Logic Pro 9 external instrument help???

[Roydavis]

Hey guys, my first post here.

Im pretty new to logic but im in the middle of a course learning! Iv'e been trying to solve this problem i have for a very long time and quite frankly its driving me mad!

My set up is im running Logic 9.1 on a new 27" i5 imac. Using a axiom 49 controller, Apogee duet, and i have a Roland Juno G

Now i have worked out how to record straight audio from the Juno into logic via the duet, no problem.

But what i want to do is use the sounds from the Juno in logic and be able to use the piano roll editor etc, so midi right?

So i tried the usb, didnt seem to work. I bought a midi interface a Cakewalk UM-1G, its by Roland aswell.

So i hooked it up to the midi in and out on the Juno and set it up with the mac etc. Now i know i need to create an external instrument in the environment window, not sure exactly all the details of that and what settings need to be set etc but i gave it a go!

So when i have the external instrument in a track and press the keys on the juno i got no sound but there is like a little flashing light in the channel strip bit at the bottom (sorry if im not describing it correctly but i hope you know what i mean)

How i imagine it to work is just select the sound i want from the juno's menu and then be able to program the notes in the piano roll editor, and then if i want a different sound then create a new track and do the same again with a different sound selected in the juno. Or would that be too easy!?

Really hope you guys can help me out!!

 

[Eli]

In addition to connecting your MIDI, you also need to ensure that your audio out of your Juno is connected to your Duet. You mentioned this for recording but not for the MIDI part, so I'm not sure if you still have it connected.

You need to make sure the audio I/O on your Juno and Duet are connected both with physical cables, and in the External Instrument plug in window Input parameter.

 

[Roydavis]

Yea i still have the juno output connected to the instrument input on the duet via a 1/4" jack, although now when i try it on an audio track like i did before im not getting any sound. Im really so confused with this all, i really am a total noob i guess!

 

[Orren Merton]

I'm not 100% sure what step is failing for you, so I'll just give you the basics for using the External Instrument plug-in. From there, please report which step isn't working for you, and we'll go from there.

1) Connect your Juno's MIDI IN and MIDI OUT to a USB MIDI interface (not all MIDI interfaces are created equal, but the Cakewalk should be fine).

2) Connect your Juno's audio outputs to the audio inputs of your audio interface.

3) Make sure any drivers for your audio and MIDI interfaces are properly installed.

4) In the Environment window of Logic, go to New > Instrument to create a new Instrument object. In the Parameter box on the Inspector, set the MIDI channel to your MIDI interface. In the name text field, change then name from "Instrument" to "Juno" (or whatever you'd like).

5) In the Arrange window of Logic, create a new Software Instrument track.

6) In the Inspector for that track, long-click on the Input to get the pop-up menu of software instruments. Select the one named "External Instrument."

7) In the External Instrument plug-in window, for the MIDI in, select the "Juno" object you created in the Environment. Then for the Audio input, select the audio inputs which are connected to the Juno.

8) Make sure that the track is either record enabled or selected (selecting a MIDI/SI track automatically record enables the track).

You are now good to go. You can record MIDI onto this track and it will play your Juno, and it will come through your interface and play on the same track. In effect, you can play your hardware as if it's a softsynth! I use a couple of hardware synths (DSI Prophet '08 & Mopho) and this is how I have them connected.

Hope that helps,
Orren

 

[Howard W]

Yea i still have the juno output connected to the instrument input on the duet via a 1/4" jack, although now when i try it on an audio track like i did before im not getting any sound. Im really so confused with this all, i really am a total noob i guess!

Since the Roland Juno G is a pretty sophisticated workstation you could setup a multi instrument in the environment, put the Juno into multi mode and get several different instruments happening at the same time.
But to get the MIDI thing working it might be best to just use the Juno in single player mode, you really don't even need to mess with the environment to set this up.

As you know, MIDI is a glorified player piano, (and more) so you're only recording the parameters of your playing, note length, velocity, note number...etc. Audio for both recording and monitoring will be coming from the Juno's output.

It looks like the Juno's USB connection is for MIDI so I'm not sure you really needed the Cakewalk interface. If you play the Juno and see the flashing light then you're getting MIDI input, if you're not hearing anything at this point you might need to enable monitoring on the Duet tracks so that the Roland's output is being monitored through the Duet, (either that or enable the Duet's Direct Monitoring function).

Next would be to record a MIDI track and send the data back to the Juno.
You have created external MIDI tracks, correct?

All MIDI inputs are merged so you should be able to record a MIDI track, set the Duet tracks in monitor mode, or enable the Duet's direct monitoring.

Check the inspector's MIDI track "Port" assignment, multiple ports will show up here, make sure you have the correct interface selected.

Howard

 

[Roydavis]

Hi guys thanks so much for your replies i really appreciate you helping me!!

Ok Orren I've tried running through your method and i think the only part that stumped me slightly was setting the midi channel to the midi interface? It gives me an option of all or 1-16, how do i know which channel the interface is on? I tried selecting all and followed the rest of your instructions but it still didnt work

Howard you've lost me on the monitoring, Im not sure how i enable monitoring on the duet tracks or even what that really means.

Im really sorry guys if im seeming dumb here or if this should be really an easy task, im trying to learn the best i can

 

[Howard W]

Hi guys thanks so much for your replies i really appreciate you helping me!!

Ok Orren I've tried running through your method and i think the only part that stumped me slightly was setting the midi channel to the midi interface? It gives me an option of all or 1-16, how do i know which channel the interface is on? I tried selecting all and followed the rest of your instructions but it still didnt work

Howard you've lost me on the monitoring, Im not sure how i enable monitoring on the duet tracks or even what that really means.

Im really sorry guys if im seeming dumb here or if this should be really an easy task, im trying to learn the best i can

I think Orren was referring to the MIDI channel your device (Juno) is set to receive on, probably MIDI channel 1.

As for the monitoring.

If you want to hear what is being played through the Duet, the signal arriving at the inputs needs to be either software monitored (a function of Logic and set in the Audio prefs) or hardware monitored by the Duet, a function usually called direct monitoring and should be covered in the Duet's manual.

Try record enabling a stereo audio track, if you can now hear the Juno being played you're using software monitoring.

Howard