Can I control external midi devices with Garageband?

hello
I would like to control my external effects unit ,a vox tonelab.
I want to be able to change patches at certain points in a track whilst recording .
Can I do this using midi ? if so how ?
regards
Paul

What I know this isn't implemented in GarageBand. To work with midi and synthesizer's you have to by Logic or other similar products. Hope they will make full midi aviable on next version of GarageBand. Midi In will work efficiently and smooth. I have try with my old Casio VZ-11.
Message was edited by: WoodDreamer

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How can I control external MIDI devices from my PXI Real-time system?

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Thanks in advance,
Frenk

Hi Frenk,
one way would be an analogue to MIDI converter.
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MainStage does not control external midi devices

in the Environment I can use the "External Instrument" object to be able to access external legacy devices such as synths and effects units. Since this capability already existed in the Environment, why wasn't it added to MainStage? I have seen this feature request on almost all "rack" type hosting systems such as NI Kore, and it seems to be a terrible oversight on the part of Apple. Can we supplement this by using MainStage objects in the Environment or somehow add this capability using Environment objects to bring this feature to MainStage?

well I think it should be a little more than just able to send program changes. It should also be able to access the continuous controller mapping through the MainStage layout, it should pass through all midi notes, etc. to the device and it should be able to act as a conduit for the midi clock / tempo features of MainStage. But yes, it doesn't appear to be that difficult to create; you know ... if Apple had thought of it, they could have actually used the External Instrument object which they discuss at great length in Chapter 10 "Working With Instruments and Effects".
Someone really didn't think this through ... this is fundamental.
P.S. I came across this AU plugin that was designed for GarageBand for the same purpose. Its missing a few things like the ability to send an initial program change and I am not sure if it can pass through midi control from another external controller such as guitar, keyboard, etc. I sent an email to the developer with suggestions. Its called MidiO:
http://mysite.verizon.net/retroware/
Message was edited by: msteveng

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I purchaced Logic Pro X to use it as a MIDI-sequencer for my external stagepiano: the Roland RD-700sx including two expansion boards (SRX-04 and SRX-10). I want to make records to create my own music. Before I record it as audio I want to record it as MIDI, because in that form it's easier to make adjustments.
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I spent a lot of time searching and asking on the internet how to select the desired sounds, but I don't know how to do it. So far I know you have to create a multitimbral MIDI environment and on each of the 16 channels you can assign a bank and enter the values of MSB and LSB. I found this article: Logic Pro/Express 9: Defining Custom Bank Messages - Apple Support
I understand a part of it, though I have too little experience with Logic Pro X to get the job done. Can someone please explain it to me from the beginning to the end? You would help me a lot!!!

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Using an external Midi device to trigger an e.g. EXS24 Sampler

Hi
Firstly I have only used the EXS24 Sampler as an example with regards to what I would like to trigger - I basically want to find out how I can use an external Midi device to trigger anything other than the crappy sounds that Logic offers as an immediate option - I have some great soft synths like NI's "Massive" "Kore" and plenty of others that I would love to be able to trigger with my external Midi device however I can not figure out how to do this - Can any one help or advise???
Any help/info is welcome
All the best,
Al

Thousands of dollars spent on software (presumably) and you can't take time to read the manuals?
I don't understand how you can load the EXS24 and can't figure out how to do same with any softsynth.
Urrrgghh..

Is it possible to use Garageband in conjunction with external midi devices?

