LazerBeakShiek
Rad Racing Team
Why isnt the solo focusrite asio selected in that menu? That is a good sign if the DAW sees it.
You forget to click it?
You forget to click it?
Please help I’m dying to make music!
- Thread starter rciliento
- Start date
LazerBeakShiek
Rad Racing Team
But your solo has no midi, that is a midi setup window.
So then if my solo has no midi what do I do? Connect my synth to my computer via the midi cable??
Steenamaroo
...
My goodness.
A synthesiser makes sound and has audio outputs.
That sound can be amplified and / or recorded.
A midi controller / midi keyboard has midi outputs and does not make its own sounds.
It requires a standalone synthesiser, or a connection to a computer where virtual instruments can be used.
The midi data is essentially sheet music - It has no sound of its own.
Often synthesisers have midi controllers built in giving you both options - Record the sound it makes, and/or record the midi data and use something else to generate sound.
You have one such synthesiser and, as such, have both options.
Often people record their midi data then have the computer play it back out to a hardware synth, which allows them to manipulate and shape the sound of the hardware synth, adjusting filters etc in real time, as the music plays.
Another benefit is that you'd have the opportunity to make adjustments and corrections to the midi-data, if necessary.
As the midi recording is piped back to the synth, the audio output of the synth would be recorded to the computer via analog audio outputs.
In order to figure out what to connect, you'd need to figure out what you intend to do.
If you do want to make midi data recordings, whether to use with virtual instruments or pipe back to your synth,
you can use a midi to usb adapter. Protools should see that no problem, as long as any drivers it needs are installed.
A synthesiser makes sound and has audio outputs.
That sound can be amplified and / or recorded.
A midi controller / midi keyboard has midi outputs and does not make its own sounds.
It requires a standalone synthesiser, or a connection to a computer where virtual instruments can be used.
The midi data is essentially sheet music - It has no sound of its own.
Often synthesisers have midi controllers built in giving you both options - Record the sound it makes, and/or record the midi data and use something else to generate sound.
You have one such synthesiser and, as such, have both options.
Often people record their midi data then have the computer play it back out to a hardware synth, which allows them to manipulate and shape the sound of the hardware synth, adjusting filters etc in real time, as the music plays.
Another benefit is that you'd have the opportunity to make adjustments and corrections to the midi-data, if necessary.
As the midi recording is piped back to the synth, the audio output of the synth would be recorded to the computer via analog audio outputs.
In order to figure out what to connect, you'd need to figure out what you intend to do.
If you do want to make midi data recordings, whether to use with virtual instruments or pipe back to your synth,
you can use a midi to usb adapter. Protools should see that no problem, as long as any drivers it needs are installed.
Thank you for the reply. In short what I have done is use my synth, rc 505 looping station and a basic amp to record the music I make onto my looping station memory to save it. But when I play it back it’s not like the sound quality of a song on my phone or an mp3 etc. In short I want to make professional sounding music and be able to upload it to social media. I want to dabble in being a recording artist and see where my creations take meMy goodness.
A synthesiser makes sound and has audio outputs.
That sound can be amplified and / or recorded.
A midi controller / midi keyboard has midi outputs and does not make its own sounds.
It requires a standalone synthesiser, or a connection to a computer where virtual instruments can be used.
The midi data is essentially sheet music - It has no sound of its own.
Often synthesisers have midi controllers built giving you both options - Record the sound it makes, and/or record the midi data and use something else to generate sound.
You have one such synthesiser and, as such, have both options.
Often people record their midi data then have the computer play it back to a synth, which allows them to manipulate and shape the sound of the hardware synth, adjusting filters etc, as the music plays.
Another benefit is that you'd have the opportunity to make adjustments and corrects to the midi-data, if necessary.
As the midi recording is piped back to the synth, the audio output of the synth would be recorded to the computer via analog audio outputs.
In order to figure out what to connect, you'd need to figure out what you intend to do.
Steenamaroo
...
Ok.
Sounds like you want to capture a live/real-time performance.
Unless the amp is contributing something special to that, like time based effects or distortions, I'd take it out of the setup.
The RC505 has line level outputs so you could connect those directly to your computer and record to ProTools in real time, basically using the rc505 as an effects unit rather than a recorder.
The focusright solo looks like it technically has two inputs, but only one is a line-level input so that means you'd be best recording one out + one in : Mono.
Alternatively you could continue with what you're doing but then put the rc505 in storage mode afterwards and connect it to the computer.
That should let you import your recorded files to ProTools and should also result in stereo files/recordings.
The quality should be good either way but the second would technically be cleaner and stereo may be important to you.
