can't hear midi sounds!

R

redheadedboy

New member
this is going to sound really dumb, but i'll ask it anyways...

i've been using sonar for a while to just record regular audio. i wanted to learn about midi, so i bought a really crappy midi keyboard controller. this is connected (midi out) to a midiman 2x2 usb interface (midi in). The interface is also connected to my windows2000 machine through the usb port. When i record on a midi track, i can see the data getting to the computer, but i can't hear anything.

I'm assuming I need to connect the midi out (from the midiman interface) to something (a sound card, maybe?) - but i don't have anything to connect it to. I have gina24 and darla24 sound cards, but not a regular soundblaster-type audio card. what's the simplest solution?

thanks for the help.

--tim
 
No one can hear MIDI...

...midi is data, not audio....

You correctly surmise that you need to connect the midi out to something.... that something is a synth, sampler, sound module. Any device that produces/reproduces sound samples via midi control.

On-board your computer you may have the ability to use the built-in cheap-ass wavetable synth, but the sounds it produces are going to be CRAP....

Bruce
 
thanks.

so do i actually have to run the midi cable out of the midisport interface back into the computer (if i want to use the 'cheap-ass wavetable synth')? shouldn't it run back into the computer through the usb cable? do i need to have a soundcard that supports midi to use the wavetable synth?

--tim
 
so do i actually have to run the midi cable out of the midisport interface back into the computer (if i want to use the 'cheap-ass wavetable synth')? shouldn't it run back into the computer through the usb cable?
Click to expand...
No, no, no.... the onboard synth is addressable directly through the software. You can think of there being a "virtual" MIDI connection between the software and the card's synth. It usually appears in the MIDI devices list with a name like "MIDI Synth." The MIDI outputs for the MIDISport is labeled "Midiman Midisport Port A" or something like that, one for each output. So if you direct the output of your MIDI tracks to the on-board synth, that will respond to the MIDI messages in those tracks. Or you can direct them out one of the ports of your Midiman interface to an external device.

do i need to have a soundcard that supports midi to use the wavetable synth?
Click to expand...
That's kind of a garbled question. "Supports MIDI" is ambiguous, it can mean that it has a MIDI interface, a MIDI synth, or both. Most soundcards that have a wavetable or any other kind of on-board synth almost certainly also have a simple MIDI interface, because the synth is of limited use unless you can play it through an external MIDI keyboard. To use the onboard synth, you simply need to have a card that has one.

Re c7sus's comment, actually most external synths are wavetable synths too... but the point is the same, the external ones typically sound far better than the ones on board a consumer soundcard.
 
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