Im in a MIDI hole please help me out

[Karldali]

Hi guys and girls,

I've only just started to use MIDI and i'm having a few problems with it.

I have my drum machine hooked up to Ableton and the two are communicating with each other via my soundcard/MIDI interface.

I just have a few questions.

- Is it normal that the MIDI track recognises and is laying the notes but nothing happening in the master track? What happens when i want to bounce a track down using the master. Will the MIDI notes be included?

-When I play the pads on the drum machine in real time there is no problem, Ableton recognises the beats and lays down the notes. How ever when I sequence a beat onto my drum machine and i'm looping it, Ableton does not recognise the notes. Unless i'm actually playing the beat in real time, no notes get laid down?

I hope my questions are clear, and i hope some one will be able to answer, ive just brought an awesome drum machine and i cannot get the full use out it very frustrating

[simmerdown]

as for the master bounce...yes...if the master meter is moving when you play back the midi track, it'll render...the master generally stays clear looking, except for envelopes...

not so familiar with the drum machines, but it sounds like theres a live mode and a looping mode, one sending actual midi and the other audio?, idk, but check your manual and settings in your machine there...

[Warrior Bob]

I admit I'm having trouble understanding your question. What does 'laying down the notes' mean in this context? It sounds like you either mean "MIDI notes getting recorded in a MIDI clip" or "sounds are being triggered by the drum machine" but I'm not sure that even those interpretations are correct.

The way this kind of setup usually works is like this:

- The MIDI track has some clips in it that have MIDI notes in them
- That track sends that MIDI data through your MIDI interface to the drum machine when you play those clips
- The drum machine outputs sounds through its output connections

So if you want the audio from the drum machine to be recorded by Live, you have to plug its outputs into your soundcard's inputs and configure Live to receive the audio (either with an External Instrument device or another track or something).

[Karldali]

as for the master bounce...yes...if the master meter is moving when you play back the midi track, it'll render...the master generally stays clear looking, except for envelopes...

not so familiar with the drum machines, but it sounds like theres a live mode and a looping mode, one sending actual midi and the other audio?, idk, but check your manual and settings in your machine there...

The problem is that the master track's volume meter is not moving? thats why i'm confused as to why i have sound in the MIDI track but not int the master. Any ideas?

[Karldali]

I admit I'm having trouble understanding your question. What does 'laying down the notes' mean in this context? It sounds like you either mean "MIDI notes getting recorded in a MIDI clip" or "sounds are being triggered by the drum machine" but I'm not sure that even those interpretations are correct.

The way this kind of setup usually works is like this:

- The MIDI track has some clips in it that have MIDI notes in them
- That track sends that MIDI data through your MIDI interface to the drum machine when you play those clips
- The drum machine outputs sounds through its output connections

So if you want the audio from the drum machine to be recorded by Live, you have to plug its outputs into your soundcard's inputs and configure Live to receive the audio (either with an External Instrument device or another track or something).

When i say laying down the notes, i mean to say that the MIDI notes are getting recorded onto a MIDI clip.

I have the MIDI ins and outs of my drum machine connected to the relevant ports on my sound card and i also have 1/4 cables from the main out on the drum machine into the sound card, how ever there's something not quite right. I don't really know how to explain it I have read the manuals 2 times ( i have to say that the Dave Smith Manuals are almost useless) and in the ableton manual i just can't really see the information i'm looking for. Looks like i'm going to have to contact Davesmith, m-audio and Ableton and hope that one of them can provide me with the answers

[simmerdown]

what about all the midi I/O's in your Live preferences? is that all set proper?

[Karldali]

I have found one solution.

I put an ''External Audio Effect'' plug in onto an audio track and i record the work i'm doing on the drum machine in real time. The only problem with this is that i don't actually get the MIDI data, its goes straight into a wave form.

I tried to do the same with a MIDI track but when the drum machine is looping the beat by itself (i'm not hitting the pads) the MIDI track does not recognise anything?? I physically have to hit the pads for the MIDI track to recognise the MIDI notes, this is where i'm lost. :-S

Why can't i write a beat on my drum machine and then transfer that information onto a MIDI track? This should be possible no?

[Karldali]

what about all the midi I/O's in your Live preferences? is that all set proper?

As my MIDI information is running through my Fast track pro i have turned the ''track'' and the ''sync'' on for both the ''inputs'' and ''outputs'' in the MIDI section, i think this is correct?

thanks for your help

[simmerdown]

remote checkbox too! (usually)

[Karldali]

remote checkbox too!

I'll check that now and see what happens

[Karldali]

remote checkbox too!

I'll check that now and see what happens

no change still the same problem

[simmerdown]

sorry...im out of options...i would leave Remote on as you test other things though..

whats the make/model of your drum machine

[Karldali]

sorry...im out of options...i would leave Remote on as you test other things though..

whats the make/model of your drum machine

Its a tempest drum machine (joint project from Dave Smith and Robert Linn) I have contacted them i hope they will reply soon, its a new peice of hardware and i think that there is still quiet a few problems with it.

Thanks all the same

[Warrior Bob]

So reading through this thread, I'm pretty sure that the drum machine simply doesn't transmit MIDI information for patterns that it has stored. Which is too bad, really - that'd be a nice feature. There might be a mode you can enable.

"External Instrument" is the traditional way to use something like a Tempest with Live. MIDI goes out of Live, audio from the hardware comes in. I think the unspoken assumption is that you're using Live for sequencing though, instead of the hardware (although you can certainly have the machine's MIDI output be the MIDI input for your MIDI track if you want to).

Hope you get it all figured out. The Tempest is a really neat drum machine and I hope you can have a blast using it.

[simmerdown]

meantime you could just be using the audio out and the looper plug...

trying to think how midi would be better/more useful than audio in this scenario, if you have your hand sfull already