Steinberg Cubase Studio 4 MIDI Devices Studio Manual

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MIDI devices
The Channel panel is also listed under “All Templates”.
Combining subpanels
It is now possible to drag a subnode’s panel from the 
Views area into the panel of a parent node, thus assem-
bling a complex panel by referencing the subpanels.
1.Click on the node “MotifMixer” and add a new panel in 
general size. 
Click on the node “Channel 1”, so that the Channel panel 
appears in the Views area. Click on this entry and drag it 
into the Edit area.2.Repeat this for Channel 2 and 3 by dragging and 
dropping the Channel panel into the MotifMixer panel.
This results in the following arrangement for the MotifMixer panel:
The MotifMixer panel now consists of three panels with 
volume faders for Channels 1-3. You can prove that the 
volume faders will work independently by activating “Test 
Template” and moving the sliders.
However, when you edit the parameters or the design of the 
Channel panel, these changes will be mirrored in all panels 
in the MotifMixer panel. Therefore, in contrast to “Copying 
panel elements” on page 29, combining subpanels pre-
serves the panel design and all assigned parameters.
Identifying the nodes and templates
Click on a group of elements (green border) in the Edit 
area to see the assigned node, e. g. “/MotifMixer/
Channel 2” in the first text line below the Edit area.
Click on a single element to see the name of the para-
meter, e.g. “CC: Main Volume”, in the second text line. 
ÖEditing complex panels is easier when you use the 
Depth Focus option, see “Depth Focus” on page 23. 
						

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MIDI devices
Combining subpanels of individual channels
In the example above, we assembled a MIDI device panel 
by building only one panel for 16 identical channels. How-
ever, you often may want individual channels (nodes), 
each coming with its own panels and parameters.
A good example for this would be the TC Electronics Final-
izer, which can be found in the factory panel configurations. 
The Finalizer MIDI device panel.
Import the device and open it by clicking on the Edit (“e”) 
button. You can see that it consists of various nodes with 
different parameters. The nodes correspond to templates (panels) of the same 
name. For example, click on “Fade” in the All Templates 
list to see only the Fade panel.
The main panel was again built by dragging and dropping 
the subpanels into the panel area of the main node, as ex-
plained above.
Working with snapshots
Choosing the right snapshot option
When you set up a new device as described under “Defin-
ing a new MIDI device” on page 11, there are two possi-
bilities to set up snapshots.
If the Snapshots option in the Channel Settings is se-
lected, you can take a snapshot of every single channel.
To verify if you can take snapshots of a single channel, select the MIDI 
device as output in the Inspector, choose a channel and click on the 
Open Device Panels button. If the snapshot list is not shown in the de-
vice panel window, the Snapshot option was deactivated.
If the Snapshots option in the Global Settings is se-
lected, you can take snapshots for all parameters (includ-
ing Sysex messages and all channel settings, but only in 
one snapshot). 
In this case, the Snapshot field is visible in the Device and Panel windows.
Examples:
 Global Snapshots on / Channel Snapshots off – you can take 
snapshots of the whole device, but not of a single channel.
 Global Snapshots on / Channel Snapshots on – you can take 
snapshots of the whole device and of each channel.
ÖBoth snapshots options can only be set during the first 
device setup, see “The Create New MIDI Device dialog” 
on page 12.  
						

