MIDI out of AU Plug-ins?

[Michael Canavan]

Cool, glad at least one company is using the ability to get MIDI out from AU, it doesn't change the fact that most companies, including Native Instruments do not support MIDI out from AUs.

Numerology literally is probably the only company that supports MIDI out from AU at this point, that's why I see no reason not to use the VST versions of software from NI, FXpansion etc. that has MIDI out from VSTs but not AU.

[philbrown]

I was auditioning the snapshots of the (free) NI Reaktor ensemble SilverbirdLive recently (a cool drum machine) and noticed on its panel the option to enable MIDI Out of its internal sequencer.

I tried several Reaktor instruments and ensembles and none seem to have MIDI built in, so as I understand it (what I referenced a couple of posts ago) they would not output MIDI no matter what method you use. I also looked into how to add that functionality to a given ensemble and it was 'quite messy' as I've only done a little reaktor programming under the hood.

BUT - if you're right that SilverbirdLive is endowed with MIDI capability then you should be able to use the VST version or the IAC sync method I outlined in my previous post.

This whole exchange has clarified for me why I could never get some Reaktor ensembles to sync up when others would work fine. It would be nice if NI had a list of their sequencers and drum machines listing which ones are capable of sending MIDI out.

[musicman691]

This whole exchange has clarified for me why I could never get some Reaktor ensembles to sync up when others would work fine. It would be nice if NI had a list of their sequencers and drum machines listing which ones are capable of sending MIDI out.

Would be nice but remember that most Reaktor ensembles are NOT built by NI but end users like you and I. It would end up being the onus of the ensemble builder to mention MIDI in their description.

[dewdman42]

There is a lot of confusion on this point floating around out there.

AU spec supports MIDI out.

Most AU plugins don't use it for some dumb reason. Possibly lack of documentation, as if Apple didn't want to promote the idea or something...I'm not sure. Perhaps its considered unsupported feature in the AU spec, I'm not really sure.

but Logic Pro X also does not support AU MIDI out in the host...in other words...the Numerology AU plugin would not output MIDI inside Logic because Logic would ignore it. In Logic the only way to get MIDI output from an audio or instrumet plugin is either via the MIDI FX plugin slot (and that only works if the plugin has actually been compiled as that type of aumidifx plugin)...or else you have to route the output to a core MIDI IAC port and loop it back in again.

Interestingly, its very very easy for a developer to recompile an AU plugin which uses MIDI output, as a MIDI fx plugin which Logic DOES accept the MIDI from. Literally all they have to do is change some type information about the plugin and rebuild it. So basically the spec supports MIDI output, a few plugins out there use it, but LogicPro is setup so that the mixer does not capture MIDI output from audio or instrument plugins...only from plugins being hosted inside the MIDI plugin slot..which are basically the same, with only a type field changed. DP apparently can see the MIDI from AU plugins when its there. It would be nice if someday DP also support AUMIDIFX plugins.

Personally I just choose to use VST in DP whenever I can. There are very few plugins that are AU only. I've had good solid results by always using VST versions and MIDI output is always there when applicable. Somewhere along the line I read from people on this site who felt that VST has been oftentimes more reliable for them in general, so I have just been using VST. In DP I'm not sure it really matters that so many plugins are ignoring the possibility to output MIDI from AU's because DP supports VST anyway and very good routing. LogicPro is a much bigger annoyance because it does not support VST at all, and the MIDI routing is often non-intuitive at best and sometimes a downright PITA.