Using Noah plugins with VSTs

brugesboy · Post by **brugesboy** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 12:38 am

I wonder if one of you can help?

I am looking at buying a used Noah EX and before I do so I need to know that I can both use the Noah synth plugins (Minimax etc) (driven by MIDI from Cubase) AND use the Noah at the same time as my audio interface for the audio output from Cubase (including all my VSTs), so that I can mix together the sound of my VSTs and the sound of the Noah plugins into one final mix that comes out of the Noah output!

Is there any one of you kind people out there that does this and can confirm?

Thanks very much

Nebukadneser · Post by **Nebukadneser** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 1:55 am

Yes,

You have to select ASIO Noah in the devices menu of Cubase, and all sound from your vst-plug ins will be routed through the NOAH mixer to it's outputs. You may also use the Noah for recording external audio in Cubase via the Stereo in.

Neb

brugesboy · Post by **brugesboy** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 2:01 am

Thanks Neb - and, just to be 100% certain, the Noah plugins (Minimax, Profit5 etc) work at the same time and will respond to midi from Cubase? If they all work together like that it sounds like a great system!

cheers

Nebukadneser · Post by **Nebukadneser** » Thu Jun 28, 2007 3:31 am

Yes,

If you buy a Noah EX, you will be able to use 4 NOAH synths at the same time, ie. on MIDI channels 1-4. In the Cubase panel, for each MIDI track, you will have to assign the track to NOAH MIDI OUT (or similar) and the corresponding MIDI Channel.

You need to set up the MIDI of the NOAH box properly: Will you attach your midi keyboard to the midi IN of the NOAH? If so, the midi signal from your keys must also be copied / echoed to CUBASE so that whatever you play is recorded. Alternatively, Whatever you play can be transmitted ONLY to Cubase, and "hit" the VST plugin of your choice without NOAH playing simultaneously. You'll probably spend some time configuring things properly, but it works very well when it is set up correctly.

I brought a laptop w/ Cubase and Reason, a Yamaha AN1x and the NOAH to a cottage to record vocals in addition to lots of synth tracks. No problems.

I have also sent external Rhodes signals through the lesilie of the B3000 of my Noah to get that psychedelia effect. Works also fine! And external signals through Interpole is also worth playing with!

Neb

brugesboy · Post by **brugesboy** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:06 am

Thanks so much for the reply Neb and sorry for not responding sooner, been travelling.

I'll try what you describe, sending midi to the Noah and to Cubase over USB.

The Noah arrives on Tuesday so I may drop you a line if I get stuck!

all the best

brugesboy · Post by **brugesboy** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 8:09 am

Hi there Neb

Well the Noah arrived and after very generous help from one of our friends here on planetz who sold it to me, it works perfectly and I am delighted with the quality of the plugins ... it sounds amazing. Great fun to edit sounds over midi too.

The only remaining issue I have is when I am ALSO using Noah as my soundcard for VSTis in Cubase. It works ... but there is intermittent noise/distortion in the sound of the VSTis. I have played around with the ASIO driver buffer settings and reducing or increasing the buffer tends to correct the problem for a couple of minutes, then the noise comes back unpredictably.

I know you have used Noah as a USB audio interface too ... have you encountered this problem and if so, have you managed to solve it? I don't suppose there is a newer driver than 1.1 anywhere that helps?

Hope you can help.
Thanks

(Oh by the way, the other problem is that as soon as I connect my X-station, my PC now crashes, full blue scren of death nightmare! I assume some driver incompatibility must be to blame. Luckily I also have an Edirol USB keyboard so I'm suing that ...)

Wired · Post by **Wired** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 1:47 pm

watch the digital clipping, turn up your monitors instead.

Nebukadneser · Post by **Nebukadneser** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 2:28 am

It is a well known problem:

http://www.planetz.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16505

Neb

Wired · Post by **Wired** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:02 pm

if this is the same stuff as the post, ...watch the latency, and turn off any other usb ports your not using, computers scroll the ports and if its a slow pc or too busy, audio could suffer

Nebukadneser · Post by **Nebukadneser** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 2:36 am

brugesboy wrote:Hi there Neb

The only remaining issue I have is when I am ALSO using Noah as my soundcard for VSTis in Cubase. It works ... but there is intermittent noise/distortion in the sound of the VSTis. I have played around with the ASIO driver buffer settings and reducing or increasing the buffer tends to correct the problem for a couple of minutes, then the noise comes back unpredictably.

Did you find a solution to your problem?

Neb

brugesboy · Post by **brugesboy** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 2:07 pm

Finally back online after moving to the country and back about three decades ...

The problem is still there - it's definitely not digital clipping, it happens irrespective of levels.

Thanks for pointing out the other posts .... I don't much fancy my chances of getting hardware support from SonicCore if that's what is needed to fix it. I will try experimenting with the other ideas set out in the posts but I don't hold out much hope that it is a ground loop or can be solved by switching around USB ports.

Any other ideas? Do you ever have this problem?

I guess I will contact SonicCore anyway ...

cheers

Nebukadneser · Post by **Nebukadneser** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 12:40 am

brugesboy wrote:Finally back online after moving to the country and back about three decades ...

The problem is still there - it's definitely not digital clipping, it happens irrespective of levels.

Any other ideas? Do you ever have this problem?

cheers

I am familiar with the problem, Noah picks up a lot of noise from my laptop ie. when I move the mouse using my touchpad, it translates into noise. Also, using Cubase and VSTi, after a while of inactivity, the sound is distorted. I have solved the last problem by releasing asio in background and ALT+TAB back and forth between Cubase and another program - the noise disappears.

I think it may be a PSU issue as it is also is extremely sensitive to ground loops.

Neb

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:12 am

When I use my laptop connected to any other equipment which is grounded I just connect it through an adapter where I lifted the ground connection. Very, simple, cost effective and without risks, we are not talking of high voltage circuits.

brugesboy · Post by **brugesboy** » Sat Sep 01, 2007 8:29 am

I'm sorry - dumb question ...

Do you mean you connect the Noah with a mains adapter on which you lift the earth connection, or do you mean you do some sort of ground lift somewhere in the audio chain??

Would still love to fix this, or I am just going to have to get another soundcard with an ADAT input and give up on using the Noah as my soundcard.

thanks

Joxer the Mighty · Post by **Joxer the Mighty** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 11:39 am

brugesboy, I had this problem also (see post referenced previously). Unfortunately, the problem did not disappear until I bought a motu 828 and routed the Noah to that and then into my recording program. Was not a big deal to me since I needed the 828 for other purposes, but I can see how it'd be a bit of a bummer if you were counting on the Noah to be your soundcard.

PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Using Noah plugins with VSTs

Using Noah plugins with VSTs

Using Noah as USB sound card

noah ex i/o

not unique to Noah

Re: Using Noah as USB sound card