[Guide] Cubase + Maschine MIDI Routing & Integration

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  • Jeremy_NI
    Jeremy_NI Administrator, Customer Care Posts: 14,209 admin
    edited June 2022
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/19476#Comment_19476

    Hey @HammyHavoc I think you misunderstood me here. I have Reaper installed and checked before answering. You pinged me in a post asking specifically about sidechain inputs in Cubase, I assumed that there was a similar sidechain routing option in Reaper that I didn't know of, so I asked for a screenshot so I could compare with Cubase and forward these informations when trying to find answers, no slant here or asking for "evidence". No need to get so aggressive.

  • [Deleted User]
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  • Jeremy_NI
    Jeremy_NI Administrator, Customer Care Posts: 14,209 admin
    edited June 2022

    Hey @HammyHavoc It seems to be a Cubase issue, I could reproduce this behaviour with any VSTs that has multiple audio inputs, like VCV Rack 2, as you can see, for Analog Rytm here:

    Screenshot 2022-06-08 at 15.33.57.png

    I would recommend to contact Steinberg support or post in their forum. If you desperately need to record the input 1 or 1/2 in Maschine as a VST in Cubase, we would recommend using the Maschine 2 FX plug-in.

  • [Deleted User]
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  • Sunborn
    Sunborn NKS User Library Mod Posts: 3,564 mod

    I am not sure if i fully understood what is the issue here, but as far as i know ports 1/2 has to be used by default, by the base instrument or fx which will responsible for the sidechain, aka the "master" instrument... thus what is left for the rest sidechain modules, are the remaining ports (3/4, 5/6 etc).

    In simple words, the "master" sidechain instrument occupies by definition the default ports, which are usually the 1/2, therefore the user have to use the remain available ports. So, there is no point for the port 1/2 to be visible (since it is already occupied). Make sense? or i missed something?

  • KennyV9
    KennyV9 Member Posts: 17 Member

    For what it's worth, I use Cubase too. I tried this routing with Maschine in Cubase, but it seemed like it was getting in the way of my creative process. I learned to use Maschine by itself, and it's not that difficult to learn if you watch the tutorial videos. But for working in Cubase, I use Battery 4 most of the time. It can use the Maschine expansions, so I'm not missing out on that. I have a tendency to work in 4 bar sections, and Maschine loops by default, but Cubase is easy to loop, too.

  • Rough3h3
    Rough3h3 Member Posts: 1 Newcomer

    hi, i have a problem with settings. I did everything as it was written, but when I try to record a midi track in cubase, my midi channel does not receive information, moreover, without changed settings, I hear the plugin sound from machine, after changing there is no sound, and no track detects the midin information

  • Klassic1
    Klassic1 Member Posts: 5 Newcomer

    Would i still be able to sample in maschine mk3 with this setup ????

  • darkwaves
    darkwaves Member Posts: 471 Guru
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/73170#Comment_73170

    Cubase can send audio into maschine's sidechain input for sampling. For example, if you wanted to sample from a hardware synth, you need to route it into Cubase and then into the sidechain of maschine (or use the maschine fx VST as an insert)

    Maschine is limited to 4 stereo inputs. The plugin has 3 side chain inputs (input 2, 3 and 4). I never figured out how to get audio into the first input without using the maschine fx plugin, but I've also never actually needed 4 inputs when using it with cubase.

  • D-One
    D-One Moderator Posts: 3,679 mod
    edited May 2023

    Sidechain is usually the way to go, didn't work when i tried but might have been my fault. It was, sidechain works fine:

    Screenshot 2023-05-29 at 15.04.58.png


    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/73170#Comment_73170

    Not sure to be honest, I think if you use the MFX version of Maschine it works: https://forums.steinberg.net/t/sampling-from-cubase-into-maschine-plugin/612590/

    But NI seems to have killed the MFX version for VST3:

    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/12387/will-maschine-fx-be-back-soon/p2

    other than that Cubase is quite strange in this regard:

    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/4041/cubase-maschine-how-to-record-audio

  • sparra
    sparra Member Posts: 15 Member
    edited March 16
    Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 14.14.28.png
    Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 14.25.10.png
    Screenshot 2025-03-15 at 14.25.17.png

    Decent information but It's all a bit out of date, The Midi group Input tab has additional settings, 'Key Mode' & 'Source'

    In Cubase 14 you can't pick Maschine Out as Midi In & Maschine In as Midi out for the channel, There are these 'Maschine event Input' & 'Maschine event output' tabs with the instrument sign next to them.

    Had a mess around & I can't get it to work with Maschine 3 & Cubase 14 following these instructions.

    I have only tried with a 1 group project where i have a sample copied around 10 times with different start points & choke goups. Making a beat from a single sample chopped up.

    I followed the 'Drum' track info but no cigar

    I can see my Midi notes in Cubase from the copy i dragged over but they ain't playing the samples from the Maschine VST the way it plays them when i start Cubase…It's actually just triggering Maschine with the notes making no sound from the VST.

    A bit of a head fry rather than intuative.

    Any reason why NI don't have a dedicated page to do this procedure with the latest version of Maschine 3 & Cubase 14?

