InstaComposer and Mixcraft 9

[Sturdy]

Hi Saint, see the red dot on the far right of your image and compare to the image I uploaded. I think that needs to be checked along with the checkmark just to the left of it. (compare to the image I uploaded that has those marked). Not sure if both of those need to be checked, but it's what I did in my test.

Then in the receiving virtual instrument track go into the "arm" window for the track to record on and where it says midi device scroll to the bottom of the options and instacomposer should be an option. (compare to the little box next to the arm window in the image I uploaded).

I'm not sure how to run instacomposer, but there's probably a way to sync it's start with your daw's start, so when you enable record on the daw it should start instacomposer running. Should see midi track be generated as record/playback occurs.

Not sure if this works, but seems like it's how it should work.

[Saint]

@Sturdy I use Scaler occasionally and it works fine with mixcraft. Instacomposer is a little different in that is has several tracks that can be on different midi channels; your set up puts all the parts to the same channel. I want to route each channel in instacomposer to different tracks set to receive different midi channels but every track receives the whole lot.

[Saint]

Hi Sturdy, I had already tied all that and you would think that is how it should be but it doesnt work. I have tried endless permutations and I think I can say that, without a third part midi router plugin, Instacomposer doesnt work in routing different midi channels; I will just have to revert to dragging the midi file for each separate instrument; shame really as I had high hopes for mixcraft 10. On the plus side, my akai pad controller now works with mixcraft 10!

[avid_d]

I have been doing some testing this morning (downloaded a version of InstaComposer).

I can confirm that recording from InstaComposer is pulling in all midi notes, irrespective of channel settings. However, I am not sure where the fault lies for 2 reasons:

1. Even if I mute one of the tracks in Instacomposer, the midi data is still being received in M10 when recording.
2. I have a copy of ChordPotion, which sort of does the same thing - different midi data to different channels - and this one seems to be recording properly in M10 i.e. a track set to only receive channel 1 data only records channel 1 data.

I was using VST2 versions of both plugins.

Confusing.

[Saint]

Thanks for looking at it Avid, at least I know I am not missing something if you are getting the same issue. If the other plug in works then it looks like an issue with Instacomposer not being compatible with Mixcraft rather than the otherway around.

[cactus-head]

Hi,

Its not only instacomposer but seems to be any VST that uses multiple MIDI channels. Works in playback on individual channels and tracks, but in recording, all channels are captured on all tracks. In a separate topic, Greg said they are looking into it.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Yes, we'll look into this for Mixcraft 10.

Greg

[cactus-head]

Ooops! I missed the MC 9 header.

For MC 9 it's quite simple to route InstaComposer output to individual tracks for recording. You just need a virtual MIDI port for help. This same generic process works for MC 10 if one wants to do this there too.

Steps:
1. Download loopMIDI : https://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/loopmidi.html
This is the easiest and most consistent virtual MIDI port(s) program I've used (besides MIDI yoke which is only 32 bit compatible).

2. Create Two MIDI ports in loopMIDI. For the sake of example label them:
MC MIDI track receive
MC Null

a. In Mixcraft preferences you have to add these as MIDI input devices (click the Check Box on the MIDI preferences) so they will always be there for your use. You may have to restart Mixcraft in the process to make sure they are added properly.

3. Add a track to MC 9. Add your instacomposer VST as the first instrument. Make sure you set each internal track in InstaComposer to it's own MIDI channel.

a. Add a second instrument directly under InstaComposer: "External MIDI Devices" MC MIDI track receive. Make sure the output is to All Channels

b. Next to the [arm] button on the track is a drop down arrow. Choose "MC Null" as the MIDI input device here. This will prevent any MIDI feedback (as long as you don't have something sending to MC Null). This is a very important step. It covers the bases by removing the input from ALL Devices on ALL channels default on your InstaComposer track. Unarm this track afterwards.

4. Add 5 or however many instrument tracks that InstaComposer is going to be sending MIDI data to.

5. On each of these new instrument tracks, click the drop down arrow next to [arm] and choose "MC MIDI track receive" and the appropriate channel that matches the track from InstaComposer. Do not choose ALL MIDI Channels or you'll receive all of the MIDI from InstaComposer on this instrument.

All of your instrument tracks should be armed - not the InstaComposer track.

6. Add an empty clip on the InstaComposer track. Drag the end of the clip a bunch of measures so you end up with maybe 8 or more "copies/loops" of the original empty clip . It depends on how long the phrase is in InstaComposer. Show the InstaComposer VST and click the play button INSIDE the VST. Do not click the transport play. The reason for the empty clip is to allow the transport playback and thus recording on other tracks for the length of the clip.

