Members greenglaze Posted December 1, 2009 Members Share Posted December 1, 2009 Hi I want to try getting a Hammond sound via Native Instruments B4 II, a laptop and two midi controller keyboards. I also have an E-MU 0202 audio/midi interface. Eventually I want to try playing live with this set-up. I have a couple of newbie questions. If you could take time just to answer one I would be grateful. 1. Does anyone know if Native Instruments B4 II works with Windows Vista 32-bit? I've seen conflicting reports. 2. Can anyone sketch a simple map for a live Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Strenge Posted December 1, 2009 Members Share Posted December 1, 2009 Basically live is not fundamentally different from studio--you are telling the softsynth to play notes, and the audio comes out of your external sound card (to phones or to a mixer/amp). Biggest difference is in ergonomics--where to put the laptop and other gear in such a way that it is 1) safe and 2) easy to set up and tear down. "Safe" meaning that depending on where you play, consider what happens if some drunkard starts careening near your rig... My old windows laptop did not have a good enough sound card to get low latency so I had to get an interface. Besides latency, the interface might have better connectors and better signal (not sure) so I'd lean toward using it. I have a cheap Behringer that works well latency-wise, especially using the ASIO driver, although it has rca connectors and a low level (I doubt it's really up to typical line level). I've had problems with what I believe is called "dc hash" when hooking up to my mixer (I have a hardware synth also so I need a mixer)--it's a buzz/hum that I first thought was a ground loop (and I tried to fix it by trying different outlets with no joy) but is really noise from the power supply. Running on battery while playing would fix this, as would getting some kind of expensive power converter. My solution is passive direct boxes (I run stereo). Sorry I can't help with anything other than XP. Make sure you check your interface to see if it works also. As far as usb power, I ended up adding a usb hub to my setup because I was concerned that usb could not power everything (I don't think using cpu is a concern though). Are you using some kind of VST host or sequencer? Are you currently able to route more than one controller to B4II? I use Ableton Live and I know how I'd do it there but that might be a tricky thing to have two midi inputs driving one instance of b4II. Someone with much more knowledge than I can help here As far as your question "Could I run use the M-Audio Oxygen 49 plus the Akai sliders controlling a much more basic keyboard?"...just to make sure you don't have a basic misconception: the way to think of these controllers is that they are not controlling each other...rather they are all sending "directions" to the software, saying "play this now" or "pull out drawbar 2 now" etc etc. See my question just above, this might be tricky to route multiple midi devices to the same software synth. It depends on the particular software you are using. I've never really used b4II standalone if that is what you are doing. EDIT: one more gotcha that I've had with windows....I didn't realize that (some?) usb devices need to be on the same ports as they were when you installed drivers. Twice I got to practice and...nothing worked, or a conflict was reported. Only when I hooked up the midi controller and audio interface to their "home" ports did things work right. Ugh. In any event, the moral of the story is to practice tearing down and setting up your rig before you go to a gig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 9. Does anyone know of a 49 note controller with a port for a swell pedal? "Swell" pedal? If you mean a "volume" (continuous control), from M-Audio the Axiom series have one. All MIDI controllers have "sustain" (on/off) pedal input and some others have "volume" pedal inputs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus Lozada Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Ugh. In any event, the moral of the story is to practice tearing down and setting up your rig before you go to a gig Amen to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members evildragon Posted December 1, 2009 Members Share Posted December 1, 2009 1. It should work. And you should switch to XP for a live rig either way. Less hassle, less RAM drain, faster performance in my experience, especially regarding softsynths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members greenglaze Posted December 1, 2009 Author Members Share Posted December 1, 2009 Thanks for the patient advice. Much appreciated. The fog is lifting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ClavAnother Posted December 1, 2009 Members Share Posted December 1, 2009 49 key...are you sure you don't have NI M4 II? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members greenglaze Posted December 2, 2009 Author Members Share Posted December 2, 2009 No its NI b4II - I know a hammond is 61 notes - if that's your point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mate_stubb Posted December 2, 2009 Members Share Posted December 2, 2009 Now that you have the hardware sorted out, ditch B4II and get VB3, which sounds much more authentic, is way cheaper, and has a nice midi learn mode for mapping controllers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members evildragon Posted December 2, 2009 Members Share Posted December 2, 2009 +1 on what mate_stubb said! It is just so much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members greenglaze Posted December 2, 2009 Author Members Share Posted December 2, 2009 Thanks. Will check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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