I am a complete newb, so go easy. I’ve had the MO6 for a few weeks now and I can’t for the life of me figure out how to even begin configuring the device to control MIDI on my computer. I have the correct USB cable, and when I connect it to my computer it says “This device has installed correctly.” I can’t figure out what to do after this. I’ve read the manual over and over and have not been able to find any indication on cubase that my synthesizer is even plugged into the computer.

Anyone who could direct me to step-by-step instructions as to where I should begin would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

in cubase under device setup then midi port setup the mo6 should be visible suggesting that cubase is communicating with it

Your question is really a Cubase question so we moved it here to the STEINBERG forum.

In general, you should be using the Yamaha USB-MIDI Driver for your particular computer type and operating system. This is available from the official MO6/MO8 download page (link at the bottom of this post)

Once you have installed the driver on your computer, you need to set the MO to use USB as the MIDI communication type:
Press [UTILITY]
Press [F5] MIDI
Press [SF4] OTHER
Set MIDI IN/OUT = USB

Also Press [sf2] SWITCH
Set LOCAL CONTROL = OFF
(This will disconnect the MO keybed from the MO tone generator… you will be using Cubase’s MIDI Track to THRU (or echo) the MIDI signal back to the MO.
Press [STORE] to write this to your preferences.

When using the MO with a sequencer (be it the internal sequencer or an external sequencer like Cubase) you need to select one of the two MUTLT PART SEQUENCER modes: SONG or PATTERN
Press SONG and call up a blank location. You now have the ability to select 16 different sounds for this program…
Press MIXING

You may have already done the above but we state it here just in case. Now in Cubase 5:

Go to DEVICES > DEVICE SETUP… > MIDI > MIDI PORT SETUP
Here you will see the various MIDI Devices - in the column labeled “IN ALL MIDI INPUTS” you will want to check *just* those PORTS that will be sending MIDI data to your MIDI tracks: That is
“Yamaha MO6-1” PORT 1

Be sure to clear the other PORTS in this column.
Click APPLY
Click OK

Now when you go to the main Cubase Track View and create a MIDI track, it should be able to receive MIDI input from the MO.
Each MIDI track has a MIDI IN (typically set to “IN ALL INPUTS” - which is the MO’s Port 1
Each MIDI track has a MIDI OUT - you will direct this to the “Yamaha MO6-1”
Each MIDI Track has a MIDI Channel 1-16 - this will determine which of the MO PARTs, 1-16, will sound.

In general, you must select a track in Cubase in order to hear the sound associated with that track. Each Track is set to transmit on a particular MIDI channel. Remember LOCAL CONTROL is OFF so Cubase is going to determine which PART of your MO is going to sound.

If you create 16 MIDI tracks, and you select the track assigned to MIDI CHANNEL 4, then PART 4 in the MO will sound. If you select a track assigned to MIDI channel 12, then PART 12 in the MO will sound… and so on.

If you do not select a MIDI track in Cubase your MO will not make any sound.

That should get you started.

http://www.yamahasynth.com/downloads/drivers_software/synthesizers/mo/all/

Thank you both so much for you help, I really appreciate. Best of luck to both of you in your musical career.