Hooking up drum machine with MIDI?

[undrgrnd studio]

OK I have plenty of knowledge when it comes to recording and in general audio engineering. But I have never used MIDI before, I never had a reason to. But I just bought an Alesis SR-16 drum machine, and i figure the best way to use it would through MIDI instead of a 1/4 inch out, into a preamp, then into my Delta 1010. I figured it would just show up as MIDI in in Adobe Audition 2. But I can't find any mention of MIDI anywhere in Audition or in the 1010 control panel. Can anybody please point me in the right direction?

 

[ssscientist]

Can anybody please point me in the right direction?

Adobe Audition 2.0 is one of the few remaining known names in sequencing software that offers no midi support of any kind. That will change in November when Audition 3.0 comes out, but for now you will need to find another audio and midi program.

I use and recommend Reaper --- LINK.

It's professional software at a shareware price, and you have 30 days to decide if you're going to keep it or not.

As far as hooking up your SR16 to your Delta 1010, one midi cable connected to the midi out of the interface into the midi in of the Alesis will be all you need to get it going. Then put the internal clock of the Alesis on 'external', connect the audio outputs to your mixer or interface and you should be all set.


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[undrgrnd studio]

I sort of figured that our yesterday

What a bummer, I am pretty committed to audition now that I have around 100 songs recorded and mixed using it. Last time I switched from AA1.5 to 2.0 I lost all of my effects, , track names, panning, and levels so I don't want to go through that again.

I hooked the main left and right out puts to my preamp and recorded a whole song yesterday to test this SR-16 out. So I'm able to record two separated drum tracks at a time. This way I can do kick and snare, and then go back and do hi hat and cymbals. It worked out pretty good I guess. I wasn't expecting great results from this inexpensive SR-16, but I am actually thoroughly unimpressed by the sample sound, duration of hit, velocity limits, touch sensitivity and minimal number of samples. This machine is only good for creating pop or rap beats that are preprogrammed. I need to buy something else.

Which brings me to my next question.

If Audition doesn't support MIDI. Does that mean I can't use a trigger pad with a library of samples? Like this thing.

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--ALECONTROLPAD

Alesis Control Pad USB/MIDI Drum Pad Controller

 

[ssscientist]

No, that midi controller is incompatable and unusable with Adobe Audition 2.0.

As I said before, AA 3.0 WILL have midi capabilities, though I'm not sure how extensive the editing facilities will be or how exactly it will integrate with the rest of the program. Since the Pro 24 days Cubase has always supported midi - likewise Notator/Creator which became Logic. Adobe are quite late in realizing that midi is an important feature to invest in.

Give Reaper - LINK - a try. If you like it after 30 days it's $40 for a personal license. Your Delta card already has midi ports, and If your version of AA exports standard wav files you can take your favorite songs with you.


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[undrgrnd studio]

I just DLed Reaper.

I just DLed Reaper. Installed to see what its all about. I didn't see the input wiring options. Only one general "Input", but that may be because the PC I installed it on only has a sound blaster interface which may not play well with Reaper. It does have a few different input options including midi though.

The interface looks a bit clunky compared to AA 2.0. But if its a solid recorder and has the same options plus more I might start recording new tunes using it. There's no way I'm going to export half finished mixes from AA as wavs and start over in Reaper though. There are just way too many things I want to remain editable like my envelope points and punches. But it certainly would be cheaper to move to reaper for new projects instead of AA 3 as long as it doesn't give me any headaches.

 

[ssscientist]

I Only one general "Input", but that may be because the PC I installed it on only has a sound blaster interface which may not play well with Reaper.

What happened to the Delta 1010 card that you said you had?

And I can't guarantee 'no headaches', but if you've ever used another sequencer besides Adobe Acrobat you probably will find that Reaper is relatively easy to get to know. There is always some learning curve to figuring out how to work with new software but Reaper is straightforward enough for you to get up and running fairly quickly.


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[undrgrnd studio]

What happened to the Delta 1010 card that you said you had?

And I can't guarantee 'no headaches', but if you've ever used another sequencer besides Adobe Acrobat you probably will find that Reaper is relatively easy to get to know. There is always some learning curve to figuring out how to work with new software but Reaper is straightforward enough for you to get up and running fairly quickly.


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I have a Delta 1010 here at home, at work I have 3 pc's one and two of them have those Soundblaster Audigy interfaces. They are pretty neat, they are good for a basic voice recording system.