Cubase Dongles (which Color? Which Version?)

[chrisNova777]

pc dongles - parallel
green = Cubase 2.7 pc (its possible green might be for the original SCORE version) (1994-1996?)
Red = Cubase 2.5  - Cubase VST 3.7 PC (1997-1999) (and also Cubase v3.05 XT ?)
Blue = Cubase VST 5 pc (Cubase VST 5, Cubase VST 5 Score, Cubase VST 5/32 different versions all blue) (2000-2002)

pc dongles - usb
Blue/translucent (USB) = Cubase SE|SL|SX 1,2&3 (2002-2004)

source: http://www.keyboardforums.com/threads/dongle-help.6733/

atari dongles
black = cubase v2.x for atari
red = cubase v3.x for atari

source: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.sys.atari.st/HLhSD2brIt0

[foksadure]

Hey there,

Bought regular Cubase 16bit 3.05 in January 1997, used with Windows 95OSR2, and my parallel dongle is... red.
This was before VST came out.
Ever since, good old Cubase 2.8 works like a charm with the dongle, under Windows 98SE.

Also got a discounted "educational" VST 5 Score later, with the blue dongle, in hope it would allow VST32 to run, but nope IIRC.

Great site, btw.

[chrisNova777]

hey there;
i have the blue one and the logic dongle, but no red dongle!!
they are very hard to find now!!

[foksadure]

New addition to the family : a Cubase Score red dongle, scored for a few euros. Pun intended.
Works like a charm with Cubase Score 3.05, still 16bit.

So now I can run genuine Cubase on both of my Win98SE retro-computers, one old P3-600MHz/256Meg laptop with a MOTU Midi Flyer 2x2 parallel interface, and the even older but rebuilt P3-1000MHz/512Meg beast with internal Winman 4x4/s & Audiophile2496 cards and AMT-8 serial Midi interface. Both systems exhibit the same ~2% MIDI jitter, and slightly inacurate BPM.

[chrisNova777]

im going to be getting my hands on a green one soon so i can try to test when that happens!
hopefully soon!

[chrisNova777]

New addition to the family : a Cubase Score red dongle, scored for a few euros. Pun intended.
Works like a charm with Cubase Score 3.05, still 16bit.

So now I can run genuine Cubase on both of my Win98SE retro-computers, one old P3-600MHz/256Meg laptop with a MOTU Midi Flyer 2x2 parallel interface, and the even older but rebuilt P3-1000MHz/512Meg beast with internal Winman 4x4/s & Audiophile2496 cards and AMT-8 serial Midi interface. Both systems exhibit the same ~2% MIDI jitter, and slightly inacurate BPM.

i also have a winman 4x4/s! you run that at the same time as the AMT-8?? do they both work at the same time?
not to mention the Audiophile also has MIDI interface 1x1 on it doesnt it?

i dont have a pc-midi flyer but i do have a music quest 2portSE !!

[chrisNova777]

heres pic of v3.7 (for PC) with red dongle

[foksadure]

i also have a winman 4x4/s! you run that at the same time as the AMT-8?? do they both work at the same time?
not to mention the Audiophile also has MIDI interface 1x1 on it doesnt it?

Yes, all MIDI ports are available provided you use Windows 98SE or ME, which have not the 10 MIDI ports limitation 95 had.
The cullprit is MIDI clock replication, when using software sequencers that cannot send it to more than one MIDI ports. The AMT-8 port 0 (omni) is great for this. Not all gear requires or respond to MIDI clock sync, though.

When it comes to MIDI timing, I was shocked to measure no differences between the three :
https://forum.mutable-instruments.net/t/midigal-yet-another-midipal-inspired-project/6731/111

Keep up the good work!

[chrisNova777]

This happens the very same week I've discovered Photek was using Cubase on Windows 3.1 for his mid-90s DnB masterpieces back then.

there u have it - the real reason this site exists.. from my own experiments back in 2014 or so, i discovered that cubase 1.0 on windows 3.11 kicked ass and never screwed up any midi no matter what insane tempo i threw at it...
i was doing those tests on a winman 4/4s back then when i first got it.. i should repeat those tests now with my mqx-32m or my real Roland mpu-401s

yes ACPI is a serious foe of MIDI timing... i need to do more research into which motherboards allow it to be disabled completely i dont think u can completely disable it tho in any modern os past win98se as u have explained in your post here.. im foggy on the details tho as ive been distracted by my personal life lately, need to get back on the (oldschooldaw) attack

im still hoping for some other people to come out of the wood work and volunteer to help with the information quest i've began - my only desired outcome is to help a new generation (and the old) rediscover the way to breathe creativity back into electronic music! with a serious belief that we've been led far far astray by the music software + hardware industries

so the red dongle works with 3.05 - did u get a copy of the installer from here? i forget if its here or not lol
the red dongle will not work with 2.80 will it?

and BTW your suspicions are 100% correct re: BX motherboards + PCI-ISA bridge. i have a similar board.. whats it called.. its an Abit/BE6  - and the winman 4/4s card did not function properly in this machine! always failed the diagnostics + behaved strangely + crashed the cubase app in windows 3.1
the same card works flawlessly when in an ISA only board. this is another reason why i put so much effort into timestamping + dating all the gear + apps on teh site.. so people can put the pieces together re: appropriate use + timing.. because its always been the case that new hardware breaks old software etc  and sometimes even vice versa; with jumps ahead in technology comes new bugs + incompatibilities

[foksadure]

Hey,

i discovered that cubase 1.0 on windows 3.11 kicked ass and never screwed up any midi no matter what insane tempo i threw at it...