We want to set up a music project for people with disabilities, using Garageband and various external midi devices, such as a 'Roland' keyboards, 'Alesis' AirFX, 'Alesis' SynthFX, soundbeam, 'Norton' sound sequencer etc.....is it possible?? We have used all this equipment with 'Steinberg Cubasis' software, but now want to try it with Garageband if it is possible!! Help?????!!!

daveandgit wrote:
I'm guessing that as we're using a midi to usb interface, it would work with Mac anyway??
as long as the inteface is mac compatible, yes
daveandgit wrote:
Also, would using an 8 or 16 channel mixer unit work to increase the amounts of tracks playable??
audio and MIDI are seperate things, and wouldn't help on any computer with any MIDI interface. for GB:
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/GBFAQ.html#maxnumrecordabletracks
(Let the page FULLY load. The link to your answer is at the top of your screen)

How to control external MIDI multi-timbre device

I have an external midi device that has distinct buttons with which I can control on/off individual sounds. The device has a single midi channel but many different sounds that can be turned on/off in any combination - i.e., I can have two or more sounds turned on which the device mixes down to its stereo outputs.
Each specific sound has a name and can also be controlled with a midi message in the form of "Bn 49 xx" (on event) or "Bn 4A xx" (off event). I would like to be able to control these sounds from logic pro.
Note that I have refrained from calling these "sounds", "patches". A fundamental difference between a patch and a "sound" as I described above is that you can only select a single patch at the time - I need to be able to turn on/off any combination of these sounds.
Hope it is clear to someone what I am trying to do... your comments are most welcome.

After some serious support from Pancenter (thanks again!), I arrived at a working configuration using Apple’s Environment editor. In the hope that my learning experience is of use to someone else, hereby a quick write up.
My objective was to control the stops (programs) of two pipe organ modules from Logic Pro 9, preferably with a nice graphic interface. The modules are broken up into 3 sections that each have a direct midi channel. I already set them up on my midi controller and could play a midi file on them just fine but not the stops. Rather than a typical synth program switch, stops on an organ can be turned on/off in any combination thereby mixing the sounds together. The documentation I had showed these midi byte sequences for turning on/off a stop:
Bn 49 rr = stop on
Bn 4A rr = stop off
with ‘n’ being the midi channel, and ‘rr’ the hex code for a particular stop. With Pancenter’s help, I started playing around with a Fader/Button 3 on the “Click and Ports” layer from the Environment (command 8). A button can be used to send a variety of midi message types, in my case I need a Control message with its channel set to the appropriate midi channel of the pipe organ module (channel 2 for me). A midi control message has the form <control byte> <byte 1> <byte 2>. The byte 1 field holds the specific control and byte 2 the value for that control.
Buttons send their max value when on (depressed) and min value when off. i.e., the value of byte 2. As you can see from the midi sequences listed above, this creates a bit of a complication in my case because the value ought to stay the same but the control (byte 1) must change.
I decided to set the button values to the midi stop I wanted to control as the min value and the max value as the stop +1. So my button out going sequences are now:
Bn 74 34    stop off
Bn 74 35    stop on   this should be changed to Bn 73 34
(Notice that 74 = 4A hex and 34 = 22 hex)
Using a transformer object right after the button, I detect the Bn 74 35 sequenc and change it to the desired Bn 73 34. As it turns out... easy as pie when you get a little help from a friend ;-)
This is the button with output to the transformer:
The inspector details for the button:
The transformer setup:
The entire pipe organ module with stops, just need to clean up the names a bit and we're done. Notice that I used a fader text object for the stop headers.
I am a 2-3 week user of Logic Pro and must admit that I am starting to be thoroughly impressed with its capabilities. The Environment editor is ahhwwsome though perhaps a bit daunting at first.   Thanks again Pancenter for your totally cool help !

External MIDI device, can't get more than one sound, Logic Express 9 & Korg N364

Hi, I just beginning to use Logic. I trying to get Logic Express 9 to work with and use my Korg N364 keyboard/workstation as an external MIDI device. I can only get one sound at a time even though I create multiple tracks and assign different programs (or patches) to them.
Each time I do the following: I add a new external MIDI track, change the Channel to new number, put a check in the Program box ( as well as the Volume & Pan), and choose a instrument or patch from the Program drop down menu. What happens, though, it changes the sound to that instrument alright, but ALL THE PREVIOUS EXTERNAL MIDI TRACKS HAVE THE SAME SOUND NOW. I've followed the tutorials I found on the web and it seems like I'm doing everything correct in Logic. I hooked up the MIDI cables, added a new device and connected virtual cables in the MIDI studio window of my Mac OS, and have added the proper Korg multi instrument in the environment window of Logic and "un-slashed" the 16 channels. I get the sounds from the Korg no problem, it's just that I can only assign one sound and no more to the external MIDI tracks. Is there something in my Korg I need to do? Or am I missing something in Logic?

