As much as I have used MIDI in performance over the years, and my rig in the Motown band was AMAZING to see in action, when I sit at a computer I am a total MIDIot. I know some controller numbers, but I know nothing about SYSex, or the WHY and WHEREFORE of how plugins actually work. I get that you assign a synth to a track and control the synth from a controller, but the HOW it works behind the obvious "you transmit note numbers and velocities to the synth" levels there has to be more. I struggle to get VSTs to work and don't know why a VST and a VSTi are not the same thing. Like Cakewalk's TSS-1 as an example (in Real Band). I can copy it from one computer to another, search for it on the new computer, but unless Cakewalk is installed I can't detect it or load it into RB. And there's when the WHY questions start. It's a file names TSS-1.dll like every other VST instrument I have, yet I can't make it work without the laborious and space eating installation of Cakewalk on a just freshly wiped computer that now runs Win 11, a program that I don't really want and won't use. Yet I may have to install Cakewalk to use TSS-1, which is a really handy synth. I don't even know what to copy from the old computer (downstairs) to the new installation (upstairs).
I feel like I did when I was 4 and sat down at a piano for the first time. Totally new world to me and I am lost. I am sure there are things about MIDI that I don't even need to know, but I don't understand why VSTs don't just work. very video I find is DAW specific. How to use TSS-1 on FL Studio. How to use it on Reaper. How to use it on Cakewalk. I just want to use it on Real Band. (Wiping my computer to put Win 11 on it also erased Pro Tools but as little as I used it, I won't even reload it.)
All I want to do is keep my VSTs in a folder called "64bit VST" and have them work.
Eddie, the TTS-1 is part of Cakewalk and can not be used with installing Cakewalk. This is the answer one gets when they ask the question can I use TTS-1 without installing Cakewalk "No, the plug-in is not available separately. It is a DXi so is not scanned by the VST scanner. It is registered during installation with the Windows program regsvr32.exe The default install path is C:Program FilesCakewalkShared DXiTTS-1"
DXis are old technology that must be registered with a host program, that is they can not be registered alone. VSTis can be registered alone without a host program.
VSTs are effect plug-ins like compressors, delays, reverbs, etc. VSTis are instrument plug-ins like horns, violins, drums, etc. Many times they are used incorrectly.
I hope this helps.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
If you have access to one of the older Cakewalk versions such as Music Creator, you can install those and get TTS.
Personally, I only use MIDI when I connect my keyboard to play a part, either piano or bass. I'm like you in that I never learned nor had a desire to learn all the controller stuff. One of my keyboards has touch sensitivity so I can get that by using that particular keyboard however, for most things, it really doesn't matter since I can control volumes with envelopes. I use mostly audio in the real tracks or live audio and rarely use MIDI unless as I previously mentioned.
I do know you have to tell your program where the VSTi TTS is located. And you need to scan the correct directory in Cake otherwise it will not find it.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
VStSynthFont64 has been my Defualt Synth in BIAB. Has been for years. The old version 3.201 was given away free with BIAB. I am betting the install is buried on your HD. There is a newer version $$ but I never reallly needed a reason to purchase it.
No you're not. MIDI was never intended for normal human beings to understand. It's a protocol for musical machines and it was originally devised when data rates were slow and latency was important. It still has a lot of baggage from those days. There is absolutely no shame in finding MIDI hard to understand. You are a very long way from alone!
I have a slightly different interpretation from Mario's about VST vs VSTi.
VST is any plugin that conforms to Steinberg's VST standards. It can be an instrument, an effect, an oscilloscope or similar, or possibly some combination of several.
VSTi is just a handy way to quickly say "this is a VST instrument".
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
I just checked and my head is spinning at 3482 rpm’s. You guys are amazing. I can apply a VSTi to a BiaB MST and that’s it
J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
I have no idea. I know GM is General MIDI but I think mine may only have Lieutenant MIDI.
Aren't the sounds in ANY synthesizer GM? As I sit here I have an M-Audio Keystation 61 MK3 connected to an MX8 MIDI thru box which is in turn outputted to 6 synth modules in a rack and that to another MX8 MIDI through box, which is in turn connected to my Nord Electro 4, the Ensoniq ESQ-1, the Ensoniq EPS 16+ and the Korg Krome. (And 2 drum machines.) All of that works well, as I have a 12 channel mixer and I can mix the synth sounds that way when playing live. It's the interfacing with VSTi that have thrown me for a loop. (See what I did there?)
BUT... I just finished installing Sonar 64 bit, and just before I replied to this thread I tested and can now use the TSS-1 in a Real Band song.
In other news, Windows 11 has not caused ONE problem as far as operation, and I have updated 5 of my 6 computers. Relearning some things, yeah. Like locating things that are not where they used to be, but I am fine with that. So with the guitars all hung by the chimney with care,
and the rack complete,
I am calling this room done. All that I need now is an idea to write something about! I should neaten up the wiring, which is an amazing feat of engineering in itself, but I can do that any time. I still need to do something about the lighting in here, but that will have to wait for a while as I pay for other stuff I have done or bought in the last few months.
