Re: ***********QS8 NOT COMMUNICATING WITH CUBASE SE! :(:(:(:(*********

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Posted by body on July 28, 2005 at 15:12:09:

In Reply to: ***********QS8 NOT COMMUNICATING WITH CUBASE SE! :(:(:(:(********* posted by Classie83 on July 28, 2005 at 12:11:34:


Sounds like you're confusing the audio signal path and the midi signal path.

MIDI data contains no sound whatsoever. MIDI data corresponds to what you play on the keyboard: what note did you press, how hard did you press it, how long did you hold it, when did you press the sustain pedal, when did you release the sustain pedal, when did you move the pitch or modulation wheel or 1 of the sliders, etc.

So if you have just the midi cable hooked up to the pc, the only thing cubase can record is the midi data, which it can do. But until that midi data enters a midi device that can generate tone, you won't hear a thing. Most PC's have built-in midi synths (SoundFonts if you have a SoundBlaster soundcard) which range from cheesy to very good

Your QS8 has an internal tone generator. When you play your QS, what is actually happening is that your playing is generating midi message which the internal tone generator then plays the appropriate sounds. At the same time, your QS8 is also sending that same midi data to the midi out port.

Do you want to record the audio coming from the QS as you play, or the midi data?

Once you've recorded the midi data in Cubase, you can edit it. Did you play a wrong note? If so, you can change it or delete it. Did you hit a note too hard or soft, you can change the velocity of that note. Did you play a note too ealry or too late, you can move it. This way you can polish your performance before recording the audio.

When you record the audio in Cubase, you can't make all those changes. You can add effects to the audio recording and mix it, but you can't take out that bad note you played, etc.

Once you've perfected the midi recording, then you play the midi data back to the QS8 and record the audio in Cubase. Follow?

So, you need 2 midi cables. One going from the MIDI OUT of the QS8 to the MIDI IN on your pc. The other has the return path and goes from the MIDI OUT of the pc to the MIDI IN on the QS. Finally, you need one audio cable going from the the QS (the MAIN L&R, but you could use the headphone output in a pinch) to the line input on the pc (or its soundcard).

One thing to look out for...that setup will give you a midi loop, meaning that the midi out of the QS8 is indirectly connected to the midi in of the QS8. You can tell if your midi is looping easily...every time you hit a note, you will hear it twice with the 2nd sounding delayed by a fraction of a second. This is because the midi data that goes straight from your keyboard to its internal tone generator is instantaneous, while the same midi data which is duplicated at the QS' MIDI OUT travels to the PC and is re-transmitted back to the QS' MIDI IN and hits the tone generator a second time, effectively creating a midi echo.

To fix that, you have to turn the LOCAL to OFF on the QS8. This disengages the QS' tone generator from the QS' keyboard and modulators, so that it will respond only to midi data received at the MIDI IN port.


It all makes sense, but until someone explains it to you, it drives you mad!


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