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Alesis A6: does MIDI cause weird note issues when playing the keys?


SaltyDogg

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I noticed:

Some notes would get stuck permanently, I had to switch programs a bunch of times

 

Most disturbingly, when I was playing a mono-voice bass line, every once and a while a few notes would not trigger, even though MIDI itself was apparently sent (I think). Almost like there was a "dead voice" except it was just playing the same voice over and over. I have not had this problem except when I had MIDI in and out on.

 

Maybe the sequencer's clock or something throwing off the A6?:confused: I hope so... otherwise it could mean something worse

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Sounds to me like you have some MIDI routing issue. I have the same problem with my rig - right now it's the Q that suffers because it's my master keyboard. It was the Fusion before I changed my routing around, and then the BassStation. I can live with it being on the Q because for the most part it has enough MIDI routing options to work around the issue.

 

Would you happen to be triggering it from Cubase?

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chwck your DAW sequencers MIDI THRU settings, and also LOCAL/MIDI/LOCMID setting on Andromeda.

 

when playing a midi track in DAW for A6, if you have both midi thru and local on, you get dbl notes, which could sometimes lead to stuck notes. however, i never experienced stucked notes with andromeda so far. i just hear my sound suddenly thicken, and i know i forgot the local on/off setting..

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Sounds to me like you have some MIDI routing issue. I have the same problem with my rig - right now it's the Q that suffers because it's my master keyboard. It was the Fusion before I changed my routing around, and then the BassStation. I can live with it being on the Q because for the most part it has enough MIDI routing options to work around the issue.


Would you happen to be triggering it from Cubase?

 

yea i use cubase:eek:

 

The weird thing is I was playing the A6 from its own keyboard. But I am suspicious that these problems are still related to having MIDI connected.:confused:

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yea i use cubase:eek:


The weird thing is I was playing the A6 from its own keyboard. But I am suspicious that these problems are still related to having MIDI connected.
:confused:

 

 

Nope, same thing happens here - even playing the keyboard locally will send messages out to Cubase, they'll get {censored}ed up there, and then sent back and scramble the synth. Cluster is on the right track, it has something to do with Cubase's MIDI through settings but the few times I tried to figure out how to rectify the matter in Cubase I became frustrated and gave up. Eventually I'll give it another go because, right now in fact, I'm doing somethings that are making the issue drive me batty.

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When you have a sequencer in the loop, usually you need to turn Local Control off.

 

The keyboard sends notes to the sound engine, and midi out to the sequencer which sends it back and triggers the sound engine again. That's a classic midi loop.

 

Turn off local control, and it breaks the keyboard to sound engine link. So everything goes thru cubase only.

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Hey Salty: how familiar are you with software sequencers? There's a section in the hard copy getting started manual for cubase about this stuff.

 

If you hook up your A6's midi out to your computer's midi in and the computer's out to the A6 midi in, you'll get a midi feedback loop.

 

2 ways around this. One is like Mate says - turn off local control in the A6.

This will make the A6 send midi messages to the midi out, but not to the A6's sound engine.

The midi will go 'thru' cubase and then to the A6. If you disconnect a midi cable or turn off cubase, you won't be able to hear the A6 until you turn local control back on.

 

The other way is to leave local control on in the A6, and filter out thru messages in cubase.

You can do this in cubase by clicking 'file', 'preferences', and then 'filter' (under the midi area).

Towards the upper right section of the box that pops up, you'll see a heading of 'Thru' and then a bunch of boxes that you can check to filter different midi messages out.

This way, the A6 will send messages to the sound engine and to midi out. Cubase will record the data, but not pass it 'thru'. You'll still be able to hear the A6 if you disconnect a midi cable, or turn cubase off.

 

If you were to use another board as your input to cubase and then have cubase send out what you play to your A6 to receive, then none of this would apply.

Hope you get it worked out. ;)

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Gentlemen, FWIW, I'm willing to bet that, at least with Cubase, local off is only part of the solution, and that our friend most likely has local off. With local off, and the synth being triggered from Cubase, playing the keybed of the synth that's being triggered causes it to drop notes. I've been over the Cubase manual and it wasn't clear to me how to solve this problem. That is, if we're talking about the same problem. We all have problems...

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OK Salty - I guess there's a 3rd way, but it requires a little manual labor. :D

 

When you record midi just have a cable plugged in from A6 out to computer in, and when you play back, just have a cable from computer out to A6 in.

A bit of a hassle plugging/unplugging cables, but I remember doing this a few times with other boards. :freak:

 

Of course, you could have something completely different going on, but the stuck note description you gave makes it sound like a midi loop problem.

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