Yes I'm dumb as a fence post, pls help on doing MIDI's, Thx

[hkentcraig]

Yes, I know I'm going to probably dumb as a fence post for posting this question and request for help, but I am asking for help in trying to understand this whole MIDI-thing within MX5 and how to use the feature that allows you record seperate MIDI tracks within said but won't let you export them as part of your file? This alludes to my previous post below on the same topic.

Is there a tutorial within Acoustica's website on how to use properly use MIDI? I'm an old analog guy of over thirty years and I know what the "book definition" of MIDI is, but how do I record MIDI within MX5 and get what I "played" when doing so to show up as part of an MP3-exported file? I'm totally lost.

Thanks!

[OzRob]

I'd love to help but I'm headed out for the rest of the day. If there are no answers by tomorrow I'll chime in.

[Acoustica Eric]

First off, I have met a couple fence posts that temporarily outsmarted me So I doubt that you are any less intelligent than the rest of us.

So you add a virtual track along with some other audio tracks, you render the entire project as an mp3 and the virtual instruments don't get put into the mix?

[hkentcraig]

Hi Acoustica Eric,

And thanks for chiming in and helping, it's appreciated!

Yes, that's exactly what is happening, I lay down all my audio tracks, add a MIDI track and when I try to mix it down to an MP3, I get an error message saying I can't do that, mix the project down with a MIDI track, so it blocks the MIDI and mixes all the other conventional audio tracks down.

Thanks!

[fredfish]

Is the MIDI that you are recording on the PC or is it using sounds on an external MIDI module?

If the sounds are on an external MIDI device then Mixcraft wont be able to render them because it doesent have them.

MIDI is purely a series of data trigers. If the triggers are set to trigger sounds contained on your PC then Mixcraft can use that, if the triggers are trying to trigger sounds not on the PC then Mixcraft cant see the sounds.

Does that make sense? (I re read it myself, I know what I mean and even I found it a bit confusing - perhaps I am related to one of the fence posts that Eric mentioned )

[hkentcraig]

Fred,

I'm recording directly to my PC using the "Track 9 etc." feature of MX5.1

How do I "set the triggers" to trigger the MIDI triggers that MX records so that MX interprets and outputs as sounds into the mixdown? Now I am totally confused, Sigh.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

If you click on "Change Instrument" to the left of your MIDI track, and choose one of the virtual instruments there, you should be able to mix the track down to MP3.

If you have "External MIDI Devices" selected there, you won't be able to mix down to MP3, because Mixcraft doesn't know what your external MIDI device is up to over there.

Greg

[hkentcraig]

TSIA

[Acoustica Dan]

Hi,

Let me take another stab at this. Maybe I can make the situation clearer.

This is true for Mixcraft and every other recording program out there.

To create an MP3, Mixcraft has to mix audio signals together and store them in the MP3 file. There are three places Mixcraft can get the audio from:

1) Audio files that already exist on your computer (i.e. MP3 songs)
2) Audio files that you record into Mixcraft (i.e. from a microphone or guitar)
3) Audio generated by Virtual Instruments, triggered by MIDI.

Your MIDI tracks are not playing through a Virtual Instrument. They're playing through a real physical instrument (an "external device", external to Mixcraft and your PC), namely your keyboard. Sounds coming out of your keyboard do not qualify as #1, #2, or #3 above.

If you want the sound of your keyboard to be in your mix, you need to record it into Mixcraft. You need to hook the audio out of your keyboard up to the audio in of your computer, then record the sound of your keyboard onto an audio track in Mixcraft. Then Mixcraft will have a recording of your keyboard (#2 above). After that, you can add effects, pan and EQ and mix the track, and make it part of your composition.

I hope that helps, but as always, feel free to ask questions if this isn't clear.

Dan

[hkentcraig]

Dan and/or technical staff at Acoustica,

Thanks for the help, it's "sincerely" appreciated, but let me play devil's advocate for a moment and ask another question.

Granted, sure, I can do analog out from my synth to an audio track in MX5 and that's what I did out of sheer frustration, but why is it that the designers who created MX5 went to all the trouble to let you be able to select an external MIDI source for recording on Track 9+, let you lay down what you play in real time on said track and show it in piano roll format and play it back along with the other analog audio tracks within MX5, if that's all you can do it with it, lay it and down and play it with the other tracks within the software but not export it with said other tracks and/or convert it within MX5 itself to something more useful?

I still don't get why they included this feature if for all intents and purposes it's basically useless outside of the MX5 environment.