Strange SX3 Midi issue, Korg NanoKey

[deep6ix]

I'm new to these forums, and honestly I'm new to Cubase, but I do have some prior experience with SL2. I am, however, familiar with general-forum protocol, and I assure you that I have looked as far as anyone should have to look for an answer to my problem, and have not seen anyone with the same problem as me.

I recently purchased SX3 and a Korg NanoKey USB controller. I set up the MIDI as was instructed and everything appeared to go swimmingly. I created a MIDI track and then opened Absynth as a VST and set the input/outputs up properly. I then played a key and the sound I was expecting was produced, and without any delay (which I was shocked by since it IS Cubase ;-) ). But when I tried to RECORD my playing on the controller, the sound wouldn't be produced any longer, nor would the keys I was playing be mapped. The MIDI signal was still showing up on the meter, but no recording and no sound. As soon as I stop recording, everything would go back to normal. I tried other VSTs and the same problem occured.

Then to ensure it wasn't just the controller, I tried to record my playing in Reason, and it worked perfectly.

Am I perhaps missing a vital step? Or does Cubase just not act right sometimes?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and please remember to keep it simple, I'm still a novice. Thanks in advance!

[Bigduggieface]

Hey deep6ix. Very coincidentally, I was recording some demo tracks for a duo here at my home studio today and one of the guys was using a NanoKey. They left their gear here over the weekend, so after reading about your curious problem today, I plugged the NanoKey directly into my music computer.

I booted up Cubase SX3 (version 3.11), loaded Absynth 3, and did the appropriate in/out setup that you described. This rig seemed to run perfectly on my machine.

I tried recording, playback, multiple simultaneous MIDI tracks, various VST instruments and it worked perfectly without a hitch. I'd never touched a NanoKey until today.

I personally cannot think of any reasons why you're having this problem. If you're using the newest version of a legit copy of SX3 (as I am), it doesn't make sense that my setup works yet yours doesn't.

Perhaps one of the other forum members could furnish an explanation. Maybe an incorrect Cubase setting of some sort? Sorry man. Tried to help but I failed this time. Good luck!

[deep6ix]

I appreciate the reply, which makes me think maybe I need to consider wiping out my computer and reinstalling, because there should be no reason my system shouldn't be able to take it.

One question I should ask is, does the nanokey show up as "usb midi device" or something else? Once I installed the drivers, it seemed the interface disappeared altogether, and not only in Cubase

[Bigduggieface]

The NanoKey shows up as "USB Audio Device". Alternatively, you could set the MIDI input as "All MIDI Inputs" and it should work like that as well.

I'm using Windows XP. Once I connected the keyboard to the computer with the USB cable, XP automatically installed the drivers and I had no problems.

You described earlier that you could see MIDI activity in Cubase when you hit the keys, so there seems to be communication between the keyboard and the computer.

But you say that when you hit the record button, all hell breaks loose. That's the part that baffles me.

Incidentally (in case you don't already know this), if you're concerned about MIDI delay and latency with SX3, go to Devices>Device Setup. Select your ASIO driver and click the Control Panel button at the right. A new window opens up. You can then adjust the all important "Samples Per Buffer" parameter. Lower numbers give you less latency delay at the expense of using more computer juice and vice versa.

[deep6ix]

Good news! Through process of elimination, I discovered for whatever reason my computer doesn't like SX3, or it doesn't like me. So I installed my copy of SL3 (traded with a friend instead of wasting even more money!) and everything works perfectly! I don't even have any delay issues! I'm still baffled by the SX3 issue, but, I guess it's another unsolved mystery, thank you, I'm Robert Stack.

But seriously thank you very much and I hope to be communicating on this site much more!

[Bigduggieface]

Good to hear that you wrangled a solution.

Personally, I've have great success with SX-3. Over the years I've found it very stable and I've not found any problems with it at all. I use it for MIDI and audio recording and I use it almost every day. It's the heart of my system right now.

I've also "upgraded" to Cubase 4, and I've run into little problems like yours that I cannot figure out. So I've went back to SX-3 because it works so solidly and it basically does exactly what I want without any hassles or compromises.

Your SL-3 is no slouch, but it's too bad that SX is causing grief.

Welcome to the forum, deep6ix.