User manual

124
Recording
MIDI recording specifics
MIDI recording specifics
Activating MIDI Thru
Normally, when working with MIDI, you will have MIDI Thru activated in Cubase, and
Local Off selected in your MIDI instruments. In this mode, everything you play during
recording will be “echoed” back out again on the MIDI output and channel selected
for the recording track.
1. Make sure that the “MIDI Thru Active” option is activated in the Preferences dialog
(MIDI page).
2. Record enable the tracks on which you want to record.
Now, incoming MIDI is “echoed” back out again for all record-enabled MIDI tracks.
Ö If you just want to use the Thru function for a MIDI track without recording, activate the
monitor button for the track instead. This is useful, for instance, if you want to try out
different sounds or play a VST instrument in realtime without recording your playing.
Setting MIDI channel, input, and output
Setting the MIDI channel in the instrument
Most MIDI synthesizers can play several sounds at the same time, each on a different
MIDI channel. This is the key to playing back several sounds (bass, piano, etc.) from
the same instrument. Some devices (such as General MIDI compatible sound
modules) always receive on all 16 MIDI channels. If you have such an instrument,
there is no specific setting you need to make in the instrument. On other instruments,
you will have to use the front panel controls to set up a number of “Parts”, “Timbres”
or similar so that they receive on one MIDI channel each. See the manual that came
with your instrument for more information.
Naming MIDI ports in Cubase
MIDI inputs and outputs are often displayed with unnecessarily long and complicated
names. However, you can rename your MIDI ports to more descriptive names:
1. Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu.
2. Select the MIDI Port Setup item in the Device list.
The available MIDI inputs and outputs are listed. On Windows systems, which
device to choose depends on your system.
3. To change the name of a MIDI port, click in the “Show As” column and type in a
new name.
After closing the dialog, the new name will appear on the MIDI Input and Output
Routing pop-up menus.
Setting the MIDI input in the Inspector
You select MIDI inputs for tracks in the Inspector (the area to the left of the track list in
the Project window):
1. Select the track by clicking in the track list.
To select multiple tracks, press [Shift] or [Ctrl]/[Command] and click. The
Inspector shows the settings for the first selected track (for details, see
“The
Inspector” on page 43).
Record Enable
button
Monitor button