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?