newbie MIDI output question...
 

Hi everyone,

I have a CN2 electric piano hooked up via MIDI to PT LE 7.1. I have successfully used the CN2 as the interface for sampletank, but now I want to record one of the preset sounds on the piano onto my PT session. I have recorded a MIDI track on my session, but when I play it back, the MIDI track plays out through the piano and not through my headphones. My question is, how do I get the MIDI track to play out through my headphones and not the piano? The settings on my MIDI track are input: all and output: piano (CN2). For what it's worth, i'm running an Mbox 2 into a new imac.
Thanks in advance for helping me out.
Mat

Re: newbie MIDI output question...
 

You'll need to either route a single quarter inch cable (Mono) or two quarter inch cables (Stereo) from the Piano to the Mbox 2 (Line Level Inputs). If these cable are Tip-Sleeve (TS) use the DI function on the Mbox 2. Match the Input source in the AUX as that of the hardware source in Pro Tools.

Turn the Piano's Local Off.








filosofem

Re: newbie MIDI output question...
 

Thanks for your reply Filosofem.
I have to wait till i'm home tonight to see if I can get it to work. So basically what you are saying is use the piano like any other intstrument and not MIDI. Is that correct?
Mat

Re: newbie MIDI output question...
 

No, in order to hear the Patches (sounds) of the Piano you must feed the Audio Outputs to your Digi hardware Inputs.

See to the piano, in a fashion, it can't differentiate between either you playing or Pro Tools telling the piano to play. The electronics (the brains) of a digital piano are being triggered either by you, by pressing the keys (triggering Samples) or you programming Pro Tools to trigger Samples, either by playing the piano sending MIDI Data for Pro Tools to record for playback with either the piano or a Virtual Instrument or programming Pro Tools free hand (Pencil tool). It's all the same to the piano. So... if you don't have the Outputs of the piano connected to your Digi hardware, it'll just play straight out of the speakers on the piano, because that's the end of the signal path as far as it's concerned. So...

Since your using the piano in this fashion using the piano's MIDI capabilities, the piano than becomes what is known as an external MIDI device (sound module) and Pro Tools requires an audio input from that external MIDI device in order to playback the pre-recorded MIDI data, if you want to either hear this performance through Pro Tools or record this performance to 'Audio' for further processing.


Sweet?











filosofem

Re: newbie MIDI output question...
 

Hi Filosofem,

Thanks (again) for your reply. I think i'm starting to understand now. So by connecting the audio output of the piano to my Mbox, the signal is then routed to playback through my headphones via PT, rather than through the paino's speakers. So the signal goes out from the piano (via the MIDI cables), goes into my Mbox, then comes out again then back into the piano, then out through the ouput into the input in my Mbox.... So this may sound dumb, but why do you need the MIDI cables for in this instance? Couldn't you just send the signal straight into the Mbox?
Thanks again for your help, I appreciate you passing your knowledge onto me.

Mat

Re: newbie MIDI output question...
 

I had a funny feeling you were going to ask that, Mat.

MIDI and Audio are to seperate entities. In short, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a 'communications protocol' used to control electronic instruments.

Thus, Pro Tools communicates via MIDI with the piano to play exactly the pre-recorded MIDI performance and the piano in turn plays the perforance and sends Audio back to Pro Tools to be recorded as Audio.

To find out more about MIDI check this link.
As others have done for me.









filosofem

Re: newbie MIDI output question...
 

Hi filosofem,

I had a chance to look at my piano last night and there is no output jack, so it looks like it's not going to work. I may have to invest in some more sampletank patches to get the sound I want. Thanks again for your help.

Mat

Re: newbie MIDI output question...
 

Use the Head Phone Output.







filosofem

Re: newbie MIDI output question...
 

I thought of that this afternoon before I read your reply. Wow, I am a newbie. Thanks