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Do I need a MIDI Cable?


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Hi everyone!

I just got a E-MU XBoard 49 along with the soundcard E-MU 1212M. (Thanks to Yoozer actually, I decided to get them because of him)

Now, the XBoard 49 came with a USB cord, and that's it. I can connect it to the PC, and everything works fine. But now I'm wondering if I need some kind of cord that connects the board to the soundcard (the XBoard has a MIDI Out socket, and the soundcard has a MIDI In), because it seems to me that the soundcard isn't doing anything.

According to Yoozer in a previous thread that I can't find anymore, with the equipment that I have, even a MIDI controller like XBoard 49 can have a latency as low as 8 ms, almost like a hardware synthed keyboard. I'm not sure if that's what I'm getting, but I can definitely feel a delay.

All I need is a standard 5-pin DIN to 5-pin DIN to connect the keyboard to the soundcard. Then I can use the "thru" setting to send raw signals to the soundcard and use the soundcard as the MIDI Input on my sequencer, right?

So do I need the cable or not? Please correct me if I've said anything wrong, I'm a newbie ;)

Thanks in advance!

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Everyone needs at least 10 midi cables of varying lengths.

But MIDI cables are expensive and you don't actually need one so far. Is this delay very bad? You can adjust how much you need in whatever software you're using. MIDI Through is if you have 3 or midi-capable hardware devices and you need to daisy-chain them together. This is a function you don't need if it's just a midi controller for your DAW.

Your midi controller can go down to like 1 ms latency, but that depends on your computer and if you have really nice sound hardware. Set it too low and you get ugly noise and underruns and that's not good ;o! So first before you do anything else, adjust the latency in your DAW and see what happens. It should fix your problem. USB is actually like, thousands of times faster than DIN5, and that's why a lot of hardware is offering USB now, so you can send more data, and much faster.

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I just got a E-MU XBoard 49 along with the soundcard E-MU 1212M. (Thanks to Yoozer actually, I decided to get them because of him)

Aww shucks :)

Now, the XBoard 49 came with a USB cord, and that's it. I can connect it to the PC, and everything works fine. But now I'm wondering if I need some kind of cord that connects the board to the soundcard (the XBoard has a MIDI Out socket, and the soundcard has a MIDI In), because it seems to me that the soundcard isn't doing anything.

The USB cord is the only thing you need.

even a MIDI controller like XBoard 49 can have a latency as low as 8 ms, almost like a hardware synthed keyboard. I'm not sure if that's what I'm getting, but I can definitely feel a delay.

What did you use as a software sequencer again? In Windows, Start > Control Panel > Sounds & Audio Devices, in the "Volume" tab, it should say "E-DSP Wave 9400". On the "Audio" tab, Sound Playback/Sound Recording should both have E-DSP Wave 9400.

In your sequencer (FL Studio, Ableton, Cubase, Sonar, whatever), in the menu where you can configure MIDI and or Audio, it should also say E-DSP Wave 9400. If it says "AC97" or something you still are using your onboard soundcard.

Remember, latency as you hear it is due to the soundcard's drivers, never to the controller. MIDI only has a bandwidth of a 33.6k modem; USB with its 11 MEGABITS per second is a gazillion times faster than that.

If the goggles, err.. the card seems to do nothing; make sure it's the card that's actually used in the settings. Audio cards do not "accelerate" like older 3d graphics cards do.

But MIDI cables are expensive

what

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What did you use as a software sequencer again? In Windows, Start > Control Panel > Sounds & Audio Devices, in the "Volume" tab, it should say "E-DSP Wave 9400". On the "Audio" tab, Sound Playback/Sound Recording should both have E-DSP Wave 9400.

It's E-DSP Wave [DCC0] for the Volume tab and also both the Playback and the Sound Recording. Also on the system tray there's the icon with the three blue stripes. If I disable that I get no sounds, so I'm guessing that the soundcard is being used.

In your sequencer (FL Studio, Ableton, Cubase, Sonar, whatever), in the menu where you can configure MIDI and or Audio, it should also say E-DSP Wave 9400. If it says "AC97" or something you still are using your onboard soundcard.

I use Sonar and it also says E-DSP Wave [DCC0].

If the goggles, err.. the card seems to do nothing; make sure it's the card that's actually used in the settings. Audio cards do not "accelerate" like older 3d graphics cards do.

What? I don't really understand this. So you're saying that there's supposed to be a delay?

Your midi controller can go down to like 1 ms latency, but that depends on your computer and if you have really nice sound hardware. Set it too low and you get ugly noise and underruns and that's not good ;o! So first before you do anything else, adjust the latency in your DAW and see what happens. It should fix your problem.

What's DAW? Are you talking about Sonar? How do I turn down the latency then?

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I forgot how to adjust latency in Sonar, look in the help file.

I searched for latency in the help files and only found out how to adjust the mixing latency. After setting it to the lowest number possible the delay of the controller doesn't change. Guess it's something else.

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I got it ;)

I restarted Sonar and everything is fine now, thanks guys...

Now the real challenge comes... Where do I go from here? I have only a MIDI controller and a soundcard. I guess I need some good VSTs.

I have lots of other questions as well. If you have the time to help please add me. My MSN is theNOSPAModorepan AT hotmail.com (take away NOSPAM).

Thanks guys!

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If you have more questions, by all means, post 'm here - that way everyone (of which some people might have similar questions) can see the answers :).

For VSTs, start here:

http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php

Pick the free ones that have the highest rating, avoid the SynthEdit stuff for now. Also, install Proteus LE that's on the E-mu CD (you should actually have it twice, once for the soundcard, once for the controller :D ) - pretty huge sample library for you to get rolling with.

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Thanks guys!

So the VSTs are basically premade sounds

No.

They're great but if want to make my own sounds or change some of the sounds from VSTs, what do I need?

Turn the knobs on the screen. It's as simple as that :).

If you want to use your own (recorded) sounds, you're going to need a (VST) sampler. You record the sound you want to use with a wave-editor (like Wavelab, Soundforge or Audacity), save it as a .wav file and tell the sampler to open it. Then, you can play it; depending on the type of sampler, it'll be "stretched" along the keyboard or be put under just one single key so you can build a drum kit (with each key playing a different sample).

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If you want to use your own (recorded) sounds, you're going to need a (VST) sampler. You record the sound you want to use with a wave-editor (like Wavelab, Soundforge or Audacity), save it as a .wav file and tell the sampler to open it. Then, you can play it; depending on the type of sampler, it'll be "stretched" along the keyboard or be put under just one single key so you can build a drum kit (with each key playing a different sample).

What exactly is a sampler and how do I use it?

I emailed zircon yesterday and he said I should get soundfonts. I went here and got the sfz to load the soundfonts, but when I load them onto Sonar, it doesn't work. There's nothing under the banks of the VST.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampler_%28musical_instrument%29 - but that link sucks because it doesn't really explain things.

A soundfont is a collection of samples. RGC sfz is a Soundfont player. Presto, you're already using 2/3rds of the functions of a sampler. The remaining part is when you record those sounds yourself and load 'm up to be used in there.

Can you get the other VST plugins to work in Sonar?

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