DP for live keyboard use

[cloudsplitter]

MagicD as for your guitar rig I would strongly recommend the Fractal Audio Systems Axe FX Ultra. It has a wow factor of +10. There is nothing on the market that touches it...nothing even close.

[magicd]

MagicD as for your guitar rig I would strongly recommend the Fractal Audio Systems Axe FX Ultra. It has a wow factor of +10. There is nothing on the market that touches it...nothing even close.

I've seen that box before. I understand it is a quality device.

$1749.00?

Pass.

Plus, it's a hardware box. I'm playing through hardware right now that gets the job done. The goal with going through the computer is to ditch the extra hardware.

Dave

[cloudsplitter]

MagicD as for your guitar rig I would strongly recommend the Fractal Audio Systems Axe FX Ultra. It has a wow factor of +10. There is nothing on the market that touches it...nothing even close.

I've seen that box before. I understand it is a quality device.

$1749.00?

Pass.

Plus, it's a hardware box. I'm playing through hardware right now that gets the job done. The goal with going through the computer is to ditch the extra hardware.

Dave

Yes, as they say, there are several ways to skin a cat...!! and $2000.00 is a lot of money.

[jquesta]

Dave,

That's a very interesting plugin, which sounds like it would be perfect for setting up VI's. But if I understand it correctly, it's not used for outboard gear, correct?

[magicd]

Dave,

That's a very interesting plugin, which sounds like it would be perfect for setting up VI's. But if I understand it correctly, it's not used for outboard gear, correct?

J,
What do you want to do in terms of outboard gear?

Dave

[jquesta]

Here's a question that came to mind while driving back from my favorite music store - Are there any settings in DP7 that would change or increase (or decrease) the MIDI latency or response? I'm just thinking that the MIDI chain is the slowest part of my chain, and it doesn't make sense to me that I have a snappy system UNTIL I add the computer. I mean, isn't USB something like 50 X faster than the MIDI buss?

I'm just banging my head against the wall here. I tried to remove the computer from my system and run everything from my K2500 and use channelization to play the sounds from individual sound modules, but my setups and routings are so convoluted that it's not possible for me to do so.

A quick side note - I appreciate knowing how other people are using DP in their live set ups. That also tells me that I have a button or a setting that isn't configured correctly.

[magicd]

Here's a question that came to mind while driving back from my favorite music store - Are there any settings in DP7 that would change or increase (or decrease) the MIDI latency or response? I'm just thinking that the MIDI chain is the slowest part of my chain, and it doesn't make sense to me that I have a snappy system UNTIL I add the computer. I mean, isn't USB something like 50 X faster than the MIDI buss?

Which MIDI bus?

My controller connects to the computer via a USB cable. The USB cable carries the MIDI into the computer. There is no more delay coming from the controller to the VIs than there is triggering a hardware synth.

Latency delay with VIs is a function of the Buffer Setting in the audio hardware driver. As I mentioned in my first post, I run a buffer set at 128. I'm getting the same response I got with hardware keyboards.

I'm just banging my head against the wall here. I tried to remove the computer from my system and run everything from my K2500 and use channelization to play the sounds from individual sound modules, but my setups and routings are so convoluted that it's not possible for me to do so.

A quick side note - I appreciate knowing how other people are using DP in their live set ups. That also tells me that I have a button or a setting that isn't configured correctly.

For this rig to work for me. I had to have a new computer. I've just upgraded from a four year old first generation Intel MacBook to a new 3ghz Macbook with 8 gb RAM

Not only can my Macbook handle the VI load, but I've been doing tests of recording the band rehearsals on the same computer. That's 14 tracks at 44.1/24 bit to the internal drive, while triggering live VIs. No problems so far, and again, the hardware buffer is set to 128.

Dave

[jquesta]

Dave,

In short, I'm replacing the old "Modifier" and "MIDI Cannon" setup that is available in the MTP AV (but only configurable using OS 9 and a Mac with a serial port) with DP. I'll do my best to add some screen shots of what I have so far to make it a little easier.

I have 3 keyboards: a K2500 used as my master keyboard, a Yamaha EX5 that I use as a keyboard and sound source, and an Korg RK-100 that I use to run around with on a few songs. In my rack is a K2000, Korg 01R/W, and a JV-880. I will look at adding VI's later, but I'd rather get the MIDI in and out to work properly first.

Depending on the song, I need to play any module or keyboard with any other keyboard. When I was using the AV, I used modifiers to set my routings and the MIDI Cannon to send patch change data. It was triggered from my K2500 on Channel 16 - it sent the patch change data to the AV - the AV Set everything else up for me.

I've replicated everything (and added LOTS of new options) with DP7 and my MacBook Pro. I'm not very good at adding images, but if you follow this link = http://www.questamw.com/dp7-live.gif = you'll see a screen shot of what I have set up, complete with arrows and descriptions.

I hope that makes sense.

Now - just to very quickly describe the problem I'm having - when I change patches on the K2500 (which in turn selects the correct chunk), if I play any notes within 2-3 seconds of my change, I get a lot of noise, like 300+ notes sounding all at once. There is also a noticeable delay when I play.

I hope that was clear - if not, let me know and I'll give it another shot.

[magicd]

J,
I don't think switching chunks is the way to go for your configuration. It's a useful technique if you change between songs, but as you've seen, changing in the middle of a song has problems because of the lag.

Bidule can process MIDI throughput, so it can work as a live switcher for external devices. Now you need a way to generate your MIDI cannon messages.

I admit that I haven't got far enough into Bidule to tell if Bidule can do this or not. I think it can, but I don't know for sure...

Here is the plogue website:
http://www.plogue.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You can download and try out the demo version of Bidule.

Dave

[jquesta]

Thank you Dave!

At least I can rest easy that I don't have a configuration problem with DP. I've downloaded the demo and I'll start working through my issues. I also tried JAMBALAYA, but for some reason it didn't see my outboard gear.

The quest continues....

[jquesta]

I'll take this opportunity to fix my double post and ask if anyone else has any ideas on how to do what I'm trying to do here. I would certainly appreciate any advice.

Thank you,

[jquesta]

I just wanted to mention that I was able to get in touch with someone directly at MOTU today who was incredibly helpful. On the downside, they did mentioned that there will be some delays involved when using software as opposed to the direct hardware system I was using before. On the upside, they gave me some ideas to work with that may improve the issue.

The person I spoke with was VERY nice, VERY professional, and totally into finding ways to mitigate my problem. It really was a wonderful experience! Thank you MOTU!!!

I'll report back with my experiences.

- Jim -