Yamaha n Series

[trock]

that is nonsense, i had 2 working fine with the OLD drivers. the problem becomes HOW do you want them to work together cause the possibilites go up exponentially with 2 units and how you want them to work.

although with the new drivers and the patchbay gone i think its pretty much plug them in and then set up your ins and outs and a template in cubase and walk away

aarrrghhh, damn economy, want my second n12!

[Groberts]

Not sure if this is the right place to post a question asking for opinions of the N12 sound quality (pre's and converters) compared to products such as Apogee Ensemble, RME Fireface800, Profire 2626?

Also, any comparisons to what the N12 brings to the table over the rackmount Steinberg MR816?

I am very interested in the Yamaha or Steinberg as they seem to offer the best features, quality preamps and converters at their price point. i.e.; Less than the Apogee Ensemble.


Lastly, after wading through tons of pages in this thread, all those posts about driver upgrades and the difficulties that many people have endured is a bit off putting. Hmmm. But it seems that many have gotten successfully to the other side of the upgrades.

I'll be using Logic 8 or Garageband. I don't have any experience with Cubase. I might learn it since it is so tightly integrated into the product. But for now, I already have a headstart using Logic and Garageband on my Mac. Will that still work just fine?

[Geosync]

Originally Posted by soundrage

I remember George not be able to get Dell Notebook's working. I think the Mac is OK, but I'm not a Mac guy so I'm sure a Mac user will chime in here...

Sorry guys, I'm pretty busy these days...

Most Dell laptops are not good for FireWire audio.
The Mac 800 FW is fine (That's what I have)
Just get a 9pin to 6pin cable.

[Geosync]

Originally Posted by trock

that is nonsense, i had 2 working fine with the OLD drivers. the problem becomes HOW do you want them to work together cause the possibilites go up exponentially with 2 units and how you want them to work.

although with the new drivers and the patchbay gone i think its pretty much plug them in and then set up your ins and outs and a template in cubase and walk away

aarrrghhh, damn economy, want my second n12!

2 n12s are fine .. with the new driver

[Geosync]

Originally Posted by Groberts

But for now, I already have a headstart using Logic and Garageband on my Mac. Will that still work just fine?

You bet, works great

[terence]

Originally Posted by terence

Update: A couple of other anomalies found since I updated the drivers as well as the Cubase AI 4.5.2 update:

1. I got around to doing some mixing the other day and couldn't record from the Stereo bus. I discovered the ST input routing had changed in Cubase to something inappropriate. It was a quick fix but suggests that updating either the latest Cubase AI4 patch or perhaps the FW drivers had changed these settings.

2. I now (since updating the software) have to close and open Cubase AI4 three times to get the remote ready light to come on at the start of a session. If I ping the FW driver the Cubase ready light flashes, so the problem appears to be Cubase (based!).

On the remote control issue (#2) I have tried to figure out how this should be configured, in case anything else got changed since SW updates. There is not much in the Yamaha n12 manual specific to Cubase remote control settings (but please show me if I missed something.). Likewise, on the Steinberg site there is a pdf guide on setting up remote control devices which covers a number of hardware set-ups but omits the n12!

I have read somewhere on this thread, from George I think, that there is a downloadable template (or was it extensions? - please define extensions!) that configures everything automatically - but can't find where to download this. Are we talking about those File>Open n8/12 multi-channel session templates etc here or something else completely? Like a global routing template for Cubase to work with the n series?

I’m rapidly sinking into confusion and need some help! I'm technically not very astute on this hardware porting stuff - I think I have summized that remote surface connections go via a midi port, but that is about it for my knowlege depth.

Thanks to anyone that might shed some light on this. The bottom line is I would like a document that shows me exactly what a properly configured Cubase device setup looks like for the n12, so that I can hopefully troubleshoot these issues.

-Terence

Well, I have done everything I can think of doing. Reinstalled the full Cubase 4AI update (twice). Reinstalled the Yam extensions. Checked the VST connection configs - as well as I understand them. This is the best start-up scenario, which I can live with:

1. Fresh reboot
2. Turn on n12
3. Start Cubase - no Cubase Ready light
4. Close Cubase
5. Start Cubase - - Cubase Ready light comes on! (hey...that's an improvement from three restarts!).

This is clearly a Yamaha- Steinberg AI software glitch, not some system-wise problem as everything worked dandy before the updates. I'll wait and hope that the next updates iron this thing out...

