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I am trying to get my Yamaha P80 Keyboard to work as MIDI triggers for Cubase 5. I have tried going MIDI out of the Yamaha to MIDI in for the Tascam US-224. One chord. I only need it to trigger instruments installed in the Cubase. I have it set with the US-428 Emu on in the Midi under the Remote Devices. I guess I need to back up first. I still can't get a signal to light on the Tascam midi indicator when I push a key on the P80. I have gone through the manual of the P80 trying to set the keyboard up correctly. Do I really just need the second MIDI cable connected? When I power up the P80. It flashes a light on the MIDI but still doesnt respond to any keys being pressed. I'm pretty sure the US224 should light up as each key is pressed right? So what an I doing wrong? OK once I get that figured out, I need to install a MIDI device under the MIDI device manager. There are tons of MIDI keyboards and probably two dozen Yamaha, but not the P80 listed. So I would have to "define new" and I don't even know how to begin there. Or would the device be the Tascam US-224 or 428 Emu? I don't see either of these devices listed. This probably shouldn't be nearly as hard as I am making it out to be. Can someone please break this thing down to an elementary step by step process for me? Ive done a lot of recording with Cubase, but this is my first time trying to work with any kind of MIDI connections.

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vttom Fri, 10/04/2013 - 06:41

I've used a Tascam US-122 with a couple of different MIDI keyboards. Your US-224 is probably similar in behavior. It's been awhile, but I'm pretty sure the MIDI IN light on the Tascam unit will flash whenever MIDI data is received.

As you've described, connecting MIDI OUT on the keyboard to MIDI IN on the Tascam is the only cable you should need (apart from connecting the Tascam to the computer with a USB cable).

IIRC, the US-122 would not be functional unless it was plugged into the computer AND the driver was properly installed AND working. In other words, if it's plugged into the USB port and may be giving you some indication that it's getting power, it will still be non-functional if the USB driver is not working correctly. (I learned this by trying to use it as a stand-alone preamp/mixer without plugging it into a computer, and found it was non-functional without the computer and driver working)

Does the Tascam unit come with a power supply, or is it "bus-powered" from the USB port? If the latter, try plugging it directly into the computer (without a hub), also try connecting it via a powered USB hub. My recollection is that the US-122 worked better when used with a powered USB hub.

Garydlux Fri, 10/04/2013 - 13:23

Yea I have the 224 working in cubase as a midi control surface already. I use a yamaha MW8cx board to put mics and instruments into the studio. So that all works fine already. Now I just got another cable now for the P80. It is the 8pin tohost to 9pin connection. I did this thinking I could bypass the 224 altogether. It says in the yamaha manual (which isn't all that easy to understand) that I would need to download a driver to make this work. The MIDI drivers are all USB to MIDI. Not the type of connection I have. But I would think that when I hooked it up, my computer would have picked it up as "found new hardware" and it didn't. SO, this makes me think the worst on the end of the Yamaha P-80. I bought the thing used last Christmas and FedEx completely smashed the side of the box with the connections. I still wanted to keep the keyboard but had to replace a circuit board in it where it turns on and plugs in. Now Im thinking the MIDI connections may be on a different circuit board right above the one I replaced. So I'm thinking now there is a good chance this one was busted also, but I never noticed before because I have never used MIDI or the sustain pedal that is probably on that board too. So I may have a bigger issue now. So I guess I need to either take it apart and see if I may be able to find another circuit board (the last one was surprisingly easy to replace) or just get a cheaper little MIDI controller board. Very frustrating since I've been messing with this for over a week now and trying to get it to work with no luck. I'm still glad I kept the P80. I only paid about 300 bucks for it and I do like the weighted keys and piano and "jazz organ" tones. But I was hoping to expand it in this new DAW setup. Someone built it for me about a month ago and loaded it with plugins and supposedly some great organ plugs. Blahhhhh.

hueseph Sat, 10/05/2013 - 00:35

So, you've got the 428 in connected to the 224 out and the p80 to host going to the 224 in? I'm trying to picture this. Tell me if I'm wrong. I would just get a standard 5 pin midi cable and go out from the p80 into the 224. The p80 still shouldn't affect the 428 at all, you would need to set up a daisy chain for that to work I think. If you do some searching, you might find an electronics shop that sells midi cables cheap. I found one locally that sells decent cables for under $8. If you go to a music shop you'll pay through the nose. It's just data. A more expensive cable shouldn't matter.

djmukilteo Sun, 10/06/2013 - 15:09

That Yamaha has kind of a weird collection of MIDI connections. Not sure what computer you're using either Mac or PC. Sounds like maybe a PC, no idea what OS version either. Most of that stuff seems older and so any drivers for that will be pretty important.
That "host" MIDI connector on the Yamaha to your computer is very strange, I guess this was before having USB as a host interface. DIN for Mac and D-Sub for PC!!...
You would definitely need the Yamaha MIDI drivers for that and if that D-Sub is being used that would be the game port on most PC's!! Again no way that will work without working driver software from Yamaha and the correct version for whatever OS you're using.
It would be the better method to use over the Tascam route but you would need that special cable and the drivers for any hope of it working properly.
USB would have been a nicer host interface like the Motif's have. Then you just go right into the computer!
Make sure you have that MIDI "switch" on the back set to the right configuration too!
That Tascam being used a MIDI controller already may not be able to transmit both it's MIDI channels and another device (the keyboard) either and it may have a setting in it that it needs to even do that.
Again it's looks pretty old too...I just see a lot of incompatibility problems using it.

If the MIDI ports on the Yamaha are not damaged from your shipping fiasco I would think the best plan is to buy a DIN MIDI to USB converter and run that directly to your computer.
Also in Cubase those are not something that gets setup as a "Remote Device". They just show up as a MIDI port available in your instrument track manager in the MIDI box on the left of the track.

hueseph Sun, 10/06/2013 - 15:28

Midi Input and output are separate settings in Cubase and are entirely separate ports not really related on the Tascam or any other device really. You can select a different input than output in Cubase and they will both still work. IE: Tascam for midi output and Motif for input. In this case however, just set the Tascam as input and output. The 428 on the output and the P80 on the input.

djmukilteo Mon, 10/07/2013 - 11:45

You would think that should all work, if you have all the drivers installed correctly....but if that MIDI board or the connectors are damaged then maybe that's why it isn't working and showing up on the Tascam.
Need to try some other MIDI device to test the Tascam connection and then go from there.
I still think it would make sense to just send the P80 separate to the computer using it's own MIDI-USB converter.
Seems like that would be a much more straight forward approach....those aren't that expensive..
Of course no word back from the OP with any further info or details, so maybe he/she got it working or gave up trying...LOL