It's not Logic, it's how you have the Korg setup.
I'm not familiar with that model but it is a workstation so I'm pretty sure you can set it to a "Multi" mode.
Right now you are running it in single patch mode.
In single patch mode only one sound is available on a single MIDI channel, your Korg probably has a Multi or Combi mode, this is where multiple sounds can be played, each sound has to have it's own MIDI channel.
You will need to set this up on the Korg first.

PDC & External Midi Device Delays

Hi All,
Got my head around the PDC - i think , but -- Logic states that :
' Another effect with delay compensation set to All is that MIDI tracks triggering external sound modules will be out of sync. This is because Logic has no direct control over the audio output of external devices. A possible solution for this would be to route the audio outputs from the external MIDI devices to inputs on your audio hardware and monitor them through Logic. This way, the audio streams from the MIDI devices can be compensated during playback. Using Logic's External instrument to route MIDI to your external devices is an ideal way to work in this situation. '
Question : So what would you do if all of your inputs were being used from other sources ( Hardwired / or even if you had only 2 ) or you did not have enough inputs to cater for simultaneous internal monitoring from your midi gear- ( phew big sentence ! ) but still need the ALL setting for PDC selected because of the induced latency from plugins . How can you compensate for the external midi delay in the new logic 7 if you cant monitor internally as they suggest ? This was not the case in version 6 and i am pretty worried my clients projects will all now play out of time ! Hope i explained correctly and you understand my question. Please dont say bounce them !!
Thanks and look foward to youre suggestions

Presumably, all you would need to do is have a stereo submix of your external MIDI gear coming up on a stereo input object (software monitoring on, obviously.)
The whole submix would therefore be PDC-delayed as necessary to match up with the rest of the audio, and you could bounce (real-time only of course) to include all your external instruments in one go.
What I do is have all external hardware coming up in a mixer (Mackie 1604-VLZ), so you could record individual channels of submixes back to the computer as necessary.
However, the best solution for most cases is to record your external MIDI gear as audio, which is what I do when I've finished editing, keeping the MIDI tracks just in case.
This is also handy as you can process with internal FX, automate and offline bounce, and don't need to worry about having all the hardware when you open up the song in a couple of years. (Although you should keep sysex dumps etc as well, obviously...)

When I try to open a project, the only option for a new track is for external MIDI device; when I try to open an audio or software instrument track, I get an error message saying that "the specified number of tracks could not be created. Reduce the n

When I try to open a project, the only option for a new track is for external MIDI device; when I try to open an audio or software instrument track, I get an error message saying that "the specified number of tracks could not be created. Reduce the number of tracks to create and try again." I didn't specify ANY number of tracks. Thanks for help!

Ah.. then I suspect you just need to go to Logic's prefs/Audio and check CoreAudio...
It has been unchecked somehow...
Also.. as an aside.. Be careful not to create such large subject names in future when posting here.. They can cause issues with replying to posts in such threads.. due to a bug in the forum software.. so please keep them short and to the point...
Cheers..
Nigel

Mixing when using external midi devices . . .

Hi,
This is the first time I'm mixing a project using an external midi device. Formerly, using an older version of DP, I would record each track from the midi device into an audio track before mixing because those tracks don't "bounce" when mixing. Anybody here who uses external devices do it differently?
Thanks, josf

Using the external I/O plug in you can bounce your external midi instruments to audio tracks in realtime in logic, but you have to add the New multi instrument in the environment so that it can be represented in the external destination parameter of the EXternal I/O plug in.
At least I think this is how things work. You also need an audio interface with the outs of your hardware to the ins of the inputs and the midi cables configured.
But.. I think there is a latency issue there.. anyone know how to compensate for this? Like if I bounce a track in realtime in logic.. it records the time that it takes the audio to "get into" the software.. It never bounces a track right on the beat, as if I were to bounce a track from say the EXS sampler.. When I do it inside logic it bounces it right on the beat.. with no "dead space" beforehand.. but if I use external equipment there is always a lag.. any suggestions?

