Midi timing hell with Pulsar 2 + Midi Merge Box...... HELP !

TwL · Post by **TwL** » Thu Aug 01, 2002 1:49 am

Hi guys at Planet z,

I have read these boards for solid info for some time now, and all has been very helpful and i have learned alot, so tnx to all those contributing with knowledge here.

I have used pulsar 2 + SRB card last couple of months only using the creamware softsynths, samplers etc etc, and all has been working fine.

Yesterday i bought a Virus C, because i wanted to add some hardware to the setup, also bought a Fostex VC8 AD converter and all that is working fine now thru ADAT in creamware, but what is seriously giving me a hangover now is MIDI latency, timing or what the heck the problem seem to be.

My problem is when i route MIDI-OUT from my midi-keyboard and MIDI-OUT from my Virus C to a midi mergebox a 4-IN, 1-OUT, and from that MergeBox finally to Creamware MIDI-IN.

Creamware seem to screw around with, Notes, Latency, sometimes i can play, sometimes i cant, notes get stuck, and the synth keep on playing etc etc, very wicked stuff here.

So i figured that AHA its my MergeBox that is broken, and cant seem to route the signals correctly, but i did a final test with my old Soundblaster Live card. I used the exactly same MIDI setup as with the creamware card, and hell all worked perfectly on my soundblaster, so that just made my hangover harder.

Is there anyone else who have had similar midi problems with their creamware setup and a mergebox??

Funny thing is it works on creamware too if i dont route the signals thru the mergebox, its like creamware driver or something have a problem handling mixed midi signals, and on a old SBLive it works like a breeze, sometimes stuff like this amazes me.

My system :

Athlon 1,4 ghz
Windows 2000(even tried the same ting on xp)
SFP 3.1a
Cubase 5.1

Best regards

-Thomas-

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: TwL on 2002-08-01 02:51 ]</font>

EarlyFirst · Post by **EarlyFirst** » Thu Aug 01, 2002 1:58 am

you could use the midi monitor in sfp to see what is coming in....

TwL · Post by **TwL** » Thu Aug 01, 2002 4:21 am

Tnx, i havent thought of that option, it could very well be something wicked being send to creamware.

-Thomas-

Retro · Post by **Retro** » Thu Aug 01, 2002 8:25 am

TwL, I'd be interested to know what kind of results you get from your testing. I too have been experiencing timing and note accuracy problems when using my Pulsar 2 + Scope SRB with an Edirol UM-880 MIDI patch bay, though the problems don't seem to be as severe as yours. More specifically, I find every so often that the tuning of the notes drops by roughly a semitone while I'm playing, and sometimes the system drops 16th notes (or faster) when a number of them are played in succession.

The problem disappears completely when I remove the patch bay from the system, but the patch bay works perfectly when used in conjunction with other gear. Very strange!

[edit]
I should add that so far the SFP MIDI monitor hasn't picked up any anomalous data from what I can see. I'll keep testing though.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Retro on 2002-08-01 09:28 ]</font>

TwL · Post by **TwL** » Fri Aug 02, 2002 3:38 am

Hi again,

I found the solution to be the use of creamares MIDI-Merge devices, somehow its mixing up the signals so that way it screws up in the notes, latency without using the pulsar merge devices.

Route the signals thru merger in creamware and it works really well.

I will post a picture of the setup later today when i get home from works, so you guys can get an idea what im babbling about, i know the above probably not makes alot of sense, so a picture explains more than...... u know

Pease

-Thomas-

Retro · Post by **Retro** » Fri Aug 02, 2002 9:23 am

I know exactly what you're talking about... Well done for finding the cause of the problem so quickly! I've always been lazy and just connected everything directly to the MIDI source, instead of using a MIDI merger module. I didn't think there was any difference, but I guess that's part of the learning curve

Thanks for your help. Maybe you should post this solution in the Pulsar Study forum as a tip for beginners.

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Fri Aug 02, 2002 10:47 am

If you're feeding lotsa midi over the pipe, keep in mind that Midi transfer is serial, it's on low bandwidth. One midi cable is told to be good for 4 loaded midi channels. Of course if there's not too much automation CC#, pitchbend and sysex, one can play many more channels without data loss.