With regard to not comparing to songs on your phone/mp3s, the vast majority of recorded music takes some work to get it sounding 'ready'.
Depending how many layers you're recording and what they are - percussive, leads, pads? - you may need to 'mix' the elements together.
That might involve panning elements to different sides or using equalisers to make them 'sit' together better.
Raw recordings will also almost always be much quieter than commercial releases as, sadly, there's still an unnecessary drive to be louder than/as loud as everyone else.
Don't worry about that for now - Sounding good > sounding loud.
There can be quite a lot to it but it sounds like the main thing, at this stage, would be getting a good work-flow for getting good clean recordings of your playing.
Sounds like you want to capture a live/real-time performance.
Unless the amp is contributing something special to that, like time based effects or distortions, I'd take it out of the setup.
The RC505 has line level outputs so you could connect those directly to your computer and record to ProTools in real time, basically using the rc505 as an effects unit rather than a recorder.
The focusright solo looks like it technically has two inputs, but only one is a line-level input so that means you'd be best recording one out + one in : Mono.
Alternatively you could continue with what you're doing but then put the rc505 in storage mode afterwards and connect it to the computer.
That should let you import your recorded files to ProTools and should also result in stereo files/recordings.
The quality should be good either way but the second would technically be cleaner and stereo may be important to you.
With regard to not comparing to songs on your phone/mp3s, the vast majority of recorded music takes some work to get it sounding 'ready'.
Depending how many layers you're recording and what they are - percussive, leads, pads? - you may need to 'mix' the elements together.
That might involve panning elements to different sides or using equalisers to make them 'sit' together better.
Raw recordings will also almost always be much quieter than commercial releases as, sadly, there's still an unnecessary drive to be louder than/as loud as everyone else.
Don't worry about that for now - Sounding good > sounding loud.
There can be quite a lot to it but it sounds like the main thing, at this stage, would be getting a good work-flow for getting good clean recordings of your playing.
Thank you. Ok so my recordings that I’ve made are on my rc as my Juno doesn’t have that. Are you saying basically to create things and save them to my rc 505 and connect that to my laptop via the midi cable to USB port and then tweak them in pro tools? Because otherwise I’m not sure how to connect my synth and the rc 505 to my computer at the same time (maybe 2 midi cables?) I also can’t seem to get my pro tools working as I’m getting a different error message every time I try to start a new project. I’ll put a pic of the latest one. Maybe I should go with another DAW?? Any you would recommend? I know this is a lot and I thank you very much for your time!
Attachments
Steenamaroo
...
"save them to my rc 505 and connect that to my laptop via the midi cable to USB port"
No, if I understand your plans and intentions, midi doesn't factor into it.
It sounds like you're already able to do a performance and have that recorded to the rc505 then you just want a way to get a copy of that into ProTools?
The RC505 has a USB port to allow you to bring your recorded files over to a computer, so that's one way of doing it.
If, however, you'll want to build up a mix with multiple layers of performances, it would probably work better to connect the rc505 audio outputs to interface audio inputs,
and record each performance to the computer in real time, the same way you would vocals or acoustic guitar.
"Because otherwise I’m not sure how to connect my synth and the rc 505 to my computer at the same time"
Do you need to?
If I'm misunderstand and both devices need their output recorded, and you want to record the actual sound they make, then you'd need an interface with more inputs.
No, if I understand your plans and intentions, midi doesn't factor into it.
It sounds like you're already able to do a performance and have that recorded to the rc505 then you just want a way to get a copy of that into ProTools?
The RC505 has a USB port to allow you to bring your recorded files over to a computer, so that's one way of doing it.
If, however, you'll want to build up a mix with multiple layers of performances, it would probably work better to connect the rc505 audio outputs to interface audio inputs,
and record each performance to the computer in real time, the same way you would vocals or acoustic guitar.
"Because otherwise I’m not sure how to connect my synth and the rc 505 to my computer at the same time"
Do you need to?
If I'm misunderstand and both devices need their output recorded, and you want to record the actual sound they make, then you'd need an interface with more inputs.
rob aylestone
Moderator
From what I'm seeing you have a USB to MIDI adaptor cable - USB one end and a pair of MIDI (5 pin DIN) connectors the other end.
You need to treat the audio and the MIDI as two totally different things to get up and running. I'd personally start with the audio - plug in a mic and a pair of headphones to the Scarlett and see if you can sort the routing in protools so you can see the meters flicker and you can get the mic audio in, recorded and then can replay it back to the headphones.
The MIDI is going to be a challenge for a different reason. If the midi driver is installed and working it will pop up in protools as a source. A common issue is simply having the two DIN connectors in the wrong sockets. The label on the synth that says MIDI OUT - has MIDI data coming out of it, but frequently the cables are poorly marked so does the plug have MIDI coming out of it, or is it an input that does INTO the MIDI out socket? Always a gamble! So you try it one way and if nothing happens swap them!
