I am going out of my mind

  • Thread starter Thread starter fuzzsniffvoyage
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fuzzsniffvoyage

fuzzsniffvoyage

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Ok, if I don't figure this out tonight my midi controller is going back 1st thing in the morning. I have been diddleing this thing off and on for a week. Please explain to me step by step how to trigger a sound any sound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


oh, it's an akai mpk49 midi controler. gong into computer thru the usb. i'm using a m-audio mobile pre-usb interface. laptop pc w/i7 2.9ghz 4gb ram.
 
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I have gone into my control panel and it says this peice of crap is working fine.
 
Vzyx is not recogonizing the controller, I went in and opened the midi ports. wtf!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
This is fucking pissing me off, royaly pissing me off what a bunch of hoarse shit, this midi shit can go suck a big one, fucking computer programmers fucking every thing up.
 
Hello???? no one has any fucking answers???? what in the fuck am i doing wrong?????????????????????????????????

i have soft synths, i have ins and outs, a;iofgjp oqieuyhgtp94a8QC- VNCDF[QGJ N[ORIYG3740VIA'DMFYhgpoiu[ ioaj;fd

i feel no better.
 
Okay. Take a deep breath. It's always some technical thing that completely makes sense. So let's try to figure out where the issue is.

1) What sound-making program are you trying to trigger on your PC? You must have that program opened with a sound ready to play.
2) That program, whichever one it is, must also have its MIDI setup correctly. This, in addition to your computer recognizing your M-Audio mobile. Your sound program also has to be told to utilize the MIDI device (the M-Audio) that your computer has recognized. The reason for this is because you could have more than one MIDI device to choose from, therefore the sound program also needs to have its MIDI setup, too.
3) I cannot offer much more help at this point without knowing the answer to #1. But it might be technically more complicated if (and I'm going to take a guess here), if your sound program has to use VST wrappers to use sounds. We can address this later, if you have that, and have not got that setup yet, too.

Get back to us. We'll get it straightened out.

MIDI is very cool, and the protocol allows incredibly powerful things to be done. Don't give up on it before having played with it and discovered the potential.
 
Thanks for the encouragement.

Soft synth is Dimension LE in Sonar 8.5

Downloaded a stand alone , called Acid Synth, doesn't work on there either.

Also a midi editor came with the akai, called vyzex, not working on there either. Vyzex says the in/out ports need to be changed manually.
Which I did. I am following all the instruction manuals, sent emails to akai and Vuzex customer service. So just a waiting game i guess.
I paid alot of money for this thing and i want to play with it.

Oh and i apologize if i offended any body with all the cussing.
 
Okay. I have Sonar, too, but v.3 Nevertheless, to use the soft synths in a DAW like Sonar, you have to use the VST wrapper. It's an additional complication to be able to hear the sounds from that synth.

So let's go through a checklist:

1) Double check your Windows Control Panel "Sound/Audio devices", and just make sure that the M-Audio Mobile is still active for MIDI device. It probably is. Another easy check is to open Windows Media Player and play a musical MIDI file. If the file plays and you hear it, all is well at this stage.

2) Turn on Akai MIDI Controller and make sure the MIDI cables are hooked up properly INs to OUTs, and vice versa. Oh, you're using a USB cable, so just make sure it is connected snug to the M-Audio Mobile and that in turn is hooked up to your computer.

3) Open up Sonar, and go to TOOLS / MIDI Devices, and make sure your M-Audio is selected as the top device in both sides of the table, IN and OUT. Sonar used to make you close the program and then reopen it for changes to take effect, so you may need to do that.

4) Regardless of having your soft synth open, you should see an icon with 2 red digital LED's inside it located in your taskbar (this icon is from Sonar). The lights light up when you play the keys of your Akai. One LED is for MIDI Out and the other for MIDI In. This icon alerts you to MIDI signals coming in and out, which is very handy. So play the keys of the Akai and verify that MIDI signals are going into Sonar. If you don't see that icon with the LED's lighting up, then we know the problem is here already, i.e. nothing to do with the soft synth. (Hmmm, I could be wrong here. Maybe the LEDs only light up if a MIDI synth is setup already, but I don't think so. Hmmmm gotta check further on this. Can't remember).

