Midi on old n-track

n-Track Studio Discussion Forum
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Midi

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I’m running ntrack 2.x on a 333 PII Win98se. For the most part my recording needs are simple for the time being. But I have trouble with the midi section of the program. I use Massiva to build drum tracks and then import them into ntrack. Trouble is, multiple tracks all play, fade, mute, etc as one. It doesn’t seem to be possible to work with the tracks separately. I’d like to be able to change the volume of separate tracks before converting them to wav. Is there any way to do this with 2.x? Or would 4.0 do what I need to do and would it run on my current platform?

Thanks
Gene Bauer

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Drums are all on channel 10, no matter have man separate MIDI tracks you have. Changing the volume on any one channel 10 track will change the volume on all channel 10 tracks. That’s the way MIDI works…it’s not an n-Tracks issue.

Some non-standard synths will let you put drums on channels other than 10, but that’s not the MIDI standard.

To do what you want you’ll probably have to convert each track to a wave track, one at a time so each wave only has the sound you want on that track. Then you’ll be able to do what you want…but it won’t be MIDI anymore.

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Thanks for your help.

Gene Bauer

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I don’t know enough about Massiva - can you put the different elements on different virtual tracks, all outputting to MIDI channel 10 - eg kicks on one track, snare on one track, toms on one track, cymbals on one track?

I know there are some MIDI programs that make it easy to filter out notes or groups of notes from one track, so you can also start with a single full drum track, and split out the various drum notes. Can’t exactly remember which programs though - I don’t do alot of MIDI.

As long as those drum instruments are on separate tracks (even though they all play on MIDI channel 10) you have some level of control by editing velocities.

Even better, instead of just channel 10 of a GM soundbank, you can send these individual tracks to separate VST “drum” instruments, which would give you full control over all aspects of each drum sound, including different effects.

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Editing velocities in Midi Properties works. Good idea.
I tried playing around with VST instruments in the past on older and slower machine than I have now. I’m not sure if my equipment was inadequate or if I was just a bonehead. I never could get sound. I’ve got 333 PII, 98SE, Blaster Live! Value. Pretty basic. Can I do VST on this platform? Where do I start?

Thanks

Gene Bauer

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ole limey ere uses pg musics powertracks mate fer midi traks n editin n stuff’’’‘cos its blinkin best sinc sliced up tomatos on toast’’:D :D

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Thanks for that, Limey. pg musics powertracks looks like a powerful program. Although, for the moment I downloaded and tried JX220 and JXsynth and the both worked on my machine. The question is can I use VST drum patches of some sort on these and if so, where can I find them? If not what do I need?

Thanks

Gane Bauer

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Gene, you can do VSTi stuff on any most of pentiums machine, the thing is that you need some more modern one to run them in “realtime” and render faster.(and also a wdm or asio soundcard)
About drums, the velocity tweak is the more convenient if you can separate the instruments in diffrent tracks. Another old trick if you are using a Sblive and soundfonts, is load soundfont drums on the other channels. That allows you to have 16 channels for drums. But, you know, all this can be a little tricky.

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The soundfonts seem like a good idea. I’ve played around with them and I can see how they could be useful. I think with soundfonts the trick might be installing them in the right place. SBlive help is not the greatest.
But I’m still intrigued with VSTi drums and sounds other than pure synth sounds. What programs should I try?

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Well, there are many VSTi specifically for drums (using samples or synth sounds).
I dont use them, i cant say if it is good or not, but you can see it a little:
Here is the list of VSTi for drums (samples based, loops, and synths) at
KVR-VST

And here is a new one:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=69979

But you need to ask wich one to someone using them.

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yer probly need lots n lots mor power pc matey gene ta do all dat stuff yer wanna do matey’’’‘cos yer mashine aint got much pwr matey’’’‘wiv old un mashines loike yer got gene mate yer best off not taxin yer peecee wiv usin softy sinths’’’’ :D :D

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Yeah, not much muscle in that old machine. I’m probably asking too much of it. thanks for all the good advise.

Gene Bauer