total midi newbie question

[mikeyc]

OK, let me start by saying that i know NOTHING about midi...yet. i have never owned a midi instrument of any kind till now. i have a roland mc-505 groovebox and i'm trying to record some parts into cubase with an acoustic track i recorded. well, 60bpm in cubase is not the same as 60bpm on the cubase. i was told by the guy at guitarhellcenter that all i needed to do was connect the groovebox to my delta1010 with a midi cable and set the groovebox as a slave and hit play in cubase. is it really that simple? do i still need to hook up audio cables to actually record the music the groovebox plays or is all that transferred through the midi cables?
sorry for the kindergarden questions but i am at a total loss when it comes to midi.

 

[ssscientist]

is it really that simple? do i still need to hook up audio cables to actually record the music the groovebox plays or is all that transferred through the midi cables?

Midi clock is the secret that will syncronize your computer and your groovebox. Make sure Cubase is set to transmit midi clock, then hook the midi out of your delta 1010 to the midi in of your groovebox set on 'external clock' or 'slave mode' or whatever term Roland uses for it.

And no, midi cables carry only data and no audio. To actually record the music you will need to hook up audio cables.

But that's not the end of the story -- there are almost guaranteed to be synronization issues if you didn't record whatever you have in Cubase to a click track. Everbody that I know (me included) get the track together first, record it to Cubase and THEN put the acoustic instruments on. You may have to do some re-recording.

And welcome to the board.

 

[mikeyc]

thanks for the info. while i was looking through my groovebox manual last night trying (unsuccessfully ) to figure out what the hell i was doing i noticed the illustration for connecting the groovebox to a PC showed two midi cables hooked up to both PC and groovebox. do i actually need two cables to make it work? i finally got the groovebox set as a slave but i was obviously missing a setting or two (probably in cubase) because my PC wasn't triggering the groovebox and with it set in slave mode i couldn't start the groovebox song manually.
if nothing else this will be a good learning experience for me...i just wish my fiancee didn't wait till a week and a half before the wedding to tell me she wanted this song played for our first dance at the wedding...
BTW, i did actually record the acoustic tracks to a click track since as a guitar player, i have NO rhythm what-so-ever

 

[ssscientist]

Two midi cables at this point would just confuse things and put you at risk for some nasty midi loops. Later on when you're more conversant with midi then two cables will be needed. But for the job at hand one is all you need, from the midi out of the computer interface to the midi in of the groovebox.

You've got to find the page in Cubase that has midi options on it - that's where you'll be able to turn on the midi clock mode so when you hit play in Cubase the groovebox will start too.

And it's great that you've got no rhythm - now you won't need to go back and re-record!

 

[mikeyc]

i figured it out last night so everything works now.
thanks for the help.