The volume level is too low when recording MIDI to audio tracks

S

sonicpsyops

Culture Of Convenience
I'm working with Vienna Ensemble orchestral library (VST as a plug in Sonar 7 Producer host) and I can't seem to get my MIDI tracks to record at usable levels. The manuel and help topics are suggesting things that are not specific to my sound card (Hammerfall DSP9632) so none of the commands apply. When I researched the problem at the Cakewalk website, I found something that simply stated, "turn up your soundcard's volume." Well, I've looked all over and I've cranked up every volume fader I can find and I still can't seem to get the volume up to usable levels. I've gone into the Options menu of my soundcard's interface and played around with everything I could think of but still no luck.

Although I don't fully understand their busing system I don't think the problem is in Vienna Ensemble.

The MIDI tracks play fine so I don't think it's my speaker levels or latest drivers installed or something outside of the box.

There has to be some button that I haven't pressed, or some box I haven't enabled, or disabled or some fader somewhere that I haven't engaged. Is there anybody out there who has experience working with this stuff who can guide me in the right direction?

I'm going to play around with it again tonight and see what happens but I would appreciate any help I can get.
 
This seems a little odd to me. If you are using a VST as a sound source, it's just a matter of mixing down the audio (you can, for example, just freeze the tracks). :)
 
Moskus, thank you for your response,
Yes, I can freeze the tracks, and I can bounce the tracks too but the problem is I can't manipulate the tracks in real time while they are being bounced or frozen. In order to change the articulations of each instrument I'm recording I have to be able to use keyswitching or the mod wheel. In order to add dynamics to my music, eg. diminuendos, crescendos, etc., I have to manipulate the MIDI controlers in real time. Or at least, I think that's the way it works. Am I wrong?

However, while bouncing the tracks I checked the boxes "What I hear" record and unchecked the fast bounce option so it would bounce in real time. Whenever I did that, it disabled my MIDI controlers and I couldn't manipulate the MIDI data. So I determined that I would have to record the MIDI tracks to audio tracks and then bounce the audio tracks. Does this sound about right?

I thought freezing tracks was just to free up CPU resources and RAM, correct?

In my trials last night, I think I did something that pissed off the sound card and it refused to even make a sound so I ended up spending the night fixing that problem.
 
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I know this sounds pretty obvious but wouldn't your midi velocity settings greatly affect the outcome of a rendered wave file?
 
mikemorgan, thank you for your response,
I suppose they would, but they are recorded on MIDI at the default level of 100. I would manipulate that later with the mod wheel when I record it. The sound levels coming out of my speakers after recording wouldn't even go above 10, in my guestimation.

Although, I read somewhere that when you lay a MIDI track using a soft synth like Vienna Instruments you are supposed to lay an auxiliary track with it. Why and how it never said, so I don't know. Are you supposed record that MIDI track on to the aux track? Because I'm just trying to record it to a regular audio track.
 
Well, I'm certainly behind the times.
Before Sonar 7, I had an older (cerca 1995) sequencer that was connected to a synthesizer workstation where I would lay the MIDI tracks in the computer and then record them into the workstation on audio tracks. During that recording process I would manipulate the MIDI, eg. velocity, diminuendos, crescendos, etc. because the sequencer that I was using would record the on velocity of each note but that was it. I was applying this same logic to Sonar 7.

Apparently, Sonar 7 has elliminated that recording step entirely. You can change the velocity of any note while you are recording the MIDI tracks. And the velocity of a note can be changed while the note is playing and that change is recorded on the MIDI track. This was the concept that I couldn't seem to grasp before. Now it's just a matter of bouncing the tracks which is a pretty easy process.

I do have one other question though. Do you know how to randomize note placement on MIDI tracks so that your music doesn't sound so quantisized? Now I'm doing it manuelly and that's really laborious Sonar 7 has to have some randomization feature somewhere.
 
I do remember seeing something like that somewhere in one of Sonar's menus.

Thanks again mikemorgan I appreciate your help.
 
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