Basic midi in/out problems

Use this forum to discuss Midi Issues as they relate to Cakewalk.
Chris60
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Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2004 3:45 pm
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Post by Chris60 » Tue Mar 09, 2004 4:12 pm

Gee I feel stupid. I compose/score music for our little church band. Until recently, I've been using a Roland HP800 (old) digital piano and Cakewalk Home Studio 7 to accomplish my feeble efforts. Everything has worked perfectly for years.

I recently purchased a Yamaha P-250 Digital Piano (oh my goodness how I love this instrument) and hooked it up to the PC and sat down for a nice little recording session. I can't get anything to record! Now how am I suppose to do my job if I can't record anything? :roll:

I found that songs that I've previously recorded and saved play fine from cakewalk to my new Yamaha. I just can't get cakewalk to record with my new piano. I've not changed the midi input/output devices in cakewalk - they are still set to external MPU-401 device. I've got my midi out from keyboard going to midi in on the PC, and midi in on the keyboard going to midi out from the pc.

What other things should I be checking?


andychap
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Location: UK

Post by andychap » Tue Mar 09, 2004 9:39 pm

I would say if you have changed nothing in cakewalk then it must be something to do with the setting on the digital piano.

Check through the manual and look at the midi settings section, check things like local control and see if it has a dedicated PC mode.

jasbags
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Feb 29, 2004 10:13 pm

Post by jasbags » Tue Mar 09, 2004 10:09 pm

hi there

Further to Andy's email, also make sure your send channel on your new keyboard is the same as the receive channel in Cakewalk (usually channel 1).

Good Luck.

andychap
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Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2003 7:26 pm
Location: UK

Post by andychap » Tue Mar 09, 2004 10:33 pm

And I forgot, make sure that your midi out select is set to keyboard then it will transmit what you are playing.

Setting it to song will send data that you have recorded in the onboard sequencer. Just record your track and then open up 16 midi tracks on different channels 1 - 16 in cakewalk and arm them, when you press record it will pick up whatever is in the sequencer on one or all of the tracks.

Chris60
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Post by Chris60 » Wed Mar 10, 2004 3:00 pm

Thanks Jasbags & Andychap!! Jasbags nailed the correct answer. My local controll was set to "off". Changed that and now I'm recording again. I really do appreciate the help.

What is the easiest way to take my recordings from a cakewalk or midi format over to a CD format? In the past I've simply run my output to the mic jack on my sound card and used Windows sound recorder to capture (yeah.. I know that's cheesy). Is there a Cakewalk Version that allows me to save or convert to a std cd audio format? I don't want to have to go to an MP3 format unless I have to.

Thanks again guys!


PS Hey Andy, just from listening to your latest recording, sounds like Cliff got a nice place!

jasbags
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Feb 29, 2004 10:13 pm

Post by jasbags » Wed Mar 10, 2004 10:51 pm

Hi Chris

glad i could be of some help!! Andy has been helping me with my setup which i was at a total loss so glad i am glad i could put something back into the forum.

Anyway, I use Cool Edit Pro V2 to record my midi's to *.wav files or mp3's from Cakewalk so i can then burn to CD. If you have Kazaa or a p2p software application, you can download a copy from the web (but i didn't tell you that!!).

Cool Edit is absolutely fantastic!!! If you haven't used it before it offers multi-band recording and all the effects of a professional studio. Basically, i hit record in Cool Edit, then play in Cakewalk and i record the midi file over. From Cool Edit, i can add some EQ, compression and effects to make it sound very sweet. I then add some guitar and vocals - the sound is amazing!!!

I am sure Cakewalk would have something like this but probably nothing in this detail. Andy (guru) would probably be best to comment on this.

As for MP3's, don't totally disregard them as a low quality audio format. In cool edit, you can change the compression ratio so the files are of the highest quality (256kbs sample). I have recorded vocals, guitar and midi saved as high quality mp3's and played through some very expesive monitors and it sounds brilliant. I could not hear one floor and i would totally recommend it if you need to save on h/d space.

Anyway, feel free to ask me any further questions but depending on what you want to acheive i would totally recommend downloading or purchasing (hehe) a copy of Cool Edit Pro V2. You won't regret it.

Good Luck.

Jason

Chris60
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Joined: Tue Mar 09, 2004 3:45 pm
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Post by Chris60 » Thu Mar 11, 2004 2:44 pm

Thanks Jasbags - I'll try to "obtain" Cool Edit Pro v2 and give it a spin.

Whoa!!!! Just discovered that that Cool Edit is now Adobe Audition to the tune of like $799.00!!! Wouldn't they acutally "SELL" more legit copies if they priced the software within reason?

Ooops ... Off topic, sorry.

Thanks again Jasbags, I'm already chasing down a copy of Cool Edit Pro V2 from "alternative" sources. :wink:

jasbags
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Feb 29, 2004 10:13 pm

Post by jasbags » Thu Mar 11, 2004 10:20 pm

Hi Chris

Yeah, cool edit isn't cheap but it is well worth the money/download wait :wink: . I think you can get a demo copy from their website but you are limited to only a few options.

Probably best to go with P2P download but be carefull of viruses. I think their is a download out their which has two files. One is a setup, and the other is a registration executable. If you are using Kazaa, just type Cool Edit Pro in the search for software. You should be able to find a file that says something like "Cool Edit Pro V2.1 + Registration".

When you run the registration executable, it will obviously ask for a user name and serial number. There are a few sources on the net for this too but if you want me to email you seperately let me know and i'll help you out.

Happy hunting.

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