FingerzAndKeyz
Member
I've been a musician for over 40 years and have also had a home studio for about as long. I've gone through the times of tape hiss and reel to reel machines and then moved into the digital world. That's a little bit of background on me. I've opened up the world of VSTs and have been using MIDI with my keyboard controller to play VSTi sound modules that I've purchased.
I have two main sound module programs that give me orchestra sounds and piano/synth sounds out the wazoo. I have two main computers. One for playing the sounds and one for the recording. These computers are connected via the SP/DIF connection. The computer playing the sounds is connected to my keyboard with MIDI ins and outs. I have drivers to play the sounds in CuBase and each sound program also has its own program, so I can play them outside of the DAW. I also have the ASIO drivers, which I use at times.
I have a mixer and run everything through it to the individual recording tracks and everything works great...except for one thing. When I play something real time on the keyboard, using the VST sounds, I get an anomaly of one note playing much louder than the rest. This situation is very random and only seems to happen when I play a lot of notes over a short period of time. That one note will play at full volume, then everything goes back to the way it should. Sometimes that one note can be two, and in extreme cases, I experience a latency issue for a couple of notes. But, once this little glitch has passed, everything is fine, once again.
I don't use MIDI for its normal use, although I could. I just connected my keyboard to the hardware so it could play the sound modules. My keyboard is an Ensoniq SQ1 Plus. It's kind of old, but works great. I have the MIDI settings to look for all 16 MIDI programs and the keyboard is set to OMNI. I'm not sure of some of the other settings, but can check on them, if someone needs to know. I'm not a MIDI expert by any means. I'm into it just enough that it works.
I've done some research on this issue. I've canceled out any hardware that I have by disconnecting each thing in turn, to see if I still have the problem. I've also canceled out any drivers, by the same process. I disconnected the SP/DIF to the recording computer, so all I had was the one producing the sounds. And like I said, because the sound programs have their own method of running themselves, I could cancel out CuBase and it's drivers. I ran each sound program separately, to test for the problem that way and in each and every test I've done, this one loud note issue is always there.
The only things I can't cancel out are the computer which has the VST programs installed, and the Ensoniq keyboard and MIDI settings. To me, the situation sounds like a RAM thing, as it's always random in how or when it happens. If it turns out to be RAM, I can deal with that, but I don't want to go out buying things if it isn't going to fix anything. That's why I'm here. I need help with the MIDI settings. I've done a little research, but I know just enough to get the thing to play.
And in any situation, it seems to play just fine. I have lush sounds, zero latency issues, and with the click of a mouse, I'm playing a string section or brass, a nice grand piano or a combination of them all. But, if there are fine tuning settings that I need to have set, it's very likely that I haven't set them. I don't even know if MIDI can cause such a thing to happen. It seems like a small overload of signal at any given time. Then, once it passes, it's fine for another random period of time, before it happens again. Can this happen in MIDI?
Needless to say, it's gotten under my skin. I can't record anything because of this. Sure, I can go back and fix a note here and there, but talk about an inspiration killer! I'll be playing along, then BOOM, that one note will play at full volume, killing the mood, and because I'm wearing headphones it can come close to giving me a heart attack.
So, anybody got some ideas of where I can look for the cause of this in a MIDI environment? I hope I've explained it well enough and I can give more info, if necessary. Can a MIDI setting even cause this kind of thing?
I have two main sound module programs that give me orchestra sounds and piano/synth sounds out the wazoo. I have two main computers. One for playing the sounds and one for the recording. These computers are connected via the SP/DIF connection. The computer playing the sounds is connected to my keyboard with MIDI ins and outs. I have drivers to play the sounds in CuBase and each sound program also has its own program, so I can play them outside of the DAW. I also have the ASIO drivers, which I use at times.
I have a mixer and run everything through it to the individual recording tracks and everything works great...except for one thing. When I play something real time on the keyboard, using the VST sounds, I get an anomaly of one note playing much louder than the rest. This situation is very random and only seems to happen when I play a lot of notes over a short period of time. That one note will play at full volume, then everything goes back to the way it should. Sometimes that one note can be two, and in extreme cases, I experience a latency issue for a couple of notes. But, once this little glitch has passed, everything is fine, once again.
I don't use MIDI for its normal use, although I could. I just connected my keyboard to the hardware so it could play the sound modules. My keyboard is an Ensoniq SQ1 Plus. It's kind of old, but works great. I have the MIDI settings to look for all 16 MIDI programs and the keyboard is set to OMNI. I'm not sure of some of the other settings, but can check on them, if someone needs to know. I'm not a MIDI expert by any means. I'm into it just enough that it works.
I've done some research on this issue. I've canceled out any hardware that I have by disconnecting each thing in turn, to see if I still have the problem. I've also canceled out any drivers, by the same process. I disconnected the SP/DIF to the recording computer, so all I had was the one producing the sounds. And like I said, because the sound programs have their own method of running themselves, I could cancel out CuBase and it's drivers. I ran each sound program separately, to test for the problem that way and in each and every test I've done, this one loud note issue is always there.
The only things I can't cancel out are the computer which has the VST programs installed, and the Ensoniq keyboard and MIDI settings. To me, the situation sounds like a RAM thing, as it's always random in how or when it happens. If it turns out to be RAM, I can deal with that, but I don't want to go out buying things if it isn't going to fix anything. That's why I'm here. I need help with the MIDI settings. I've done a little research, but I know just enough to get the thing to play.
And in any situation, it seems to play just fine. I have lush sounds, zero latency issues, and with the click of a mouse, I'm playing a string section or brass, a nice grand piano or a combination of them all. But, if there are fine tuning settings that I need to have set, it's very likely that I haven't set them. I don't even know if MIDI can cause such a thing to happen. It seems like a small overload of signal at any given time. Then, once it passes, it's fine for another random period of time, before it happens again. Can this happen in MIDI?
Needless to say, it's gotten under my skin. I can't record anything because of this. Sure, I can go back and fix a note here and there, but talk about an inspiration killer! I'll be playing along, then BOOM, that one note will play at full volume, killing the mood, and because I'm wearing headphones it can come close to giving me a heart attack.
So, anybody got some ideas of where I can look for the cause of this in a MIDI environment? I hope I've explained it well enough and I can give more info, if necessary. Can a MIDI setting even cause this kind of thing?