InstaComposer and Mixcraft 9

[Saint]

Has anyone managed to link the InstaComposer VST up properly to Mixcraft Pro 9? as I am really struggling and could do with some advice.
I have followed the guide in the Mixcraft help pages and used the route to track method but i am getting no sounds firing to my individual VST synths. It works fine if you put a multi-timbral synth in the instacomposer track but i want to use several different VST synths each with their own tracks.
Apparently you need a patcher if using Instacomposer with fruity loops - is this the case with mixcraft 9 pro?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Sturdy]

I'm considering getting instacomposer also - I love messing around with AI music tools to see what they do - but haven't tried it yet. I've not yet looked into it, but am thinking pluginguru's Unify might be worth seeing if it might be incorporated into the signal chain. I'm brand new to Unify but recall it has some pretty advanced midi routing similar to what is available in Blue Cat's Patchwork. Again - I've not tested this - but mentioning because it seems like it might be a possible solution worth investigating and Unify does alot of other stuff too.

[Saint]

I would recommend InstaComposer if you, like me are into AI music, it is breath taking - plugin boutique have it on sale at the moment. Im not too keen on spending $80 on a patcher when mixcraft is supposed to be able to do midi routing. I have it partially working now but i have all the instaComposer channels going to every instrument despite me allocating each one its own midi Channel. I am using a midi- switcher and i think it may only be 32bit which may be the issue

[cactus-head]

Hi,

Not sure why route to track wouldn't work. I've not used Insta Composer but here is how I would try and solve it.

You could use two free tools: MIDIOX and loopMIDI to achieve the goal. In loopMIDI add three virtual ports: Mixcraft MIDI In , Mixcraft MIDI out and NULL . Using MIDIOX, in the routing have Mixcraft MIDI out as an INPUT and have Mixcraft MIDI in as an OUTPUT. I know, it seems opposite but there's a reason. *reason Make sure NULL isn't an input or an output.

Within Mixcraft, in [preferences > MIDI] check Mixcraft MIDI In and NULL as inputs. Don't add Mixcraft MIDI out to this list.

On the main track with Insta Composer, remove any of the Route to tracks in the instrument list. Instead, make sure Insta Composer is the first instrument, and the second instrument is External MIDI Devices : Mixcraft MIDI out. Click the drop down next to arm and select the NULL input device. This will prevent any MIDI feedback. You could of course select any other input device but make sure you select a MIDI channel that isn't being used by anything.

Now, on each track that you want the Insta Composer track to send MIDI to, click the dropdown arrow next to the arm button and choose Mixcraft MIDI in and the specific channel you want as the input. Whatever channel you choose here is the channel insta composer will send to.

Arm each of those tracks, play the Insta Composer track and the MIDI data will be sent to each of those tracks.


*reason - We have to create a sortof virtual external instrument that can act as an input into tracks on Mixcraft. By making the Mixcraft MIDI in port actually an output in MIDIOX, then the infromation routed to this track from it's input partner: Mixcraft MIDI out can be piped back into Mixcraft. The full routing looks something like this:

Mixcraft > External Midi device (Mixcraft MIDI out) > Input to MIDIOX > MIDIOX output to Mixcraft MIDI in > Input to Mixcraft on input device Mixcraft MIDI in on whatever channels and tracks

[Saint]

Thanks for taking the time to offer this Cactus - really appreciated - i will try it in the morning and let you know how i get on.
Thank you

[Sturdy]

Hi Saint, did you get instacomposer running in mixcraft? I just got it am starting to work with it, but am daft wrt routing issues.

[kennethitibro]

Hello!
This is my way of getting Instacomposer to work in Mixcraft.
Using loopMidi (http://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/loopmidi.html) and configuring one virtual MIDI-port seems to be enough. The driver autostarts and can be found as a tray-icon in Windows 10. Rightclick and choose "Configure loopMidi". Press + and you have a virtual port. I called mine "Mixcraft MIDI Out".
Now go to Settings/MIDI in Mixcraft and choose "Mixcraft MIDI Out" (or whatever you called it) as a standard MIDI input. If you don't see it here maybe you have to restart your computer.