Stuck notes from external midi device

I just started using Logic today for the first time. I hooked up a MOTU midi express XT as an interface between my MacBook Air and a Proteus Orchestral synth (old rack model). Also hooked a FATAR keyboard (controller) to the interface. Everything shows up fine in the audio / midi setup windows. I was able to figure out how to set up several tracks in Logic pointing to the multiple channels on the external midi device (synth). So far, so good. But when I started recording the tracks I ran into stuck notes from the synth. I've had this in the past on other sequencing software and don't remember how to solve it? In addition, while recording the tracks from my keyboard controller notes would occasionally not play, almost like there was a memory / cpu problem.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

In case you need to get back the default Logic control surface setup you can delete the Control Surface preference file and the default file will be rebuilt. It's a good way to get back to Logic's initial control surface setting. Also, if you had chosen to edit the Logic Remote CS entry instead of remove it there are adjustments that can be made, like disabling Active Sensing, or even disabling "Flash Mute and Solo Buttons" on the basic Control Surface Preferences pane.
Deleting the Logic 10 Control Surface Prefs.
In the Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder from the menu.
Type ~/Library/Preferences in the "Go to the folder" field.
Press the Go button.
Delete the com.apple.logic.pro.cs file from the preferences folder.
Note: to get to the User-Library the tilde ~ has to be included. ~/Library/Preferences

Deperately need help setting up external midi devices

I need help setting up external midi devices.....Motu828...Midi express...RolandXV3080....Motif rack.......HELP

Theres not really much to setup. Assuming your synths are connected to the MIDI Express already..
In Logic, make a new MIDI track. On the left hand side in the track inspector, among the parameters you'll see an option for MIDI Port and Channel. Just pick which port the track is going to, set the channel and device id and play (And be glad you never had to deal with setting up the old Environment window in Logic 5 and below).
If you really wanna get into it and have all your MIDI ports named after the synth thats connected to it, open up Audio Midi Setup, create a device icon for each synth you have and draw the cables from each device to whatever port its connected to on the midi interface's icon.
Then in Logic everytime you pick your MIDI port on your track, instead of MIDI Port 1, MIDI Port 2, etc.,
it would be labelled XV-3080, Motif Rack, and so on.. I dont think theres anyway to do this within Logic itself (you can change the labels on your audio ins and outs, but not MIDI as far as I can recall)..
If youre talking about having access to patch names and whatnot like Digital Performer and Cubase let you do, Logic doesnt use the xml patch lists everyone else does. The above steps are pretty much all there is to be done as far as MIDI.
Heres my Audio Midi Setup window for reference.
Now when I select MIDI Port 1 in Logic its named MWXT, port 2 is SR-16, etc..

TS1702 Using an iPad camera connection kit and a MIDI to USB cable to interface a MIDI keyboard with GarageBand. It works flawlessly... almost...

I'm using an iPad camera connection kit and a MIDI to USB cable to interface a MIDI keyboard with GarageBand. It works flawlessly... until I use the sustain pedal. Once the pedal is depressed while playing a given note, from then on, the pedal itself plays the note every time it is depressed. It's not the keyboard or the pedal. I've tried others. That leaves the app or the connection between the iPad and the keyboard. I find it hard to believe I'm the only person who is experiencing this problem. Anyone have a fix?

Yes. There are a ton of write-ups on how to do the connections. I connect my m-audio Keystation 61 es through the CCK to my iPad and use GarageBand to control it. Some keyboards require a powered USB hub to make things work. I use a belkin 4 port hub in my own setup. Here is a link to tested / verified keyboards that work via the CCK: http://iosmidi.com/devices/
Hth

Can I control external midi devices with Garageband?

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