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Synchronizing Cubase VST to another MIDI Device via MIDI Clock

P This method should only be used for MIDI-only material.

If you want Cubase VST to follow the tempo of another MIDI device (such as another sequencer, a drum machine or similar), you need to use MIDI Clock signals. In this situation, synchronization happens as follows:

• Cubase VST’s tempo is synchronized to the other device’s. In other words, the other device is the master and Cubase VST is the slave.
• Cubase VST’s Master Track and the tempo setting on the Transport Bar have no effect on playback. Instead, Cubase VST plays in the same tempo as the other device.

Proceed as follows:

1. In the Synchronization dialog box (reached from the Options menu), set Timecode Base to Intern.
This tells the program that you are not synchronizing to time code.

2. Set Tempo Base to MIDI Clock.

This prepares the program for synchronizing to MIDI Clock.

3. From the menu just below Tempo Base, select the MIDI input to which you have connected the device transmitting the MIDI clock signal.

Sync to time code deactivated
Sync to MIDI Clock activated
The MIDI Input for the MIDI Clock

4. Close the Synchronization dialog.

This is actually not necessary, but probably preferable.

5. On the Transport Bar, activate Sync by clicking on the button with the same name, or by pressing [X].

Sync activated on the Transport Bar.

6. Set up the other device to transmit MIDI clocks, and Start it.

Cubase VST will automatically start and play in the same tempo as the other device. This type of synchronization is tempo based, that is the external device controls Cubase VST’s tempo. This means that the Master Track and the tempo setting on the Transport Bar have no effect on playback.

P You do not need to activate play in Cubase VST, it will automatically begin playback when it senses the incoming MIDI Clock. However, when the other device is stopped, you can use the Cubase VST transport controls as you normally do, when it is not synchronized to any device.

If the other device sends messages called Song Position Pointers, Cubase VST will follow when you wind and rewind, and will always start from the same position as the other device. If it doesn’t send Song Position Pointers, you must manually locate Cubase VST and the other device to exactly the same position (for example the beginning of the Song!) before you Start.