No audio playback monitoring for MIDI tracks only?! Help!

[Crazykiwi]

Hi there, I bought Pro Tools in March after being a long term Steinberg Cubase user for home recording. I'm still getting to know where all the various functions are and for the last three weeks I've been wrestling with a problem whereby I can't hear any MIDI source in playback.

I'm running a Dell Precision 650 with 4Gb memory, MAudio Delta 1010, a SCSI array system drive, using a couple of firewire recording drives and Yamaha HS50 monitors. Digidesign have already confirmed there are no known compatibility issues with any of my hardware.

I've imported a very basic MIDI sequence into a session I've created, to use as source and it loads fine. I've set up MIDI Studio correctly - assigned instruments to all the tracks used and selected patches. I've also assigned separate channels for each instrument and I'm getting readings off the VU meters for each MIDI channel in playback. Everything is working as expected but there is no audio coming through the monitors from any of the MIDI instruments whatsoever.

To shortcut the fault-isolation process, I imported an audio sample into another track in the same session and when I play the session, I can hear the sample repeating fine but again, no MIDI tracks. All the channel settings are set to solo off/mute off and there are no inserts used. All the faders on the used tracks are up to just below clipping and I've used the default I/O patching as there was no need to change it that I could see.

The one anomaly that I have discovered is that I can't play MIDI files in Winamp or Windows Media Player either. However I can run a standalone software synth and play that directly using my MIDI keyboard controller. Reinstalling the Delta 1010 drivers hasn't helped at all.

Can anyone help?

[catalin rasvan]

Hi
Try to see one midi track header ( control change number7(volune) control change number 11 (expression)They must be set at minim 20 if you wont to hear something.
For tis midi sequence what device use you? A sound module or an plug synth?
If it is a synth module try to do a factory reset.
If you have for your midi traks some sis ex try to delete them and play.
I hope this solve your problem.
For my opinion it is not PT fault.
Try anather midi sequence and see if still problem.

[Crazykiwi]

Thanks for your response. My system is very basic at the moment as I need to relearn a lot of things. All I have attached to the PC is a Roland PC200 keyboard controller plugged into the MIDI socket on the Delta sound card interface, communicating on channel 1.

I haven't assigned any settings to CCN7 or CCN11 so they shouldn't affect anything I'm doing.

I can record MIDI from the keyboard with no problem. I just can't hear the sounds of any patches whether recording, monitoring or playing back. I don't think the problem is MIDI based.

I've also uninstalled the sound card (physically removed it, rebooted and reinstalled) and reinstalled the drivers again as well as removed all MIDI drivers with still no improvement.

I think its mostly likely to be driver caused or audio/mixer setting I've not known about.

[spkguitar]

You need to be using some sort of MIDI sound module, either an external hardware unit or a softsynth.

Most consumer computer sound cards have a GM sound module built in, but to use it, you would need to physically route the audio output of your computer's sound card to the audio inputs of your 1010 with an audio cable.

You can also use any number of softsynths that are readily available, though there aren't many that are GM, so you would have to manually re-assign most instruments when not using GM devices.

[Crazykiwi]

When I said I'd assigned instruments correctly to the MIDI channels in MIDI Studio, I meant I'd assigned soft synths to the channels.

Even on the session where I've created a single MIDI track, that also had one of the plug in soft
synths assigned (a Kurzweil IIRC), on Channel 1, with a patch selected, I had exactly the same problem.

[DigiTechSupt]

What type of track (audio, aux or instrument) did you have the soft synth inserted on?

[Crazykiwi]

What type of track (audio, aux or instrument) did you have the soft synth inserted on?

I set the track up as MIDI because I was testing MIDI. Was this correct?

By way of update; where before I couldn't play back MIDI outside of Pro Tools either, I can now do that after tweaking a MIDI input plug in in Winamp and reactivating the MIDI features in the onboard SoundMAX sound module (before I was using the Delta 1010 MIDI driver). However I still can't play MIDI within Pro Tools because I haven't set it up properly.

I don't have any external MIDI sound modules at the moment, so I would like to set things up to use the Microsoft GS Wavetable soft synth at first as described in the link below:

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=...408ad6f85e5a6a

"Another way is to use virtual (software) synthesizers. In Windows XP, a built in virtual Sythesizer (Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth) can be used to make Midi audible on the USB audio device’s audio outputs. The software program Winamp includes the same virtual Synthesizer, even for Windows 98SE/ME. Start Winamp and configure the Input-Midi-Plugin at Options->Plug-ins->Input->Winamp2 MIDI Plugin->Configure->Device: midiout / Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth...

...Through these software synthesizer applications, MIDI can be transformed into sound and played back through the Delta's Audio Outputs."

This article in the knowledge base seems to sum up my situation perfectly. Apologies to spkguitar because he was correct and I really didn't understand what was going on . I hadn't realised that Pro Tools was set up so differently to Cubase.

So, given my complete ignorance of how to configure my PC for MIDI playback from the Delta, it would be really helpful if someone could please post a step-by-step guide for playback from a single MIDI channel? I would like to follow it methodically so I can check what should be set up and where because the user guide doesn't seem to offer much guidance. Then I can raise any anomalies here if changing settings doesn't produce a positive result.

Many thanks for your help so far people

[Crazykiwi]

BUMP

[spkguitar]

I set the track up as MIDI because I was testing MIDI. Was this correct?

Only partially. The concept that you are missing is that MIDI music is made up of two different and separate elements; the MIDI data that is used to produce the music, and the audio data that is eventually produced. Using only a MIDI track, you're only using the data. You will need to set up a track to monitor the audio output of your chosen sound module in Pro Tools.

By way of update; where before I couldn't play back MIDI outside of Pro Tools either, I can now do that after tweaking a MIDI input plug in in Winamp and reactivating the MIDI features in the onboard SoundMAX sound module (before I was using the Delta 1010 MIDI driver). However I still can't play MIDI within Pro Tools because I haven't set it up properly.

That's correct; you haven't. First, you would need to

physically route the audio output of your computer's sound card to the audio inputs of your 1010 with an audio cable.

as I mentioned to you before. That would mean creating a stereo aux track, setting the input of the aux to be two available audio inputs on your interface, and then running a cable from your soundMax to those inputs.

Then you would have to set the output of your MIDI track(s) to be the Microsoft GS Wavetable soft synth. (you shouldn't need winamp at all)


Honestly, it would probably be a lot easier to use one of the many softsynth plugins that are available. Once you choose one (I've got a list of free ones on my website) and install it properly, you can follow my step-by-step tutorial on how to use it in Pro Tools.

You might also want to get a good book on the subject of basic MIDI. There are a few things that you seem to be a little confused about, even by your own admission.

[Crazykiwi]

Thanks for your pointers.

FWIW I never had any problems setting up and recording MIDI playback in Cubase VST using soft synths - its relatively straight forward. I just don't know how to set it up in Pro Tools and the user guides don't offer much detailed help.

I'll download one of the softsynths you've linked to and see if it will set up within Pro Tools. If Pro Tools sees it and offers it as an option once I've set it up, I don't think there will be any problem. However I haven't yet ruled out an installation glitch as the cause, as was the case with a previous problem I had with the Delta card and Pro Tools.