[clicker]

Hi guys! Newbie here, need some advise

I've been using Yamaha n12 for about 6 months now, really like it, but sometime I got problem with recording. The recording sometime chopped up, the recording randomly stops for a few seconds, and then continue again
This problem happened even though I only record 1 channel. I record in 24b / 96kHz.

The notebook I use is HP dv7-1022TX
Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 32-bit
Intel® Centrino® 2 processor technology
• Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T9400
• 2.53 GHz , Level 2 cache 6 MB, 1066 MHz Front Bus Speed
RAM: 3072 MB
Internal drives: 500 GB (2 x 250 GB)
Hard disk drive speed: 5400 rpm

Since it has dual hard drive, the project folder is on the second drive, the drive without OS. It think this way the hard drive is dedicated for the audio streaming, not affected by the OS activity.

I've turned of other application including anti virus during recording, set the buffer to max, 2048 samples, but the problem is still there. I also tried using faster 7200 rpm hard drive for the audio file, connected via eSATA, but the problem was not solved.

The firmware version of the n12:
IEEE1394 Firmware V105
mLAN Tools mLAN Driver v1.6.3

and Cubase AI 4.5.2.274

Any idea what could be the problem? Anything to do with bad Firewire interface? Any recommendation for the mLan driver setup CPU requirement (Low / Medium / High) ?

Thank you!

[brettm]

Hoping you forum members can help me here.

Just bought a Yamaha N12 desk (come with Cubase AI and nLan tools for n - package). Very happy with the desk.

My question is, l'm running Windows Vista and am having trouble getting the computer to talk to the Desk and vice versa. When desk is ready, the Cubase light on the desk should light up, but doesn't. Any ideas?

l followed the directions in the manual and it said l needed to go to the yamahasynth.com site a get an update for vista. did that and nothing.

firewire cable connection between the 2, and when l load cubase, with no tracks (mics) on, l get sound from the computer mic coming thru. any ideas on where to start?

[clicker]

Originally Posted by brettm

Hoping you forum members can help me here.

Just bought a Yamaha N12 desk (come with Cubase AI and nLan tools for n - package). Very happy with the desk.

My question is, l'm running Windows Vista and am having trouble getting the computer to talk to the Desk and vice versa. When desk is ready, the Cubase light on the desk should light up, but doesn't. Any ideas?

l followed the directions in the manual and it said l needed to go to the yamahasynth.com site a get an update for vista. did that and nothing.

firewire cable connection between the 2, and when l load cubase, with no tracks (mics) on, l get sound from the computer mic coming thru. any ideas on where to start?

I had same problem earlier. Don't use the windows driver, it won't work with the desk. Use the mLan TOOLS for n application and driver, it solve my problem, and I can control the Cubase AI from the n12 panel.

Hope it helps

[brettm]

thanks clicker. l did think of that and tried it, but to no good.

ls it because of Vista? or is it more to do with the idiot (me) trying to configure the setup ie. loading the extra drivers?

[Groberts]

Does the Yamaha N12/N8 series play nicer with MAC's? After reading all these pages, and issue after issue with old drivers, upgrading to new drivers etc, I would be a bit hesitant to want to deal with all that.

But I have a nice MAC. Would that be less problematic and trouble free compared to all these Vista issues?

[Bondsong]

Well I got my N12 today and have it all working. Didn't take too long.

I have a question. Is there a way to set the outputs from Cubase 4.5.2 so that they will stay as I set them when I go back to the Hardware mix from the St Mix? I want to assign some channels and some groups to certain inputs back into the mixer but when I push the Hardware Mix button it defaults to Cubase Channels 1-8 = mixer channels 1-8 etc...

I know how to set up the outputs in Cubase but I don't know how to make them stay that way when I switch from St Mix to Hardware Mix.
I hope this is clear.

Cheers,
Frank

[mustream]

HI all. George. It's been a while. Just read the last couple pages of the forum. George congrats on the new position man.! Sweet!....

Haven't upgraded to the new drivers as yet, but working heavily with my Dual n8's and have absolutely no problem. Well.......... maybe just one...

And this comes more of a wish than anything else. See, the thing is, I mix ALOT of songs on my n8's but, after the recording sessions i have to manually take note of all the mixer/fader settings, and sometimes i use all 16 channels.. So it kinda becomes a drag, so i was wondering/hoping/wishing/ if there's possible some type of workaround that can be had??

