midi latency/vst instruments

  • Thread starter Thread starter brandon.w
  • Start date Start date
B

brandon.w

New member
I have a celeron 333mhz, 64megs of ram, and a 4gig harddrive...I snagged this hunk-o-crap for free from an office that was going out of buisness downtown...can I hook up this midi keyboard a friend gave me to that game/midi port, and use it to control VST instruments via CubaseVST...or does my computer just suck too much?
 
P.S - the only reason I haven't tried it, is I don't have the nessicary cable...and I haven't dug up the 40 bucks for the cable from my couch yet.
 
$40 for a cable to go from 5pin MIDI (on your keyboard) to 15pin MIDI(game port on PC)?? holy crap... thats too much for an adapter like that... you need to do some shopping around... I just got mine today from http://www.cablesnmor.com/midi-cable.html with the 10 foot extension. adapter $19 and extension $4...

I'm using mine to hook my Alesis D4 into the computer to control battery with my electric drums... works great...

if you're just doing MIDI that machine should be fine... I dunno how it will handle the bigger VST instruments though... but you should have no trouble recording MIDI data and using the keyboard as a controler since it has a MIDI out...

what VST's are u planning on using?? I ask cause some are CPU heavy (HALion comes to mind) and some are also heavy on the RAM with alot of samples and stuff... I'd up the 64megs of ram to like 256 or 512... SDRAM is cheap these days and can be had for like $20-$30...
 
jdechant said:
I'm using mine to hook my Alesis D4 into the computer to control battery with my electric drums... works great...
Click to expand...

I have a D4 laying around that I was planning to sell, but this seems like a great idea (I forgot it has 12 trigger ins).

What electric drums are you using as triggers ??

Peter.
 
I'm using a Pintech ConcertCast set I got off ebay for $500 in excellent shape... (sells for $800-900 new)...

I just got it recently and last time I looked there were other sets with just the triggers for pretty good prices... got it off ebay...

works much better and much faster than trying to program the MIDI track by draging the notes with the mouse... gives the drums a much more realistic feel and sound too...

the MIDI out of the drumsets on the D4 are GM compatible, so pretty much you just plug the right triggers into the right input (how the trigger guide tells you to) and go...

the 12 inputs are nice on the D4... I'm only using 8 right now but plan on adding 2 more cymbals and at least another tom...

I just wish the D4 could alter the MIDI notes... since the drum sets I have for battery have the bass drum on 2 notes, snare on 2 notes, and the 2 main toms on 2 notes... I didn't see anywhere in the manual where it could alter the MIDI data randomly between 2 notes... anyways it still works great...

P.S... I was gonna build my own triggers but went with the Pintechs instead... they give a great response...especially the snare trigger... snaps like an authentic snare.. the toms and snare are about 2 - 3 inch deep wood shells w/ silentech heads on them which keeps them silent when hitting them, but gives a more natural (or realistis) response from the drums since they're not just pads but heads on a wood shell...
 
Hey Jdechant,

Thanks for the info. I had another idea about buying a practise-kit (you know, the ones that makes almost no noise) and fit it with piezo-contacts or something like that.

Have to dig up the D4 manual, this stuff is exiting :D

Peter.
 
yeah thats what I was gonna do before I saw the Pintech set at that price and got it...

I was gonna get like a REMO practice set or get different practice pads and use those and fit them with those Piezo transducers...

this site here: http://www.electronicdrums.com/pads/pads2.htm has detailed description of turning those practice drums into electronic drums with dynamic and realistic response...

good luck... I'm heading to the basement to lay down some drum tracks... :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top