Hi All
Wow! what a forum. I've been a member for just under a month and the wealth of info. on this site is amazing. It really does restore your faith in humanity to see so many people bouncing knowledge back and forth to each other, purely because they wanna help one another without any alteria motive. Nice One!
Now for my problems. I think it will be easier to give you all a brief history of my computer and music background rather than get to specifics right now.
I got a demo of Reason by chance 18 months ago and was hooked. I have never played an instrument and have no understanding of music theory whatsoever but found using the Matrix sequencer, i could manually, one note at a time, reproduce the tunes in my head. I then bought a copy of reason but never gave it the time it deseved as other things always took priority.
Six months ago my Father had a Stroke And an amputation in quick succession and i moved back in with my Father to become his carer. I've never been a house person, most of my hobbies were outdoor based and i was only ever in my old house to sleep and eat, so then becoming a carer which involved being in a house 24/7 was a bit of a culture shock.
After a month or so of going crazy not knowing what to do with my time i remembered Reason and got back into it in a big way. I then realised that computer music was something i could do to occupy all my time and decided to take out a loan of £3000 (i get paid £75 a week so a loan was the only option) and get myself set up with a basic studio at home.
After bombarding as many music, midi and computer forums/newsgroups and reading Future Music and Sound on Sound magazines, i formulated a kit list. After 3 months on E-bay this is the kit i have got:
My old PC
Reason with refills
Cubase vst32 (able to upgrade to SX if needed)
Creamware Pulsar
Creamware Pulsar SRB
Novation Supernova II Platinum keyboard
Roland Mc505
Roland SH-32
Korg Electribe ER-1
Mackie CR-1604 mixer
Steinberg Midex8
The learning curve that i am now on is overwhelming. I am trying to learn about basic music skills (chords and scales and progressions etc), MIDI, Cubase, how all my different bit of kit work on their own and then how they talk to one another, Music production and engineering, routing audio and midi and all the other things i need to know to get up and running and my head is spinning. I think i might of jumped in at the deep end.
This is where i am currently upto no my music technology Journey :
The music i am writing could be losely described as dance music, and it's based around 4/4 beats. My tunes are pattern based and are made up of lots mono lines ( my musical Knowledge doesn't allow me to use any chords yet) and are based around 4/8/16 bar loops or grooves (again, my musical Knowledge doesn't allow me to write full blown pieces cos i dont yet know enough about scales and progressions etc to make it happen yet) but thats ok and it simplifies things a lot so i can just concentrate on coming up with lines i'm happy with. I can do most things that i want from within Reason and this is the initial tool i use for mainly for writing.
I am starting to understand a bit about Cubase and rewire Reason to it. I can (with a lot of head scratching) route midi signals from the Supernova via pulsar into Cubase, so i can record midi lines into Cubase and then play those lines with virtual instuments or the Supernova with a simple midi in/out connection. I'm not really sure about piping the midi elsewhere (to Reason or to Pulsar virtual instuments)
I am happy prgramming the Mc505 and ER-1 on their own, step fashion, just like in Reason but have know idea yet how intergate them MIDI-ly (i say be creative with language)
What i would really like some help with is setting up the midi routing so that the following happens.
1.When i press play in Cubase or Reason the patterns in the Mc505 and ER-1 start too and at the right tempo and when i press stop, everything stops as it should (i understand about internal/external sync but am not sure about the best way to set it up). I thought the Midex8 might help with the midi side of things but i dont have a clue how it works just that it likes to talk to cubase.
2. Be able to have Cubase midi lines played by the Supernova, the SH-32 or Pulsar virtual instuments, whichever i choose.
Obviously it would take too long to tell me everything i need to know as midi is huge but if any body knows of any good books or web-resources on setting up midi systems, that would be great.
Many thanks for reading
Oakey
Basic MIDI routing
Hi Oakey....sorry about your father - that sounds like some heavy stuff.
It sounds like the first thing you need is a basic understanding of midi....I hope we can be of some assisstance.
I'd say you've got a good set-up for what you want to do.
If you have the midex installed properly you should see 8 different MIDI OUTPUTS representing it in Cubase.....pull the left hand edge of the arrange page across to the right, or look at the TRACK INSPECTOR for one midi track - all the little boxes on the left:
Each Midex Midi Output represents one of the ports on your midex, and each one will have 16 Midi Channels....
Plug each of your hardware synths into one of the Midex Output ports (Midex out to Synth Midi IN)......
If the Supernova is your prefered keyboard for playing, plug its MIDI OUT to one of the MIDI INs on the Midex.
By switching any midi track in Cubase to the relevant output you will be able to trigger any of your hardware synths (Just make sure you've set the Midi channel correctly too).
You Should also see Creamware Midi Outs 1+2...these are for sending midi to Scope, & all its Instruments/FX....
In the Scope project window, drag a MIDI SEQUENCER SOURCE module in, and that's where the midi will appear in Scope.....just use the virtual plugs to link it to any midi in on any Scope synth.....you can link multiple synths/fx that way.
As for your Electribe & 505...you'll need them to be sync'd to Cubase: set Cubase to transmit MIDI CLOCK (or timecode if those units read it) out of the relevant Midex Outs.....you might be only allowed to send it out of one port though......get just one of them working for starters, and when you've enabled the correct settings, they should start playing their own patterns ( + stop) when you start/stop Cubase.
Hope that's helpful.....come back for more when you've got that going.
Cheers
It sounds like the first thing you need is a basic understanding of midi....I hope we can be of some assisstance.
I'd say you've got a good set-up for what you want to do.
If you have the midex installed properly you should see 8 different MIDI OUTPUTS representing it in Cubase.....pull the left hand edge of the arrange page across to the right, or look at the TRACK INSPECTOR for one midi track - all the little boxes on the left:
Each Midex Midi Output represents one of the ports on your midex, and each one will have 16 Midi Channels....
Plug each of your hardware synths into one of the Midex Output ports (Midex out to Synth Midi IN)......
If the Supernova is your prefered keyboard for playing, plug its MIDI OUT to one of the MIDI INs on the Midex.
By switching any midi track in Cubase to the relevant output you will be able to trigger any of your hardware synths (Just make sure you've set the Midi channel correctly too).
You Should also see Creamware Midi Outs 1+2...these are for sending midi to Scope, & all its Instruments/FX....
In the Scope project window, drag a MIDI SEQUENCER SOURCE module in, and that's where the midi will appear in Scope.....just use the virtual plugs to link it to any midi in on any Scope synth.....you can link multiple synths/fx that way.
As for your Electribe & 505...you'll need them to be sync'd to Cubase: set Cubase to transmit MIDI CLOCK (or timecode if those units read it) out of the relevant Midex Outs.....you might be only allowed to send it out of one port though......get just one of them working for starters, and when you've enabled the correct settings, they should start playing their own patterns ( + stop) when you start/stop Cubase.
Hope that's helpful.....come back for more when you've got that going.
Cheers