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  • Help with VEPRO and External Midi

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    I have been troubleshooting getting my new computer up and running for a week now and am getting a little frustrated. For the record, I have been trying to get VEPRO to operate properly for over 2 years now. No joke. In between projects I have been trying different configurations (OS, Host, MIDI, Network Settings, router/switch) and nothing has worked properly.


    No need to read these...just FYI


    http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20420

    http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35812



    So, I bought a new computer in hopes that I could get everything working on one machine, and then expand from there if need be. Here are the specs:


    • CASE: Fractal Design Define R4 Enthusiast Case, Black Pearl

    • MOBO: Asus P9X79 w/ DDR3 1866, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, 1394, CrossFireX / SLI

    • CPU: Intel Coreâ„¢ i7-4820K Processor, 3.70GHz w/ 10MB Cache

    • COOLER: Noctua NH-U14S CPU Cooler, w/ Noctua NF-A15 PWM 140mm Fan

    • RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR3 1600MHz CL10 Quad Channel Kit (4 x 8GB), Black

    • VIDEO: Asus GTX660 DirectCU II OC GeForce GTX 660 2GB PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort

    • SAMPLES 1: Samsung 840 EVO Series Solid State Drive, 250GB

    • SAMPLES 2: Samsung 840 EVO Series Solid State Drive, 250GB

    • PSU: Corsair Professional Series HX850 Modular Power Supply

    • FIREWIRE: Adaptec FireConnect 4300 (Firewire card)

    • CD/DVD: Asus 24x DVD-RW Drive, SATA, OEM, Black


    Here is the software that I am using:



    I am able to get Pro Tools and VEPRO to communicate by sending MIDI through the VEPro MIDI ports, and then receive audio back into Pro Tools through the VEPro audio channels. But what I need to be able to do is have TransMIDIfier somewhere between Pro Tools and VEPro to alter my MIDI data in order to keyswitch my PLAY libraries.


    This is how my midi is routed:


    Pro Tools -> loopMIDI -> TransMIDIfier -> ipMIDI -> VEPro (using external MIDI)


    *As a note, I can’t send MIDI back into Pro Tools because of the lack of input monitoring.


    I can get MIDI to TransMIDIfier but can’t seem to get any MIDI to VEPro. ipMIDI has worked in the past but it seems to be not working at all on this new machine.


    Long story short - does anyone have any advice on how to route all this MIDI data?

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    I've been doing some more testing and it seems as though no external midi is working with VEPRO 4.1.11889. I was using external midi through ipMIDI on version 4.7846 with no issue on a previous machine.

    I know that the external MIDI feature is experimental but DANG I need this to work. I really want to be able to keyswitch and tutti with this program. Unfortuantely, most of my Orchestral samples are PLAY and there are no keyswitches. 

    Has anyone seen better external MIDI stability on VEPRO 5? If so, I might upgrade and see.
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    I always send my MIDI data to Cubase and let Cubase route the MIDI data to VE Pro (5),  I assume this would be no different with Pro Tools instead of Cubase.

    I can use VE Pro with direct MIDI input,  that does work all OK for me,  which I do when I'm just playing VE Pro rather than recording it via Cubase.

    Using multiple software MIDI routing applications sounds like a guaranteed ingredient for disaster,  I would suggest you try a solution that does not involve them, I'm not a Pro Tools user, but surely it can route MIDI input to tracks and rechannelise?

    It could be that you are just over complicating something which is very simple to do in the first place. Unless Pro Tools has fundamental MIDI routing limitations ?
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    You hit the nail on the head. Pro Tools can NOT route MIDI in that way! That is exactly what has prompted me to use all this routing software. my PLAY instruments don't have keyswitching. Pro Tools can't re-route midi data. The only way for me to alter the MIDI data between DAW and VEPRO is to use external MIDI.

    TransMIDIfier is a great program and when used with TouchOSC has the potential to really simplfy my workflow. I think I am going to have to abandon the use of keyswitching and create a 200+ MIDI channel template so I can have access to all my articulations at once.

    Now something interesting was last night I tried the VEPRO 5 demo and was able to get some external MIDI working. When I tried ipMIDI it didn't work, but when I tried MIDI over LAN it worked. But now I am dealing with Pro Tools freezing up and forcing me to hard start my computer.
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    In the video tutorial for TransMIDIfier, a connection to VEP Strings Port 1, Channel 1 is shown in the first example.

    So how it works in Cubase is that the midi out is to TransMIDIfier and that is assigned to the instrument 'VEP' and that configuration (in Kontakt instances). It does not appear to be at all exotic. EDIT: I tried it and it appears to require a virtual MIDI cable.

    And no, external MIDI to VEP itself is 'experimental', not really working as such,
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    If this is a big deal to you, and PT just will not use this thing as designed, I think the real solution is to use something that will.

    These look like very exotic workarounds, it's too many moving parts for me anyway, I'd expect trouble.

    I was real interested in it for a minute, as I have a lot of old Giga stuff converted to Kontakt that I'd rather do from one MIDI track.
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    @civilization 3 said:

    I was real interested in it for a minute, as I have a lot of old Giga stuff converted to Kontakt that I'd rather do from one MIDI track.

    Maybe this would be helpful:  http://www.orangetreesamples.com/mind-control

    Don't know if you've seen this, but Orangetree Samples make some great, intuitive and musical libraries, with lot's of scripting.  The programming is very good, and would think Mind Control is as well.  The dev is very responsive to questions you might have as well.  

    Best,

    Greg
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    Oh, that's right. Thanks for the reminder.
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    Pro Tools can send midi to TransMIDIfier by using a virtual MIDI cable. I use loopMIDI just like in the TransMIDIfier video. The problem is, I have to send the altered MIDI data to VEPRO directly using another virtual MIDI cable - I can't route it back through Pro Tools and then into the VEPRO MIDI channels. 

    Workarounds are starting to really really bother me. I have been using so many when it comes to Pro Tools and PLAY. Time to switch to Cubase and some new samples.

    Blizzard
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    Yeah, I feel you. I assumed it would work more simply with Cubase (5), but the manual indicates that typically you need a virtual cable program, and I lost interest in it. The tutorial has him connecting to the thing like an instrument but I did not find that to be true in and of itself. I guess this is getting the TransMIDIfier back into Cubase which you can't do in PT. LoopMIDI is windows-only and I didn't feel like searching. I don't like it, I may as well buy Mind Control from Greg Schaepfler [OTS].

    I've been making keyswitches for groups in Kontakt for the old Giga stuff, but Play is something else. I guess you mean these older Elements? Yeah, it's time to move forward a bit. ;-)