MIDI Recording Question HELP

[Antz_Marchin]

I cant seem to get it to work.. I have my SB Live set to MIDI record, the level is up. When I bring up the keyboard view, I can change my instruments and get sound from it in my speakers. When I arm the MIDI track and proceed to record, the marker obviously moves along the track window but I see no input from any sort of monitor and when I hit stop, the track window is empty as if I never hit record...........What am I doing wrong?? If anybody could help me out here it would be great. Wana get this figured out before I go buying a controller. Thanks again. BJ

[moskus]

How do you start the record? I just became aware that with ASIO-drivers, you can't hit Play and then hit Record. You have to start recording right away (as in place the "marker" and hit 'R')...

[rjt]

Midi is discrete computer data, so you wouldn't see input like you would when recording audio.... mostly for midi input there is just a little light or marker that flashes when midi is being received and sent. Check the receive channel of the midi track..... if it is in midi omni then you should be okay. If you have it set to a specific number like channel 1 -16, make sure your midi source is sending on that channel (e.g., key board sending on channel 3, sonar track receiving on channel 3).

Take Care

[moskus]

Antz, are you recording on a MIDI or Audio track?

[Antz_Marchin]

Ok, I just tried it out again. 1) Im in a MIDI track 2) In: MIDI Omni, Out: A: SB Live MIDI Synth (cant seem to hear piano roll on SB live MIDI out), Ch: 1 SoundFont Device, Bank: None, Pch: Guitar or something. SB Live control set to record MIDI (made sure that MIDI isn;t muted on here).

Now I change my settings to the above by double clicking on the track window. Open the piano roll, and hear the instrument I've chosen. I hit record and the bar moves. No sound data comes up in the record window (which someone said it doesn't do like audio will) but there is nothing in there at all. I hit play and the bar in the window does nothing at all........there's nowhere for it to go becasue there's no track. Starting to drive me nuts Thanks for the help......BJ

[moskus]

And one more time: Are you trying to record MIDI-data or Audio?

[James Argo]

1) Im in a MIDI track 2) In: MIDI Omni, Out: A: SB Live MIDI Synth (cant seem to hear piano roll on SB live MIDI out), Ch: 1 SoundFont Device, Bank: None, Pch: Guitar or something.

SB Live! MIDI Out is used if you connect external devices into Joystick/MIDI port of the SBLive! using dedicated cables (SB MIDI kit). It's simply MIDI port for you to connect your keyboard. The question is, how did you record MIDI ? What's your controller and how did you hook it up to your PC ?

OR

Are you "writing" the notes in the Piano roll view ? Tis way, you don't have to hit the record button. Just put the notes there... Draw them... it's there...

For the bank, never leave it blank (none). If you're not sure, set it to 0.

Keep going, I'll help you...

Jaymz

[AlChuck]

You have to arm the track before you can record data into it.

[James Argo]

I think he did that, Chuck. Read his first post above...

Originally posted by Antz_Marchin
...When I arm the MIDI track and proceed to record...

[Torpid-x]

It sounds like you have everything set up right to me.

you don't get sound when clicking in piano roll?

when you open the surround (soundblaster) mixer (assuming your using drivers that have it) in effects view, is the midi button highlighted? that's the only thing I can think of that could be wrong. I had a hell of a time figuring that out when I first started.

Also, I wanted to mention, you don't need your soundblaster set to record midi, that's for recording midi to wav.

[Antz_Marchin]

Ok this isn't critical to me at the moment but i'm trying to get everything working correctly with my software before I continue to buy stuff for my modest and slowly starting home studio.

I have the track armed, I have the midi "not-muted" in SBLive, I am using a MIDI track.

FOR JAMES

.....I'm not "writing" notes in the piano roll view but playing notes with the piano roll keyboard......which I assume is the same thing that will be basically happening when I connect a MIDI controller for recording. I dont have an actual controller as of yet......trying to get this to work first. I hit record and try to record in a MIDI track the melody I am playing on the piano roll keyboard

......I have to leave the Bank set to none...............when I click on Bank, the only option I get on the list is the work "Bank(with a checkmark after it)" I click on it and it simply says "None" no matter what I do. I hope I'm explaining this clearly enough.

Thanks again very much everyone for the help...........BJ

[James Argo]

Antz oh Antz...

