First, the above exhausted my Kontakt "expertise." I use Kontakt, and Sampletank, and Dim Pro, and Rapture pro, and most of the rest but I don’t get into the bowels with key switches, layering, etc. I MAINLY use external HW synths because I have a set of "go to" sounds spread across many HW synths and HW is a whole lot less finky and FASTER to use!

Having said that, I have a few general suggestions:

I am assuming you are on Windows ; if on Mac can't help and ignore this.

1. These are just some places to get some info and FREE utilities that will make you life a lot easier doing what you are trying to do. Go to here

http://bandinabox.wikia.com/wiki/Accessing_Multiple_Midi_Ports

and read this article and go get both MIDI Ox & MIDI Yoke and MidiRedirector

http://www.midiox.com/

[Note that MIDI YOKE will install in Win 7 64 but it is ONLY seen in 32 bit apps like BIAB, Sampletank 2.5, Mixcraft 7 (32), etc. it is NOT seen in SampleTank 3 or Kontakt.exe 5 (both 64 bit apps). Separate from MIDI Yoke, MIDI OX will come in handy so get them both].

MidiRedirector (link is on that wikia page) - at some point you will use it.

There is another free (as long as not used for commercial use) great utility Loopebe1

http://www.nerds.de/en/loopbe1.html

I also use and can recommend Loopbe30 (but it's NOT free but allows way more connections then I have ever used). One of these days I might even play with their LoopBeAudio.

2. Before I suggest "how to" what is your AUDIO device and DOES IT have a native and usable/working ASIO driver? I really recommend giving your native audio HW ASIO driver a try before just using ASIO4ALL (it works and I have used ASIO4ALL but now I mainly use only my M-Audio FW 410 ASIO driver.)

3. Info point - if you didn't already know this: ASIO can ONLY be used by one program at a time.

See

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=237170

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb06/articles/pcmusician.htm

However this appears to be an anomaly for me on my machine: because looking at this "how to" to answer your question I discovered on MY PC MACHINE (Win 7 64 with Realtek audio chip) with MY ASIO drivers (M- Audio FW ASIO driver AND ASIO4ALL v2) that I seem to be violating the above premise (that is that only one program at a time can use ASIO).

I can play BIAB using either my FW ASIO or ASIO4ALL and as long as I run Kontakt, Sampletank 2, Sampletank 3, etc. (the standalone versions of these softsynths) with the OTHER ASIO driver I can play songs in BIAB and play along with a separate standalone softsynth. I just discovered this - I've never really tried this because I didn’t need to, didn't want to, and besides I thought it wasn't going to work!


Be nice if one of the TRUE ASIO experts here would explain how that's possible.

NOTE, I CANNOT use the SAME ASIO driver on each (BIAB and external softsynth) simultaneously, however.

Only reason I bring up MY possible "quirk" is because THIS might WORK for you (but I don’t think it is suppose to) if you can run both your HW ASIO driver and ASIO4ALL - then your life gets real easy:

1) set up BIAB on one ASIO, and

2) set up the standalone Kontakt to use the other ASIO driver and have Kontakt look to your MIDI IN port (whatever that is) in my case it's my MIDI Sport A or B or my iRig Keys or…).

Back to probably reality (i.e., only one app can use the audio "ASIO" at a time)

If only one app can use ASIO then, if you are playing BIAB and USING ASIO and you also want to play some standalone/separate instantiation of a softsynth (i.e., the standalone Kontakt.exe) at the same time then you will either have to use MME, or other higher latency driver, in EITHER BIAB or in your additional external standalone softsynth (e.g., Kontakt.exe). Which means one or the other may very have a very large audible lag relative to your keyboard playing!

Even if you luck out and can use HW ASIO with one and ASIO4ALL with the other - I assume you want to RECORD the MIDI you PLAYED into that separate softsynth?

If you played along in BIAB (via thru channel into either the Melody or Soloist track - (BTW - those are the only two tracks in BIAB you can record MIDI on) you could easily record your MIDI data and have it be part of the song.

If not via BIAB then you need to route your Kontakt MIDI OUT to some other application that records MIDI data in real time but then you will have to figure out and hassle with how to MERGE all the BIAB and "elsewhere recorded" MIDI data into one song (either as all MIDI or audio). If that is your ultimate goal (record what you play along with in real time) I suggest learning how to do it in BIAB or RB.

Good Luck
Larry



Last edited by Larry Kehl; 05/30/15 12:11 PM.
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