How to correctly set a midi ext. device with the computer?

Discuss playback problems, including VST, Garritan, MIDI, etc.

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mauricio246
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:06 pm

Post by mauricio246 » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:25 pm

Hello group,

I have a Boss DR-5 drum machine and have been trying to put it to work with the PC and to do so, bought a PC midi cable (15-pin joystick to 2-5 pin midi connectors). The connection between the PC and the DR-5 is ok (OUT Cable to the MIDI IN and IN cable to the MIDI OUT of the drum machine) but get no sound! The volume on the mixer are not down or muted, indeed it is in the max! Tried to use different softwares: a specific to this drum machine, DR5 Edit, but also others like Adobe Audition, Rosegarden, Muse, Ardour....but with no success.

The sound board I've been using is an Avance Logic ALS4000 (with 2 channels for speaker out, line in, mic in and the joystick/midi port). There is also an onboard sound (a Sis7018 if my mind doesn't trick me) which is currently disabled in the bios.

When trying to use programs like DR5 Edit, for example, in the midi setup appears an entry to the "ALS Midi Port" and for another "Midi Port" (which I am assuming to be the one from the onboard sound as physically, exists just these 2). As the cable is connected to the "ALS Midi Port", I change the setting, which is set to the other "Midi Port", but get errors...Using the other programs, I face different issues but also without success.

What I would like to know from you is if there is something wrong is these conceptions of connection the drum machine to the PC or if there is any other trick and thing to look after in order to have this working properly. Also assuming that the cable is ok as it was bought new from the store but if you have any idea in how to test it and verify if everything is ok with it, it will be welcomed. Thanks you all in advance. Mauricio.


#84
Posts: 54
Joined: Sat Jun 11, 2005 1:41 am

Post by #84 » Tue Sep 13, 2005 6:01 am

MIDI is not audio.

To use an external device, you will need to connect the audio output of that device to external amplification.

mauricio246
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:06 pm

Post by mauricio246 » Tue Sep 13, 2005 2:18 pm

Hello #84,

thanks for the feedback. Ok, that is clear and for some time the drum machine had been used in this way (its audio output connected to the line in of the sound board) without problems but this drum machine also has the midi connections to send and receive midi events and there is also this specific software for it named DR5 Edit which is an interface for playing the drum machine from the computer (through midi ports and connections) and for backing up the songs, patterns you create and store in the DR5 (it has a limitation of 20 songs and 200 patterns, so, it will come a time that all this stuff must be backed up to the PC to free its memory). So, now, I´ve been trying to use it in this way, using a PC Midi Cable (which is the correct cable for this intention. Could also be a USB midi connector.) connection DR5 to the midi port of the sound board. The doubt is: just the connection itself is not enough to get this setting properly working. There is also the need of configuring something in a software level (the software that will be used as the interface to send/receive the midi events to/from the DR5) or OS level, sound board level which I don´t know exactly what it is and this is what I would like to know from you. If you could give any tip to help me solving this issue....I´ll be very pleased. Thanks you all in advance. Mauricio.

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