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Band-in-a-Box for Macintosh
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nonchai Offline OP
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How do I audition the sound of an instrument or plugin on a track when using an external MIDI Keyboard?

I have verified that I am getting MIDI into BIAB from my keyboard because I can see the MIDI when viewing the Guitar window.
Also I can record the MIDI onto a MELODY track.

So BIAB *sees* my MIDI keyboard MIDI data. But I just cannot find a way of hearing the sound of the note on the current instrument assigned to any track - whether built in, HQ or a plugin - when I play a note on my keyboard.

Clearly the MIDI is getting into BIAB onto the MELODY track - but i really want to be able to hear the sound the instrument or plugin synth etc when I play notes on the keyboard.

How do i do this ?


MacOS Sequoia, M4 Pro Mac Mini , 64GB RAM 512GB SSD ,
BIAB, Cubase, Ableton, Logic Pro, SCALER 3, GigLad, AnyTune, Synthesizer V Pro,Vienna Ensemble Pro, Audiofuse, Fractal FM3, KOMPLETE 15, StreamDeck, iReal Pro
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That's a tough one to try to address without more information about your setup. You might try clicking "Options", then "Select Midi Driver or Apple DLS Synth", then clicking the "Midi Drivers Help" button. If that doesn't help, come back and give us some more information about your setup (how is your midi keyboard attached to your computer, how is your sound output, etc.)

Bruce


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nonchai Offline OP
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I've used the CoreAudio option.

My main controller is a Complete Control 49 mk II but it doesnt matter. I also have two KORG micro key Air controllers. All are connected to a common USB hub and into my iMac.

But more to the point - ALL of these keyboards can send audio into Ableton and of course I get to audition th sound of any instrument assigned to a track, built in or otherwise.

In addition - BIAB is seeing the MIDI coming in - since it appears as flashing notes when i open the GUITAR window.

But none of the notes make any sound.

I can even record the notes into a MELODY midi track. And they play back the right instrument on playback.

But WHILE playing the notes INTO BIAB there is no sound.

I want to be able to specify a plugin instrument of the melody track - change presets etc if necessary and then audition this via my keyboard - and then be able to hear the notes being recorded into the MELODY track as I play them.

Last edited by nonchai; 06/27/18 03:41 AM.

MacOS Sequoia, M4 Pro Mac Mini , 64GB RAM 512GB SSD ,
BIAB, Cubase, Ableton, Logic Pro, SCALER 3, GigLad, AnyTune, Synthesizer V Pro,Vienna Ensemble Pro, Audiofuse, Fractal FM3, KOMPLETE 15, StreamDeck, iReal Pro
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review these settings

Attached Files (Click to download or enlarge) (Only available when you are logged in)
screenJPEG 2018-06-27 at 9.40.52 AM.jpg (116.2 KB, 53 downloads)

Mac Audiophile 2020 2019 2018 2017 USB plus previous years versions

macOS Mojave - 10.14.6 @ Aug 16, 2019

iMac i3 3.6 GHz 8GB RAM 4K with Retina display

some examples @ sound cloud done with Mac Band and DAW's : https://soundcloud.com/you/tracks
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Did you see Kent's reply in this thread

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=479407#Post479407

I think this will do the trick.


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nonchai Offline OP
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yes i did. And my BIAB **DOES** "see" my MIDI controller because I can record MIDI into the MELODY track.

However I cannot hear any notes being played as I play in my part. Only after playback.

So it is about AUDITIONING my incoming MIDI where a problem remains.

I also checked out the screenshot and tried to match settings in PREFERENCES 2 page as there

but to no avail.


MacOS Sequoia, M4 Pro Mac Mini , 64GB RAM 512GB SSD ,
BIAB, Cubase, Ableton, Logic Pro, SCALER 3, GigLad, AnyTune, Synthesizer V Pro,Vienna Ensemble Pro, Audiofuse, Fractal FM3, KOMPLETE 15, StreamDeck, iReal Pro
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nonchai Offline OP
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So by using the THRU track I can hear my incoming MIDI being played on the DLSMusicDevice piano for the thru track. - and by selecting the midi channel number I can redirect the MIDI to one of the BIAB tracks.

But this only seems to work for the built in DLSMusicDevice instruments.

Currently I have a pure MIDI style loaded - apart from the drums. And I can redirect incoming midi to the bass by setting the THRU to ch 2.

But I have a plugin on my MELODY channel ( SynthMaster One ) and when I try to redirect the THRU channel to the midi channel assigned to MELODY it doesnt play the plugin synth.

However - as i said - it records midi fine and plays it back on synth master.

Also - this seems a pretty naff way of directing incoming MIDI to an instrument on a tracks.

Surely - like in typical sequencers - simply by selecting the track - "ARMING" it.... one should be able to play whatever MIDI instrument is set up for a BIAB track, whether bass, guitar or melody.

what am i missing?


