed OUT via the IEEE1394/mLAN MIDI connection and the AUDIO is RETURNED via the Motif XS’s IEEE1394/mLAN audio connection.

(...Not as you concluded, via the normal VST CONNECTION INPUT...) In fact, the RETURNING audio is handled (assigned) within the Motif XS EDITOR VST… and when you select the mLAN PORTS for the RETURN of the XS’s audio, they will be un-assigned in the VST CONNECTION INPUT screen. You are using them in the VST INSTRUMENT. Make sense?

On the VST INSTRUMENT rack you select the Motif XS VST as an EXTERNAL instrument so those audio connector are now used. As soon as you select the Motif XS VST, the first two firewire/mLAN RETURN channels are used. This is the main L&R;OUTPUT of the Motif XS.

You can if you wish, create up to 7 more stereo pairs of RETURNS (for a total of 8 stereo pairs). You do so by clicking on the little OUTPUT icon on the VST INSTRUMENT rack, next to the Motif XS VST [->] You can activate ALL or as many as you need.

You would use these additional stereo pairs when you conclude that you want to process a particular PART of your MIXING setup inside of Cubase (with whatever VST EFFECTS you may have). When you route a PART of your MIXING to say “m1&2;” it will be removed from the main XS L&R;outputs, it will be removed from the XS System Effects, Master Effects and Master EQ - it will be routed on a separate stereo bus to Cubase using the next stereo pair.

You would again, only do that when you want to process a PART separately (with effects you have in Cubase).

CONCLUSION:
So it is completely normal when you activate the Motif XS VST, that the audio connectors you use within the Motif XS will then become UNAVAILABLE for use in the VST CONNECTION INPUT window. You are, after all, using them for returning audio from the Motif XS as a VST.

Hope that helps.

BM, Thanks for taking the time.

Either I’m not undertanding your reply, or I haven’t set my question out clearly enough.  You seem to be responding about the audio coming out of the Motif (i.e. it’s synth sounds) whereas what I was originally referring to is the inability to record “audio” (as in sound from a microphone or external guitar or whatever).

As I plug in my microphone I can see the audio signal coming into Cubase, but only at the wrong place!  I can thee the meters going in the new track created by the VST instrument (which I understand is normal, since the signal seems to flow out this way).  However I can’t get any signal in the Cubase track that I created for this recroding.

I’ll do a simple example just to be clear:

I insert a Mono Audio track in Cubase.  I set it for recording.  The input of this track is set to Motif XS main in (I also tried setting it to Motif XS A/D input, and I,m still getting the same result).  The output of this track is set to motif XS Main out (again, tried others and didn’t make a difference).

I arm this track for recording, but no sound is coming into this track (meters are not moving).  I hit record, and all I get a an empty audio lane.

On the other hand, I can see the meters going on the Motif XS VST audio track.  But no audio is being recorded.

Hope this will clarify.

Probably wrong but here goes: -

Go to VST setup in the file menu of the VST Editor

Make one of the Stereo pairs unassigned

F4 in Cubase and create an input bus and connect it to that pair (which will now be available)

Route your AD input (Mic/Gtr etc) on the XS out via the same pair now no longer used by the VST Editor (eg mlan1&2;)
-This is found in (eg) Song=>Mixing=>Edit=>Common Edit under AD input.

Create a normal Audio track in Cubase and set its (no apostrophe) input to that pair

If i’m wrong, may I please have an ‘E’ for effort?

B

Yeah Boulez, that solved the problem!