Ableton Forum

I got this old drum (alesis sr-16) kit and want to hook it up and run it through ableton, so ableton captures the drum sounds on the editor. (dont flame..Im new , lol) Heres what I have done so far to make it work, but with no luck:

1. you tubed it, results: nothing.
2. Ableton live 8 tutorial for setting up external devices, results: nothing
3. Purhcased Midi cables and run from drum mashine to an external midi/usb interface (Prosonus Audiobox USB)which is alreay installed running my KRK 5's speakers(sound really great)
4. set all the "midi setup" preferences in the Alesis sr-16 drum mashine accurately. ie. midi to 'Omni' input level '10' so forth.
5. Went into Ableton preferences and went to "midi/sync" device. This is where I have the problem. The device is not listed since it's not native, thererfore, I watched the tutorials about how to manually add this. But no luck.

Please help. I really want these drum sounds from this sr-16 to record into Ableton. Please Please Please help me.

thanks!

Mr. Lettuce!

First tip. Whatever device you use to hook the machine up, is going to be the device itself. If you are using n Audiobox, then that midi in/out in preferences, IS the drum machine. Those midi jacks on the audio card are for hooking up external devices. When nothing is connected, they do nothing.

Second. You want midi Out from your Audiobox, going to the midi Input of your sr-16. This sends midi note information from clips etc. from Ableton through your card and the cable, into your drum machine. If you connect a midi cable the other way, you can send drum patterns into Live, and have that trigger sounds in Live. And probably even have it control tempo. But yeah, go with the first option.

Next, when you send midi to the sr16, it sends out an Audio signal. You route the audio output back to your Audiobox input.

Lastly, add "external instrument" effect to a midi channel in Live. Have the output go to the Audiobox midi out. (probably midi channel 10. That tends to be the default for drums. If not, try each channel [have some headphones handy in the sr16 if you feel lost]). Set the input to be from the appropriate channels of your Audiobox. Check all your levels on the hardware (volume input on Audiobox, level on your SR). Now it should be able to play general midi sounds.

Testing out. In the midi devices is the Midi Rack. Open the one that has gm drums (general midi drums). Have it in your channel next to the External Instrument. Now when you make new midi clips, your sounds will be labelled! .

Final step. Chances are, with delays from processing your device will sound slightly off sync. Create a clip and play a 4/4 ticking sound. A clave or snare rim or closed hat, something. Then either turn on Live's metronome or play an audio loop with a tight beat. Adjust the Hardware Latency amount until they are as tight as possible.


From there you should be good to go. If you want to sample the audio, a few more steps might be necessary