CbB & Presonus ATOM SQ & AudioBoxUSB 96

[mistermike]

Hey everyone,

I'm an old-schooler, somewhat hard-headed and independent, primarily a guitar player although I began my musical journey as a drummer, went to rhythm guitar, then to bass guitar and back to electric/acoustic guitar. I also dally in songwriting. I was one of the original Cakewalk buyers/users and migrated onward to Sonar 4 Producer at which point life happened and I had to set it all aside for awhile. At that time I had both an old Cakewalk version (don't remember which) plus the Sonar 4 Producer installed. The Cakewalk interfaces were easier (simpler) to use but I liked the mix down features and the look that Sonar offered. Anyway, I used both with an old Yamaha PSR-520 which I loved for the authentic drums, and also used them with a Korg Triton LE (for the strings, synthesizers, keys, etc.). I mainly use the staff view to score my drums because sequencing doesn't ... ah, never mind on that. Let's just say I prefer to use the Staff view.

Now that I'm back to having time on my hands, I've downloaded and begun using CbB, which I do love! When I hook both the PSR520 and TritonLE to my Windows 10 laptop using PreSonus AudioboxUSB96 and regular old MIDI cables, everything works great. The problem is that my space has become very, very small compared to what I used to have, plus I now have some physical limitations. To use the PSR520 and/or the Korg I have to lug them out of a storage closet, hook them up, so on and so on, which is a painful ordeal for me. So I was wanting to reduce my footprint, so to speak, and began looking for a small MIDI controller to use to create realistic sounding drum tracks. And yes, I've tried putting together audio clips of various drum hits and it's a royal PIA, at least for me.

I live in small town USA, in Louisiana, and there just aren't any places I can go to for help. The ones I have tried just didn't work out. GC people didn't have a clue, a major local music store "keyboard specialist" made it clear that he had better things to do. So I'm stuck between the rock and the hard place, left to figure things out on my own. Thanks for the internet, for sure! So, I bought the PreSonus ATOM SQ, which works great as long as I use the Studio One 5 Artist (came with the AudioBox96 AND the ATOM SQ)  and while I can see that it would be a wonderful tool for hip-hop, DJ's, etc., it is seriously lacking in that I can't seem to put in skips (hesitation), bounces, the open-snap shut of hi-hat and rush beats. UNLESS, of course and according to PreSonus, I upgrade to Studio One 5 Professional, which would be another $299, and I can get their Staff view. Well, I've already paid $250 for the ATOM SQ and I've got to pay another $300? /

Anyway, I've tried using the ATOM SQ with CbB and I would really, really like to use it because it would make my life simpler. However, when I go into Preferences and find the MIDI device assignment, I select ATOM SQ. Then I go into Playback and Recording and select the ATOM SQ (tried both, ATOMSQ and MIDIIN2/MIDIOUT2). But when I select a drum kit, I can see the hits registering on the meter but there's no sound.  Just for reference, if I hook up the PSR520 or Korg through the AudioBox MIDI in/out, select the AudioBox for the MIDI device and select it in the Playback and Recording, it works great. I found a forum article somewhere that said it could be set up with PreSonus Universal Control but what I get in UC and what they showed were entirely different. PreSonus was no help, either, only suggesting the $299 bait and switch.

What am I missing? Can anyone help me with this? Thanks in advance!

Mike