MIDI Tracks Versus Instrument Tracks. VERY Confused.

[Rick540]

First of all a little about myself. I'm 32 and just started using Pro Tools about 3 days ago. Until then I'd never done any kind of recording at all. All through my teens and until my early 20's I was really into playing guitar but due to various reasons I ended up quitting. But about 6 months or so ago I decided to pick it back up. After a little research I found out about Amplitube and started using it as my practice "amp". The sound card and speakers I was using at the time weren't the greatest so I picked up a like set of Fostex PM-1 monitors on Craigslist for cheap, and decided to spring for an M-Audio 2496 sound card to go along with it. Coincidentally a couple days ago I was able to come across a KeyRig49 MIDI controller on Craigslist for next to nothing as well so I have that now too.

Anyway, after getting back some of my chops on the guitar it occured to me that I might as well start recording some of my ideas since I have a decent setup. I poked around the net and found that Pro Tools is the most widely used DAW so it's probably the best one to learn. And since I already had an M-Audio sound card I was all set. I got ahold of some video tutorials and have spent most of the past few days learning the program. Although I was a bit overwhelmed after first firing up the program, the tutorials I've been watching have made everything up to this point fairly easy to understand.

Except one thing....

Okay, I understand what MIDI is, how it works and so forth. The thing I can't understand however is what the point of MIDI tracks inside Pro Tools are for. What I mean is, I don't see why you would need a MIDI track because from what I can tell, an Instrument track does basically the same thing.

Let me explain a little more. I was watching the video tutorials (Pro Tools Essentials from Lynda.com to be exact), and in the MIDI part of the video the instructor was using BOTH a MIDI track AND an Instrument track. He was placing the virtual instrument plug-in on the Instrument track and then routing the output of the MIDI track to the virtual instrument. I don't understand why he was doing this because from what I've found, you don't have to even bother with the MIDI track at all. From what I've seen, you just put the virtual instrument plug-in on the Instrument track and that's it. The MIDI controller is able to control the output on the Instrument track just fine. To make the MIDI controller control another virtual instrument on another Instrument track, just highlight the track you want to hear and/or record and go for it. No need for a MIDI track at all. All the MIDI data is recorded right there in the Instrument track.

So maybe I just need to learn a bit more and then maybe I'll be able to wrap my head around all this. The videos I've watched so far haven't went much into inputs and outputs much so I might just be missing something. In the meantime though, any info about this is appreciated. Sorry for the long post but I seem to always be long winded on forums for some reason. Too much coffee I guess.

Thanks.

[pianosound]

Hi Rick, I've used midi with Pro Tools for many years, and with the 001 I was not able to upgrade for quite a while. Finaly did the upgrade (003r) to 7.4. So for me, it took a while to understand the use of an instrument track,,,, (no insrument track on the 001). We use to have to use rewire and a midi track to access a VI (virtual instrument), but now with an instrument track there realy is no need for a midi track with a VI. But still use midi tracks for external instruments,,,, keyboards, and rack mount sound modules. So I think your right, you can bounce a file directly from the instrument track if you want, but I have found it better for me to record the insrument track to a wave stereo track, mute the instrument track and then add any plug ins needed. (old computer, 2.0 processor with 2 gigs of ram).
Any how,,, keep working with it,,,,, you'll come up with a procees that works best for you! Thats what I like about P.T. ,,, there are many ways to "get there"! And there is where the music is!!!
Hope I was a little help,,,,,,,,, Mike

[DigiTechSupt]

The thing I can't understand however is what the point of MIDI tracks inside Pro Tools are for. What I mean is, I don't see why you would need a MIDI track because from what I can tell, an Instrument track does basically the same thing.

One instance where you'd use a MIDI track instead of an Instrument track were if you wanted another track to trigger the same plug-in that's already on an Instrument track.

Let's say I have BFD on my instrument track and I have a kick pattern recorded. Now I want to record a snare, but don't want it to go on the same track as the kick - I could create a MIDI track and direct it's output to the BFD plug-in on the Instrument track. This allows you to have those MIDI notes on separate tracks, but only use 1 plug-in and not have all the unnecessary audio IO that's on the Instrument track (or if you're using a lot of VI's, you may not want to use an instance of an Instrument track, since they're limited more than MIDI tracks - 32 vs 128).

[Rick540]

Thanks a lot for the info. It makes sense now.

[DrFord]

Digitech...
In PT8 I was watching the trailers, and it looked like now you can have multiple lanes of Midi on a single Edit Track. Would this allow you to have multiple faders as well? Or will you still need to (using your example of battery) still need to have multiple midi tracks routed to a single instrument track for seperate faders per part?

Thx

D

[flommer]

multiple lanes of Midi on a single Edit Track.

I don't think this is the right way to think about this. It is just an editing view that shows info from multiple midi tracks..

[soundboy35]

Digi,

Is that to say that you could assign an electric drumset to output the different pads to different MIDI channels on separate MIDI tracks, thereby actually having separate MIDI tracks/notes for each drum?
Sure it's kind of tweakish, but it would be cool to have such a thing.

[DigiTechSupt]

Is that to say that you could assign an electric drumset to output the different pads to different MIDI channels on separate MIDI tracks, thereby actually having separate MIDI tracks/notes for each drum?

You certainly could and I do this often. Create several MIDI tracks and set the input tab to the MIDI port and channel you want to record on that track - for example, if the kit is connected to port 1 on your MIDI interface, each track would be set to Port 1, but the MIDI channel would be different for each one, so that it records only data from that MIDI channel. On your drum kit (or synth, drum machine, etc.), make sure each pad is set to a different MIDI channel. You can then record onto each of those tracks and they'll only record the MIDI data coming in on the assigned MIDI channel.

Another example would be if you're using a multi-timbral software synth and you want to trigger it with 2 different keyboards, each playing their own sound. Insert the plug-in on an Aux or Instrument track, set it up with a different sound for each MIDI channel (a bass on MIDI channel 1, a synth on channel 2, etc), then create 2 MIDI tracks, each with their inputs set to the proper port and MIDI channel for the keyboard that's triggering it and the output to the software synth and MIDI channel you want it to trigger. For instance, if I wanted keyboard 1 to trigger the bass and the keyboard is connected to port A on a MIDISport 2x2, I'd set the input on the MIDI track to MIDISport Port 1, channel All and the output to the software plug-in you're using, channel 1. Keyboard 2 would be configured on the 2nd MIDI track as input - MIDISport Port 2, channel All, output to the softsynth, channel 2.

Hope that helps!

[soundboy35]

Good to know, so that if one wanted to, one could use the same MIDI track to trigger a whole other drum module sound on another instrument track. Do the MIDI tracks allow you to assign multiple outputs like audio tracks? Haven't tried this....