New to Cubase and to DAWs. I can't get Cubase7 to work at all.

  • Thread starter Thread starter moondoggie
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moondoggie

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I simply CANNOT get Cubase7 to work at all. I've had it for ten days. I've been through the first few tutorials and read the applicable pages. It won't record and playback. I'm running Novation Impulse and this seems to have a mind of it's own as well. Yesterday I could play with it, today there was no response when doing the same thing. I get an output level, but no record level on the channel. When I have got a record level (once), I could hear nothing on playback.

I'm 55 years old and I've been recording in all different kinds of situations using many different set-ups since I was a kid, but this is my first DAW. Virtually nothing that is stated in the tutorials on YouTube via the "hub" ends up happening for me.

Can someone at least give me simple instructions on how to record one single track?
 
Alright, I'll give helping you a shot.

Looking at the Novation website, it seems the Impluse is just a MIDI/DAW controller with no built-in audio interface. In other words, for your uses it's a MIDI keyboard that controls VST Instruments within cubase.

Before we move on from that, are you using a separate audio interface? If so, what is it? I will need to know this information before we continue.

Also, are you using PC or Mac?

Cheers :)
 
Bizarrely, having posted the above I went and successfully recorded three instrument tracks, saved it, re-opened project and added another synth. What I DID do was unplug and reinsert the cable from the Impulse that goes to usb. This appears to have reconfigured the Impulse. Before I go on, you'll really have to excuse my ignorance. I know too well that a problem most often has a very simple solution.....I seriously do not know why I have just gone and successfully completed an actual "experiment". Everything I did was based on the same steps as the previous 10 days.

Now, it's a PC. A brand new HP Notebook with 8GB of ram. The audio interface is an M-AUDIO M-Track - Two-Channel USB Audio/MIDI Interface.
 
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Ok, well you have a suitable ASIO audio interface on a PC. I hate this question, but do you have the latest drivers installed? Here they are:

M-AUDIO - Drivers and Software Search

Apparently this is a newly released updated driver.

I'm not quite sure if the Impluse is plug and play. Did you install MIDI drivers that came with it? Did you install Automap?

Ok, so once you've gotten all the drivers installed properly there are a couple of things to know. In my experience, you need to have any and all MIDI controllers plugged in and powered on before you start Cubase. If the controller gets unplugged while Cubase is open, you will need to close Cubase and reopen for it to see the controller again.

When you open Cubase, you can check the MIDI activity meter on the right hand side of the transport (press F2) to the left of the output level meter to verify that Cubase is seeing your controller. The meter's activity will be red and will jump up quickly.

Once you can verify that Cubase is receiving MIDI from your controller, you can open or create a project.

In your project you can either add a MIDI or Instrument Track. The Instrument Track dialog will allow to to auto assign the output to a VSTi of your choice. If you add a MIDI track you will have to manually assign it to an instrument in the VSTi rack (press F11). However, if you insert a VSTi into the rack first, Cubase will ask you if you want to create a MIDI track and auto assign it to that instrument.

Once you have your desired instrument loaded, you need to assign an input to the MIDI/Instrument track. On the left hand side of the screen is what is called the "Inspector". All track functions can be manipulated from there, including routing assignments. On the black "input" section of the inspector, select the Novation Impulse. Once you have correctly assigned the input and output of your track, you can begin recording.

NB. You will need to set your interface to a low buffer setting to avoid excessive latency. Go to:

Devices (menu) -> Device Setup -> [your audio interface] -> Control Panel

Choose a setting of around 128 samples/buffer.

Ok, so now you have the inputs and outputs assigned and a low latency setting. On the MIDI/Instrument Track, you will see a red record button and a little yellow button that has a small speaker in it. This is the monitor button. When that button is depressed you will be able to hear the resulting input. Pressing record on a MIDI/Instrument track does this as well.

Oh, don't forget to choose a desired patch on your instrument otherwise you may not hear any sound until you do. Some instruments come pre-loaded with a patch when you initialize it and some don't.

Hope that helps.

Cheers :)
 
Thanks for the reply and thanks for all the detail. I appreciate this labour of love. My Cubase7, audio interface and Impulse/Automap were all installed by a tech guy at the distribution point (in my case Turramurra Music, Sydney). He appears to have done everything properly. I think I'm still getting the hang of assigning the correct output of tracks and for some reason I can't record anything rhythmic. I believe this is through my own oversight/failure to do things correctly. I've managed to record a piece with 4 synthesisers, do a basic mix and export that result as mp3 @256kbps, so some things are working just fine for me now. I've also successfully had a go at using the chord track thing. It's odd that I have no trouble whatsoever now recording a synth vst, but drums and loop masher will not record.

Anyway, that's for me to figure out why....and your response here might well show me what I'm doing wrong in respect of that. It's still a mystery to me why nothing happened for ten days and then suddenly it did, though.

Thankyou.
 
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