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MIDI devices
ÖTherefore, even if you set up e. g. ten channels at first 
with the Snapshots option activated in the Channel Set-
tings, once you manually add new channels, the Channel 
Snapshots option is always deactivated for those new 
channels.
If in doubt, select both snapshot options. 
Using snapshots
If you activated a “Snapshots” option during the setup of a 
new device (see “Defining a new MIDI device” on page 11), 
an additional list field appears on top of the Device and 
Panel windows, to the right of the Read/Write buttons.
Snapshots are much like presets but include the complete 
parameter settings. 
To store snapshots, click on the Plus button.
To select snapshots, simply click the field to open the 
list of all available snapshots.
To delete snapshots, click on the Minus button.
A useful case for snapshots is if you have a MIDI device 
with internal presets that cannot be changed from the out-
side. In this case, you can use snapshots to emulate the 
preset settings. Proceed as follows:
1.Define the parameters that are changed in the device 
presets within the program.
2.Build the corresponding panel in the Panel Editor and 
add the controls and parameters.
3.Activate the option “Test Template” so that you can 
set the controls to different values.
4.Set the controls according to the settings in the de-
vice presets.
5.Store the snapshot for every setting with a name cor-
responding to the preset in the device.
It is possible to arrange the snapshots so that you get a 
folder structure, see “Snapshot XML files” on page 46.
Building panels for VST Instruments
It is also possible to build panels for internal VST instru-
ments. The advantage of this is that instead of having an 
extra window for your VST instrument, you can custom-
build panels for it and integrate them in the Inspector (see 
“Device panels in the program” on page 14). 
You can edit your panel as usual, see “About Device pan-
els (Cubase only)” on page 14. The main difference is 
how to open the Panel window, as you can’t simply install 
or import the VST instrument as a device. Instead, you 
have to start from the Inspector.
Proceed as follows:
1.In the Project window, add a new MIDI track. 
2.Select a VST instrument as output, e.g. “a-1”. 
If there are no VST instruments available, open the Devices menu, 
choose the VST Instruments option and install an instrument.
3.Now, instead of a simple click on the Open Device 
Panels button to open the VST panel, press [Ctrl]/[Com-
mand] and click the Open Device Panels button. 
A “Panels” folder similar to the one described under “Showing panels in 
the Inspector” on page 15 opens. 
4.Select “Setup”.
This opens a window similar to the Device window – however, no Device 
structure is displayed on the left side and only buttons for panel editing 
are available.
5.Click the Add Panel button to add a new panel.
This opens a window similar to the Panel window. However, as the VST 
instrument and its parameters are pre-defined, you can only edit the pan-
els, but can’t add any new parameters or subnodes.
6.Now you can proceed with building a custom panel 
and assigning the existing parameters of the VST instru-
ment as described in “Assigning parameters” on page 21.
(Existing snapshots/presets for the VST instrument are 
also available from the pop-up list on top of the window.) 
						

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MIDI devices
Exporting and importing device 
setups (Cubase only)
Clicking the Export Setup button allows you to export your 
complete MIDI device setup as a separate XML file. The 
file can then be imported using the Import Setup button. 
This is useful if you move to another studio, install the pro-
gram on a new computer, etc.
ÖExporting the setup will produce one XML file that in-
cludes all of your installed devices. 
On how to export a single device, see “Exporting a single device” on 
page 44.
ÖWhen you import a stored setup with the Import Setup 
function, a dialog will appear, listing all devices included in 
the stored setup.
Select the device(s) you wish to import and click OK.
ÖImporting will not overwrite any currently installed de-
vices.
If the current list contains a device with the same name as a device to be 
imported, a number will be added to the name of the imported device.
SysEx messages (Cubase only)
SysEx (System Exclusive) messages are model-specific 
messages for setting various parameters of the synth en-
gine. This way, it is possible to address device parameters 
that would not be available via normal MIDI syntax.
SysEx messages are written in hexadecimal notation and 
have the following structure:
F0 31 20 2A ... F7
with F0 signalling the start and F7 signalling the end of the 
SysEx message, a number of arbitrary bytes in between. 
The second byte is the unique manufacturer ID as defined 
by the MIDI Manufacturers Association, while the next 
bytes often indicate the device and model ID.
If you want to define SysEx messages for a device, it is vi-
tal that you have the manual for the hardware device, 
which describes its MIDI definitions. Usually, these set-
tings are described on the last few pages of the manual. If 
the MIDI definitions are not provided in the manual for your 
device, please see the manufacturer’s website for the 
necessary documentation or contact the manufacturer.At various points it is necessary to convert hexadecimal 
numbers to decimals and vice versa, so you may need a 
translation-table or a calculator that is able to make this 
conversion. Under Windows, you can use the calculator 
found under Start/Programs/Accessories.
For information on how to dump SysEx messages as input 
from your MIDI device, please refer to the chapter “Work-
ing with System exclusive messages” in the Operation 
Manual. However, while the SysEx messages of your de-
vice can be recorded there, they can’t be transferred to 
the MIDI Device window, which is designed for MIDI out-
put. There is no function like “midi learn” or “read all SysEx 
messages” in the MIDI Device window.
How to set up SysEx messages in the program
There are two ways to set up SysEx messages:
You can enter one SysEx message parameter per 
SysEx message given in the manual of your device. This 
might lead to a large number of parameters, e. g. 300. 
You can enter one SysEx message parameter per one 
common SysEx string by using definable values, see be-
low. This will lead to less SysEx parameters and a more 
flexible design, but is a bit trickier to set up. 
For more information, see “Using definable values to set up a more flexi-
ble SysEx design” on page 36.
Entering SysEx messages for devices
SysEx messages need to be entered as parameters in the 
Device window as follows:
1.Open the MIDI Device Manager.
2.Install the device JV-1080 Roland, for example.
3.Stay in the device mode, click on the root and then 
click on Add Parameter.
The Add Parameter window opens. 
						

