My #@&! PC's MIDI capabilities are gone!

[EddieRay]

This just burns me up! I was able to lay down MID drum tracks and use the metronome on my PC a while back. But no more. I can't even play MIDI files in Windows Media Player.

My eMachine T2245 has a MOBO Avance'97 which I disabled after installing SB512, then an Aark24. MIDI stuff worked until recently and I don't know what I did. I've removed the SB512 and re-enabled the Avance. I've tried every option I can find (except a hammer!) to no avail. The control panel says every MIDI device is working properly.

I'm scrood. I can't even lay down click tracks. Just confirms my belief that computers are all luck and magic anyway. How do get it back?

 

[James Argo]

I've removed the SB512 and re-enabled the Avance...

...How do get it back?

Put the SB512 back to the slot. Install it, and use it's internal synth as default in Windows' Control Panel. That's MIDI you used to hear.


Jaymz

 

[EddieRay]

Put the SB512 back to the slot. Install it, and use it's internal synth as default in Windows' Control Panel. That's MIDI you used to hear.


Jaymz

Yeah I'll try that. But MIDI stopped working before then and I took it out in an attempt to isolate the problem. Nothing changed so I re-enabled the Avance MOBO sound (which also used to work). Still no change.

Um, maybe my MIDI fell out while the PC cover was off. Anybody know what it looks like? ;-)

 

[DAFFYDRUNK]

Do you have the right selction in control panel? Sounds and audio Devices, audio tab, midi music playback? Maybe it changed or defaulted to external midi or something?

 

[EddieRay]

Do you have the right selction in control panel? Sounds and audio Devices, audio tab, midi music playback? Maybe it changed or defaulted to external midi or something?

I have 3 choices:

Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth
MPU-401
Aark 24

I haven't worked up the nerve to try re-installing the SB512 - seems like the whole world changes every time I start messing around with the audio settings. Still, I could play MIDI files when I only had the MOBO sound enabled, then when I installed the SB512, then again (via the SB512) when I installed the Aark 24. I didn't to any MIDI stuff for a couple months and somewhere during that time it stopped working.

 

[DAFFYDRUNK]

I guess you can try the MS wavetable, but you might be having a prob where you might have to download a wavetable set from the maker of your sound card. Could be corrupt or missing for some reason. they typically come in 2MB, 4MB and 8 MB wavetable sets. If I knew the exact chipset I might be able to help...

 

[EddieRay]

Okay I got it working, but in a weird way. MIDI files are only audible through the mobo soundcard. My monitors can accept 2 sources so I've connected both the Aark 24 and the mobo soundcard to them.

I'm running Windows XP and the in Sound settings in the control panel the MIDI Music Playback is set to Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth. Audio playback and recording are set to the Aark.

I'm not sure how this will complicate things when I work with Cakewalk and need a metronome/click track. I guess I'll convert it to an audio track and go from there.

Is this normal? How does anybody else get away with only one audio interface/soundcard?

 

[Jim Y]

With Cakewalk, you often don't have a usable metronome unless you have a real hardware wavetable midi synth or module.

Cakewalk won't let you use the Microsoft synth unless you force it to use the old MME driver mode. Neither the onboard Avance chip (and most other general AC97 sound chips) nor the Aardvark have a hardware midi synth - so you're screwed for a midi click without a soundcard that does have a synth (like the SBs) or an external midi synth/ module. So like Mr Argo said, you're better off with the Soundblaster.

Cakewalk have promised an Audio Metronome system built in the next version of Sonar (after 3) but I don't know about the HS range. Given that most standard pcs don't have a hardware midi synth anymore, and this is the most likely market for HS use, one is long overdue for all Cakewalk sequencers.

I'm not sure why the microsoft synth is still routed to the avance, I always thought it used the playback device selected in the Sounds setup Contol Panel. I would check your Sounds playback devices again - the last installed is usually selected unless you change it.

How do we cope? I have a Santa Cruz with a synth on it. Others have various versions of Soundblasters or external midi synths. Some use audio loops for click tracks, others the Session Drummer plug in or a midi track driving a soft synth. There's a plug-in you can buy ($10?) called Ping DXi....
Lots of workarounds or options. Not ideal.