Problems With Edirol PCR-800 MIDI Controller

[objectman]

Hey there guys.

Difficult to get any info on this stuff without joining a forum - so here I are! My name is Edwin..

I just bought an Edirol PCR-800 for Aus $550 and can just about get it going on my desktop with a motherboard-integrated soundcard. It barely works with the bundled cakewalk on my Dell lappy.

Any leads as to how to get it happening soundcard 'n' software-wise? I'm interested in;

1. Learning to play piano and
2. Writing classical music

It came with Cakewalk LE (which seems a bit childish?). I've tried a demo of Live5 and think that's a bit too "house-y" for my liking - although I do like the synth / FX sounds embedded in it. And that one that writes musical notation seems unweildly!

[brandondrury]

I just bought an Edirol PCR-800 for Aus $550 and can just about get it going on my desktop with a motherboard-integrated soundcard. It barely works with the bundled cakewalk on my Dell lappy.

This sounds like an issue with Cakewakl and your Dell more than the MIDI device since all you are really doing is sending MIDI data to your computer.

What is the latency on your integrated soundcard? I have a feeling you may be pushing your stock soundcard too hard. If you want to trigger synths / samples from within in your computer, you need a low latency soundcard that can trigger those immediately. Many stock soundcards have enormous delays.

Are you having this problem?

Please talk more about Cakewalk and your Dell because my gut says this is where your problem is.

Brandon

[objectman]

Well, I'm having not having problems anymore because I bought an M-Audio MobilePre USB sound card. It came bundled with Live 6 LE which is great - although it doesn't do musical notation. The new sound card works very nicely and didn't even need to be installed. Both my computers seemed to know what it was.

Nobody tells you that your midi keyboard won't work well without a good sound card. To be fair, only really computer-savvy people know such things and there are a surprising number of computer novices working in these music shops - weirdly.

You're right though Brandon. The issues were mainly with my new (ish) Dell laptop sound card. When I purchased it with Soundblaster Audigy - it came with a virtual soundcard - not a real sound card.

Cakewalk LE is laughable. There's no way I'm buying the full version of that software. There's a quickstart guide which shows you how to get sound out of your keyboard. When you finally do (again - the quickstart guide says nothing about sound cards) - it's like you've bought a cheap 1980 Casiotone.

The lesson: If you buy a midi keyboard, also buy a good sound card.

An external soundcard will allow you to travel from computer to computer. And don't get either bundled with Cakewalk. Like the software's namesake (DeBussy's beautiful piece of music The Golliwog Cakewalk) it's for kids!

[Salman]

Hi .. try installing ASIO drivers for ur sound card it should significantly reduce delays.
you can download one at www.asio4all.com..//

br
salman