The big problem is that connected to the computer, the synth will play what you have recorded, but to get a completed mix from a mic and the synth you need to feed the synth audio into the Scarlett and record that into Protools as audio. So you record it as MIDI, then when you have edited the MIDI to fix mistakes or whatever, you then play that track and at the same time record the audio as sound. not MIDI. This usually gets forgotten about.
Let us know what stage you are at.
You need to treat the audio and the MIDI as two totally different things to get up and running. I'd personally start with the audio - plug in a mic and a pair of headphones to the Scarlett and see if you can sort the routing in protools so you can see the meters flicker and you can get the mic audio in, recorded and then can replay it back to the headphones.
The MIDI is going to be a challenge for a different reason. If the midi driver is installed and working it will pop up in protools as a source. A common issue is simply having the two DIN connectors in the wrong sockets. The label on the synth that says MIDI OUT - has MIDI data coming out of it, but frequently the cables are poorly marked so does the plug have MIDI coming out of it, or is it an input that does INTO the MIDI out socket? Always a gamble! So you try it one way and if nothing happens swap them!
The big problem is that connected to the computer, the synth will play what you have recorded, but to get a completed mix from a mic and the synth you need to feed the synth audio into the Scarlett and record that into Protools as audio. So you record it as MIDI, then when you have edited the MIDI to fix mistakes or whatever, you then play that track and at the same time record the audio as sound. not MIDI. This usually gets forgotten about.
Let us know what stage you are at.
LazerBeakShiek
Rad Racing Team
There are a number of setup videos on youtube for protools.
Prime yourself by watching a couple of them. Basic knowledge of the functions in the DAW are gonna be needed.
Prime yourself by watching a couple of them. Basic knowledge of the functions in the DAW are gonna be needed.
Not
Not sure how to start that. I don’t have a mic as I’m only making electronic type of music not with vocals yet. So in short to get recorded material from my rc 505 I’ll need to connect an instrument cable from my boss L/ mono to the front input port of my scarlet interface, then my five pin midi cable (in to the out and out to the in) from my rc 505 to my computer via the USB and download the rc 505 driver? And then what lol if that’s right so far?
I did the setup with the videos. It’s working but can’t seem to figure out why I keep getting different error messages
Steenamaroo
...
What way you set up really depends on exactly what you want to do.
Are you doing a one shot 'must be live' single recording of a performance, like a live musician,
or planning to layer up and mix different sounds?
Do you want to have a recording of the synth + looper as you hear them, or do you want the option to be able to adjust/fix your performance and/or manipulate the synth settings on the fly/after the fact?
Whether or not midi needs to be used depends on these things.
Saying 'connect this to that' isn't really that helpful without fully understanding what you want your workflow to be.
Are you doing a one shot 'must be live' single recording of a performance, like a live musician,
or planning to layer up and mix different sounds?
Do you want to have a recording of the synth + looper as you hear them, or do you want the option to be able to adjust/fix your performance and/or manipulate the synth settings on the fly/after the fact?
Whether or not midi needs to be used depends on these things.
Saying 'connect this to that' isn't really that helpful without fully understanding what you want your workflow to be.
I want to layer, build correct and save as I go along. Not a live performance
LazerBeakShiek
Rad Racing Team
Never have I seen that error message. From what I ascertain, it is not setup correctly.
Juno 1/4" output to Solo 1/4" input.
Solo USB connected to laptop
Protools must be set to Focusrite ASIO.
The input must be selected.
A project started, not a midi project.
Check levels.
Press record.
Juno 1/4" output to Solo 1/4" input.
Solo USB connected to laptop
Protools must be set to Focusrite ASIO.
The input must be selected.
A project started, not a midi project.
Check levels.
Press record.
LazerBeakShiek
Rad Racing Team
Play into your looper like always. And transfer those files to a project in the DAW. Screw with them after playing it.
or
Use the Juno as a midi controller(technically JUNO not needed). Connect the midi to USB. Select the Midi device and enable. Open a project. Select a VST. Check levels. Highlight loop section in DAW track. Loop enabled. Hit record.
Some free VST for synth are..
FreeAlpha ..calvi w 2 Osc free
Synth1 Korg M-1 Free
DEXED DX-7 free
Oatmeal free
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Since I can’t seem to get pro tools working is there another daw that I can
LazerBeakShiek
Rad Racing Team
REAPER
Steenamaroo
...
With that particular error you might want to try creating your session on the system disk rather than D: but yes...Reaper.