Sweeper

Nice. What RPG are you making this for?

Ah! Now I see. The disconnect (for me) was not knowing the difference between a VSTi, which I take it that means it's an input or file that does the actual translating of the midi file, and the rest of the VST plugins, which alter the output of the tone, (Or close enough to get me working now). Thanks all, you've all been a big help

What do you mean?

Nice. What is that, C major? (been practicing on scale recognition)

OK, I can get sound coming through my interface with the FX chains and the virtual keyboard. What I still haven't been able to figure out is how to get pre-made midi tracks to play through it. I use Finale Notepad a lot when messing with ideas and I can save the files to midi. I know I can drag and drop the file right onto Reaper and it will load up and play through MS GS Synth. But how can I direct Reaper to play the file through the Interface using the FX chain and the like? I recently found that there are alternatives to MS GS Synth, but I haven't found out how to use them and direct to the interface; the one I tried, Cool synth, isn't working properly. I don't a hardware synth like a keyboard yet so I'm stuck with a software solution at this time.

Well, that takes care of question #5 But how to I tell my software send the audio output to my Interface and not my on-board sound? W7 doesn't have the option to adjust midi playback like XP did, so I'm having a helluva time, here.

I finally bought an audio interface and have been trying to set up the software correctly. My Lexicon Alpha came with Cubase LE, but I'm looking at Reaper based on it's tutorial and the fact that I can actually play midis through the default MS Synth at least on my onboard soundcard-had no luck getting play back to work under cubase- but not my audio interface. So the following questions are based on using a Lexicon Alpha, (latest ASIO drivers) with Reaper x64. Here are my questions: 1) Does Reaper come with it's own Synthesizer software? If so, how to I access it? 2) If not, what are my options as far as software synths go? The only MIDI device I currently own is the drum machine on my Kit, but it only has an output. So, what would be a good choices? 3) How do I set up a synth in Reaper? I see links galore for VST plug-ins and patches, but not much on how to use them with a synth. 4) How do I get Reaper to play the midi files through the synth and out through my interface? 5) Are any of these questions the right questions to ask? Thanks in advance.

*wrong forum*

Hey, all. Been a fan of OCremix since it showed up in Game Informer several years back. I'm a beginning amateur musician who's long term goal is music composition. My favorite class of instrument are strings (Guitar, Violin/Mandolin) and I know some of the basics of Piano and Drums. I finally decided to learn how to build and use a DAW and I'm piecing together the basics, starting with a Lexicon Alpha I picked-up on sale. I've been learning how to use finale notepad and plan on using it as my primary means of writing music. What I'm still trying to figure out is the various software options available to me, not to mention figuring how to get midi files to play on the DAW software (I'm looking at both CuBase 5LE which case with the Alpha, and Reaper). Here's to hoping I can figure this stuff out.