Pro Tools and the Roland Juno-G

[mrvona]

I am having trouble getting my Roland Juno-G to communicate correctly with Pro Tools. I am using a Mac OSX 10.9.4 and I'm interfaced with a Roland UM-ONE, USB out the back of computer to MIDI connectors on the back of synth. I have been in contact with Roland and they have been trying to help me. I don't know if this is overload, but I think the best way to include all of the details is to copy my last 2 communications into this email. I'm hoping someone will read the following and chime in with some help.

Stuck in Derby, New York
Thanks,
mark

Aug 29th 3:30am: My email to Roland
I have set this up exactly as you have outlined here. If the Remote switch is set to off I get no sound on playback. If I turn it back on I get all tracks sounding with the same timbre the live keyboard is set at, even though I have set the output of each track for a different channel. If you have any other ideas they are welcome.
I am going to try to bounce this problem over to the Protools support people and see if there is something I can/should be doing within the program. Once again, I am new to Protools.
Thanks for sticking with me.

Aug 29th 2:30pm: Roland's reply

Hi Mark,
The Remote Keyboard switch does channelize any incoming MIDI so that it only plays what the keyboard of the Juno-G is playing (it is mostly intended for use with a remote keyboard in a live performance situation), so this is why you are getting all of your different tracks / MIDI channels playing the same sound. The Remote Keyboard switch definitely needs to be OFF if you want to be able to access different sound on different MIDI channels in the Juno-G. If you are getting no sound when this is set to off, we would suspect the tracks / channels in Pro Tools are not matching up with what is set up in the Juno-G, but please let us know if the Pro Tools folks have any other ideas on this.

Best Regards,

Product Support
Roland Corp. U.S.

[Emcha_audio]

Have you setup the instrument under the midi studio setup, and then used the midi input selector on the instrument track (the drop down menu that says all) to use the Juno?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by mrvona

I am having trouble getting my Roland Juno-G to communicate correctly with Pro Tools. I am using a Mac OSX 10.9.4 and I'm interfaced with a Roland UM-ONE, USB out the back of computer to MIDI connectors on the back of synth. I have been in contact with Roland and they have been trying to help me. I don't know if this is overload, but I think the best way to include all of the details is to copy my last 2 communications into this email. I'm hoping someone will read the following and chime in with some help.

Stuck in Derby, New York
Thanks,
mark

Aug 29th 3:30am: My email to Roland
I have set this up exactly as you have outlined here. If the Remote switch is set to off I get no sound on playback. If I turn it back on I get all tracks sounding with the same timbre the live keyboard is set at, even though I have set the output of each track for a different channel. If you have any other ideas they are welcome.
I am going to try to bounce this problem over to the Protools support people and see if there is something I can/should be doing within the program. Once again, I am new to Protools.
Thanks for sticking with me.

Aug 29th 2:30pm: Roland's reply

Hi Mark,
The Remote Keyboard switch does channelize any incoming MIDI so that it only plays what the keyboard of the Juno-G is playing (it is mostly intended for use with a remote keyboard in a live performance situation), so this is why you are getting all of your different tracks / MIDI channels playing the same sound. The Remote Keyboard switch definitely needs to be OFF if you want to be able to access different sound on different MIDI channels in the Juno-G. If you are getting no sound when this is set to off, we would suspect the tracks / channels in Pro Tools are not matching up with what is set up in the Juno-G, but please let us know if the Pro Tools folks have any other ideas on this.

Best Regards,

Product Support
Roland Corp. U.S.

What Manny wrote.

I'm confused about something - are you using USB or 5 pin MIDI to communicate between PT and the Juno? And do you have the right one selected on the Juno? Not all keyboards work on both USB and 5 pin MIDI at the same time. Is the Juno multi-timbral on 5 pin MIDI? It might not be and your recourse would be USB MIDI.

Is there some kind of mode you have to be in on the Juno to do multi-timbral? You need multi-timbral if you want different sounds on different incoming MIDI channels. I gather you're using the Juno as a sound module and bringing the audio back into PT through the UM-One.

[mrvona]

Manny,
I am connecting the Mac to the synth with a UM-ONE interface. It is a USB connector out the back of the computer and then a 5-pin to the IN and then another to the OUT on back of the synth. This was the interface I found that worked. the machines are communicating.

