Newbie..Need Help In Setting up MIDI controller.. :[

[luism]

Hi all and thanks for reading.

I am trying to create music and I have read some books to get me started..

This is my setup:

Sony Laptop VGN-A190
XP Pro Sp2
2 Gig of Ram
Axiom 49 Midi Controller.
MBox 2 Micro
Pro Tools LE 7.4

My main question.. what procedure should I follow so I can enable my midi controller to play like a piano.. ie so when I press the keyboard I hear the music tru my laptop to my my mbox micro ( sorry if it sounds really newbie :} )

Thanks
If anyone knows of any guides that can help me out I would also appreciate it.

-Luis

[mano111]

Hi,
could you please tell me

is the mid controller connected to a USB port?
is Pro tools installed and working?

[Avianer]

Hey Bud, welcome to the forum!
Now to get started, I'm sure you've checked that your recording interface has a midi in and out. Now as far as getting the sounds, you have to install an instrument plugin in order for you to produce a "piano" sound. You can find XPAND! that digidesign made that is free and has many useful instruments for midi. There are also others like Structure, Atmosphere, Hybrid, etc...the list goes on.

As far as getting it to work in pro tools, here's what you have to do
1.Create 2 Tracks - 1 Stereo Aux Track & 1 Midi Track.
2.Go to your inserts (View -> Edit Window -> Inserts (Or something along those lines, I'm not in pro tools at this current time)) and go to to instruments, and select your instrument plugin of choice.
3.Time to set your Midi Output to the instrument. Pres Crtl+ = to view your edit mix window. set your output and you should see "Xpand Channel 1" if you are using Xpand as a instrument source.

If you want to record your Midi audio to sound, you can set your aux to bus 1-2 stereo, and make a new audio track and have that input of the audio track set to bus 1-2 so your aux is sending to your audio track. Hope this helps!

[SeedGuy]

1.Create 2 Tracks - 1 Stereo Aux Track & 1 Midi Track.

Or just use an instrument track. These are MIDI and aux tracks combined. Make life a lot easier and tidy the session up.

[Avianer]

Seedguy,
you're totally right. I hadn't known about this. I was unsure of what the midi instrument track was for.

[luism]

Thanks Guys..!

With all of your help I was able to set up the midi controller to work with the xpand plugin that came with pro tools so that I could play the keyboard and get notes to sound!

Before I abuse your collective kindness in helping me out..I will try to figure some more things out and ask when I get REALLY stuck..

Thanks all for the help!

-Luis

[jazzmandan]

Hope I am not hijacking a thread (that would be rude) but I think it should be ok since I'm a Newbie also trying to setup a MIDI controler. And the original poster seems to be on his way..

I am using Structure (Free). I follow most of what was explained, set up a Instrument track and set the Insert to Structure. In Stucture I set a patch for a piano. I can get sounds to play from the on-screen keyboard, but not from my external USP KeyStation Midi Controller.

Seems I need to set this up in "Setup - Peripherials" from the main PT menu. But while I do see my keyboard listed in the options under "Recieve From" and I see Structure in "Send To" I can't seen to set the "Type" correctly to get any sound. Acutally I get an error saying the type is not correct (HUI, Motormix?).

Sure would appreciate any advice.


I tried this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFy18...eature=related

and while it was helpfull, I still can't get the keyboard output.

Dan

[LSW]

Hope I am not hijacking a thread (that would be rude) but I think it should be ok since I'm a Newbie also trying to setup a MIDI controler. And the original poster seems to be on his way..

I am using Structure (Free). I follow most of what was explained, set up a Instrument track and set the Insert to Structure. In Stucture I set a patch for a piano. I can get sounds to play from the on-screen keyboard, but not from my external USP KeyStation Midi Controller.

Seems I need to set this up in "Setup - Peripherials" from the main PT menu. But while I do see my keyboard listed in the options under "Recieve From" and I see Structure in "Send To" I can't seen to set the "Type" correctly to get any sound. Acutally I get an error saying the type is not correct (HUI, Motormix?).

Sure would appreciate any advice.


I tried this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFy18...eature=related

and while it was helpfull, I still can't get the keyboard output.

Dan

The periperhals set up is for control surfaces, so you don't need to do anything there. Choose your controller from the input of the MIDI or instrument track that you are using, that should be all you need to do.

[jazzmandan]

Thank so much I will stay away from the Peripherials.

It sounds so easy, set the in, set the out, but... no sound. I think may problem may be that I don't understnad all these "channel settings". I only have six strings on my guitar with only on cord out.

So for the Instrument track I set the I/O:

In to: Predifined - Keystations - Channel 1
Out to: Structure Free Port A Channel 1

Do I need to set the Key board to anything?

Thanks for any help.


Sorry, forget all that. Those were the settings for the Midi channel I tried to set up, which also did not work.

For the instrument channel, I can not set the input to the keyboard. It is set to "no input' with no options to change it. You see how confused I am. Perhaps I need to spend a couple more hours working and it and I will come back when I have a clear question.

Thanks
Dan

Dan

[LSW]

Sounds like you're on the right track, but to be sure -

First check in device manager to make sure the drivers are installed correctly and that there are no problems with Windows recognizing the Keystation. Sometimes it will show up in PT, yet Windows still reports a conflict.

If there are no errors there, start by just creating a standard MIDI track - leave the input to All, record enablle the track, and see if you get any activity on the meter when playing the keyboard.

If not, make sure the controller is actually transmitting MIDI data. They usually do by default, but perhaps there is a toggle somewhere one the controller.

Once you've verified that PT is in fact receiveing MIDI data, set the output of the MIDI track to the Instrument track that contains your instance of structure. Set the output of the Structure track to Audio 1 and 2. It sould also help if you had a Master Fader as well.

If it works, you can do away with the MIDI track and set the input of the instrument track to ALL or Predefined, it should work the same way. I just think it keeps things clean to use a standard MIDI track for troubleshooting.