SanderXpander wrote:Perhaps Qui can jump in?
sure
first of all, everything SanderXpander has said in this thread is correct, so there is no extra information on those issues.
Now the video you showed us, was the integration of the Motif with cubase, that integration was specially programmed by yamaha and goes quite far.
That doesn't mean that it isn't possible on the kronos, but you have to do this yourself by creating a generic remote map which maps the CC's to the corresponding functions you like (like transport, quick controls, mixer faders, etc.)
This is really easy to do in cubase and works the same for every midi controller
The best idea is to use the Kronos External Controller Mode. There is a button that you can press and then you can select the active controller page you want to use. You can set (or load a template for it) the external controller CC's by pressing the global button and then press the midi tab and then the external 1 tab. There you can set the CC's you want to assign (see page 777 of the kronos parameter guide). Of course you can also use the default RTC controls of the Kronos, those CC's can also be found in the Parameter guide. I prefer the External CC's because those have no influence on the kronos itself, only on the connected gear.
Now the work you have to do is in cubase:
- go to device setup
- create a new generic remote map
- assign the kronos midi channels to that map
- now map the features you want to control in cubase (you can use the learn button in the map and press or turn the kronos knob to map the CC number)
- save the generic remote as a kronos generic remote map.
in this video you will see a basic explanation how to do this for a midi controller, the procedure for the kronos is the same in cubase.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeNyL136b64
Now what my advice would be to set it up is to use the following mapping structure:
- first create a new Cubase template
- Create 8 subgroups channels in cubase in this template:
...Kick
...Hats
...Other Drums
...Bass
...Lead
...Other
...Pads
...Vocals
- save this new cubase project as your default template
- now create the generic remote
- the 8 kronos knobs you should assign to the Cubase Quick Controls 1-8
- The 8 kronos faders you should assign to the 8 subgroups
- the start, stop, rew and forward you should assign to the transport section
- save the generic remote as a kronos remote map (by naming it kronosremote)
Now the fun starts:
- start the kronos in combi mode (i prefer combi mode because that way i can save the timnbre setup from the kronos in a combi, which isn't possible in sequencer mode without loading the song again when you need it)
- assign the sounds you want
- assign a vst in cubase for instance NI Massive
- set the output of NI Massive to the bass subgroup
- In the track lane of NI Massive set the quick controls 1 to cutoff and quick control 2 to reso
- now press the Control Surface’s EXTERNAL knob on your kronos
- with fader 5 you control the volume of the bass sound (massive), with knobs 1 and 2 you control the cutoff and reso of massive
by using a setup like this you can control anything in cubase, since you can map the quick controls to whatever you like on a channel, for instance when you have a vocal sample with a reverb and delay on it, you could assign quick controls 1-4 to the reverb and controls 5-8 to the delay. By activating that lane you can program and automate! the things you want on that channel from your kronos.
Extremely powerful once you set it up. Now when you understand these basics you can go much further, you could create more pages in the Kronos external control section and expand your generic remote map in cubase, you could create pages for synth programming, mixing and mastering, quick control setups, showing editors and even basic midi functions.
You can also create a cubase device map for the kronos for the RTC functions for instance, if you do that and create a cubase external instrument with that device map you can also use the cubase quick controls to use automation for the kronos for the RTC functions (like kronos cutoff, reso, adsr, etc..) But that's a different area of expertise and falls outside the scope of the original question. But it is possible to do.
