Hi All

Here's one more challenge for me, as I migrate from Windows to Mac...

I hooked up my new MIDI controller (31 bucks for a Korg micro37 at GC today..to use with my macbook air on the go), routed it in, set it to channel 5 to use MIDI thru...

Verified channel 5 signals going out after opening ST3.

In BIAB, set MIDI in to KEYBOARD, and got sounds..not sure what the sound is though....sounds like a guitar, maybe

I can not seem to get the MIDI thru sound to change...I have tried changing patches to no avail...in just about every window...

The select ports/instruments is set DLS synth (thanks to y'all for helping me in my post about plugins...)

BTW, setting the MIDI channel to 4 for melody doesn't show any activity in the mixer, but then I did not check to see if that happens in my 2015 windows version...

I would appreciate any pointers! Thanks!

BTW..I can change the volume in the mixer window, thru channel , so I believe it is travelling through channel 5 in BIAB...

Well, the short version (sorry it's late here) is to click in the black space (where instrument name normally is) underneath the volume slider in the mixer window.

This will pop up a menu, and from that menu you go to "Select MIDI Patch", you should have a submenu and you should see 8 or 10 default patches (these can be set as your favorite patches somewhere in BIAB) you will also see menu item "Select General MIDI Patch".

Picking the "Select General MIDI Patch" menu item will bring up a list of the 128 GM patches, that are used in the internal DLS Synth. You can change your instrument patch here.

As I said this is the short version, because there is a place in BIAB to set favorite instruments, and also to set which MIDI channel goes to which track in BIAB.

Also there is a setting in BIAB somewhere to save program changes, when your song is saved, that way you won't have to re-select the instruments next time you open the song.

The manual is a good place to start as far as setting up default MIDI channel per Track settings, favorite patches, and also the "save patches with song" settings.
But if you need more info. I can try to get a couple of screen shots tomorrow.

Hopefully this helps.

- Jay

Thanks, but as a long time user of biab windows, that was the first thing i tried. The second thing i tried was changing the patch in the mixer window accessed from the menu (besides the new mixer view). Sttill, no change in sound...even tried playing to see if it was a loading issue.

Other thoughts?

Actually, it seems a bit more odd...

When I open up a new song, all non realtracks play with the same instrument.. (I didn't notice this because I have been working with realtracks over the past two weeks...

I can change the sounds correctly by using the plug-in to select Sfz or ST on the thru track

If I choose Apple:DLSMusicDevice or Apple: MIDISynth I still can't change the songs...

It is as if my choosing DLS in the ports window routes it to a synth that I can't see or change...

As I am new to BIAB Mac, maybe there isn't even an internal synth on my IMAc...one doesn't show up on spotlight...I wil go and see if there is something I need to get from the apps store...

well, I made sure garage band and the sounds were installed, and I can select sounds there in GB

Still, no ability to change sounds using the mixer and selecting midi patches...

tried changing outputs on the thru port (BIAB virtual versus appleDLS)..didn't fix (but of course lost the thru sound)

Tried changing MIDI driver from CoreMIDI to DLS synth...was able to change sounds in other banks (bass, piano), but lost the thru...

I am at a loss...

Still, I can just add my sounds as plugins and move forward, but I am still trying to understand why the midi from BIAB doesn't seem to go through the synth that GB uses....

Thanks all!

Sorry, I wasn't sure how well versed you were in BIAB (and it was late) so I just had to put that other suggestion out first.
You are right that the Mac's handling of MIDI is kind of different that how Windows does things (some would say strange).
Plus (IMHO) BIAB has it's own little quirks from years of change, while trying to maintain backward compatibility.
Having said that here is what I have set up that works for me :

These first 2 settings may seem a little redundant, but as I said BIAB is the way it is because of the way it was in the past, having a lot to do with the transition from the classic MacOS to OSX.
First check your MIDI Driver, and set it up to Core MIDI

Then set Apple DLS Synth in your "Select MIDI Ports" window (don't set it in the MIDI driver window, set it here). This is also where you would select if you want the Thru channel to go somewhere else, other than the DLS Synth.

Then take a look in this window in the Options menu "MIDI Settings" and make sure you have the channels for each track are what you think they should be, also make sure there is a default patch # selected for each track. If it's blank you get either silence or piano GM patch #1 (can't remember).

And finally another place where you can make sure that the default patches for each track are what you want them to be. These are the patches that show up in the MIDI patch selection menu. This is under Options> Patch Maps> Favorites.


I know the first 2 screenshots I posted seem a little redundant and strange, but having it set up like this has worked well for me.
I do vaguely remember having issues with selecting patches with a setting of "Built-in DLS Synth" in the MIDI driver dialog window, but that was a long time ago.

Hopefully this helps you sort it out, otherwise there may be something else happening on your system and an email to PG support may be in order.

Good luck !

- Jay

Thanks, Jay...I have done all the above...I am still mystified. I did shoot a message off to tech support...

I keep thinking there is something I am missing...it is as if the output for all of the MIDI channels are going into a synth set to one voice.

As I said, though, I can just use plugins and be fine...I just am curious as to what is going on!

Steve

I want to wrap this up by saying that I, in a moment of desperation, I installed BIAB on my macbook air..it worked correctly...

I uninstalled, and reinstalled BIAB on my IMac...

It now works correctly...

I hope this helps someone else!