I read your posts above over and over, and figure out what went wrong. First, I don't exactly understand what do you mean by "record notes from Piano roll keyboard". Did you just press those Piano like keyboard (in the left hand side) of Piano roll view after you arm & hit the record button ? Well... you can't record that way... Don't ask me why... it just won't work that way...

[James Argo]

So what is that for, Jaymz ?

Most for auditioning the sound. The best way to get information about Piano Roll View (PRV) is to hit F1 (regular Windows help button) in the Piano roll view. The concept of Piano roll view is explained pretty well in the help section

[James Argo]

So how can I record notes in PRV, Jaymz ?

Without external keyboard/MIDI controller Antz ? then you must insert (draw) notes in the piano roll view, not record.

[James Argo]

......I have to leave the Bank set to none...............when I click on Bank, the only option I get on the list is the work "Bank(with a checkmark after it)" I click on it and it simply says "None" no matter what I do. I hope I'm explaining this clearly enough.

I see, so how about the bank problem,Jaymz ?


If you don't see any bank number shown in the MIDI track properties in the left section of the Track view, that means you didn't insert any instrument bank related to the port you choosed. Generaly, Cakey will just show "Bank:---". Shown in image below. And it will play preset sound of your SB Live! internal synth (GM 2MB ) if you choosed SB Live synth as your MIDI out device. Since you use internal synth (Soundfonts?) you need to attach the soundfonts to the project. Please read this thread about how to do that.

[James Argo]

Cool, what should I do in Cakey, Jaymz ?

Go Options --> Soundfonts. It will let you pick soundfonts to attach. There's many great soundfonts in your SB Live installation CD, or in SONAR setup CD.

[James Argo]

Copy the soundfonts from your CD's to your HD, prefer in the same directory as your song (project) . Click attach, browse and pick your .sf2 file. eg. you attach Goldrums.sf2 to Bank 1.
Then it will appear as selectable bank in the track property right away...

[James Argo]

Why can't I attach to Bank 0, Jaymz?
Well... Bank 0 is used for SB's preset synth. Whatever you put as "Bank synth" in AudioHQ Soundfonts (usualy GM) will be used as bank 0 by preset by Cakey. If you want to attach to bank 0, then do it in your AudioHQ Soundfonts. But why would you do that anyway Let it go... you still can attach to the rest banks available...

[James Argo]

Okay, I'll try it out, in case I got a problem, what should I do, Jaymz ?

Come back, and ask here in this wonderfull BBS...

Jaymz...?

Yup...?

Thank you...

heh heh... Anytime



Jaymz

[Torpid-x]

Ah, your done with that beautifully illustrated tutorial I didn't want to disrupt it's flow.

Antz, you didn't answer the very important question I asked. Do you get sound when clicking on the virtual keyboard in track view?

[moskus]

Nice one James. It goes into Cakewalk FAQ!.

[guitar ed]

I love the way he doesn't wait for us to ask questions...................he saves all kinds of time by asking them himself !! He has an unorthodox approach to answering, but the boy definitely has his head firmly around the inner-workings of the soundfont !!! Good job, JA !!

ed

[BluesMeister]

Originally posted by guitar ed
I love the way he doesn't wait for us to ask questions...

It's His Excellency Jaymz Of The Planet Argo and his multiple personalities.

There's
Jaymz The Helpful
Jaymz The Very Helpful
Jaymz The Immensely Helpful
And the one we get to see most often:
Jaymz His Imperial Majesty, The Mightiest, Most Helpful Of Them All.

And I'll bet Jaymz is a nice guy too!

--
BluesMeister

[James Argo]

*** on, guys... Cut it off..

[Antz_Marchin]

WOW......pretty sweet James Thanks very much, I'll have to give it a try Wednesday afternoon (since i have a huge paper due Wed morning and every time I open up Sonar, you can count out 2 hours while I learn and mess around) so I'll get back to you and let you know then.

I think the main problem is that I was getting sound from playing the piano roll like a piano I guess with the mouse cursor and expecting to be able to record what I played. Obviously not a great flowing way to play music by clicking the mouse but just wanted to figure out how it worked. Now I'll try your way...........btw, I love the pics : )

Torpid-x ...........yeah thanks..........I have had the MIDI track "ummuted" for lack of better words the whole time. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Thanks for the help everyone, you;ll hear from me again if there's any problems. ; ) BJ