Running MIDI through a second computer.

[admultosanos]

I've just bought EWQLSO, which only runs on PowerPCs under Tiger at the moment (without paying for Kontakt 3 anyway). I have an old G5 iMac that I used to use: can anyone think of a way for me to install EWQLSO on the iMac, send MIIDI to it from DP 5 on my Mac Pro with Leopard and then bring the audio back to the Mac Pro?

[Dwetmaster]

OSX's MIDI over Network
Look For It in Audio/MIDI Setup.
http://fox-gieg.com/tutorials/2007/MIDI-over-a-network/

[aletheian-alex]

OSX's MIDI over Network
Look For It in Audio/MIDI Setup.
http://fox-gieg.com/tutorials/2007/MIDI-over-a-network/

That is frigging amazing. I had no idea that was there... thanx.

[mckelly]

That solves half the problem - but you still need to rout the audio out from your iMac to your tower.

I would use ADAT. Although I have not had any experience with the M-Audio Light Bridge, it looks very promising and will allow you to send 16 separate channels of audio back to you tower (assuming that you have a card that can accept that many. You can always purchase two lightbridges.

I use a mix of Frontier Audio cards (for my pc) and MOTU 2408 and 828 on my mac - 16 tracks of ADAT and it works great.

-MK

[Frodo]

I didn't have any luck with the OSX MIDI Setup Utility. Because of mixed reports with MIDI Over LAN I bypassed the ethernet option altogether. I had a Fastlane collecting dust and connected its USB to one computer and then connected its MIDI I/Os to my MTPAV on the other computer. It was the free solution that got me up and running right away with 32 channels of MIDI!

For audio, I have a PCIx-424 and a 2408mk2 on the second computer. These are connected via ADAT to a PCIe-424/2408mk3 on my main computer.

For the second computer, I would think that any firewire interface with connections that support those on your main computer would work equally as well.

People have frowned upon using a DAW like DP for VI hosting, but I've found it to be just fine and a lot less trouble than third party hosting utilities.

Second Computer: DP host setup tips:

Before you begin, make sure that the AUDIO-MIDI setup on both computers shows all hardware and network configs so that they will show up in DP as routing options.

1. Set up a VI and a series of MIDI tracks.
2. Set the OUPUT of the VI (audio) to your desired output-- in my case, ADAT-A (choosing a pair: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 )
3. On the first MIDI track's INPUT, set it to your main computer's MIDI port-- in my case my 2-port Fastlane is connected to my MTPAV's ports 5 and 6. For this excercise my first VI MIDI channel is set to MPTAV Port 5-1.
4. Set the MIDI track's OUTPUT to its corresponding VI. In my case it's Kontakt 2 running EWQLSO instruments.
5. Continue loading instruments into your VI with corresponding MIDI tracks as mentioned above.
6. IMPORTANT: from DP's Setup Menu, make sure MULTIRECORD and MIDI PATCH THRU are selected, and then put all MIDI tracks in record-ready mode (all red record indicators active). This will allow for each instrument to playback.


First Computer: DP master setup Tips:

There are two sets of audio and MIDI setups-- one for sending/receiving audio and MIDI from the second computer, and one for running VIs on the main computer as one would normally do.

To send/receive audio and MIDI from the second computer:

1. Set up a series of MIDI tracks that match those on your second computer. In my case, my second computer is running EWQLSO Winds: picc, flute solo, flutes, oboe solo, oboes, english horn, clarinet solo, clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoons, contrabassoons. The MIDI tracks on your main computer should match these-- and it's best to keep both sets on both computers in the same order with the same track names for easier workflow. It's otherwise very easy to get confused.

2. The MIDI OUTPUT for these tracks should be the name of your second computer's MIDI device. In my case it's Fastlane Port 1-1, Fastlane Port 1-2, etc... If you are using a LAN connection, your choices will reflect the routings made in your MIDI Network Utility.

3. If you are using ADAT as your audio connection, you will need to add audio tracks on your main computer. In my case, I have 4 audio tracks named G5 Audio 1, G5 Audio 2, G5 Audio 3, G5 Audio 4 to reflect the fact that there will be 4 stereo audio streams coming from my second computer, which is a G5 sending via ADAT (see step 2 for the second computer above). This is part of a template, so the names of these tracks can be changed for different projects.

4. Make sure these tracks are on INPUT, meaning that the MON column with the little blue speaker is active.

5. To run VIs on your main computer, you just do it like you'd normally would.

6. You probably don't want to have Multi Channel Record active on your main computer, but MIDI Patch Thru is a good idea (Studio Menu).

The nice thing about this is that the second computer just sits there and never actually runs via its own transport. It just works like an outboard MIDI module. There's no need to sync the transports on the two computers. Latency is practically zero, and playback locks like a charm.

For clock safety, I have my MTPAV and both 2408s connected via a BNC hub-- in this case it happens to be a Genx96 word clock box. This may not be necessary if you are using network MIDI, but I would connect any audio interfaces via BNC-- master interface word clock OUT to second computer interface word clock IN.

It takes a little doing, and typing in track names gets tedious, but dedicate a weekend just to get everything setup and running-- and make templates so that you won't have to start from scratch. Once you get it set up, it's just a matter booting DP on both computers as usual.

For my second computer, I've set DP's startup options to boot with "Last File Opened". This cuts down on boot up time and menu searching. That particular computer always runs my EWQLSO Winds and Percussion, and I rarely have a need to change the template. For less standard projects this may not be a good idea, but an orchestra is a lot more predictable from project to project.

Should you happen to work on a project using just your main computer and you happen to have one of these templates open on your main computer, be sure to turn off the audio tracks that accept sound from the second computer. Otherwise, you'll get an awful noise if the second audio interface is turned off.

[admultosanos]

Thanks guys you're awesome