Subject:Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Posted by: Monki

Date:7/14/2004 1:52:50 PM

I have just installed Acid Pro 4.
I have got my external midi keyboard working with the "DSL soft synth", but I have two major problems.

01) It will only play the first "Piano 1" voice through the keyboard. If I change voices and play the "on screen" keyboard, I can hear the newly selected voice, but on the keyboard, when I play the external keyboard, "Piano 1" still play. I have only a single soft synth selected.

02) If I use a VSTi plug in such as Cube, it will again play from the "on screen " keyboard, but when I play the external midi keyboard I can not get a single sound, even though the sound card is selected as the input midi.

I have a PIII, 502mb, 18 gig HD, Luna sound card and XP OS.

If any of you Acid Pro 's can put me right on this, I'll be forever greatful.

Cheers,

Monki

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:7/14/2004 2:17:31 PM

What version of ACID Pro 4 are you using? (4.0, a, b, c, ?) There were some fixed around the time of 4.0c that had to do with Soft Synth’s retaining their program number. Make sure you download version Version 4.0f and check it again.

~jr

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: Monki

Date:7/15/2004 12:12:27 AM

Johnny,

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I'll try this tonight, I appriciate the advice as I was at a total dead end.

Cheers,

Iain.

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: Monki

Date:7/15/2004 9:11:25 AM

I've updated to Acid Pro 4 F, but I have the same problem as above, it's a nightmare.

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: plastique

Date:7/15/2004 9:41:53 AM

check again if the midi channel of the dls synth is set to the channel you're keyboards inputs to

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: Monki

Date:7/15/2004 2:07:37 PM

It is and will play the first piano sound perfectly, just when I select another sound, it changed on the "On screen" keyboard, but remains as the top piano in the midi.

With VSTi the midi makes no sound, but the on screen keyboard is perfect.

I have my sound card selected as the midi in.

Thanks for taking the time to help.

Any ideas?

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:7/15/2004 5:03:33 PM

Are you sure you’re not hearing the sound from your soundcard and not the DLS synth? If you have a soundcard that has internal sounds (like a SoundBlaster) then you could be hearing the Piano1 coming from the sounds card. To make sure this isn’t happening, go into Options > Preferences > MIDI and make sure the input is set to the input your keyboard is plugged into (which I think it is since you are hearing the piano sound) and make sure the output has everything uncheck (i.e, set to none). You don’t want any of the MIDI data going to the sound card, just the soft synth. Also make sure Auto MIDI Input routing is checked.

Next insert a DLS Soft Synth and bring up the properties. Make sure the Enable Real-Time MIDI (Alt-F7) button is pressed (enabled). When you play your external keyboard you should see the corresponding, keys of the little keyboard on the screen turn blue. Do you see this? The channel should be set to 1 (by default). Make sure your external keyboard is transmitting on channel 1. If this works, click on a different voice and both the little keyboard on screen and your external keyboard should now play the new voice.

How far can you get into these instructions before something goes wrong?

~jr

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: Monki

Date:7/16/2004 12:45:44 AM

I've tried this and everything is set as you have discribed, but am unclear how to check "Make sure your external keyboard is transmitting on channel 1"?

The strange thing is I can get it to play one sound, from the "DSL soft synth" using the external midi keyboard, but when I select another sound, it does not change, as described earlier in the thread and NO vsti sysnths will play using the external midi keyboard, but are fine of the "On screen" keyboard.

It sounds perhaps like a channel issue, can you advise which channel settings need to be in synch and which pannels they are in?

Thanks again for your help.

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: plastique

Date:7/16/2004 3:36:06 AM

a bit tedious , but you can find the channel on which your external keyboard transmits by switching the patch for every selected midi channel of this dls synth and explore on which this is finally possible.
could be a letdown as well if the problems is in something else , but worth a try if you don't know how else ...

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: Monki

Date:7/16/2004 3:45:43 AM

Thanks.

I don't quiet follow how I do this, if you have time could you explain step by step, how to do this. I'm a bit new to all this.

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: plastique

Date:7/16/2004 4:16:12 AM

you say you can play the first patch with your external keyboard , so you have a dls synth already inserted into acid , fine.
now open its properties and you get a window like this:
http://www.s-production.de/images/acid/dls_synth.JPG
now try for each channel that you can select in the (with red arrow marked) dropdown box if the patch you changed to is the same you are playing from the ext. keyboard.

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:7/16/2004 6:18:57 AM

> [The strange thing is I can get it to play one sound, from the "DSL soft synth" using the external midi keyboard, but when I select another sound, it does not change, as described earlier in the thread and NO vsti sysnths will play using the external midi keyboard, but are fine of the "On screen" keyboard.]

I’m going to guess that NO soft synths are actually working and what you are hearing is your external keyboard playing through your sound card. It makes no sense to me that only one soft synth would work and then only work for one voice/program setting. Are you sure you have nothing selected for MIDI out on the Option/Preferences/MIDI page? This will ensure you’re not hearing your sound card play. BTW, what keyboard and sound card are you using?

If when you play your external MIDI keyboard you are not seeing the little on screen keys turning blue in the DLS Soft Synth, then your external MIDI keyboard is not talking to ACID. If you don’t know how to adjust your external keyboard to transmit on channel 1 (which, I assume, would be in the owners manual of your keyboard) then the recommendation given here to try all 16 channels on the DLS Soft Synth Properties page and see if one of those starts everything working is the next step to take.