May sound like a dumb question, knowing the fact that the n8's don't have automation or anything like that, but just wondering how you guys deal with that?
As I was accustomed to mixing ITB (and just saving settings) before I got the N8's yuh know?

Anyways, Any ideas guys? maybe a special software that could take a digital snap shot of the faders or something? .....

I was thinking that the sweetspot manager could download into the n8 and change settings and what not/ maybe another type or similar software could do something like that but just to like print the settings on the mixer faders to a word doc/PDF or something?

Just wondering....

[grame99]

i suggest taking a photo with a decent digital camera - that or download and fill in the tracksheets from the website. it's the old-school analogue approach!

[Bondsong]

Hello N12ers,

After playing with the N12 some more and reading posts and the manual I realize that it won't do what I was asking in my last post 3 posts back.

I like to use groups for some instruments, especially drums and then mix them from a single fader. For instance I group the bottom and top SD channels to a single mono fader. I also group the toms and OHs. On the N12 I would send the BD to CH1, the SD group to CH2, the Toms to CH 9/10 and the OHs to CH 11/12. I can do this on the N12 but I can't use the Work Mode buttons for this or it screws up my "group" routings when I switch back and forth.

I'll have to use a different way of working. This means I basically won't be using the hardware mode unless I re-do all the routing in Cubase manually. Too bad. It would be great if Cubase could remember output settings as a preset so you could reconfigure the mixer and it's outputs to the N12 for tracking and then for mixing. Or if it could have a programmable preset routing that responded to the "ST MIX" command and another for the "HARDWARE MIX"command. I'm pretty sure this would be a software and not a hardware feature.

If I'm totally missing some feature in Cubase 4.5.2 or the N12 mixer that does this please let me know. I'd be very happy to know about it.

Cheers,
Frank

[swordsect]

Will the N8 work with Cubase 4?

thanks!

[soundrage]

Originally Posted by swordsect

Will the N8 work with Cubase 4?

thanks!

Yes

[swordsect]

Ok thanks for answering my question.

So here is another one.

I'm interested in an N8, but here is what i'm worried about.

-I'm running a powerbook G4/ 1GBram / Leopard / 1.67GHZ powerpcG4
since cubase 5 isn't going to work with this computer i should be fine
[as stated above] just using cubase 4.
BUT -- currently i am running cubase LE version 1.0.8 [cubase LE4 is in the mail]
will i have any problems running my cubase LE files on CUBASE 4 [not LE4 but
the real version 4]?

this is what i'm wondering?

So basically:

powerbook G4/ 1GBram / Leopard / 1.67GHZ powerpcG4

+

Cubase 4

+

Yamaha n8

[also to keep in mind i am using mostly synthesizers only, usually recording
no more than 2 tracks simultaneously, and usually a finished track has no
more than 8 tracks recorded.]

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[swordsect]

OK sorry one more thing!

I see that the N8 comes with cubase Al 4.

Will this program run smoothly on the operating system that is mentioned
above? I guess I could just use this instead of cubase 4 right?

Only thing I really need to do in a newer cubase version is be able to
use exteral effects [reverb, compression, etc] for mixing. Can you
do this on Al4? You can't do it on the Cubase LE programs.

[d3man]

Just to pass by and recommend:

People, get Cubase 5 and get all the software updates-for n12/8 AND Cubase (5.0.1)

Everything will be smooth going!

I had n12 since october 2007. and it never worked soo good!

[grame99]

Originally Posted by Bondsong

Hello N12ers,

After playing with the N12 some more and reading posts and the manual I realize that it won't do what I was asking in my last post 3 posts back.

I like to use groups for some instruments, especially drums and then mix them from a single fader. For instance I group the bottom and top SD channels to a single mono fader. I also group the toms and OHs. On the N12 I would send the BD to CH1, the SD group to CH2, the Toms to CH 9/10 and the OHs to CH 11/12. I can do this on the N12 but I can't use the Work Mode buttons for this or it screws up my "group" routings when I switch back and forth.

I'll have to use a different way of working. This means I basically won't be using the hardware mode unless I re-do all the routing in Cubase manually. Too bad. It would be great if Cubase could remember output settings as a preset so you could reconfigure the mixer and it's outputs to the N12 for tracking and then for mixing. Or if it could have a programmable preset routing that responded to the "ST MIX" command and another for the "HARDWARE MIX"command. I'm pretty sure this would be a software and not a hardware feature.