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MIDI devices
4.In the Transmission area, click on the Create SysEx 
button on the right of the Transmission list. 
The Create SysEx window opens. As you can see, you can edit each byte 
on its own, in hexadecimal, decimal or binary – or assign a value to it. 
5.Enter a new name for the parameter, for example “Test 
Parameter”, and click OK to return to the Add Parameter 
window. 
In principle, this is how SysEx messages are set up. The 
tricky part is how to enter the correct values (see “Input 
data for SysEx messages” on page 35).
Assigning SysEx messages to parameters
The available SysEx messages can be found on the bottom 
of the Transmission list in the SysEx messages section.
Editing SysEx messages
It is not possible to edit SysEx messages once defined in 
the Device window of the program (only their definable 
values can be edited). 
Unused SysEx messages will automatically be deleted 
when leaving the program.
Input data for SysEx messages
Let’s have a closer look at the Create SysEx window.
The Length is the length of the SysEx message in Bytes 
(counting each pair of numbers), for example 9: 
F0 23 12 6B 10 02 11 0B F7
In this case, the bytes are numbered from 0 to 8 in the ta-
ble. Of those 9 bytes, the first and the last are pre-defined 
by the MIDI protocol – this is why in the list of values on 
the lower left, only Value 1 to Value 7 are available for user 
definition instead of the nine expected ones.
The Checksum option can usually be left at “No Check-
sum” except for Roland devices, where the C5 value is 
used as checksum. If you select this, only Value 1 to Value 
6 will be left for user definition.
Values that are in the list on the lower left are definable, 
e. g. can be used as variables. You can rename these val-
ues by double-clicking on them and entering a new name.
ÖThe important thing about values is that you can’t simply 
edit the white fields in the table, because the values are 
“definable” per default. This means that you can’t set them 
to static values unless you select a value and remove it from 
the list by clicking “Remove Value”. After this, you can edit 
the respective field in the table and enter a number.
If you want to enter a SysEx message with one variable, remove all values 
but one and enter the fixed values in the table according to the manual of 
your device. 
After clicking OK, the remaining definable values will ap-
pear in the Value column of the Add Parameter window.
A word about the Value Type
The Value Type can be “Normal” or “Generic”. In general, 
just leave it at “Normal”, which means that you are working 
with bytes. You will find an example for defining a double 
byte SysEx message in the section “Using normal values 
(Example)” on page 37. However, there are specific prob-
lems for which you need to manipulate the bits settings. 
This can be done with the Value Type “Generic”. For an 
example on how to define two values in one byte using ge-
neric values, please see the section “Using generic values 
(Example)” on page 37. 
						

