Another noob trying to dive in (Instrument Tracks)

[AlteredMoods]

Hi,

How is it that I get my collection of AUs to work properly with this program? I try to create a new instrument track, and it loads but I don't get the plug-in's window. Only the MOTU plugs show their windows when selected. This is even though the AUs seemed to be okay.

Then, I of course can't get any of the plugs to respond to MIDI notes. I've looked at the manual and it isn't helping me much.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd just like to record some MIDI based on my VIs.

TIA

[blue]

Make sure you assign the instrument track to a proper output or active bus. VIs will not fully "instantiate" until you do so.

[Shooshie]

Hi,

How is it that I get my collection of AUs to work properly with this program? I try to create a new instrument track, and it loads but I don't get the plug-in's window. Only the MOTU plugs show their windows when selected. This is even though the AUs seemed to be okay.

Then, I of course can't get any of the plugs to respond to MIDI notes. I've looked at the manual and it isn't helping me much.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'd just like to record some MIDI based on my VIs.

TIA

Could you be a wee bit more specific. Give us an example. Are you trying to load, say, Ivory? Did you install it with the installer? Did you register it and authorize it via the iLok? If so, are you pulling down the "Project" menu to Add Track, to Instrument Track? If properly installed and authorized, they should be there.

Once you add an instrument track, you must assign it an audio output track or bus so that it can be heard. That's about all you have to do. It's then ready to be used by your MIDI tracks.

Any MIDI track can then use your instrument as an output. You just select that instrument, and a MIDI channel for it (Ivory 1 through Ivory 16, for example), and then whatever is in the MIDI track will play on the instrument.

If you hear nothing, chances are, you need to look at your audio tracks. The audio track to which you assigned the instrument needs to be play-enabled. If you assigned the instrument's audio output to a bus, then the audio track needs to use that bus as an input. The audio track then must be play enabled. If it is also record enabled, be sure the Monitor and Track Enabler are also clicked "on." This is standard audio stuff, and has nothing to do with instruments directly.

But I think I'm hearing you say you can't find the instruments at all. That would tell me that something went wrong during installation. Let me tell you how I generally install instruments. I install those with a stand-alone presence to the Applications Folder, right there with MOTU, Adobe, Apple and everything else. I tell the installers to put the Instrument Libraries on other drives -- fast drives -- so that their bulk is not on the System Disk. All the instrument installers I've see allow this. Some instruments do not have an Applications Folder presence. They just install their components in the /Library/Audio/Plugins folder (that's the Library at the main-level of your disk hierarchy, not the User Folder Library, unless you told it to put it in the User folder so that nobody else could use it). That's where they belong. AU plugins will end up in the Components Folder. MAS plugins will be in the MAS folder. As long as Digital Performer can see them in the folders where they are supposed to be, it will load them.

Has any of this triggered any aha's? Can you see any problems with how you installed your AU's? I hope you get it resolved soon.

Shooshie

[Shooshie]

One more thing, while we're at it. DP has a special feature called "V-Racks" for loading your virtual instruments one time and making them available to all sequences in a project file. Sequences are called "Chunks." In the Chunks Window, you have three different kinds of entries: sequences (Chunks), Songs, and V-Racks. Songs are windows that allow you to combine chunks linearly or non-linearly in "Lego" building-block fashion to create songs from smaller sequences.

Since you may have many chunks in the Chunks Window, there arises a problem. Instruments are always active. If Chunk #1 has three VI's in it, and Chunk #2 has 4 VI's, and Chunk #3 has 1 VI, and so forth, you have 6 or more active VI's all the time. Most likely, those are the same VI's loaded in each chunk, so you are just adding unnecessary loads to your processor. Why not use the same instruments for ALL your sequences, without having to duplicate them? That's what V-Racks are for. So, take your instrument tracks out of the chunk and put them in a V-Rack. Here's how:

Create the instrument track in the Tracks Overview folder. Select it, and pull down the Project Menu to Sequences-->Move Selected Tracks To V-Rack... and you'll get a dialog enabling you to create a V-Rack which will then appear in your Chunks Window. Double Click on it, and you'll see your instrument track inside it, and it will no longer be in the Tracks Overview Window, but the instrument will still be available for MIDI Output.

