monitoring multiple MIDI voices simultaneously

alabama · Post by **alabama** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 7:53 pm

PlanetZ, hello.

My setup:

Pulsar II v3.1
WinXP PC, 512MB RAM, 866MHz
Yamaha S90 keyboard
Cubase SX v1

Embarassingly simple question to follow:

I have only worked with audio in the past, but now I am starting to add some MIDI (it's about time). On Track1 I have notes that I want to play as a Bass sound, and on Track2 I have notes that I want to play as a Cello sound. I have Track1 set up to use MIDI channel 1. I have Track2 set up to use MIDI channel 2. I have the respective sounds defined on each track. On the S90, I have set the ReceiveChannel to OMNI. When
I playback in CubaseSX, it'll play the notes from both tracks but it'll only
play one of the voices. Isn't the different channels how to play different voices?

My S90 MIDI out connects to PulsarMIDISource, which connects to Sequencer MIDIDest. Likewise, Sequencer MIDISource to PulsarMIDIDest to S90 MIDI in. The S90 audio outs are going to a mixer (along with the audio outs from Pulsar), which routes to monitor speakers.

Thanks for reading and for your help!

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 8:00 pm

Receiving device must not be set in OMNI, every sound must have it's individual Midi channel, and an hardware synth must be set multitimbral....I use only Scope devices though...so I don't know about your synth...

Post by **hubird** » Thu Jun 03, 2004 8:50 pm

http://www.borg.com/~jglatt/tech/midispec.htm

alabama · Post by **alabama** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 12:18 am

multitimbral - that was the key word. Got it going now, thanks. (website is good too)

I do notice that with Cubase SX, when I first set the S90 into multitimbral mode, and hit play (in Cubase), no program change events are sent and thus the voices are wrong. However, as soon as I hit stop (in Cubase), the program change events are sent and the voices are set properly in the S90. It would be nice if it happened as soon as I hit play, but at least now I know how to make it work.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: alabama on 2004-06-04 01:48 ]</font>

Counterparts · Post by **Counterparts** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 3:12 am

That might be due to how you have 'Chase Events' set-up in Cubase - the manual should be able to sort you out.

Royston

alabama · Post by **alabama** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 11:44 am

Thanks, I'll check into the chase events setup.

In regards to general MIDI setup, should some type of MIDI sync (CLK, timecode, ...) be sent from my sequencer to my synthesizer or to/from the Pulsar card? Or is this mainly an issue when using a drum pattern or the like?

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Fri Jun 04, 2004 12:16 pm

MIDI clock should be avoided when possible, on any connection. It generates a lot of extra traffic.

It's best to set LFO's & delays to internal clock in SFP, it even causes clicks in delays etc. The same goes for hardware synths, set them to the same BPM on internal Master clock too so they have the right modulation speeds and delay times. Sequence or record those synths' MIDI into Cubase.

Only if you have an outboard sequencer, you can send MIDI clock to slave the unit. But if you are used to VST sync, MIDI is an ancient protocol and it's timing isn't gonna win any prices.