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MIDI devices
Definable values as variables
The definable values (Var 1 and Var 2 in this example) are 
just that – definable as you like. This is done in the For-
mula column of the Add Parameter window.
You can enter parameters, mathematical fomulas with or 
without parameters, and static values.
The allowed mathematical operations are
 “+” (addition)
 “-” (subtraction)
 “*” (multiplication) 
 “()” (parentheses, for small calculations)
ÖNote that the values in the Formula column have to be 
entered as decimals!
Some examples for formula entries:
“(2*para5)”, where para5 is a parameter defined in the 
subnode.
The parameter definition can also be done after using it in the fomula, you 
just have to ignore the error message at this point.
“(1+P)”, where P is a multiple parameter defined in the 
Variable area of the Add Parameter dialog.
For this, check the Create Multiple Option, define a Variable Name “P” 
and a range from e. g. “1-10” and click OK. This way, you have a multiple 
parameter in your formula, which is helpful e. g. if you want to use the 
same basic SysEx message with variance in the parts (MIDI channels), 
see below. 
“11” as the decimal value of the “0B” function given in 
the manual of your device.
When you enter a decimal value as formula, check the resulting hexa-
decimal string above the table to make sure the entry is correct.
Using definable values to set up a more flexible SysEx 
design
Using definable values with formulas allows for a more 
flexible SysEx definition because you can set up one com-
mon SysEx string for a whole set of SysEx messages. For 
this, look out for SysEx strings with minor differences in 
only a few bytes in your manual to define a common SysEx 
string.
Example:
F0 23 12 rr zz PT Fn XX F7 
is a common SysEx string with
rr and zz = address map
PT = part (sometimes midi channel), 1-16 as decimals
Fn = function code, e. g. filter
XX = actual value x to be sent to the panel control
When you now keep these five bytes as definable and set 
the others to static values in the Create SysEx window, 
you can play around with the definable values in the Add 
Parameter window.
For example, as we learned above, it is possible to define 
the PT value as a formula like “(1+P)”, including a multiple 
parameter that allows for sending the same message to 
several MIDI channels at once. 
However, if you want to send the message only to one 
channel, you can simply enter a defined value for the PT 
value in the Formula column.
Therefore, while SysEx messages can’t be edited after the 
first set up, definable variables allow for trial-and-error and 
can still be set to a defined value any time. This makes 
handling SysEx messages a lot easier. 
						

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MIDI devices
Using normal values (Example)
Sometimes, values higher than one byte are necessary to 
address something, e. g. sample numbers (Sample NR) 
from 0-255 (0000 xxxx to 0000 yyyy in binary).
In this case, the value x effectively consists of two bytes, 
called XX and YY here:
F0 23 12 6B PT Fn XX YY F7 
These two bytes need to be set up so that they result in 
one value. For this, you have to change the settings for the 
Normal Value. Proceed as follows:
1.Define a new SysEx message for “Sample NR” with a 
length of 9. 
This leaves us with initially 7 definable values.
2.Remove all values from the list except Value 7. (Byte 6 
will be set up as a kind of swap byte to 7). Rename Value 
7 to “Sample NR”.
Let’s take a look at the settings “Number of Bits” and “Bits 
per Byte” for byte 7.
The default is 7 “Number of Bits” to 7 “Bits per Byte”. 
This results in:
0/7 for byte 7 and a binary display of 0xxx xxxx
When you change the “Number of Bits” to 8, you have a 
superfluous bit which cannot be put into this byte. There-
fore, it is “swapped” to the byte in front of it. This results in:
1/7 and a binary display of 0000 000x for byte 6
0/7 and a binary display of 0xxx xxxx for byte 7
In our example, we need the setting 0000 xxxx for both 
byte 6 and 7. Therefore, the correct settings are 8 for 
“Number of Bits” and 4 for “Bits per Byte”.
This results in: 
1/4 for byte 6 and a binary display of 0000 xxxx
0/4 for byte 7 and a binary display of 0000 xxxx
Since we set up the bytes in the correct sequence of 
XX YY, the resulting sequence of values is also correct, 
with byte 6 for the higher numbers XX and byte 7 for the 
lower numbers on the right. (If you wanted to change this 
sequence, you would have to change the Byte Positions 
values.)
When you return to the Add Parameters window, you can 
see “Sample NR” as a definable value with a range of 0-
255 (as compared to the usual 0-127). 
Using generic values (Example)
Sometimes, a byte is used for two or more different mes-
sages, e.g. “0001 1111” with the last five bits used as on/
off signal for five different, independent switches. 
For this, you would have to use the option “Generic” as 
Value Type, with which you can define the usage of spe-
cific bits.  
						

