OB-6 sound changes when playing back MIDI from Cubase

[Maomas]

Hi everyone,
I recently purchased an OB-6 and I'm running into an issue I can’t solve.

When I play the OB-6 directly from its own keyboard, the sound is perfect: deep, wide, 3D, and with the correct stereo panning.
However, when I record a MIDI track in Cubase and play it back to the OB-6, the sound changes completely — it becomes almost mono, with the left and right channels unbalanced, and most of the effects seem to disappear.

This also happens if I play the OB-6 from an external master keyboard instead of its own keys.

For reference, the OB-6 is connected via USB, with MIDI CC enabled for both input and output. I also tried using a standard MIDI interface instead of USB, but the problem is exactly the same.

If I record the OB-6 audio directly into Cubase, the sound is faithful to the preset. But as soon as I play back the MIDI track, something in Cubase seems to modify the preset or affect the stereo field/effects.

I enabled MIDI monitoring on the track, but I don’t see any CC or unusual messages being sent (unless there is some filter I'm not aware of).

Has anyone experienced this or knows what could be causing it?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[kpatz]

Sounds like you might have some sort of MIDI loop or duplication going on.  If your master keyboard has DIN ports, can you connect the MIDI OUT of your master keyboard directly to the OB-6 MIDI IN, with no USB or computer hookup at all and then does it sound right?

[Maomas]

Thanks for the reply.
I actually have a MIDI loop that I can't resolve with my current setup. The loop only occurs when I play the OB6 from its keyboard, because if I play the OB6 from the MK or the Virus, the loop doesn't occur. The basic problem is that the OB6 doesn't seem to give me many options, or rather, it actually requires setting Local Control to OFF and the loop resolves. Unfortunately, I lose the OB6's effects section. From the OB6, I can turn off MIDI Control, the loop resolves, Cubase records the MIDI correctly, but it doesn't play the OB6 sound. If I disable MIDI Thru in the Cubase preferences, the problem is solved. The loop disappears, Cubase records the MIDI and plays the OB6 from MIDI, but the Access Virus doesn't work because it requires Thru to be enabled. In short, I'm having some trouble finding a solution.

[Maomas]

Hi. I'd close this post by saying the problem has been resolved. I admit I wasn't sure where the problem was coming from at first, because, after all, the waveform that came out when playing the OB6 was interesting. It was the fault of the preset I was fixated on. I liked the idea of ​​playing and recording directly from the OB6's KB, but for my current setup, it would mean changing the OB6's MIDI control parameter every time I turn it ON/OFF, which isn't ideal. However, when everything is turned on and ready for production, I play from the main keyboard, which for me is the Access. So, I keep the OB6 set for maximum performance and manage the CC inputs and outputs without any problems. Thanks.

PS: OB6 = TOP!