The system setup on the JUNO-G is: USB MODE - MIDI..... The other option is STORAGE.
Roland is telling me that the Sequence Template is the set up for Multi-Timbral playback.
My audio is running out from the synth to the amp for my stereo.

p.s. If I hook up my old JV-80 I can get multi-timbral playback and my click track is a percussive 'click'. The JV-80 is in poor condition and I'm loathe to go back to it.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by mrvona

Manny,
I am connecting the Mac to the synth with a UM-ONE interface. It is a USB connector out the back of the computer and then a 5-pin to the IN and then another to the OUT on back of the synth. This was the interface I found that worked. the machines are communicating.

The system setup on the JUNO-G is: USB MODE - MIDI..... The other option is STORAGE.
Roland is telling me that the Sequence Template is the set up for Multi-Timbral playback.
My audio is running out from the synth to the amp for my stereo.

p.s. If I hook up my old JV-80 I can get multi-timbral playback and my click track is a percussive 'click'. The JV-80 is in poor condition and I'm loathe to go back to it.

I think part of your problem is you have USB Mode set to MIDI on the Juno and you're using the 5 pin MIDI instead. Most keyboards can't work o both at the same time. As I said you may not be able to do multi-timbral on the 5 pin MIDI and have to use the USB for MIDI. Also as I wrote - check the Juno manual and see if you have to be in a particular mode for multi-timbral (and I'm not talking about the USB MIDI mode either but maybe something like Song mode or something like that rather than the usual single sound mode).

[mrvona]

Emcha_audio,
Thanks for your reply, it takes me back to the very beginning of this quest. I have never been certain that my MIDI STUDIO is setup correctly. I have 2 UM-ONE icons in the setup box connected to each other.
OK, so I just deleted one of the UM-ONE icons and created an icon for the JUNO-G. first thing that happened was the tracks I've already created became grey. I get no sound at all. So I created an instrument track. The midi input selector says 'no input' (not 'all'), and the Midi tracks now say JUNO-G instead of UM-ONE.

Mark

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by mrvona

Emcha_audio,
Thanks for your reply, it takes me back to the very beginning of this quest. I have never been certain that my MIDI STUDIO is setup correctly. I have 2 UM-ONE icons in the setup box connected to each other.
OK, so I just deleted one of the UM-ONE icons and created an icon for the JUNO-G. first thing that happened was the tracks I've already created became grey. I get no sound at all. So I created an instrument track. The midi input selector says 'no input' (not 'all'), and the Midi tracks now say JUNO-G instead of UM-ONE.

Mark

I'm not Manny/emcha_audio.

Proper setup in OSX audio/MIDI setup is a must. If you're using the traditional 5 pin MIDI you have to make connections from the Juno to the interface. One thing you MUST check is can the Juno do multi-timbral by way of 5 pin MIDI? You keep ignoring that little bit.

[mrvona]

musicman691,
The UM-ONE is only 5 point Midi cables on the end going into the synth. It is USB into the back of the mac. I have used the 5 pin midi cables years ago with my JV-80 and had no problem getting multi-timbral playback. So I assumed that I could continue to use them. I have indicated to Roland that I'm using them and they have not told me different.
I'm still not certain of my Audio MIDI setup. I thought that the computer was supposed sense the presence of the synth and give me the representative icon. Instead, I created the icon for the JUNO-G. It wasn't automatically an option through the MIDI window.

mark

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by mrvona

musicman691,
The UM-ONE is only 5 point Midi cables on the end going into the synth. It is USB into the back of the mac. I have used the 5 pin midi cables years ago with my JV-80 and had no problem getting multi-timbral playback. So I assumed that I could continue to use them. I have indicated to Roland that I'm using them and they have not told me different.
I'm still not certain of my Audio MIDI setup. I thought that the computer was supposed sense the presence of the synth and give me the representative icon. Instead, I created the icon for the JUNO-G. It wasn't automatically an option through the MIDI window.

mark

You're missing the point I'm trying to make - you may have to go USB MIDI to get multi-timbral with the Juno. Just because it worked on your other synth doesn't mean it will work this time. And as you found out there is no such thing as autosense of synths - you have to manually enter the synth and connections. On my system the only thing that was autosensed was the MOTU MIDI Timepiece AVUSB which is the MIDI interface. I had to add in manually the synths that are connected to it (which in my current case are 3 hardware synths and my Yamaha DTXM12 drum machine/controller).

[mrvona]

I am in USB MIDI mode on the synth. I went into the menu and checked the setting. In the settings window I can toggle between USB MIDI or
USB STORAGE. Those are the choices.
When I test the setup here's what happens: I click the out port on the UM-ONE icon and I get what sounds like and 'orchestra hit' and the in port on the UM-ONE icon blinks.
Are you also saying that I need an interface that is USB to USB?