PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows Putting my own bass (or any other instrument) part in BIAB or Realband songs

First sorry for putting this all in a PM ignore that.

Also my apologies for format I seem to have lost all formatting ability in my posts - so all intents, etc. are gone, as are indented numbered paragraphs with sub-paragraphs so this reads like a long list

Second, I FULLY concur with Mountainside, stick to it - it will pay off and you'll be glad you dug under the hood a little. However, maybe little more methodical approach might be needed for you initial troubleshooting. A lot of experienced folks here with a lot of great ideas, but all are coming at you like a fire hose and from different directions.

Report back where the below works and where it fails! And if you get to last part then the BIAB help floodgates will open.

I'd start at the beginning: with the MIDI I/O, without worrying about BIAB, RB, or KORG M50, to make sure MIDI data is actually making into the laptop.

1. What is your operating system (not sure I saw that above) Win XP? Win 7? Win 8? So we know, then we can tell you where in the WINDOWS system to look to see if the MIDI device (the E-Mu cable) is even being seen. Knowing the OS also helps us focus's help to you - it makes help specific to your situation.

2. Now let's check to see if the PC (laptop) even SEES the MIDI device (the E-Mu cable). This removes the complexity of BIAB and RB from adding to any confusion. If the cable is plugged into your laptop, even if M50 is not connected or turned on - the MIDI device (your EMU cable) should show up in the "Control Panel" -> "Device Manager" under the heading:

For Win 7 "Sound, Video and Game devices" (Win 8 probably says same thing)

For Win XP it would be "Sound, Video and Game controllers"

In any case, if you expand that list of devices for WIN 7 you should see either something that says E-MU or maybe a generic "USB MIDI" etc. device but word MIDI will be probably be visible on one of those lines.

I just tried a generic USB to MIDI cable on my WIN XP laptop and there it was called "USB Audio Device" but when I open properties for it - it shows as a MIDI item.

Does the MIDI device show up? - if yes great! you are done with this part.

If not you MIGHT need to install a driver for that Emu cable, which SHOULD have come with cable but there are other places to get that driver like

http://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=237&CatName=E-MU+/+Creative+Professional&prodID=19089&prodName=Xmidi+1x1+Tab

3. Once you know that the OS sees the MIDI Input/output (I/O) device. Then we need check to see if ANY MIDI data is flowing to your laptop from the Korg M50 - at this step we don’t care which MIDI channel(s) or what sounds are set on KORG OR BIAB. The easiest way is with a simple MIDI monitor but since you have BIAB already installed let's try a built in BIAB utility FIRST.

a. Make sure cable is connected to USB port on laptop (and that BIAB is NOT running) .

b. As others explained - connect the Korg MIDI OUT to the EMU cables "MIDI in;" then the Korg's MIDI IN is connect to the cables MIDI out. Now urn Korg on.

c. Start BIAB, don’t worry about songs, or styles or parts or tracks simply look at top of screen about the middle there is a picture of a MIDI cable connection/plug and a label says "MIDI" (the MIDI icon is right under word "Audio" and almost exactly in the center of the screen on top).

1) Click on it and select the "MIDI/Audio driver setup." Over in the window that just popped-up you'll see, on the left, a section called " MIDI Input Driver." Select as the MIDI input WHATEVER your MIDI device was called above when you looked to see if Windows OS saw it. Click OK and close that window - don't worry about selecting a MIDI output or any synths (yet!)

2) next click on the MIDI Icon again and this time select "MIDI Monitor." A new window pops up and now we'll see if data is getting into PC and on what Channel(s) ("what channel" is an untrue statement but don't worry about that right now)

--- Now hit a few keys on your Korg you SHOULD see information in that new window - if you DO NOT SEE data scrolling in that monitor window - while you hit keys on Korg then:

a). the KORG is not set properly to send MIDI data, or

b). your USB-MIDI cable doesn’t work properly and may need to have a driver installed, or
c). you need a new/different MIDI I/O cable or dedicated MIDI I/O unit

--- IF YOU DO HAVE DATA in that MIDI window - GREAT! and the Channel number listed in the "Chan" column is probably "$05" if everything is set to default. (the $ is there because it is hexadecimal number)

From here on we CAN help you set up BIAB to do what you want.

Good Luck
Larry

There you go Zeke, a step by step process all in Larry's post above. Follow his process steps and you find joy at the end.

Jeff

Zeke will find something at end - the Zen of MIDI?

From Help, Audio Preferences:

Enable Input Monitoring (ASIO Only) – When this checkbox is enabled (and ASIO is selected in the Driver Type combo) then RealBand will take the ASIO input signal from input port number 1 and send it to output 1 so that you will hear the input through the speakers. You can apply real time effects to the monitored input by selected "Input" in the top combo box of the DirectX/VST Real Time Effects dialog. You can then select up to 4 DirectX or VST effects.