MacOS Sequoia, M4 Pro Mac Mini , 64GB RAM 512GB SSD ,
BIAB, Cubase, Ableton, Logic Pro, SCALER 3, GigLad, AnyTune, Synthesizer V Pro,Vienna Ensemble Pro, Audiofuse, Fractal FM3, KOMPLETE 15, StreamDeck, iReal Pro
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nonchai Offline OP
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aaaaaaaaand.....

Process: Band-in-a-Box [1517]
Path: /Volumes/VOLUME/*/Band-in-a-Box.app/Contents/MacOS/Band-in-a-Box
Identifier: com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box
Version: 2018.0.258 (2018.0.258)
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: ??? [1]
Responsible: Band-in-a-Box [1517]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2018-06-28 18:09:19.425 +0100
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.13.5 (17F77)
Report Version: 12
Anonymous UUID: 160DF0F9-388B-BB13-E196-465BDEB3CB4D


Time Awake Since Boot: 15000 seconds

System Integrity Protection: disabled

Crashed Thread: 7 com.apple.audio.IOThread.client

Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Termination Signal: Trace/BPT trap: 5
Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 0x5
Terminating Process: exc handler [0]

Thread 0:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x003b225c GRAPHICS_TCOLORTOFPCOLOR$LONGWORD$$TFPCOLOR + 108
1 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x003b2281 GRAPHICS_TCOLORTOFPCOLOR$TGRAPHICSCOLOR$$TFPCOLOR + 17
2 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x003bb117 GRAPHICS_TBRUSH_$__SETCOLOR$TGRAPHICSCOLOR + 23
3 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x005b5c92 UNITGFX_CANVASHORZGRADIENTRECT$TCANVAS$TGRAPHICSCOLOR$TGRAPHICSCOLOR$TRECT + 226
4 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x008ddef7 UNITBBMIXER_TBBMIXER_$__PAINT + 599
5 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x005179b4 CONTROLS_TCUSTOMCONTROL_$__PAINTWINDOW$HDC + 148
6 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x004ff99c CONTROLS_TWINCONTROL_$__PAINTHANDLER$TLMPAINT + 236
7 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x005036d0 CONTROLS_TWINCONTROL_$__WMPAINT$TLMPAINT + 128
8 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x0051790c CONTROLS_TCUSTOMCONTROL_$__WMPAINT$TLMPAINT + 60
9 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x00021466 SYSTEM_TOBJECT_$__DISPATCH$formal + 150
10 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x0050104c CONTROLS_TWINCONTROL_$__WNDPROC$TLMESSAGE + 844
11 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x0064cebd LCLMESSAGEGLUE_DELIVERMESSAGE$TOBJECT$formal$$LONGINT + 269
12 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x0064d65c LCLMESSAGEGLUE_LCLSENDPAINTMSG$TCONTROL$HDC$PPAINTSTRUCT$$LONGINT + 60
13 com.pgmusic.Band-in-a-Box 0x005d9438 CARBONPRIVATE_CARBONCOMMON_DRAW$EVENTHANDLERCALLREF$EVENTREF$TCARBONWIDGET$$LONGINT + 616
....
....

and so on yada yada.


I'm getting rather a lot of crashes actually in BIAB 2018.

Last edited by nonchai; 06/28/18 07:31 AM.

MacOS Sequoia, M4 Pro Mac Mini , 64GB RAM 512GB SSD ,
BIAB, Cubase, Ableton, Logic Pro, SCALER 3, GigLad, AnyTune, Synthesizer V Pro,Vienna Ensemble Pro, Audiofuse, Fractal FM3, KOMPLETE 15, StreamDeck, iReal Pro
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Hi Nonchai,

It's important to remember that Band-in-a-Box isn't a DAW, so if you expect it to behave like one, you're going to be disappointed.

The only track that can be played with your keyboard is the Thru track. If you put a plugin on your Melody track, you will not hear that plugin when you play on the keyboard. You can use the keyboard to record notes onto the Melody track, and you'll hear the plugin on playback, but what you hear during recording is what's on the Thru track.

Have you tried assigning Synthmaster to the Thru track? That's the only way to do what you've described.

Thanks
Kent
PG Music

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nonchai Offline OP
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Of course BIAB isn't a DAW - but now that we have a decent piano-roll MIDI editor and have - for a long time had the ability to record MIDI melodies etc onto the MELODY track - this clearly gives composers and such a means for improvising and entering music into BIAB and then editing it.

It is such an obvious feature - and clearly missing currently - to be simply able to hear what one is recording into a BIAB melody part that such a response from you betrays a slightly arrogant attitude towards your users.


MacOS Sequoia, M4 Pro Mac Mini , 64GB RAM 512GB SSD ,
BIAB, Cubase, Ableton, Logic Pro, SCALER 3, GigLad, AnyTune, Synthesizer V Pro,Vienna Ensemble Pro, Audiofuse, Fractal FM3, KOMPLETE 15, StreamDeck, iReal Pro
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