I'm often surprised people think they need a GM VSTi when they have hardware ones. Sure 'rendering' is easier, but the sound quality and control is often better from a hardware synth. Convenience vs. Quality is always an individual choice and varies by user.
I'm pretty sure the TTS-1 uses an older Roland SC sound set at its base, so newer *anything with a GM sound set will at least challenge it and likely sound better for a lot of the sounds.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
I have used that Krome blending the horn section with the EPS sampler's horn section to be the supporting horns in that Southside Johnny band I was in. I pretty much WAS the horn section. With the live horns standing out front, but mixed WAY back out in front, nobody knew the horn sounds were 90% from me and 10% from them. I may now spring for a Korg Nautilus, the board that replaced the Kronos. One I spent time with it and learned how to make the sound layers it turned out to be a great sounding board. And I just made a "Combi" for every song I played that was not on the Combi I called "Base" so to move from song to song was just a matter of rolling the jog wheel to the right song name. I think I had 9 Combi setups. No more remembering what sounds I needed for each song. I had a similar experience in the Motown band but that was done inside the MX8 MIDI patch bay and that thing required a PhD in electronics to program!! Because on the ESQ-1 keyboard, internal banks are 10 sounds each, so bank 3 sound 4 was the 34th patch. but no no no, because MIDI (correctly) runs from 0-9 it was sound 33. Yet on a board with 8 sounds per bank, where I would normally think of bank 7/patch 2 as 72, that sound is patch 50. And that box stored the master/slave configuration, so controller 2 had to run to sound source 1,2,3,4,5 or 6. It was a nightmare to get used to, but I had 17 setups for the 3 boards and 3 rack modules. I had (still have) a program transmitting keypad set to channel 16, so when I wanted setup 7, I input the 7 key and then enter and it changed everything. BUT... 2 of those sound sources were samplers using floppy discs so I had to make sure I had the right disc in them before pressing enter.
I wouldn't count on the GM sound set being *that much better on a newer Korg, as GM has been pretty stagnant, but as I said, it may be better than the TTS-1 in many settings. Worst case you now have a couple GM synths to choose from <grin> Maybe the piano on one of the synths sounds better than the other on song A but not song B, etc
Image shows how to send this message from inside RB if needed
Last edited by rharv; 09/16/2201:07 PM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
General MIDI, +++ GM +++, is a standardized list of 128 instrument patches and sound effects. The goal of the list is to make sure when you call instrument patch # 33 the GM compatible synth loads an acoustic bass instrument patch.
Before the list was adopted every synth module instrument patch list was defined by the synth manufacturer. This led to issues where the wrong instrument sound would get loaded when patch changes were made during a performance.
General MIDI 2, GM2, raises the number of standard instrument patch and sound effect names to 256.
Both Roland and Yamaha have additional naming standards, GS and XG respectively.
+++ HERE +++ is a pretty good comparison of the various MIDI patch name conventions.
To answer your question: Aren't the sounds in ANY synthesizer GM? As far as I know every hardware synth has a GM set.
Most if not all also have a large number of "better" sounds. I put better in quotes because I guess it is in the ear of the listener, isn't it? Anyway, GM is fine for working on things, but usually you want something that sounds much better, in my opinion. Those sounds are all available and accessible on hardware synths, you just have to use the documentation to know how to tell whatever program you are using how to find them. Patch maps are very useful in BIAB and Real Band. There are many already created for most of the major synths, and you can find most anything you need with a quick internet search. These ease the process of selecting something other than a GM sound for a particular part when using BIAB or Real Band.
See, clear as mud.
My wife asked if I had seen the dog bowl. I told her I didn't even know he could.
To answer your question: Aren't the sounds in ANY synthesizer GM? As far as I know every hardware synth has a GM set.
I think that's true, but in the case of my Kawai MP6, if I want the GM set mapped normally I have to change the configuration, as it defaults to a different mapping.
I'm fairly my Korg M50 also does something similar, though I rarely use it for anything.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
So far, I've avoided the plug-in synth thing entirely.
I have good ol' hardware synths. A couple of the older ones have been working since Windows 3.1 and Mac OS6 (System 6).
They do not need new drivers or anything when Windows upgrades, they still work when Apple abandons everything old, they all have about 5ms latency (none for all practical purposes), I can mix and match sounds from the different modules, and they don't tax the CPU of my computer.
I have many thousands of sounds to choose from, and they are ultra reliable.
I see no reason to switch to soft synths right now. Perhaps in the future? Time will tell.
To answer your question: Aren't the sounds in ANY synthesizer GM? As far as I know every hardware synth has a GM set.
Not true in the least.
Byron Dickens
BIAB. CbB. Mixbus 32C 8 HP Envy. Intel core i7. 16GB RAM W10. Focusrite Scarlett 18i 20. Various instruments played with varying degrees of proficiency.
This isn't even true in Biab. There are some differences between the Cyote Wavetable sounds, and the Roland TTS (which I think sounds better. Probably people who can add more explicit detail can continue this conversation.
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
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Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
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