Is there a way to make this work together?
I guess I am looking for advice on how best to use my rig with Reaper. I am not exactly a newbie but I'm no pro when it comes to MIDI ... that's what's getting be down right now.
Here's the situation. I have the following equipment to get to work together:
1. WinXP PC
- M-Audio Delta 1010
- Echo Mia
- M-Audio Midisport 2x2 USB midi
- Reaper latest version
- GigaStudio 3.12 (3.21 crashes instantly)
- many sound libraries I love on GigaStudio and can't live without
- other apps I use like Ableton Live, Acid, etc.
2. Alesis Fusion 6HD synth/kb also has a sequencer in it (as well as a hard disk recorder ... amazing little thing)
3. AKAI MPD16 drum/pad controller (connected with USB)
So, the PC shows up with two sound cards (Mia and the D1010), three MIDI interfaces (MPD16, D1010, and the 2x2).
Here's what I want to do. I want to use Reaper as the sequencer to control GigaStudio, the Fusion, some VSTi's and also record audio tracks and mix everything in the box. I need to use the Fusion as a keyboard controller for everything (GS3, VSTi's and also its own internal synth). And I need to use the MPD16 as a controller mostly for the Fusion and GS3. I need this to all work with very low latency (it plays VSTi with no noticeable latency and of course GS3 has nonexistent latency).
This is giving me fits, but I'm really not up on all this newfangled MIDI stuff. The last time I seriously used MIDI equipment was about 1993 and you know, back then the idea of using more than one application on a computer with MIDI was a pipe dream, and you never actually used a computer to generate sound in real time.
So does anyone have any suggestions on how to set it all up? Is there some kind of tutorial somewhere on MIDI routing for all of this?
Here's how I am currently (without much success and with major headaches) trying to make it work:
- not using the MIA card. I have both GS3 and Reaper set up to use the Delta1010. Either app by itself works great. Working together, they play ok but I get note doubling with Rewire in Reaper (so it is "phasey"), and when I play it back there's a ton of latency on the Reaper sequencer tracks that are being sent to GS3. Depending on routing settings for the sequencer tracks (which have sends going to the Rewire track), sometimes I get it echoing on all channels... so like if I have a drum sample on channel 2 and a piano on channel 1 in GS3, then when I play the drum controller it plays piano notes as well as the drums. I have not tried to actually send MIDI to the Fusion, just using it as a controller so far but I need to get it working with its internal sounds too. The Fusion is connected to the 2x2 MIDI interface on channel "A" and the MPD16 shows up as a separate interface. When I connect MIDI to the Delta 1010 it causes some noise. On GS3 I have to set these on the two different MIDI sets so the 2x2 card (Fusion controller) is set to "GigaStudio 1 (control)" and the MPD16 is "GigaStudio 2" at least in GigaStudio.
the alternative might be to just run these as totally separate apps and forget about Rewire, which can work since I have two sound cards. But this is a PITA as you know.
I am sorry if I sound so confused... well I guess I am. I've been scratching my head over this for over a week now and still can't see real clearly how it's all supposed to work. Any suggestions?
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