Can't Get Cubase To Playback Midi Through GPO

[nerves]

Hi,

I created a midi file with BIAB, imported it into Cubase, opened up Garritan Jazz and Big Band player, loaded the instruments (and can play them on the virtual keyboard) but when I play back in Cubase there's no audio. I can switch to Microsoft Wavetable Synth in the midi output for the tracks and get sound but when I select GPO Studio 1 there's nothing. Any clues? BTW, when I open GPO Studio I get a message that says: "There are no Creative audio products installed and running on this system that support ASIO."

[brandondrury]

The first thing I would do is fire up one of the stock Cubase VST instruments and route the output of your MIDI track to that. I'd forget even troubleshooting with the Windows Wavetable synth as there are quite a few reasons why that is a bad idea.

Let me know how that goes. We'll then know if it's an issue with you routing, Cubase, Garritan, or something bigger.

You may also want to check this out in the mean time:
MIDI Troubleshooting 101

Brandon

[nerves]

Thanks Brandon,

I did as you suggested and it plays through the stock VSTs just fine.

Dan

Edit:

OK. I've read your tutorial and there's one part I don't get:

"So, in Cubase, we'll open up the MIDI instruments section and load Kontakt 2 (our sampler software of choice) and then select a piano sound."

Just how do you do that? With "device setup"? I just opened Garritan on its own and loaded the instruments in the slots (I assume that slot 1 corresponds to midi channel 1, etc.). I thought that in Cubase you just had to set the midi output to the player of your choice.

[nerves]

Hi Brandon,

Well, I've got the midi tracks to play through GPO. I think I wasn't loading Jazz and Big Band via Garritan Studio.

Edit: It seems the audio doesn't always load correctly when I open Garritan Studio. The solution? I close the program and re-open.

Now I have a new question:

I have the E-MU 1616 and I'm getting clicks and pops when I use Winamp or I-Tunes but not with Cubase (so far). Do I need to adjust the latency? If so, how?

Edit: After restarting my computer, I no longer get pops. I'm using my regular system with AV software running, etc. I have set up a partition on my computer with its own OS for recording but I wanted to see how much I can do with my regular system. (I don't like having to shut down to switch between systems). I'd still like to know how you adjust latency. Do you do it within Cubase, soundcard software, control panel,...?

Edit: I'm answering all my own questions....to adjust latency: in Cubase ...devices/device setup/ click on your asio driver name in the left panel...click on "Control Panel" in the right pane...a new box should open up with options for changing buffer latency....default for my E-MU 1616 is 50ms but it still sounds good at 20ms.

Best,
Dan

[nerves]

How do you open 3rd party players (like Garritan Jazz and Big Band) within Cubase? I've been routing the output of my midi tracks to GPO but I'm not able to record my midi tracks to audio tracks.

[brandondrury]

How do you open 3rd party players (like Garritan Jazz and Big Band) within Cubase?

It depends. I'm not familiar with Garritan Jazz. The most popular way to "open" 3rd Party players is through VST. All my synths are virtual instruments that use VST to open in Cubase just like a plugin (only in a different menu). My sampler (Kontakt2 and Kompakt) can be opened in standalone mode (I've never seen the need to do that) and within Cubase as a VST.

Reason is very popular, but does not support VST. It uses Rewire.

I hope this helps.

Brandon

[richiebee]

Use the instrument rack. Garritan Jazz & Big Band should appear in your list of VI's. If it doesn't, chances are you didn't copy across the VSTi into your VSTi folder. You might find it (a .dll) in the Garritan folder on your computer. You can copy it to your VSTi folder (Usually - Program Files > Steinberg > Cubase > vstplugins). Restart Cubase for it to appear in your VI list. If you have Kontakt, it is a much better way of controlling JABB.

[nerves]

Thank you both for your replies.

Originally Posted by richiebee

Use the instrument rack. Garritan Jazz & Big Band should appear in your list of VI's. If it doesn't, chances are you didn't copy across the VSTi into your VSTi folder. You might find it (a .dll) in the Garritan folder on your computer. You can copy it to your VSTi folder (Usually - Program Files > Steinberg > Cubase > vstplugins). Restart Cubase for it to appear in your VI list. If you have Kontakt, it is a much better way of controlling JABB.

That's what they don't teach you in school! Now I can open both within Cubase. So how do I load Jazz and Big Band sounds into Kontakt 2?

Also, now when I play the project, the midi files seem to be slightly out of sync with the audio whereas when I was routing the output of the midi channels into the stand alone JABB player they were in sync.

And finally, when I arm an audio track I'm not getting any signal coming in. I'm using E-MU 1616 and I have a mic plugged in and can see signal coming in on the first strip in the mixer (what's that called? the input bus?) and can hear myself through the monitors but the audio track I've armed isn't picking up any signal. I think it has to do with how I've configured the input devices in VST Connections in which I have 3 options: Main, Strip 3, and Wave (these are names from my E-MU software). The only one that causes a signal to show in the input bus (?) is Main but none of them causes a signal to show in the armed audio track.

Edit: I think part of the problem was that I needed to solo both the midi track AND the JABB audio channel. Now I can get signal on the armed audio track IF I turn on its monitor. The resulting recording is pretty soft with lots of echo. I don't think I've got it quite right yet. Am I getting ****?

So the word for less than hot is a four letter word? Anyway, I think I've got it figured out. I solo the midi track and do an audio mixdown, then import the audio file back into a new audio track. I had tried this before but it didn't work I guess because I wasn't opening JABB within Cubase.

[brandondrury]

So how do I load Jazz and Big Band sounds into Kontakt 2?
There should be clear instructions for this in either Kontakt 2 or Garritan, but it's usually just as simple as opening NKI files. If there are no NKI files, the process is a little more involved.

Also, now when I play the project, the midi files seem to be slightly out of sync with the audio whereas when I was routing the output of the midi channels into the stand alone JABB player they were in sync.

This could have a billion reasons. It could be issues with your Garritan Jazz & Big Band. It could be issues with Cubase. It could be no issue at all and maybe a bit of audio was added in the beginning when recording tracks in Garritan Jazz & Big Band.

In the mean time, I would simple slide the tracks to make them line up. This is a total pain, but is doable.

I would make sure that everything syncs up on all future recordings to make sure there are no issues.

I think part of the problem was that I needed to solo both the midi track AND the JABB audio channel. Now I can get signal on the armed audio track IF I turn on its monitor. The resulting recording is pretty soft with lots of echo.

Can you explain this "echo" thing to me in greater detail?

[nerves]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

Can you explain this "echo" thing to me in greater detail?

I've attached an audio mixdown of the track in question. I couldn't hear the reverb when I played the midi track live, only in the rendered audio track.