This makes adding more instrument tracks super-easy, especially when you start new sequences. There's no set-up for instruments then, because you've already done it and your instruments are all sitting quietly in the V-Rack. All you have to do is assign your MIDI tracks to whatever instrument track you want.

To access the V-Rack, either double-click on its name in the Chunks Window, or go to the Mixing Board and click on the little "V" in its title bar. When you are in the V-Rack (Mixing Board Window, that is) you can add more tracks by clicking CONTROL-COMMAND-A. (That's the code to add an aux track to whatever active window you're in.) Once you add the track, select an output for it, and select an instrument in one of the pull-down menus in the "inserts" section of the channel-strip. This is a faster way to create instrument tracks in the V-Rack, rather than starting in the Tracks Overview Window. Now you know 2 ways to create an instrument in a V-Rack, plus the method that uses no V-Rack (just an Instrument Track in the Tracks Overview Window). That's 3 ways to add an instrument track. Want to know a 4th way? You can duplicate an instrument track in the Tracks Overview Window by selecting it and typing "CONTROL-COMMAND-S" which is the code for adding a "similar" track, or duplicating a track.

When you know the different ways of doing things, DP gets really fast. Some people complain at first, since Logic seems faster at first. But when you learn how to do these things, DP makes a lot more sense, I think.

Shooshie

[iMAS]

If you're using DP 5 and up...try using its "Add Instruments" feature.

"Shift+Option+Command+I" and the window will pop open. It's a very convenient/time saver feature.

[monkey man]

`
A the risk of sounding a little hobbit-like (OK, a LOT )...

Given that "regular" plugs work fine, but VIs come up blank(!), I'd say a shortage of RAM manifests as the given VI sets itself up.

Monkey-muse, that's all.

[Shooshie]

`
A the risk of sounding a little hobbit-like (OK, a LOT )...

Given that "regular" plugs work fine, but VIs come up blank(!), I'd say a shortage of RAM manifests as the given VI sets itself up.

Monkey-muse, that's all.

Until three weeks ago, the most RAM I ever worked with was 1.5 GB, and though my big VI's like Ivory wouldn't play worth a darn, they'd at least load. I don't think RAM is the problem. But... you never know!

Shooshie

[monkey man]

`
Yeah, it's a long shot, Meister, especially if you say so!

Thing is, though, I can't seem to shake the memory of the OS9 syndrome of blank plug-windows when one hadn't assigned enough RAM to DP.
VIs were especially prone to this, probably because some sort of oscillator waveform set at the minimum would need to be loaded.
In the case of "regular", processing plugs, it's just the algorithms and a buffer really, so I've assumed this to be the explanation on many an occasion and turned out to be correct in so doing.

I like to throw it in as a possibility whenever I hear of blank windows.
As you said, you never know.

[iMAS]

...it loads but I don't get the plug-in's window. Only the MOTU plugs show their windows when selected. This is even though the AUs seemed to be okay.

This reminds me of my Sonalksis pluggins. They'll load...but the window won't open unless you have selected an output.

Most of my other plug's window will open regardless if there's an output or not.

[emulatorloo]

How is it that I get my collection of AUs to work properly with this program? I try to create a new instrument track, and it loads but I don't get the plug-in's window.

I am guessing you are not setting the hardware outputs of your vi to your active sound hardware. As blue says:

Make sure you assign the instrument track to a proper output or active bus. VIs will not fully "instantiate" until you do so.

As to MIDI notes not sounding, I don't think you are linking your MIDI tracks to your vi's up correctly.

I will go look for the manual page later this morning and add the page number for you on how to do that.

I have a question. . .

Before you "dived in" did you do the tutorials in the Getting Started manual?

They don't take very long and they give you all the BASICS that you need to get going.

Once you have the BASICS, then you are better equipped to move (you will understand basic things like audio routing etc)

Trust me, I tried to "wing it" myself the first few times. Doing the tutorials in Getting Started reallllllllllllllllllllly helped me.

GOOD LUCK!

-----
ON EDIT --- I see MOTU dropped the tutorials from the DP 5 manual. . .too bad you would have liked them!

--

ON EDIT -- MANUAL PAGES DP 5 MANUAL

pp859-860.

For hooking up your MIDI track to your VI see especially p860 section entitled WORKING WITH INSTRUMENT PLUG-INS that begins with:

"Instrument plug-in work very much like synthesizers, samplers,. . ."