5) You see the lights indicating MIDI is working with Sonar. Next, open your Dimension soft synth. If there are presets on this, select one of them, just so we can be sure that the synth program is one that makes sounds. If you attempt to make your own sound, then we need to go through the whole process of synthesizer education to make sure the oscillators are turned up, proper wave forms, envelope settings, filter, resonance, etc.

Now, the soft synth Dimension is actually operating when you open it, but you won't be able to hear anything because Sonar has to be instructed what you want to do with this synth. This is where the VST things comes in. Chime in anytime DAW users, if my instructions are off. It's been a long time since I did anything with VST. It would be wise to crack your Sonar manual on how to use the VST thing with soft synths. It would save me a paragraph or two now, since I'm trying to recall...

So let's say your Dimension is opened up on Track 1. I think you need to associate that with another track using VST, i.e. Track 2. Track 2 needs to be told to use AUDIO outs, not MIDI. To hear the Dimension, you need your sound to go to your speakers, hence AUDIO outs. The Dimension on Track 1 has its input and outputs as MIDI because it is communicating with your Akai. (Make sure the Akai is selected for the MIDI IN and OUT of Track 1). The VST track (#2) takes the audio sound of the Dimension and then sends it to wherever you have instructed Sonar to send it, i.e. Subs L & R, or Mains.

6) Another test, is to open that musical MIDI File that I told you to test inside of Windows Media Player, and open it inside of Sonar and see if Sonar will give you Audio when it plays. Again, you have to validate all the In and Out selections for the tracks of the file.

Let me know if this helped or what snags you run into.

Summary: Soft synths inside a DAW like Sonar, must use two tracks (not one) because one track is used for MIDI control of the synth, and the second is used for sending the sound out to be heard (AUDIO).
 
I down loaded a midi music file, opened with media player and it plays fine. I also re-installed my midi drivers and Vyzex now "sees" my controller. But I have yet to make any noise! I also down load a stand alone soft synth, mini-moog and can not get the controller to work with it either.

I was looking around in the settings, and I keep seing an ASIO setting, my M-Audio only works on MME. Would that be a problem as none of the midi stuff I'm seeing has any MME settings? But doesn't seeb to have a problem connecting the out to the m-audio??

If the asio is a problem and I need to upgrade audio interface, what would you get? a controller/interface or a stand alone interface like a presonus firestudio? wich would be easyer to use?

I also tried the vst wrap in sonar, it's not working.

any way going to amazon and buying a couple books in midi.

Thanks.
 
You'll never be able to open Vyzex and Sonar at the same time on Windows versions XP up to 7 thanks to the fact that the Windows class-compliant USB MIDI driver is single-client. The ultimate OS by Microsoft in 2011 seems to have a Windows 95 attitude towards MIDI users - Only one program can access the MPK's hardware at any one time. You'll need to close Vyzex to run Sonar and vice-versa... The same applies to any other software that opens and uses MIDI ports I am afraid. There are work arounds to this, but they involve using another USB MIDI interface by Roland, M-Audio or MOTU (for example) to connect the MPK via its MIDI sockets and using a power adapter to supply electricity to the MPK.
 
Sorry to hear.

I gotta tell ya, (I had completely forgotten this until your last post), but many years ago bought the same M-Audio Mobile, and it would not work for me. I returned it.

Regarding what type of MIDI sound card to go with, by all means, it's not even a contest, go with a PCI type card that sits in one of the slots of your desktop PC, i.e. M-Audio Audiophile 2496. The more money you spend on this type of card, the better type of parts will be used on the card, providing less noise. That's the bottom line when spending more money for sound cards, all other things being equal. Of course, you can get more simultaneous inputs for recording other instruments, etc. I've been very happy with my Audiophile card.

If you own a Laptop, then I don't know what to recommend.

Regarding the MIDI editor vyzex, I don't know why you would use that since you own Sonar 8.5. Sonar 8.5 cannot be beat for MIDI editing, from everything I read about it.

The MME vs. ASIO drivers will definitely be the problem. I can almost guarantee that if you switch Sonar to MME, restart the program, you will have use of MIDI. I ran into the exact same thing on a couple different PC computers over the years. MME is kinda like the lowest common denominator thing. It will make everything function, but not like a race car.

