Protools--MIDI, Aux tracks, and Virtual Instruments.

[isherwoodme]

I actually figured this out on my own after messing with it, but thought I was doing something backwards, using 2 tracks to get one track of MIDI. This eases my mind that I don't have a software or hardware problem, but this is how it is done in PT. Thanks!

[adrianedawndawn]

Thank you very much for broadcasting this video!

[ThaRitzZ]

good stuff thank you.. for the touch up got me to were i need to be..

[Vapausorava]

Great video, very helpful :D

I also wanted to ask you if you know how to make one midi note ''slide down'' to another, using glissando or portamento or something like that.

[aaftalife100]

I have a motif connected to a mpc with midi, the mpc is connected to pro tools 6.4, my ? is how do I control virtual inst.

[GMAN1589]

I HAVE A ROLAND JUNO DI AND AKAI PROFESSIONAL XR 20. IM USING PROTOOLS LE 8 WITH AVID M BOX MINI. MY M BOX DOES NOT HAVE MIDI INPUTS SO I HAVE MIDI TO USB STRAIGHT TO MY MAC. THE PROBLEM IS, HOW CAN I USE THE INSTRUMENTS INSIDE MY PIANO AND AKAI. AND WHAT TRACKS DO I USE TO RECORD THEM?

[djhep1232]

I Was Wondering I Did The Same thing And Followed The Video With My MPK and It Didn't work...

[DzPr0ductions]

i followed your instructions but when i play on my actully piano it does not make the current sound the virtual instrument is on

[Avoryne]

Do the oscillators and instruments come with pro tools, or do you need to buy a bunch of other expansion packs?

[ScottXL]

@Avoryne There are a lot of instruments that come with Pro Tools, however, there are also a lot of other third-party places you can buy new VST's / RTA's from. (Which are essentially instruments).

So: Yes and no.

[harvestsoulfly]

If yr recording VOX with a few mics, isn't it best to use 2 trx for control of them to blend the diffirent sounds?

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@harvestsoulfly If you are going to use two mics at one time to record a single vocalist, I'd generally recommend recording them onto two separate tracks. As you said, you'll get more control later. If you're more experienced, and are confident enough to sum them together to one track in Pro Tools, then go for it. I usually don't do this with vocals though. I might sum a top and a bottom tom mics, or several guitar cab mics to one track, but not vox.

[sprucecruz]

Im using an aux n a midi track, and the midi thru is checked. It picks up the sound if i click it with the mouse but doesnt let me control it with the keyboard. And what do you mean by input of my pt interface?> im using a digidesign mbox mini i have it runnin through the line inputs.

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@sprucecruz I'm confused. Are you trying to play the Mini Grand plugin in Pro Tools, or are you trying to record/Play MIDI and audio from your hardware keyboard/synth? Let's treat those separately. How are you currently getting MIDI from your keyboard to your computer? If you have an MBox mini, you'll need to connect your keyboard to your computer with a USB cable, or you'll need to buy a MIDI interface for your computer and use MIDI cables.

[sprucecruz]

@TheOnlineAudioschool Well i guess my question is can you pick up the sounds from the grand plugin with my keyboard and record the different sounds that comes with the plugin. I have another question, i dunno if you can help me out with this but when i bring up audio tracks and hit record every track but track 2 records the way it should and all the other tracks when i hit record bring in a signal already as if somethings playing at recording already??

[sprucecruz]

Yo, I was able to set everything up and get the grand up and playin but couldnt control it with the piano that im currently using. Would you know what it is that i need to do n be able to control it?

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@sprucecruz Ok, if I understand right, you could get MiniGrand to make sound, but just not trigger it from your keyboard. Couple of questions...

Are you using an instrument track, or an aux and MIDI track?

How is your keyboard connected to the computer? If using MIDI cables, make sure you've got the output of the keyboard going to the input of your PT interface. Sounds stupid, but that happens to everyone sometime--me too!

Also, under the Options menu in PT, make sure MIDI Thru is checked.

[THEREALtrappajohn]

I subbed man. im running pt8, i have a motif6, & a korg k49 controller. i have the motif plugged into the pc via an edirol um-1 usb midi interface &i also have the k49 plugged into the pc via usb. say, for instance, if i have the motif6 sync'd up via midi and i play the motifs internal sounds, i hear the protools instruments play along with it. if i have xpand2 being controlled by the k49, the motif 6 plays the xpand2 and its own internal sounds. what can be done to fix this?

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@THEREALtrappajohn There are several things you'll need to do. First, go the your Pro Tools preferences. Go to the MIDI tab, and look for where it says "Default Thru Instrument". Set this to none. If this is on, then Pro Tools will pass MIDI from your Motif or K49 to any track that has it's name highlighted/selected (even if it is not record-enabled). This can be both confusing and annoying if you don't want that to happen!

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@THEREALtrappajohn Alright, part 2. If I'm understanding you right, you want to be more selective about which MIDI controller (the Korg and Motif) is playing Xpand. To do this, you must change the input of the Instrument portion of your instrument track (where the MIDI comes in to the track). It defaults to being "All", which means any MIDI device connected to your computer will play the Xpand. You can change it to either take MIDI from the Korg or the Motif discretely.