    They really should have instructions do do all this with most of the popular DAWs & update it with every version of the software if the differences in approach differ significantly.

    It's bad enough starting from scratch with every version of Cubase that comes out with regards to workflow & familiarity to access settings but this is a can of worms lol

  • Mindset
    Mindset Member Posts: 40 Member

    It's awful. NI are ****** now, was once the beat setup I have ever seen for a long time.

    Hardware doesn't even integrate properly with their own software, so not sure why I woukd think itnwpukd in cubase.

    I tried also and it was so bad I gave up.

  • D-One
    D-One Moderator Posts: 3,679 mod
    edited March 16

    @sparra said:

    Decent information but It's all a bit out of date, The Midi group Input tab has additional settings, 'Key Mode' & 'Source'

    ?? Keymode as always been there, you can see it in the very old screenshots from V2 in the first post.

    Screenshot 2025-03-16 at 22.10.34.png

    Regarding the rest I asked a friend to try opening the example project in Cubase 13 and it worked fine. Maybe try starting there?

    Any reason why NI don't have a dedicated page to do this procedure with the latest version of Maschine 3 & Cubase 14?

    They dont have a guide this detailed for any DAW. I doubt this requires updating, I'd happily do it but I am at Cubase 11, which hasn't been supported in MacOS for quite a few versions, the exact reason I stopped using Cubase… I won't pay to be able to use what I already paid in 2021, if this was a 10-year-old version then it would be another story and I'd pay no problem. Version support with Steinberg/Apple is terrible so i left it behind.

    If Steinberg decides to send me an NFR I'll do it. xD

  • sparra
    sparra Member Posts: 15 Member

    My bad, Maschine is very confusing with all the Sound & Group settings for MIDI, I did get it all working at a MIDI level after checking the Youtube pages of Dom Sigalas & Jef Gibbons from the past year running Maschine 3.0 & Cubase 14 but i had to also watch the Jef Gibbons vid from 2022 for the basic setup, These were a bit easier to get my head around as they are repeating over & over the steps involved.

    I guess these are the 'official' guides given Steinberg use Dom to present their videos & Jef is also a 'unofficial' rep for Steinberg.

    Maschines akward setup & inability to save presets for these Drum & Instrument setups is mentioned & displayed in these vids, You have to go in again & change many of the settings as they are not stored, Not ideal.

    I downloaded custom templates to allow you to use Maschines knobs, pads & buttons like a MIDI controller in Cubase 14 from watching Jefs vids which was a dope 'extra'.

    Next i'm going to try the Audio setup from your info, I was just going to record everything from Maschine individually track at a time into Cubase 14 to work on it but interface quality & lack of a Digital In on the UA is an issue, Also printing plugins isn't ideal, Looks like there's no escape from having to redo all the inserts & FX using either method, Writing a list of whats on what & screenshot the settings is time consuming.

    Steinberg are not the most loyal company, I moved from Cubase 10.5 to 14 a few weeks ago as the ilok collab with Steinberg runs out next month & you will have to pay the full price for any new version you buy in the future if you don't upgrade before then & switch to the new Steinberg protection system, The 'forced' upgrade was over 200 as i hadn't upgraded for a decade due to my old Mojave OS not working with newer versions & my 10.5 setup on a 2013 mac pro running just as fast & more reliable than any newer ones 12 years later! I've been paying Steinberg since 1993 running on an Atari with the big red dongle, Think of the money i've had to give them over 30 years!

    I was running a rock solid Cubase 10.5 setup on Mojave OS from a 2013 12 core Mac Pro Trashcan with no problems & i'm tying to move everything i'm working on over to this new i7 mac mini with UA Interface which i had to buy unexpectedly, The Apogee Symphony from my OG setup doesn't work correctly in the newer OS due to lack of support from Apogee (they want me to buy one of the newer interfaces at 3k+)

    I also had to upgrade Maschine from 2.0 to 3.0 on this new setup, I wanted access to the newer features & 2.0 has lots of weird bugs that won't be fixed now they've gone 3.0. The new 3.0 version is unavailable for Mojave OS too.

    Unforunately some plug ins are no longer supported in the newer OS so projects are missing all sorts of processing.

    The location of audio files if you are a little untidy can be another head melter!

    A bit of advice, You have to include the BPM of Maschine projects in the name you give them to be able to open them up inside Cubase & adjust the project to the right tempo, A real pain having to open everything up in Maschine then saving a new renamed version with the BPM included then making sure you save the samples with the new version to stop missing file issues. All this work because Cubase opens up at 120 BPM default, When you load up a VST Maschine project it opens at 120 BPM rather than the saved project BPM.

    The finances & work involved just upgrading from one OS to another is a real eye opener, All the manufacturers want you to buy into the latest versions of everything nowadays, Computer, Interface, Software.

    I basically had to buy a full new setup just to keep my Cubase license running!

    Worst thing is the newer 3.2 Quad Core i7 mac mini with 32GB ram throttles a lot more than my 2013 mac pro even though it's single core benchmark figures are much higher & i use fan control to cool it down more, It's not really an upgrade in processing power in reality.

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