How to Begin with MIDI?

D

Daggerhart

New member
Hullo folks,
I've been trying to figure out how to get MIDI to work with my setup, but since I've never done any MIDI before in my life, I'm somewhat at a loss. I was hoping there would be some expert here who would be willing to give me a step-by-step instruction on how to record a midi bass line with the setup I have. Here's my setup:

Roland RD100 with MIDI Out
MIDI cables
Delta1010 Interface
Pentium IV Computer
Cubase

If anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!
-Brandon
 
plug the midi out of the controller into the midi in on the delta, thats it for cables.

Create a new midi track in cubase, set its midi input to the delta midi in

open up your VST instruments (F11) and select Synths/VB1 (or whatever vsti)

In the midi track, select the VB1 as the midi output(it will now appear as an option), turn on the little monitor button and thats it.
 
Here are links to two good articles on midi basics - part one and part two.

Junior from Detroit has it mostly right, but you may need some more background and specifics on what exactly midi is and what it can do. There are three more good articles on the web site linked above - when you're ready for them.
 
Thanks for the info guys! Ssscientist, those are some nice links.

Does Cubase come with good samples, or will I have to download somewhere and install them?
 
:D

No he is right, its worth learning. it allows you to really "go all the way" with your midi gear and that will get you started
 
Daggerhart said:
Does Cubase come with good samples, or will I have to download somewhere and install them?
Click to expand...
It doesn't come with any samples per say, but does come with some soft synths.

You can find many more free and low-cost soft synths here. A word about searching KVR - it's difficult but stick with it. Some of my favorite free VSTi's (VST instruments) are Synth 1, Green Oak Chrystal, Superwave8, Claw, Free Alpha and ProtoPlasm Free.
 
So, if I download some free VSTi's, how do I install them with Cubase so that I can select them? Do I just save them in a folder and access them when needed, or do they have to be in a specific place? Also, when it comes to VSTi's, will I be able to find a decent bass guitar? What I want to do is play a bass line on my MIDI keyboard, then put in a good bass sample in its place. I assume I can do that, right?
-Brandon
 
Usually, just running the installers will place them in the correct folder (which is /program files/steinberg/vstplugins) but if it is just the .dll, you will need to copy it to the folder. To play samples, you will need a soft sampler but it will be used just like any VSTi
 
Daggerhart said:
What I want to do is play a bass line on my MIDI keyboard, then put in a good bass sample in its place. I assume I can do that, right?
Click to expand...
You can play a bass line on this synth and leave it and it's sound right in the track. In my humble opinion it's the softsynth equivalent of a Sequential Circuits ProOne, a hardware synth with which I have a long and intimate friendship and which does VERY good bass sounds, both synth and non-synth sounding. There are a dozen sets of additional sounds and a new 'skin' (front panel layout) for this if you sniff around a little on KVR.

And yes, if you insist on replacing a living, breathing, throbbing synthesizer with a boring (but good sounding) sample you can do that too...
 
Ssscientist,
What's all this VST stuff anyway? I always thought MIDI was done by playing a controller through a sampler, and selecting which samples you want to use. What's the difference between VST, VSTi, and samples?
 
Ssscientist, that link you posted directly above for that bass-sounding synth is dead. At least, the download link on the KRV site is dead. Do you have any other recommendations, or any way you could send me the package?
-B

Edit: Nevermind, it's up; I think it was just temporarily dead.
 
Daggerhart said:
What's the difference between VST, VSTi, and samples?
Click to expand...
VST is the plugin standard developed by Steinberg. It's since advanced to be function-specific with effects plugins typically referred to as 'VST's and softsynths and other instruments referred to as 'VST instruments' or 'VSTi's' for short.

There are excellent soft samplers on the market from Steinberg's Halion family to Native Instruments Kontact and Tascams Gigastudio. All of these have VSTi versions to access them from within Cubase. The best way to get started with this kind of thing is to download some demo versions and play around with them for a while. I know Native Instruments have demo versions available and Steinberg does not. Here's a link to the Native Instruments web site.
 
Okay,
I thought I'd figured out the basics of using MIDI in Cubase. However, I have a problem. I downloaded a demo version of Native Instruments B4. Something like 45 days of trila before I have to buy it. Anyway, when I double-clicked on it to install it, it installed fine. I ican go to the folder it's on, open up the VST, and play around with the Hammond sounds. However, when I try to use the VST as a plugin while in Cubase, I can't get any sound. The interface will come up and you can do all the options with the B4, but no sound comes out. Any thoughts?
-B
 
On the version of Cubase I've got there's a menu titled 'Devices' --- when you drop this there's an option for VST outputs. Bring that up and you should be able to select the outs of your Delta 1010 from there...
 
Hey there,
I guess I didn't really explain myself very well; what I meant to say was that all the other plugins (such as the Triangle one from KVR, and those that come with Cubase) work fine; I can either open them inside or outside of Cubase and use them. The Native Instruments B4 though, only produces sound when I open it outside of Cubase; if I open it as a plugin in Cubase, no sounds come out. So, I don't think it's the device manager, is it?
 
There should be two versions of the B4 - one 'stand alone' (which is the one that you've got working) and the VSTi version. If you don't have the VSTi version installed in your VST folder, then do so and you should be happenin'.

If that's not the solution, post again and I'll give you some other things to try.

And I wasn't suggesting you go into the Device Manager on your computer, just into the screen named 'Devices' inside Cubase...
 
Oh, I see. Thanks

And you're right, I just downloaded the stand-alone version. I'm trying to find a VST version, but I can't seem to find it; I'll keep looking.

THanks again.
 
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