~jr

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: Monki

Date:7/16/2004 6:56:46 AM

Thanks again Johnny Roy and Plastique, I really appriciate you taking the time to help.

The VSTi soft synths are 100% working, as I have used them in Cubase and know the sounds very well. When I change the patch, I can hear the new sound on the on screen keyboard, but nothing comes though when I paly the midi key board.

With regard to the channel:

http://www.s-production.de/images/acid/dls_synth.JPG

if I select a different channel, does that correspond to another sound? Also, the red square top left with the 1 in it, is this a channel number, which needs to correspond?

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:7/16/2004 7:37:54 AM

> The VSTi soft synths are 100% working

Poor choice of word on my part. I didn’t mean that the VSTi’s didn’t work at all. I meant they didn’t work with your MIDI keyboard input. Sorry about the confusion.

> if I select a different channel, does that correspond to another sound?

Only if the soft synth is set to play a different sound on that channel. Each channel can have a separate sound. So when you select Channel 2, it will select Piano 1 by default until you change it so something else. Each channel should remember the sound you selected for it. But for now, we're just trying to figure out what channel your MIDI keyboard is transmitting on.

> Also, the red square top left with the 1 in it, is this a channel number, which needs to correspond?

No, that red square is the number of the soft synth you inserted. It is just for informational purposes and has no bearing on what we’re doing.

~jr

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: plastique

Date:7/16/2004 7:43:49 AM

<quote> if I select a different channel, does that correspond to another sound?</quote>

that's a strange thing with acid ... it DOES play a sound even if the wrong channel is selected.
but to answer your question - usually it changes to the channel on which the dls synth receives midi data and usually SHOULD only play when receiving notes on this channel - which it doesn't , it will still play . (you could call it a bug)
edit: or a feature lol - sorry i didn't know it even saves the patches per channel.

<quote>Also, the red square top left with the 1 in it, is this a channel number, which needs to correspond?</quote>

this is the enumeration of the softsynths , in this case it's the first .

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: plastique

Date:7/16/2004 7:51:44 AM

<quote>Each channel should remember the sound you selected for it. But for now, we're just trying to figure out what channel your MIDI keyboard is transmitting on.</quote>

that the dls synth uses/saves all 16 channels was new to me , makes sense though.

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:7/16/2004 8:06:54 AM

> that the dls synth uses/saves all 16 channels was new to me , makes sense though

This was fixed in 4.0c, I believe, so if you’re running an earlier version of ACID 4.0, a, b, then DLS may not remember the program settings for each channel.

It would have to be that way. How else can you insert one DLS Soft Synth and then add 16 MIDI tracks to ACID and have each one of them play a different instrument?

~jr

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: Monki

Date:7/17/2004 6:05:35 AM

Right, I seem to have made a little progress.

If I set the channel the 16 all the "DSL soft synth" voices work fine, played on the external keyboard.

The problem with VSTi synths remain, they play fine on the "On screen" keyboard, but I get nothing when playing externally.

Any ideas anyone?

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:7/17/2004 6:17:56 AM

What MIDI keyboard do you have? Perhaps you could consult the manual and figure out how to get it to transmit on channel 1 instead of 16.

~jr

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: Monki

Date:7/17/2004 6:35:40 AM

By the way, thanks for your help.

It's a Yamaha DX11 and it's quiet old, second hand and I do not have a manual, whic is a real shame.

I have a Luna II sound card

Do you think it's the keyboard at fault, as it works fine in Cubase etc?

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: Monki

Date:7/17/2004 6:51:45 AM

Manual wise, all I can say is how amazing is the internet, I typed in the model and up pops a manual in PDF format. I will see if I can change the settings and let you know how it goes.

I really appriciate all the help, it makes the world a better palce.

With you Acid Pro, if you select a VSTi, it just plays form the external keyboard no prolem, is that the case?

Cheers,

Monki.

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: Monki

Date:7/17/2004 9:26:55 AM

I've changed the transmit channel to 1 on my keyboard and it's working like a dream.

Can I just say a massive thanks for all the help, I'd just never of figured this out in a million years, I can't thank you guys enough.

Cheers, you've made me very happy as I can now get on with making some music.

Monki.

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:7/17/2004 10:25:48 AM

> Manual wise, all I can say is how amazing is the internet, I typed in the model and up pops a manual in PDF format

Monki,

I don’t know what I would do without the Internet. I found an updated system diskette for my Ensoniq EPS sampler (20 yrs old!) to get it to the latest levels. I also found the operations/maintenance guide for my Minimoog so I could correctly calibrate the oscillators and keyboard. The Internet is a wonderful thing.

I’m glad you got it to work. Welcome to the community. Hopefully you will stick around because we can all learn something from each other. I learn a lot here every day. ;-)

~jr

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: plastique

Date:7/17/2004 12:50:42 PM

have fun ;-)

Subject:RE: Help! Midi problem in Acid Pro 4

Reply by: Shyzt

Date:7/21/2004 9:38:06 PM

Props to jonny boy and plastique, I've got the same problem monki had but with all these posts I should be able to sort it out now.

Peace