Is Scope (PCI Card) Obsolete? Revisited.

[Atomic Marshmallow]

Hello Everyone,

After a week or so of playing with Scope again on a (finally) stable computer after a long absence due to not being able solve a problem, I feel like an idiot for ever thinking it could be obsolete.

Things I am impressed with so far:

Great synths, particularly Modular II and III (though not fully explored them yet- I have yet to install Flexor 1.5, which should make them even more interesting). Minimax sounds pretty authentic (compared a friend's Minimoog) and the added bonus of making it polyphonic. Wow!!! The routing options. I like the fact that I can incorporate my external gear easy enough via ADAT, even if my external stuff gets used less and less these days.

Things I don't like:

I can't figure out certain things. I don't understand modular synthesis and I'm not sure I have the time or inclination to learn it, despite how cool sounding it is. Some of the synths and effects are pretty crappy, but I can live with that. I have the Dynatube bundle, but I prefer by far using Guitar Rig. I havr tried connecting Dynatube to various other effects to enhance the sound, but so far it isn't doing it for me.

I have tried to get XTC mode going, but no luck yet. I have spent quite a bit of time trawling through the pages in the XTC section of the forum, but it seems that some files I need are no longer there ( I am using 4.5, maybe it is btter with version 5). I haven't tried any of the .dll tricks yet. All I want for now is sound. I hear nothing. No doubt it is the way I have configured it, but I don't know what is wrong. I'll post a picture of how I have it set up in the XTC section.

I hope I can get it working as I feel I may prefer to use XTC mode.

I am starting off simple for now, but there is something I can't figure out yet. I can for example record the Minimax audio signal in my sequencer by connecting to the ASIO input, but even though my sequencer records the MIDI data, it doesn't transmait to my Pulsar synths. I have tried all sorts of combinations, but I haven't figured it out. Is it possible to do? It must be.

While I am getting familiar again with Scope, questions on how to do things will crop up. I hope you won't get sick of me asking.

Here is a screenshot of my basic setup. Please don't laugh. For the time being it will do and allows me to record. I am sure I am not even scratching the surface.

I would appreciate some comments. As you can see my DSP load is very low, which makes me think I am nowhere near exploiting the full capabilities. Also makes me realise that I maybe shouldn't worry too much about not having enough PCI slots in future motherboards.

Can anyone see by this setup why I can't get MIDI from my sequencer to talk to my Scope synth?




Thanks to all and have a great 2010

[JoPo]

To trigger your Scope synth by the sequencer, you must link 'sequencer midi source' module to the synth... And set the right midi channel, output in the sequencer.

[David]

disconect Pulsar2 midi source out and Minimax

(keep the connection from Pulsar 2 midi source to sequencer midi dest)

Connect Sequencer Midi Source 1 to Minimax

In your particular sequencer - set midi out to Scope/Pulsar

[Atomic Marshmallow]

Hi

Thanks for the quick responses JoPo and Feg. It worked. Hoorah!!! Simple when you know how. Though I am sure I had already tried that combination. Maybe I forgot to configure the out signal properly.

I see you are still online Feg, so hopefully I can catch you before you sign out. A simple and maybe obvious question and answer.

I am using Ableton as my sequencer. As far as I can see though, to record MIDI and the Scope synth I have to create 2 tracks. A MIDI and an Audio track. Is that right? I am just checking because when I record a softsynth in my sequencer, the Audio and MIDI data just need one track instead of two.

Sorry about the obvious question, but I just need to double check.

Plus any comments on how I have currently configured my project? It would be interesting to know how experienced Scope users view my project. I don't mind negative comments or ridicule.


Thanks

[David]

Yep - creating two tracks is right, although, I don't use Ableton at present so can't be sure with this specific sequencer but this method works on every other sequencer I've used.
And I've not tried to combine a midi signal with an audio signal in scope. I don't imagine midi signals would sound that good.

a midi track to record midi and an audio track to record the audio output.

However, you could always record the midi track first, this means you can edit the midi until you are happy with the arrangement and then record the audio.

[Mr Arkadin]

There are many ways to do things - none any more right or wrong than any other. Personally i would route Minimax to the STM mixer and listen to it with all your ASIO outputs going via STM as you've got as a final mix. Then just record the MIDI in your sequencer and let it play Minimax 'live' each time. If you want to set the Minimax audio in stone then by all means record it later as a separate audio track, but until you're 100% happy with the mix why commit? i would probably route the ADAT sources into the mixer too and then just do a stereo mix through Scope onto two tracks in Abelton.

[siriusbliss]

I agree with Mr. Arkadin.

You can plug the MIDI out of the synth to Seq. MIDI Dest and just record the MIDI, while monitoring the synth.
Yes Ableton needs a separate MIDI and audio channel, since it doesn't really have 'internal' monitoring.

Greg

[Chisel]

Actually, you can use Ableton Live's External Instrument device. This will let you send MIDI to Scope and receive audio from Scope on the same track. I have this setup for all my outboard gear. As for how I use my Pulsar II with Live. Here is a screenshot of my XTCProject. I've been using Live+XTC for years now.

Peace \/
chisel316

[siriusbliss]

Actually, you can use Ableton Live's External Instrument device. This will let you send MIDI to Scope and receive audio from Scope on the same track. I have this setup for all my outboard gear. As for how I use my Pulsar II with Live. Here is a screenshot of my XTCProject. I've been using Live+XTC for years now.

Peace \/
chisel316

I could never get this to work as intended in Live 8 without crashing. Presumably because I wasn't using XTC

Greg

[Atomic Marshmallow]

Hi,

Thanks Chisel for your screenshot. I'll duplicate it this weekend with some minor differences and see if it works for me. But I thought with an XTC project you need a DirectPlayMixerContainer module and a Merge module too.

[voidar]

DirectPlayMixerContainer is for latency free monitoring of synths while recording. If you load a synth in XTC mode you will see a "direct" button on top.