Assigning Sounds... again :-(

Hi

After a break of 7 months I'm back giving HN another try. The same old thing always stops me ... getting HN to trigger the sounds I want.

I don't use GM at all so what I want is to click on the chords on the Pallete and have HN play the Piano chords along with a generated accompaniment. I'm pretty adept with MIDI ... but this thing gets me confused every time. It's not a cheap app either ... so I want to plumb the potential I know is there.

So here I am. I have Cubase V5 set up as my vsti host with several instruments Loaded. (Mac OS 10.5.8 system)

Track 1 ; Piano (Pianoteq)
Track 2 : Bass (Halion 1)
Track 3 : Guitar ( Slayer)
Track 4 : Pad (Spector)

I could have each of these set to the same MIDI Input (say IAC 1) on a different MIDI channel, But for the sake of clarity I have set up each on to accept input from a separate IAC Buss
So it's

Track 1 ; Piano (Pianoteq) : IAC 1
Track 2 : Bass (Halion 1): IAC 2
Track 3 : Guitar ( Slayer): IAC 3
Track 4 : Pad (Spector) : IAC 4

In HN I have the following HN Output Ports Assigned

Port 1 to IAC 1
Port 2 to IAC 2
Port 3 to IAC 3
Port 4 to IAC 4

This is reflected in the Port summary :

Port 1 goes to IAC Bus 1:IAC Driver using Pianoteq
Port 2 goes to IAC Bus 2:IAC Driver using Halion 1
Port 3 goes to IAC Bus 3:IAC Driver using Slayer
Port 4 goes to IAC Bus 4:IAC Driver using Spector

I'm happy to manage the sound of each instrument in Cubase ... I just want to get HN to send the generated MIDI data to the correct destination. Each vsti has been registered ... as a single patch of the type I use it for (Piano, Bass, Pad, Guitar) I guess this is where HN sets the appropriate note ranges?

Now I come unstuck. I can create a new Accompaniment, I create new Instrument for each of my Piano, Bass, Guitar, Pad (why isn't there a button for this ... the ctrl menu drives me nuts!). I go into the Properties for each track ( why can't I double click the instrument ... Cntrl menu again!), Pick my Generic Patch for each Instrument (they all seem to sound from the local keyboard ... save the arrangement). But now what? How do I get HN to play this 'band'. How do the instruments get up to the little blue blocks in the Pallette? How do I change the styles etc ... without messing up the 'band'?

Any help would be appreciated.

Lee

ASIDE : For my money I'd rather can the noble attempt to control all the sounds. Just give me the 6 Instrument slots ... double click on each for a window to tell HN what type of sound it is (for range, etc) and an assignment to a MIDI output. Bam done. Then I click on the Palette and HN generates notes for the activated instruments in a chosen style sending the data to the selected Output. I'll take care of all the sound tweaking.