Additional MIDI Interface when using ASIO Drivers with Reason / Propellerheads ???

[georgelevy]

I recently bought Reason 2.0 and installed it on my Compaq 5003 US PC running Windows XP. It worked fine except for the high latency of my computer's internal sound card. I happen to own a Digi 001 with ProTools LE 5.3.1 from Digidesign and was excited that there was an ASIO driver that would allow me to run the audio through my Digi.

I read the documentation prior to installing the driver and saw that it was compatible with Propellerheads Reason.

Upon further inspection, in the troubleshooting area, it said that there might be an issue with MIDI... but it was a short blurb and all I could think of is that it previously said that the ASIO driver is compatible with Reason 2.0

Frustrated by the latency, I went ahead and installed the ASIO driver.

Upon booting Reason for the first time after installing the ASIO driver, the system notified me that I lost the MIDI IN that I had previously through my 001.

I played the demo song and I now have audio through my Digi 001 coming out of my studio monitors (not my cheesy computer speakers) but now I can't trigger MIDI.

In other words, when I was running the audio drivers of the built in sound card and playing out of my computer speakers(prior to getting the ASIO driver) I could play MIDI into Reason through my Digi 001 with no problem except for the annoying Latency.

Having installed the driver already (no turning back) and trying to see if I could fix the problem, I pulled up the MIDI menu under the Reason preferences to try and change the settings back to the Digi 001. Much to my horror, the pulldown menu was empty (no Digi 001 option) except for an option that says MPU-401.

Reading through Digi's only suggestion on the troubleshooting part, they say that I should buy a USB MIDI interface in order to run the MIDI into the computer

Are there other options? What can I do to be able to play my MIDI keyboard into Reason while still being able to hear the sound through my Digi 001?

Since I can't test the MIDI performance with the Digi 001, I'm afraid that I'll plop down $200 for a USB MIDI interface and be able to receive MIDI into Reason only to realize that the latency on the Digi 001 is just as bad or worse than the original problem.

Has anybody dealt with this and can you give me a possible solution? Is there a cheaper option I can use for routing MIDI into my computer?

Another challenge is that I really don't have any USB ports available... Is there a Parallel or Serial port based option available? Better yet, is there a software solution that may let me use the MIDI inputs on my Digi 001 while still letting me route the audio through the studio monitors hooked up to my Digi 001?


Any help would be much appreciated.

[georgelevy]

Never mind... Went to Guitar Center, talked the situation over with a sales rep. Bought a Midiman Midisport 2x2 USB and problem solved. I'm now able to do MIDI into Reason with very low latency using the Digi 001 as the sound card.