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MIDI devices
In the following example we want to define two indepen-
dent values in byte 6:
The first value is “LFO Type” and uses the first three bits 
(the very first bit of every byte is 0 per definition, except for 
the start and end byte of the SysEx message). 
The second value is “LFO Phase” and uses four bits of 
the byte. 
This has to result in a byte 6 structure of “0xxx xxxx“.
Proceed as follows:
1.Create a new Sysex message of length 9. Remove all 
values besides 6 and 7.
2.Click on Value 6, rename it to “LFO Type” and set it to 
“Generic” as Value Type.
So far, we have “0xxx xxxx” in the binary field, which corresponds to the 
“7” as Number of Bits. The Byte Offset is automatically set to “1”.
3.To move the bits to the correct byte 6, set the Byte 
Offset to “6”.
4.Since we want to use only three bits, set the Number 
of Bits to “3”.
As you can see in the binary field, so far we have edited the second half 
of the byte.
5.Now proceed with Value 7. Rename it to “LFO Phase”, 
set it to “Generic” as Value Type, reduce the Number of 
Bits to “4” and set the Byte Offset to “6” to shift the value 
to the same byte.
The two values now take up the same bits in the byte, as visible from the 
exclamation points in the binary field. Therefore, we have to move one of 
the values, e.g. “LFO Type”. 
6.Click on the Bit Offset and go up to “4”. 
Now the byte has the binary content “0xxx xxxxx” defined with two values.
7.When you click OK and return to the Add Parameters 
window, you can see that the variable “LFO Type” has a 
range of 0-7 (as available with three bits) and “LFO 
Phase” has a range of 0-15 (for four bits).
ÖRemember that you can edit the settings of a Sysex 
message only in the Create Sysex window. Afterwards, 
you can only edit the variables, but not the static bytes.  
						

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MIDI devices
Defining a SysEx device – a tutorial 
(Cubase only)
In this tutorial, we will define a new MIDI device that pro-
vides access to the parameters of a Roland JV-1080 in 
the following steps:
“Creating a new MIDI device” on page 39
“Creating subnodes” on page 39
“Creating several subnodes at once” on page 40
“Adding parameters” on page 40
“Defining SysEx messages” on page 41
“Editing the Formula” on page 42
“Editing Scale Tune 1” on page 43
“Adding parameters to another node” on page 43
Creating a new MIDI device
1.To create a new MIDI device, pull down the Devices 
menu, open the MIDI Device Manager and click on “Install 
Device”.
2.In the dialog that appears, select “Define New…” and 
click OK.
3.The Create New MIDI Device dialog appears. Set it up 
as shown in the following picture:4.Click OK. 
Now, the Device window will open with an empty Roland JV-1080 de-
vice displayed to the left.
Creating subnodes
Now, you need to create subnodes (subsections) for the 
device.
1.Click the “Add Subnodes” button, and in the dialog 
that appears, enter “System” in the Name field.
“System” can be found as a separate table in the MIDI 
definition part of the JV-1080 manual. It’s almost always a 
good idea to create a separate device node for each table 
in the MIDI definition of a device.
2.When you click OK, the new subnode is added in the 
Device window.
This is the “root” of 
the device, which 
stands for the de-
vice as a whole. 
						

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MIDI devices
3.Repeat the two steps above to create the subnode 
“System Common”, which is also a separate table in the 
MIDI Definition section in the JV-1080 manual and is ref-
erenced by the “System” table.
Creating several subnodes at once
The “System” table contains 17 references to another ta-
ble called “Scale Tune”. So we need to add 17 more sub-
nodes, but this time, we will proceed differently: we’ll 
create 17 similar subnodes at once.
1.Click the “Add Subnodes” button again.
In the dialog that appears, enter Scale Tune as name, check the Create 
Multiple checkbox, enter “Part” as Variable name and set the Variable 
range to 1–17. When you click OK, 17 new subnodes are created:
The added subnodes all have a variable called “Part”, set to different 
“Values”.
2.Rename the subnode Scale Tune 17 to “Scale Tune 
Patch Mode” (according to the System table) by selecting 
the node and entering the new name in the Name field.
All of these “Scale Tune” nodes behave like alias copies in many aspects 
(this is described later).
Adding parameters
1.Now you’ll create parameters for the “Scale Tune” 
nodes. Click the “Add Parameters” button.
The “Add Parameters” dialog appears.
2.According to the MIDI definition, the “Scale Tune” table 
contains 12 parameters. All of them are named “Scale Tune 
for XX”, where XX stands for the different notes in an oc-
tave. The parameter range of these parameters is from 0 to 
127 and all are set to the default value 64. Fill in the Name, 
Min, Max and Default fields accordingly. Next, activate the 
“Create Multiple” checkbox and set the Variable Range to 
“0-11”, which is the address range of the 12 parameters.