7. Move the cursor to the beginning of your clips. Hit record on the transport.

If you had set each track to it's own MIDI input it will record the specific part from InstaComposer. Reading the text above, it looks like a lot of setup, but it's not. Any routing you do in any program has to go through some sort of a selection of source and destination mapping.

All in all though, recording the output of InstaComposer under any circumstance isn't as fast or effective as just dragging the MIDI from the VST to instrument tracks. Recording just takes more time so I don't really see the advantage.

Below are two separate tracks recorded from one instance of InstaComposer. You can see the MIDI is different in each.

MC 9 InstaComposer recording 2 tracks.JPG (64.8 KiB) Viewed 8316 times

[Saint]

Thanks for the detailed instructions Cactus - very well explained indeed! However, it didn't work for me despite methodically following all your instructions. When I click the play on instacomposer it doesn't sync with Mixcraft 10 and just goes its own merry way instead of waiting for Mixcraft's record to kick in and, when it does, nothing is recorded. That aside, as you said its easier just to drag and drop each midi file for each channel onto each instrument's track; what I am looking for is to click play on instacomposer and audition it, rather than record it, by it playing each midi track on each different instrument track in mixcraft 10 rather than all the channels through one instrument if that makes sense?

[cactus-head]

Hi,

I missed the syncing part for start and stop because I just realized Insta needs MIDI input to start on its own.

Let's tackle auditioning first:

For auditioning, here's a slight variation. After you have the insta track and your instrument tracks set up - arm them all (except the insta track). When you Play insta (not the transport play), the other tracks should play back each of their independent parts if they were assigned a MIDI channel.

For syncing up playback and recording when you hit the buttons on Mixcraf'ts transport , insta needs midi input to play back it's phrases. So, add the clip like I wrote before and drag it out to be 8 bars or whatever the length of Instas playback is.

Here's the difference: right now the clip is a bunch of repeated versions of the first clip, let's combine it into one long clip by selecting it and pressing CTRL + W

In the piano roll. Add a C-1 at the very bottom. Drag its length/duration to be the length of the entire 8 bar clip. If you hit play or record on the transport, insta will begin playing or recording without you having to start it from within the VST. It doesn't match measures so it will start whenever MIDI data is encountered. That's why I had you make one super long note on the piano roll so insta keeps playing. If you had individual notes, insta will restart with each note it encounters.

let me know if you have any questions.

[Saint]

Can't thank you enough Cactus - Transport sorted and now got the audition playing - I had a problem at first but I saw that, by default, the midi port was muted- you are a total superstar!

[purplepat69]

Hey Everyone (including the Mixcraft team) - just wanted to thank y'all for this thread. I purchased WA Productions Instachord and Instacomposer plugins a long time ago, but that little routing bugaboo (where the keypress on the MIDI generating plugin would always sound on the plugin being driven) looks like it is finally put to bed. It's been so long since I played with it, I forgot how to make Instachord generate sound (have to press both a Chord key and a Pick key). Got frustrated and went to YouTube, the gentleman that does the Fans of Mixcraft videos demonstrated how to make the driving plugin control the driven plugin using a freeware chord generator called Chordz. I downloaded and installed that, and followed his video, and Chordz seemed to work perfectly. I then reloaded Instachord (2, actually), pulled up the Quick Start guide and figured out you had to press both a chord and a pick key to make sound (with Instachord 2 setting MIDI-Process). Finally, at long last, I have Instachord 2 functioning as it is supposed to. Haven't tried any arming/recording yet, but I'm thrilled that this first part finally works as it should.

[Saint]

Just a follow on from this if you have any ideas Cactus; everything works perfect but when i return to a project that has this set up Mixcraft CTD and I cannot access the project file- any ideas? - where would the crash log be saved?

[Acoustica Greg]

Just a follow on from this if you have any ideas Cactus; everything works perfect but when i return to a project that has this set up Mixcraft CTD and I cannot access the project file- any ideas? - where would the crash log be saved?

Hi,

What happens when you try to access the project file? Look inside the Backup folder that's in your project folder to see if there is a backup project you can load.

You can submit an Acoustica Support Request and attach the log file (and dmp file if there's a new one) along with a brief description of the problem.

Greg

[gaffster]

I use Scaler mostly, so all is good, however I fired up Instacomposer and yes, after you get playback working (I set instacomposer->menu->follow song position and start and stop with host's playback and set Ch1 to output on 2, 2 to 3 and so on, and also set up a empty loop in MC), all the channels record onto the Instacomposer track. One busy-arse track.

Is should be fixed, however since Instacomposer has midi channel drag and drop, recording out of it is almost unnecessary.