---

[AlteredMoods]

Thanks for the replies, guys. It's greatly appreciated. I apologize for the last post, I was in a bit of a haze last night.

A little information about my setup:

MacBook Pro C2D 2.33 (Glosseh!)
2 GB RAM, 120GB internal, 250 GB external FW
Digital Performer 5.11
Various AU instruments from NI, Arturia, Korg, etc. as well as the 6 included VIs from MOTU

I'm coming from using Cubase and am trying out DP as an alternative. Yes, I have the manual and it is gigantic, but it wasn't too clear what I needed to do after I added the instrument track (which I did by selecting "Project ->Add track ->Instrument Track ->Add Instruments." All of my instruments appear in the "Add Instrument Track" menu dropdown.

Additionally, when I add an Instrument track, only the MOTU instruments seem to properly display their configuration windows. None of the other AU instruments show their configuration windows. The instruments were installed on my system prior to my installing Digital Peformer. When DP ran its AU check, it found all of the AUs and they checked out okay.

How can I get DP to run its VI AU check again? Should I just reinstall DP? Thanks in advance.

[chrispick]

How can I get DP to run its VI AU check again?

Go to:

/Users/username/Library/Preferences/Digital Performer

and delete the Audio Unit Info Cache.

When you start up DP again, it'll revalidate all of your installed AUs.

Good luck.

[emulatorloo]

Various AU instruments from NI, Arturia, Korg, etc. as well as the 6 included VIs from MOTU

Are all of your AU's Intel mac ready? If not that would explain why you can't use them. They need to be the universal binary versions (works on both intel and powerpc). If they are the old powerpc only versions they WILL NOT WORK with DP 5.11 on Macbook Pro.

I beleive that was explained in one of the readmes that came with DP 5.11, so maybe you already have that sorted out.

MOTU has a great technotes section on their website -- so I looked for you and found:

http://www.motu.com/techsupport/technot ... ary%20plug

Using Plug-ins in Digital Performer 5.1
Digital Performer 5.1 is a universal binary application, meaning that it runs natively on either PowerPC or Intel Macs. Per OSX's design all applications & any plug-ins they use must run entirely natively or non-natively. This means that with DP 5.1 you must use plug-ins that are also universal binaries or that are specific to the type of Mac you have (i.e., PowerPC plug-ins on a PowerPC Mac).

If you're running DP 5.1 on a PowerPC Mac, you can use universal binary and PowerPC-only plug-ins. You cannot use Intel-only plug-ins.
If you're running DP 5.1 on an Intel Mac, you can use universal binary and Intel-only plug-ins. You cannot use PowerPC-only plug-ins.
All of the plug-ins included with Digital Performer 5.1 are universal binaries.

---
I know that NI has universal binary updates on their website as does Korg at korguser.net. I don't know about Arturia, but probably they do to.

[magicd]

Check the Output Assignment for the Instrument Track in the Tracks Window. If the output appears in italics, that's the problem. Any instrument must have a working audio output in order to show up as a MIDI destination. Some third party instruments (and effects) will not draw their window if there is no working audio output.

The default New File Template in DP is set up to provide a stereo output bundle that is assigned to the built-in audio jacks of the computer. If you connect an audio interface to the computer, and direct the Hardware Driver in DP to use that interface, the Default New File Template will still be set up to look for the built-in audio outputs. That means that every time you create a new file (using the default template), the existing stereo output bundle will be unassigned. That means if you create a new file and then add an Instrument Track, the output of the Instrument Track shows up with Built-In as it's assigned audio output, but "built-in" shows up in italics because there is no connection to those actual outputs.

The easiest way tro deal with this is open a new file, and reset the Output Bundle. Do this by opening the Bundles window, clicking the Output tab to assign the existing stereo bundle to the outputs you want to use on your audio interface. Save this as a New File template, and now whenever you create a new file, the existing audio outputs will be properly assigned.

Magic Dave

[AlteredMoods]

Are all of your AU's Intel mac ready? If not that would explain why you can't use them. They need to be the universal binary versions (works on both intel and powerpc). If they are the old powerpc only versions they WILL NOT WORK with DP 5.11 on Macbook Pro.

Yes, my AUs are definitely UB. Sorry, should have said that up front.