If I'm totally missing some feature in Cubase 4.5.2 or the N12 mixer that does this please let me know. I'd be very happy to know about it.

Cheers,
Frank

I myself never use the hardware/stereo mix buttons for exactly this reason - the mix button automatically matches the cubase tracks to the same numbered N12 channel which, for me, messes up my routing. I begin a session with the multi-channel template and then rout the outputs as i go along - vocal on N12 channel 1, drum submix on N12 channel 9/10 etc. I track on a free channel or one that i don't need to hear and then once its recorded i rout it to where i want it to go.

i think what you need to do is set up a dummy project with the routing you want and then save it as a cubase template. the hardware mix button is a very blunt instrument which you do't need to use unless you hurriedly want your cubase tracks to match the N12 in order of number.

[Bondsong]

Hi grame99,

I have to agree with you on that. I will use my own template. They're easy enough to create.

I think Yamaha/Steinberg are missing out on a potentially great feature by not allowing us to assign these buttons to two different routing setups as opposed to the presets they've decided on. It would make switching between tracking and mixing much easier and very useful. I can't see how it would be very hard to implement but I'm not a computer programmer so who knows.

Cheers,
Frank

[Slave8]

So, I may have missed this in all the pages but if it has been addressed please forgive me if it has already been ansered.

If I wanted to get an N12 to use with my Macbook Pro would I have to install all the drivers for it to work? Or can I use it with Logic out of the box just by plugging it in like I have done with other interfaces? 12 in 12 out firewire.

Are the drivers for the Cubase interaction or are they required for the board to work as an interface with my Mac?

[Lemontree]

Originally Posted by mustream

HI all. George. It's been a while. Just read the last couple pages of the forum. George congrats on the new position man.! Sweet!....

Haven't upgraded to the new drivers as yet, but working heavily with my Dual n8's and have absolutely no problem. Well.......... maybe just one...

And this comes more of a wish than anything else. See, the thing is, I mix ALOT of songs on my n8's but, after the recording sessions i have to manually take note of all the mixer/fader settings, and sometimes i use all 16 channels.. So it kinda becomes a drag, so i was wondering/hoping/wishing/ if there's possible some type of workaround that can be had??

May sound like a dumb question, knowing the fact that the n8's don't have automation or anything like that, but just wondering how you guys deal with that?
As I was accustomed to mixing ITB (and just saving settings) before I got the N8's yuh know?

Anyways, Any ideas guys? maybe a special software that could take a digital snap shot of the faders or something? .....

I was thinking that the sweetspot manager could download into the n8 and change settings and what not/ maybe another type or similar software could do something like that but just to like print the settings on the mixer faders to a word doc/PDF or something?

Just wondering....

like someone already suggested, digi camera and save the snapshot in the project folder. I used to pencil in the track sheet, scan it and save it in the project folder..the camera was a welcome addition to the studio

[rulllz]

he all,

loaded up "easy limiter" to the N12. Want to use it for a recording this monday. Still am confused how to use it:

- how do I find out what the A, B, C and D settings are?
- the "drive" knob set the amount of compression/limiting, but what about the threshold? with limiting this is importand (stil clipping occurs)
- what about this library? I can't seem to find it... perhaps there lies the answer to my questions..

Enjoy all!

[muso36]

Originally Posted by muso36

Hi Brian, Thanks for the helpful advice. I have tried many things to solve this - changed graphics card, bought and installed another firewire card, changed firewire cable and this morning tried the new card in my sons vista computer none of which has made much difference. The audio dropouts are so bad that changing the buffer size does not help. Yamaha support has advised me to get the unit changed so it is boxed up ready for pickup tomorrow (today now its late!). The sp3 issue is interesting as I thougth it was confined to firewire 800? Running the N12 on the vista computer should rule that out I would have thought? I don't fancy de-boxing the N12 now its ready to send. I hope in one way that it is faulty and the replacement solves the problem, I will have egg on my face otherwise although I think I have tried extremely hard to get it working. I will let you know how things work out. Bob