Make a project with 6 instrument-tracks.
Track 1: Take Instacomposer as instrument in the first row. Add the external MIDIcomponent (in the bottom) called "Mixcraft MIDI Out" (or your own label) and check that it send on "all channels".
Track 2: Choose a Melody instrument.
Track 3: Choose a Rythm instrument.
Track 4: Bass, Track 5: Pad and Track 6 Chord.

Arm Track 2-6 for recording(red!) and use "Mixcraft MIDI Out" as MIDI-input and be sure to choose the corresponding channel for each track (Track 2- Midi channel 1, Track 3- Midi channel 2 and so on.

Select Track 1 with Instacomposer and you are ready to go! Work inside the VST and drag the Midifiles to track2-6 when you have made something interesting. I usually have an additional drumtrack also in parallel and uses the Loop-mode often 4 bars each time.

Hope this can help someone out there!

/Kenneth A
Sweden

[ArtWilson]

I had trouble getting InstaComposer to work with Mixcraft 9 as well. I watched this video from Kai-Jurgen Lietz (https://youtu.be/GHEIaxR5PfQ) which shows using Unify from PlugInGuru (https://www.pluginguru.com/products/unify-standard/) to get InstaComposer to work with Ableton Live. The same approach works wonderfully in Mixcraft!

A quick summary: put Unify in Mixcraft as a virtual instrument, then put InstaComposer as a virtual instrument layer in Unify. Unify allows you to send different MIDI channels to different layers in Unify. Put five instruments in Unify layers, then route the InstaComposer output to each layer. Once you have something you like, you can drag the MIDI to Mixcraft for further editing if you wish.

The full version of Unify is not free, but is well worth the cost - it does much more than enable InstaComposer in Mixcraft.

I hope this helps!

Art

[Ikmb]

Why can't Acoustica get in contact with W.A Production to support InstaComposer with Mixcraft? That way we don't have to use all these tedious methods just to get it working..Greg can you chime in please?

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

That would be a feature request for Mixcraft 10. Current versions of Mixcraft can't record the MIDI output of plugins.

Greg

[Ikmb]

Hi,

That would be a feature request for Mixcraft 10. Current versions of Mixcraft can't record the MIDI output of plugins.

Greg

Well that's a little reassuring, thanks! Hopefully Mixcraft users like myself can finally use this program to it's full potential very soon.

[Saint]

Well, I got Mixcraft 10 and its great but sadly the midi routing still doesn't work with instacomposer but I'm still trying different methods.

[Sturdy]

Hi, I don't know how to run InstaComposer, but these settings with Scaler 2 allowed me to record generated midi from scaler onto a new virtual instrument track as shown. It took me a few tries to figure out the settings and what to do, but this worked. Don't know that instacomposer generated midi is same, but wanted to post this as I think the programs were intended to be similar in function. I setup the routing as shown from scaler 2 to the acoustic piano vsti track as shown and enabled the record button to record the midi generated in scaler to the acoustic piano clip shown. Just posting this in case it may be of use to test.

[avid_d]

@Saint

To get midi data routing in M10 Pro, there is a specific step one has to take with the chosen note generator VST (e.g. Instacomposer):

Open the sending VST in its track and near the top left of its window there is a new little round icon which, if you click it, enables it as a midi data sender.

Then in the track to which you want the midi routed, in the midi input selection (next to the Arm button) you should see a new section (below all of the external midi devices) which will show the enabled VST midi data senders. Select the one you want and you should be good to go.

It took me some time to work this out but it has been working flawlessly since. (Caveat - I don't have Instacomposer, but so far I have been successful using RandArp, Tatat and Phrasebox).

Oh. one additional thing I do is in the sender VST track panel (the left click option on the track instrument icon) there is a select box to have only the midi data from the VST itself sent - this cuts out any midi note data already printed in the track e.g. the chord notes to used by an arp VST).

I hope this may help you.

[Saint]

Thanks for the feedback dudes - really appreciated @Avid I dont see the little round icon to which you refer - screeny attached.
@sturdy I will look into your scaler solution in the morning.
Thanks again

instacomposer_screeny.png (417.95 KiB) Viewed 11363 times