I have a very old Compaq laptop from the late 90s which I used to test Cubase 2.8 on, under Win3.11 and the MOTU MIDI Flyer. I'm not so sure the results were that great. Got to try again someday.

yes ACPI is a serious foe of MIDI timing...

Back in the days, I used all the tricks to tweak 98SE and disable ACPI, USB, what not, on my MIDI computer. Unfortunately, any attempt to do a clean install failed ever since on this machine. So I rely on Ghost images I made as a backup.

There's a cool website for us, retrocomputer lovers :
http://win9x4ever.online.fr/index.php/telechargements
Unfortunately it's in french only. Feel free to ask if I can help.

so the red dongle works with 3.05 - did u get a copy of the installer from here? i forget if its here or not lol. the red dongle will not work with 2.80 will it?

The red dongle covers 2.8 & 3.0x in my experience. Just depends on the version (regular, Audio, Score).
I've got the files from the genuine Steinberg CD and ftp, if you need these.

its an Abit/BE6  - and the winman 4/4s card did not function properly in this machine! always failed the diagnostics + behaved strangely + crashed the cubase app in windows 3.1

Could'nt use the Winman 4x4/s in a Tyan 440BX Slot1 motherboard I had either back then. Same symptoms, while the Winman 2x2 I also still have was okay.
Invested in an Asus P3B-F instead, never looked back. There are a couple of NOS Intel 440BX boards on Amazon, just in case.

I also have a GadgetLabs Wave/4 ISA audio card laying around, never took the time to test drive it again and see how it goes.

Amazing work you're doing here. Really. 

[chrisNova777]

http://oldschooldaw.com/asus/1999/p3bf-104.pdf
re: p3b-f - nice board!!! http://archive.arstechnica.com/reviews/3q99/asus_p3b-f/p3b-f-1.html
i also have vintage asus motherboard info + manuals stashed on the site here: http://oldschooldaw.com/asus/

re: "i have the files from the original cd"
i definately dont have the original cubase 2.8 install cd - would love to get an iso of that
a friend has a dongle for me, which is a green parallel dongle - its been waiting for me to pick it up from his sister for hte past 2 years that ive been too busy with life + building this site to stop + Get it lol

the motherboard i was using to test the winman in originally was an Abit BE6 from 1999 so yea..
which coincidentally has USB ports built in.. i think for the winman to work like u said it needs to be used on a board that doesnt use an ISA to PCI bridge but rather normal native ISA ports (like those in very early pentium + 486/386 systems)

while the winman 4/4s appeared to work like i said it always failed the diagnostics that came with the driver install and caused some other wierdness i forget what at this point.. but i was struggling with it
i got it to work stable for a while and then it would act strange again.

i have no experience with the midi flyer by motu but i do have a 2PORT/SE from music quest

sorry im kind of repeating myself here abit lol must be the coffee

[chrisNova777]

heres a red dongle that is clearly labelled as Cubase 2.5 for PC

[londonish]

heres a red dongle that is clearly labelled as Cubase 2.5 for PC

Lol another pic of mine haha! I have this dongle still. I run cubase on the Atart, so might trade this for a Emagic Logic Mac v4 dongle

[MV-GTOW]

Chris, I bought the Cubase VST24 producer pack back in the day. I still have it complete with all the extra software that came with it. On the product registration card, it says Cubase Version 3.7. Part no 191912-04. The dongle that came with it is the green one.

Does anyone know how to get the Wavelab that came bundled with it to work on windows XP?

Adrian.

[chrisNova777]

Chris, I bought the Cubase VST24 producer pack back in the day. I still have it complete with all the extra software that came with it. On the product registration card, it says Cubase Version 3.7. Part no 191912-04. The dongle that came with it is the green one.

Does anyone know how to get the Wavelab that came bundled with it to work on windows XP?

Adrian.

the best thing to do honestly is to use it with the OS that it was designed/tested to be used with;
i used to try to stretch things how i wanted them to work but i have changed my mantra - its not worth the headache of things not working properly its much easier to always use the original OS that it was intende to be used with and strictly follow the reccommendations from the people who know best.

[wwinfrey]

Are the red dongles locked to specific flavors of Cubase? If you have a red Cubase Score dongle, will it say, work with Cubase Audio XT 3.0, etc. ?

[articoci]

Hi!
I have a green dongle for VST 3.55r3 PC.
I can use this dongle with Cubase 3.05 on Windows 3.1!