ROLAND XP-80 - COMMAND 8 and 003 RACK

[Elton Hyland]

For starters, I know this is all ancient gear but I have used it for years so HERE'S MY ISSUE! I relocated from Washington State to Nashville and now I am rebuilding my small, in-home studio. I did not memorize the layout / setup before I unplugged everything and also now have a new install of PT.
I'm using ProTools ARTIST Version 2024.10.2 with Windows 11.

I want to use the XP-80's piano keys to play the sounds inside Protools Audio Suites. I DO NOT want to use the XP's internal sounds. (I think you call this XP80 the controller but I may be wrong.)
I use the COMMAND 8 faders etc to control the Protools faders etc. and this is all working fine. SO... I am not sure where to plug in the MIDI cables... into the COMMAND 8 or the 003 RACK. Also, how to connect the XP-80 keyboard.
I can see MIDI input on the PT screen when I push a piano key but I get no sound anywhere. (Speaker or headphones) I need to know where to plug in these MIDI cables and how to set up the tracks. Thank you
.

[tope d]

You can connect the midi out of your keyboard connected to the midi in of your 003 rack.
Though, not sure if your digital 003 rack would be recognized in the new version of pro tools.
As an alternative, I personally use a midi to usb cable which can be plugged from any keyboard that has midi out directly to a computer. Something like this https://www.amazon.com/EMSTAR-Cable-...dp/B0DLH2745J/

[smurfyou]

You can use the MIDI IN ports of either the 003 or the C8 whichever is more convenient. The port would have to be active in your MIDI Studio setup in Pro Tools. Which if you see MIDI input in PT it sounds like it is.

Are you using an Instrument track? Do you have your I/O and monitoring configured? i.e. can you hear regular audio tracks playing?

[Elton Hyland]

OK Guys, thank for the response. I am assuming that I do need an INSTRUMENT TRACK and an AUX track so...
1) If I have a MIDI cable plugged into the XP-80 MIDI OUT then the same cable plugged into the MIDI IN on the COMMAND 8, DO I NEED ANY MIDI CABLES plugged into the 003 rack then?
2) In ProTools / SETUP / MIDI / MIDI STUDIO SETUP, I show the ROLAND XP-80 under NAME so should the INPUT and OUTPUT be set to COMMAND 8 EMULATED or MIDI IN 2 EMULATED or MIDI IN 3 EMMULATED? (Also listed is the 003 RACK)
Side note: On the TRACK in PT, I am not recognizing anything that I had before and that' what is confusing the heck out of me

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Elton Hyland

OK Guys, thank for the response. I am assuming that I do need an INSTRUMENT TRACK and an AUX track so...

You need an instrument track, with a VI plugin inserted on it. Just keep it simple when troubleshooting and start with MiniGrand. An instrument track is effectively a MIDI track joined to an Aux Input internally, you don't *need* a separate Aux Input.

1) If I have a MIDI cable plugged into the XP-80 MIDI OUT then the same cable plugged into the MIDI IN on the COMMAND 8, DO I NEED ANY MIDI CABLES plugged into the 003 rack then?

I would just start by connecting the MIDI out on your keyboard directly to the MIDI IN on the 003... No other connections.... I would just troubleshoot that directly before you involve the Command 8.

Side note: On the TRACK in PT, I am not recognizing anything that I had before and that' what is confusing the heck out of me

Not a clue what this means. You are not recognizing exactly what? Are you looking at an Instrument or Aux Input track? The whole UI now looks different? Something specific like I don't know say IO selectors show different names than you expect?? You need to do much better at describing what is going on. Maybe post a screenshot on a photo or file sharing site and post the link here...

[Elton Hyland]

My apologies for the last part. I try to be as specific as I can and that was just a thought.
Right now, I have a project open with two tracks One MASTER and one INSTRUMENT.
I will try to upload some pics of my setup but even now, the COMMAND 8 will not initialize with PT. It now says OFFLINE which it wasn't doing before. Weird!
ProTools 1.jpg

Protools 2.jpg

Protools 3.jpg

Protools 4.jpg

Protools 5.jpg

[Elton Hyland]

And a couple more...
Protools 6.jpg

Protools 7.jpg

Protools 8.jpg

Protools 9.jpg

Protools 10.jpg

[Darryl Ramm]

I would personally get one thing working at a time. If the problem was a keyboard and VI then for now just connect that. Forget the Command 8. Not clear why you have the 003 in MIDI peripherals, just remove that for now--it has nothing to do with getting MIDI to work for a VI. Ditto for Machine Control master... why have you messed with all these settings it looks like you are just messing with anything that says "MIDI" *Do not do that*. In the Mix window set the view selector to show the instrument panel so you have any hope of working out the MIDI data flow. Also what MIDI addresses is everything set to (including the command 8 for later...)

Other folks here who are less of a MIDI on Windows MIDIot than me might have better immediate ideas, but the above is a good start to seeing what is going on.

And you troubleshoot from there... do you hear anything when you press keys in the MIDI Grand UI keyboard? If not does Pro Tools even play an audio track OK? (as previously asked by Smurfyou) What happens when you play on your Roland keyboard? Do you see MIDI notes kicking the MIDI meter in the Instruments panel you are now showing on the Instrument track in the Edit window? Do you hear anything? Do MIDI notes get recorded to the track? Is the MIDI track record enabled? Is MIDI Thru enabled?

And if you are totally lost instead of screwing around changing a bunch of MIDI settings it is often much better if you just start by finding a getting started tutorial on YouTube or similar about setting up a MIDI keyboard and VI in (a very recent version) Pro Tools and try to follow that. You hopefully learn there what the minimum you need to do is (there is very little that should be needed here, you seem to be confusing MIDI/DAW control setup stuff with what you need to do), you will likely learn stuff you don't know to ask, and even if you get stuck at least folks here can follow what you have done.

It would be nice if you can work out how to take standard screen shots in Windows (just google for instructions) and in future post them to a photo or file sharing site at full resolution, we are likely to need to read fine details. Images posted on DUC often get down scaled too much to be useful, even if these current ones are readable.

[Darryl Ramm]

One thing you might want to do is just start over, maybe simpler/faster/easier. If so...

Trash prefs. esp. to clear out any settings changes you have made (see under troubleshooting instructions under "help us help you" up the top of each DUC web page).

Create a new totally empty session (not from template).

Then follow a basic Instrument track/VI tutorial.

Like maybe just this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMZMKU2PH2s

That may take things too simple, but it shows in principle how easy/simple setting up a MIDI keyboard and VI should be, it also shows the instrument panel in the Edit Window you should be enabling to see what is going on (the video should mention that/show how to make it visible but does not)... see the MIDI meter there blink when MIDI notes arrive etc. and it shows some good basic troubleshooting steps. Oh and her accent...

If that does not work then the next likely try the troubleshooting I mentioned above and/or point to the exact tutorial/steps you are following and describe exactly what is happening/not working.

If MIDI signals do not apear to be getting into Pro Tools from the keyboard then using MIDI monitoring software on Windows can often help check what is going on, like Pocket MIDI, or any one of other utilities.

[Elton Hyland]

Sometimes you need to just cut your losses and start over. I downloaded THRASHER and rest PT. That is all of it except my plugins etc.
NOW everything is working I believe. Even the Command 8 and I now have the XP-80 controlling the MINI GRAND plugin as before.
I just set the Playback Engine to the 003 RACK and MIDI Controllers to the Command 8.
QUESTION: I now have nothing listed or selected in MIDI STUDIO SETUP. What is that used for if not to select the XP-80 keyboard?
And by the way, thank you all SO MUCH for the assistance. You Rock!