Akai MPD 24 + PreSonus FIREBOX + Cubase LE + A Bunch of Samples, How does it all work???

Ok, well this is obviously a pretty broad question. But heres a basic summary.

CubaseLE is your sequencer. It acts as the base platform for your studio. You can record audio tracks and midi tracks etc into it, but most important when discussing the MPD24, are recording MIDI tracks. This is what your playing of the MPD24 pads will be recorded as.

So, a couple of things to consider... CubaseLE is a limited edition, so you can't do everything you can with more expensive versions. I *think* you should be able to get it setup to record MPD24 tracks etc at least though.

I believe CubaseLE limits you to using 2 VST instruments/plugins. This is important, as a key thing you're needing, is a sampler VST. Here is a comparison list of CubaseLE limitations compared to the full Cubase software versions.

A sampler VST is basically a plugin which has a number of sample slots. You can either load a drum kit that comes with the sampler VST, or create your own with your own WAV samples - maybe some samples you recorded from other sources etc, or some drums you downloaded etc.

You need a VST sampler to hold all your samples, because the MPD24 is just a MIDI pad controller. When you hit the pads, it sends MIDI signals to your Cubase, which then (if you've got it setup right), send those signals to your VST sampler, and the appropriate sample gets played. So, you can then bash out a beat on the MPD24, and have it recorded as a MIDI track in Cubase.

Now CubaseLE does apparently come with 3 VST instruments... though I'm not sure what they are. Its possible there might be something you could use as a makeshift sampler in there? But I doubt it. I think you'll need to grab a sampler VST from elsewhere.

I use the NI Battery sampler with my MPD24, and it works great. Heres the PC demo of Battery if you want to try it out.

There is also the free grizzly sampler vst - its not as nice to use or as powerful, and only has 8 sample slots, but could do to try and get things up and running for the first time.

Of course before you can do anything, you need to setup Cubase... I don't have it installed so I'm not sure of the exact setup of the CubaseLE preferences, but they it should be something like this.

Basically you're needing to go into your CubaseLE options/preferences, and select the correct AUDIO DEVICE (Presonus Firebox) for your audio in/output, and then go to your MIDI DEVICE settings and make sure thats setup right too. Its possible in your MIDI settings page you might have to tick the box next to "USB DEVICE" to activate it, which is what the MPD24 is usually called if plugged in via USB.

Save those preferences, and go back to the normal Cubase sequencer page, and when you hit the pads on your MPD24, I think you should see a little light on Cubase down the bottom somewhere flash MIDI INPUT. That shows that Cubase can "hear" the MIDI input from your MPD24.

Now load your sampler VST instrument.

I'm no Cubase expert, but how I've done it in the past was to then create a new MIDI track, and on the left hand side of that new midi track, click the dropdown boxes... one is something like "MIDI Input"... so select USB DEVICE. And the other is something like "MIDI OUTPUT", so select "NI BATTERY SAMPLER" or whatever sampler vst you've loaded.

What all this means is that now, when you hit the pads on the MPD24, the midi signals go into your computer, through Cubase, and into the VST sampler - and the drum/sample is heard.

Lets get that far first, then we'll get onto recording.

ok well 1st, thank you for all the information.
My dad took it to work to get his friend to help set it up and ill see what goes down when he gets back.
they didnt take the cubase because i got ripped off (they told me the firebox cubase was 249 when it was 299) and so im gonna take it back and i ordered one off amazon for cheap.)
so now i know a bit of cubase.
i tried the fl studios thing.
didn't work.
i tried it BEFORE you posted that also.
it was plugged in before loaded everything and i watched a video on it and i still dont know whats wrong, my dad and i worked on it for awhile before giving up.
so when he gets home, depending on what happend ill see if i need more help, but i dont think he knows cubase so thank you for that. what could be some other problems with my MPD working with FL?

Yes that's the problem, it doesn't show a USB Audio Device, I went to my dad's work where he tried it on his laptop and we were able to get everything working.
BUT on my laptop there is no place to select a USB Audio device, in Output all I have is Microsoft MIDI Mapper, and MicrosoftGS Wavetable SW Synth. And in Input there is nothing...
How do I get the USB port to show up???

Both Laptops are on Windows Xp.
Though his work laptop (which it worked on) is Xp Pro while MY laptop (which I would like it on which doesn't work) is Xp Media Center. My dad just said it shouldn't matter though. But both are Windows xp.

I'll tell you about the firebox in a sec.

Nothing else is connected to my laptop. I unplugged everything and it's downstairs and the only usb device in is the MPD

I have 4 USB ports, all of which work perfectly and turn it on, but none of them recognize it differently or show up, etc.

So I have the firebox cd installed, but I actually don't have the firebox connected. For the moment I was working on a direct MPD to Laptop connection to get it going, and then working on the firebox a bit later.
But I don't have a midi cable yet so I can't work with the firebox anyway. I'm probably going to go to the music store tomorrow and pick up 3 or 4 midi cables so I can work with my drums, mpd, piano, etc with the firebox.

So, for now I just would like the direct USB to computer connection but the USB ports aren't showing up...
I feel like I'm f*cked at the moment, are you sure theres NOTHING else I could do?
also have you heard the problem before?
and do you have any personal friends or someone on this site that might know?

Its not looking good for running your studio setup on XP Media Center...

This is a list of musicians software/hardware that won't run on Media Center (either properly, or at all):
http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/ts/detail.php?Index=30163&keyword=30...

Presonus hardware is mentioned there I see...

If I were you, I would ditch Media Center, and chuck XP home or XP pro on your laptop. XP Pro is currently the best OS around for windows based studios. Vista is getting slowly better, but still has issues too... though not nearly as many as media center does apparently.

Ohhhhh yeah - thats why I asked if you had any other USB devices plugged in, or had done in the past :) Many people have arrived here with a Logitech webcam plugged in, that hideously clashed with their MPD24! Sorry man, should have asked about that specifically when I mentioned other USB devices.

Ok, with the FL studio lag - thats known as latency - make sure you have the correct audio/midi device (Presonus ASIO) selected in FLstudio. If you are just using "Primary Windows Sound Device" or "Realtek" or some standard onboard audio / windows device driver under your audio / midi settings, then you'll have a latency of maybe 100ms. Which makes playing impossible as you mentioned. Once you've got your Presonus ASIO device driver selected in FL, your latency should come down to like 6ms. Basically instant.

If you have the MPD24 working via USB, and would like to keep it that way, but using the Presonus instead of the onboard laptop audio, it should be easy. Just install your Presonus drivers, so your laptop knows how to talk to the Presonus. Then In FLstudio, go to your preferences...

Here is what your flstudio midi settings should look like. Don't need to worry about the midi OUTPUT, just the INPUT of course, and make sure you've ticked ENABLE.

Here is what your flstudio audio settings should look like.

Note that I've changed the audio device from the default "M-Audio Delta 1010 Multi" audio device (with 46ms latency), to the "M-Audio Delta ASIO" audio device, with 5ms latency. That makes it nice and instant, and removes any off putting sound delay when you hit your midi controller pads/keys.

You should be able to select something like "Presonus ASIO" on the FLstudio audio settings page.

hi, I have a related question,

matt explanations were great. But how to control parameters of a plug-in which is VST but not VSTinstrument (like a delay or something), I cant' manage it :-(

thanx in advance