Yes, switch it to MME, and you should definitely get access to your MIDI in Sonar, and then of course, your Akai will start to "work", too.

I'm attaching a screenshot of my desktop when SONAR is open. Look for the LED icon in your own system.
 

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I have been using the mme drivers, the m-audio doesn't support the asio. and i do own a lap top. i was reading else where on this site that the fire wire chip sets in most laptop are not very conductive for music applications, so i'm thinking of going with a usb, with at lease 6 ins' plus the midi.

also the midi indicator does come up in sonar but it does no blink unless i am playing a midi music file. when ever i try to play the keys it does nothing. i am still thinking that since the win7 midi driver is a single-class driver, that the akai and the m-audio will not work at the same time. though the m-audio does not have midi in's or out's, it still recieves some sort of midi signal. would that be correct?

thanks
 
I thought your Mobile Pre had MIDI, and I see now that it does not. You are going directly to your computer fromt the Akai using its USB/MIDI cable, and that does not seem to be working for you.

Does your Akai have to be setup to tell it to use the USB interface, rather than the normal MIDI ports?

If not, then your PC is not interacting with that cable properly. You could try using a different USB port on your computer, and see if that solves the problem. Y'know, computers can sometimes be finnicky.

You could always spend $40 for an M-Audio UNO cable which has proven itself by countless people. I don't know what else to suggest. If you don't get a MIDI interface going on with your computer, as apparently you are having issues with the USB/MIDI coming out of your Akai, try the normal MIDI ports with the cable (or one like it) that I suggested.

Here it is: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Uno
 
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I just stopped playing my Carnegie Hall concert (in my mind, of course) to come over and type this. You have not yet once written in here what your Sonar is reporting to you in the MIDI setup.

The MME and ASIO drivers have to do with your Audio sound card. Not your MIDI.

So I need to know what your SONAR has for its MIDI device? What is at the top line of your MIDI setup inside Sonar?

See, your M-Audio Mobile Pre is for audio, not MIDI. And if your computer is recognizing the MIDI from the Akai in your Windows Control Panel, then that same MIDI device will be available to you inside Sonar, but you may not have selected that as your top device. Have you?

What is your Sonar trying to use for its MIDI?
 
In the top it says Cakewalk Generic Serface-1

In midi devices i have checked for the IN Akai mpk49 and the OUT checked Akai mpk49
there are other choices for the out put, Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth, and midi out 2 akai mpk49.

i did try another usb port and my other vyzex program did "see" the mpk49, it show midi activity, but no luck in sonar.

in sonar when i click on controller/surface properties, a menu pops up with a menu for the options, i wish i knew how to do a screen capture so i could upload it, any way i have the act learn function on.

I am going to try the m-audio midi interface before i buy another interface with midi, but eventuall i'd like to get a better interface any way.

with all said, it's time for me to goto work, thanks for all the help, and i'll look into doing screen captures as well. thaks again.
 
Just hit your Print Screen button on your keyboard (located to the right of the F12 key, usually) when you have the MIDI devices window of Sonar open.

Then, open up MS Paint (in the Accessories folder), and then Control V (paste). The image will now be inside Paint. Crop it however you like, and save it as a JPG file.
 
Your Akai is showing up for MIDI devices. So that is a good sign. But you say when you click on the Akai the red LEDs do not light up. It should light up, regardless of having the Dimension synth setup properly on another track with the VST thing going on.

Before you will hear sounds, we have to get the MIDI signal from your Akai to be going in and recognized by Sonar. That is the first item on the agenda, presently. I'm not sure why it isn't working at this point.
 
Woah, Im not sure what I did, but the red midi light is blinking on the task bar! now to get some noise happening!

By the way Toddskins, I'm from St. Louis also, Kingshiway & Gravois, graduated from Southwest. Imo's pizza is the best, Ted Drews and Gus's Pretzles, nothing compares up here in Chicago Land.

Thanks for the screen capture info.
 
sonar_midi_in_out.webpmidi_surface_menu.webpsonar_midi_in_out.webpmidi_surface_menu.webp

Let's see if this works, the 1st image is what it is, i have tried every combination.

The 2nd, I have no idea what to put in here???
 
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Finally, I'm making some noise with this apperatus! Thanks for all the help, now i just gotta fine tune the thing!
 
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