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@THEREALtrappajohn Part 3! You may (or may not) want to keep the Motif from playing it's own internal sounds. Why? Well, you can basically separate the Motif's keyboard from it's internal sound engine. If you do this, playing the keyboard won't do anything....but this can be useful if your are using a sequencer like Pro Tools. If you use an instrument track, set the instrument input to the Motif (in your case, the Motif is plugged in to the UM-1), and the output to the Motif (or UM-1), then....

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@THEREALtrappajohn You have created a situation where you are sending the Motif MIDI data though the track in Pro Tools, back out to the Motif. If you want to hear the Motif sounds, you record enable this track. Now, if you just want to hang out and play the Motif without Pro tools (or a track to route the MIDI in Pro Tools), you would need to turn this option back on. The option is called Local Control, and it is under the Utility>MIDI menu on the Motif (if the 6 is the same as the ES and XS).

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@THEREALtrappajohn Local control "on" means the Motif keyboard controls the Motif internal sound engine directly or "locally' (without Pro Tools). Local control off means that you'll need to route the MIDI from the Motif keyboard though Pro Tools and back to the Motif if you want to trigger sounds Sorry for the long-winded response. You may or may not want to do this. But, I hope it helps to see the different ways you could set your system up. Let me know if it works!

[THEREALtrappajohn]

@TheOnlineAudioSchool thanks for the VERY DETAILED help. And thanks for taking out the time to do so. I will try this out and let you know how it works out. Thanks again man!

[daveykeez]

to save CPU should i put all my midi inputs on 1 aux track? when i make alot of aux and midi tracks my mac can't handle it. any suggestions on how to fix this problem of mine? thank you!

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@daveykeez Sorry for the late reply...I'm sure you've figured this out by now, but...There are a couple of things you can do. Make sure you're HW Buffer size is set to its highest setting when playing back many instruments/plugins (Setup Menu>Playback Engine). If you are using Xpand as you main instrument, try using each of the 4 parts (A, B, C, D), instead of making a new Xpand for every sound you want. 4 MIDI tracks can feed 1 Xpand, which can slightly lessen the processing hit.

[kilvan66]

THANK YOU for this video!!!

I never would have figured it out on my own!

[JOOTRAXCITY]

Hi hows it goin I just installed my Pro Tools 8 software and I saw how you navigated to the mini grand virtual instrument I dont see mine in the instrument tab. Do you have any advice that could help me . Thanks Entertayne

[cecinestpasmoi]

can i do this with ableton? if so, how?

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@cecinestpasmoi Ableton vs Pro Tools: Using instruments in Ableton is actually simpler. You just drop an instrument onto an MIDI track. Done. You can route other MIDI tracks to that instrument if you like, say for having separate MIDI tracks for each part of a drum kit. I say Ableton is "simpler", but once you get into using Racks, that all changes. Ableton rocks.

[TheOnlineAudioSchool]

@TheOnlineAudioSchool With Ableton, you can just double click on an virtual instrument in your device browser, and Ableton will create a MIDI track and insert the instrument. Quick and easy. Ableton has "aux" tracks, but they are typically used for effects, not instruments (though you can certainly get into some complex signal routing, if need be).

[anestischatzibeis]

@TheOnlineAudioSchool yeah Live is cool on this stuff but it realy sucks on audio edit 9 iknow its not its job,thats why its called live) but its the only thing i miss on this program.it makes me use 2 daw programs and thats messy(live+cubase on pc or live + logic on mac)

[ramrout003]

Hey man how's goin? i hav M POWERED 8 PRO TOOLS, everythin is workin ohrigh but one think is that when i bounce 2 disk or export the file it doesnt play on window player or any others, it says it needs codec 2 play the file. wat do u think s the problem and 1 more thing how do i record tracks on 1 track? cheers

[loc10000]

@ramrout003 u can go online and download a free converter which will change it from whatever it is to whatever u want!

[esmoothe0]

Can you use instrument software without a midi controller?

[digirealm]

@esmoothe0 of course you can! you are going to have to use your mouse to individually click notes, not very practical for some people but helpful when editing details

[jusfaso]

this online audio school idea is cool....ineed to enroll in sumthing like this ASAP

[deathpoetquotin]

ya man/ I need to see the end of that discussion.

[deathpoetquotin]

ya man/ I need to see the end of that discussion.

[hhentz61]

Wonderful tutorial! Thank you so much!

[MarlonOfTheMetals]

Thank you for this tutorial. I didn't know how to use midi in Pro Tools and half way through I got my Superior Drummer working.

[bookofchapters]

where can i find what you were gonna say about the mpc and midi? I have a Mv-8800 and Motif and was curious to see how you would suggest to run it via midi

[UNIKSUN]

how do u strech out the instrument tracks in pro tools 8

[Slammo]

Thanks for posting this !!

[kingsanchez2324]

Man!!!! I really wish I got to hear about that MPC discussion at the end...

[bookofchapters]

me too =(

[Sytrusze]

@kingsanchez2324 me 2 :(