WARNING! - Do not enable this feature if the input port number 1 is set to record the output (e.g. "What you hear" or "Mix" )because enabling input monitoring in this case will cause massive feedback that could hurt your ears!

Allow IM Effects Recording – When this is enabled, and Input Monitoring is enabled, and effects plug-ins are enabled for input monitoring (as described above), the effected signal will be recorded instead of the dry signal.

This is an example btw of why Help needs some help. Simply writing "input monitoring" in Search does not link to what I just pasted in. All it does is link to Audio Preferences. That's ok but the search should be more specific than that.

Zeke, your Korg is a Midi Driver. From the online manual:

8 Setting up the M50 Plug-In Editor

If you want to use the M50 Editor with the M50 connected to your computer via USB, you must make sure that you have finished installing and setting-up the KORG USB-MIDI Driver before you start up the M50 Editor.

Install it to your computer and it should show up in Biab's midi devices. And, just a quick aside, we're all willing to help but please do some basic Google searches on stuff like this. It took me all of 10 seconds to type out "korg m50 usb" and the midi driver reference popped right up.

It's still possible this driver won't install for a variety of reasons but at least you know there is a midi driver. In my Google list there's another hit from Korg support explaining how to install it. You can go to their website and search for the correct driver for your OS and that's always a good idea anyway because they may have posted a newer driver than the one that came with your keyboard.

Bob

Thanks Bob... I will look into that since I do use ASIO.

I thought there would or should be a way to monitor in real time.... I looked around in the help but didn't see anything in what appeared to be the obvious places to look.... I must have used the wrong key words in my searching.

Larry, at the end of the experiment it appears that the BIAB and Korg shared some communication. It said ($9x) instead of ($05) Do you think everything is O.K.?

I've done everything that was explained and extablished that the Korg IS communicating with the BIAB. After several days though, I can't figure out how to actually do the recording.

Why not load up the project in RealBand and record your own tracks to your hearts content?

First, what gwp99 said.

BIAB is NOT the place to learn how to do MIDI recording, sorry. I will get hate mail here from long time BIAB users on that one (and I count myself one of the longest, as well as OLDEST, users back to DOS but not quit back to it's ATARI roots - I never had an ATARI I had an home built Altair ).

I love BIAB but it really is not the place to start leaning /RECORDING MIDI. RealBand, since it came with BIAB anyway, is much better place to start: it can be set up as a basic MIDI sequencer and you can learn all the ins and outs of MIDI, channels, parts, etc. there. I don;t even record into it (usually).

Since you SEEM very new to MIDI in general, no offense, you really should do some basic reading like:

http://tweakheadz.com/how-to-get-started-with-midi-and-the-difference-between-midi-and-audio-is-explained-along-with-many-other-core-concepts-for-building-a-home-recording-studio/

http://www.midi.org/aboutmidi/intromidi.pdf

FWIW: the MID channel "$09" (and I am making a BIG assumption here that you are looking at the BIAB MIDI monitor as I explained it above) simply means that BIAB has its thru channel set to channel 9 (hex 09 = decimal 09) or that your Korg is transmitting on channel 9 or both. No biggie but since the "default" Thru is Channel 5 within BAIB if it was changed did you change it?

Finally, I wasn't going to revisit this topic at all since, Jazzmammal covered it more quickly when he noticed you had a USB connection on that Korg unit; hence, he assumed you were using the KORG'S USB connection (which DOES require driver installation from Korg as he explained- succulently) and as long as it finally worked no reason for any of us to revisit this topic. And you didn't post back after a day or two.

I assumed, without even checking to see if your Korg had a USB connection, that you were using the old fashioned 5-pin DIN MIDI connections ( because you bought an additional USB to MIDI cable). Although even a basic 5-pin MIDI cable still requires Windows having some MIDI I/O interface/device installed (as explained) that you plug that cable into. However, it does beg the question why did you buy a "USB to MIDI" cable solution if you already had a unit with built-in USB MIDI capability?

But immaterial whichever one you are using two 5 PIN cables or one USB cable - if the unit finally has "comms" with PC it's time to do some basic homework.

The whole Korg "is or is not a driver," "does or does not have a diver," etc. was a rabbit hole and semantics (depends on how you approached connecting unit to PC). I have multiple HW units some with USB, LAN, one with FW, but bulk have only 5-pin MIDI connections. However, I connect all of them exclusively using 5-pin DIN MIDI cables via multiple MIDI "mixer" patch bays (to/from each other and to/from PC and laptop).

Larry

Ahhhhh! YES! RealBand is definitely the way to go!

Welcome home!

There you go....or as I like to say: when you purchase RealBand you get a copy of BIAB free!

I like that one MountainSide, I may 'borrow' it ..