Good news everyone! Replacement N12 has arrived.
Bad news is I still have the same audio dropouts as before. Yamaha support advised upgrading to latest drivers and tools, but this has if anything made matters worse. Yamaha are going to get the unit back to them and set it up with a working system to check if its the N12 or my computer. Here are my computer specs..... if anyone can spot any potential issues feel free to chip in.
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3, iP43 Express with recommended TI TSB43AB23 chipset.
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC6400 Titanium Memory CL4(4-4-4-15) - LiteOn LH-20A1H 20x DVD±RW-RAM DL Lightscribe IDE Int Black
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0 Stepping (2.4GHz 1066MHz) Socket 775 L2 8MB Cache (2x4MB (4MB per core pair) Retail Boxed Processor - Qty: 1
Western Digital WD2500AAKS Caviar SE 250GB 7200RPM SATAII/300 16MB
Windows xp sp3 32bit

[clicker]

Originally Posted by clicker

Hi guys! Newbie here, need some advise

I've been using Yamaha n12 for about 6 months now, really like it, but sometime I got problem with recording. The recording sometime chopped up, the recording randomly stops for a few seconds, and then continue again
This problem happened even though I only record 1 channel. I record in 24b / 96kHz.

The notebook I use is HP dv7-1022TX
Windows Vista® Home Premium SP1 32-bit
Intel® Centrino® 2 processor technology
• Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T9400
• 2.53 GHz , Level 2 cache 6 MB, 1066 MHz Front Bus Speed
RAM: 3072 MB
Internal drives: 500 GB (2 x 250 GB)
Hard disk drive speed: 5400 rpm

Since it has dual hard drive, the project folder is on the second drive, the drive without OS. It think this way the hard drive is dedicated for the audio streaming, not affected by the OS activity.

I've turned of other application including anti virus during recording, set the buffer to max, 2048 samples, but the problem is still there. I also tried using faster 7200 rpm hard drive for the audio file, connected via eSATA, but the problem was not solved.

The firmware version of the n12:
IEEE1394 Firmware V105
mLAN Tools mLAN Driver v1.6.3

and Cubase AI 4.5.2.274

Any idea what could be the problem? Anything to do with bad Firewire interface? Any recommendation for the mLan driver setup CPU requirement (Low / Medium / High) ?

Thank you!

Hi guys, any help for my problem ??? :(

[Raymondina]

Hi,
I just brought a used n8 that I am trying to set up. I can't any sound from DAW to n8 or vice versa. Also, the Daw Remote Control section of the n8 i totally dead (no lights).

Here's what I did:
1. Installed Cubase AI + update to 4.5.2 downloaded from Steinberg.
2. Installed IEEE1394 Firmware Updater V107 (previous version was 1.03 if remeber correctly)
3. Installed n Firmware Updater V103
4. Installed win tools for n v200 (confirmed installation OK - got the correct entries in the Device Manager)
Just to check, I set the windows sound default device to Steinberg FW WDM Audio. When I tried to play some music from Windows Media Player I got:
"Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There may not be a sound device installed on your computer, it may be in use by another program, or it may not be functioning properly."
I opened the demo project in Cubase AI. No sound, non of the VU-meters are even moving. However, the 5 transport buttons works but non of the other buttons in the Daw remote Control section are lit.

Gear:
Dell Latitude D820
TI-based PCMCIA FW adapter
Win XP (32-bit) sp3
Any ideas?

Regards / Mattias

[White Falcon]

Check that you have selected the Yamaha as your ASIO in Cubase. Also, try to check the "Release drivers in the background" box in the device set-up menu i Cubase.

[soundrage]

Originally Posted by Raymondina

Hi,
I just brought a used n8 that I am trying to set up. I can't any sound from DAW to n8 or vice versa. Also, the Daw Remote Control section of the n8 i totally dead (no lights).

Here's what I did:
1. Installed Cubase AI + update to 4.5.2 downloaded from Steinberg.
2. Installed IEEE1394 Firmware Updater V107 (previous version was 1.03 if remeber correctly)
3. Installed n Firmware Updater V103
4. Installed win tools for n v200 (confirmed installation OK - got the correct entries in the Device Manager)
Just to check, I set the windows sound default device to Steinberg FW WDM Audio. When I tried to play some music from Windows Media Player I got:
"Windows Media Player cannot play the file because there is a problem with your sound device. There may not be a sound device installed on your computer, it may be in use by another program, or it may not be functioning properly."
I opened the demo project in Cubase AI. No sound, non of the VU-meters are even moving. However, the 5 transport buttons works but non of the other buttons in the Daw remote Control section are lit.

Gear:
Dell Latitude D820
TI-based PCMCIA FW adapter
Win XP (32-bit) sp3
Any ideas?

Regards / Mattias

Not sure if this will help but check out post 2522 here.....
Yamaha n Series