Steve Wellens

I am playing a midi file through Windows Media Player using an SB Live sound card.

The volume level is fine through the speakers.

I am successfully recording it with Windows Sound Recorder but the volume is way too low.

I've tweaked every setting in the KX Mixer window but to no avail.

Does anyone know how to get this to work correctly?

Thanks,

Maddogg6

Assuming you made no changes to the kX DSP.. simply adjust the 'Synth Recording Level' slider in kX Mixer recording page (4th slider from the top left).
With mine set to 100, I get about same volume level with playback.

You may want to record the reverb and chorus effects..?? if so, adjust the effect recording levels on same page (top right 2 sliders).

Steve Wellens

Thanks Maddog6,

I moved the Synth Recording levels up to 100 as you suggested but it had no result. The recording was still too low and the VU meter on the recorder barely registers.

I also tried rebooting to see if the level was only set on startup...nope.

Steve Wellens

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Steve Wellens

Maddogg6

Hmm - the Master recording level is at 100 as well? - which it should be by default.

Have you made any changes at all to the kX DSP?

Try re-inializing the kX DSP (right click - click on 'Re-initialize DSP') - then re-set Master recording Level and Synth and effects recording levels to 100.

The only other thing I can think of is, may midi files will implement Reverb and Chorus, which would not record unless those are also adjusted, and could sound like lowered volume.

Steve Wellens

>> the Master recording level is at 100 as well?
Yes

>> Have you made any changes at all to the kX DSP?
I don't think so , I switched front and rear speakers, loaded a sound font and turned up the AC97 playback volume.

>>Try re-inializing the kX DSP (right click - click on 'Re-initialize DSP') - then re-set >>Master recording Level and Synth and effects recording levels to 100.
Tried it....nope.

>>may midi files will implement Reverb and Chorus, which would not record unless
>> those are also adjusted,
I tried setting those on maximum and it had no effect.

Thanks for your efforts.

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Steve Wellens

Maddogg6

Hmm, Sorry I couldn't help.... but, this makes a me a little nervous...
Doing so blindly, may be your problem now, I dunno, unless its a weird bug with your particular card model. ??

Steve Wellens

Well, I did use save and restore settings to make sure I could get back to a working system.

I also recently uninstalled/reinstalled the drivers to see if that was the problem.

It's not a big deal, I would just like to be able to mix my MIDI music so others can hear it the way I intend and not the way their sound card renders MIDI.

I probably will never buy another Creative product.

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Steve Wellens

Maddogg6

Well - many here have done such things (its the nature of MIDI ,to be system dependant), and given kX's inherent learning curve (its far from 'plug and play'), I mean no offense, I strongly suspect its something you are doing/overlooking/forgetting to mention - but you also not gave your specific card model (and possibly other details as well ??), so, its impossible know for sure either way.

And yes, CL makes 'consumer grade' sound cards - certainly not 'professional'. But its a far cry from the old casio keyboards - especially with kX - but still not 'pro'.

Alternatively, you can use a VST host and a free SF synth, and render audio faster than realtime in some DAW apps like Sonar. That removes kX Synths from the equation. Its how mast here would render MIDI into a wav.

Steve Wellens

No offense taken. I studied the docs a lot and searched the forums a lot before posting, I was hoping it was something simple/stupid/obvious that I'd overlooked.

The card is a SoundBlaster Live! Platinum 5.1
Model SB0100 (on box)
Model SB0102 (from software probably a rev update)

There is sound system on the motherboard which I disabled.
The operating system is Vista (hence the KX driver).

I tried some software rendering of midi but the sound produced was not the sound as heard from the speakers...understandable. There was even one that let me load the same Sound Font as KX and it sounded different when rendered.

Thanks again.

PS: Happy Festivus.

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Steve Wellens

Maddogg6

Hmm - maybe your card is incorrectly identified by kX Driver...??

Your problem is kinda weird - other than not uncommon mis-understandings of kX anyway.
Could be a vista thing too I suppose, I dont use Vista

Jolly Visuvious (no wiki link - I just made that one up )

Steve Wellens

I got something to work. I wiped out the DSP window and started from scratch. In case it helps anyone, here's a screen shot of the settings. So I have one settings configuration just for recording MIDI.

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/2...eenshotep2.png



Steve Wellens

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Steve Wellens

peate

You could remove the Mixer since you are only using one input and add a couple of GainHQ plug-ins for each synth output if you need to tweak the levels. Just a suggestion.

I would use the MX6 and with the sends, feed a little Reverb and Chorus into the mix, but that's just me. You should have enough DSP resources for it. You seem to have caught on pretty quick, so experiment. The possibilities are endless with kX.

Steve Wellens

I didn't get any output without the mixer in there (maybe I was doing something wrong), but I would like to boost the volume into the recorder a bit so I'll try the GainHQ plug-in as you suggested. Thanks!


I've found adding reverb an entire mix muddies up the sound, but that's just me.

The terminology makes it tough to grasp: Prolog? Epilog? FxBus?
How about HW In, Output, Bus In.

By the way, when you right click a plug-in, you can Translate or UnTranslate....do you know what that means? (couldn't find it in the doc or online).

BTW2, Is there a list of plug-ins with documentation anywhere?

Thanks Again.

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Steve Wellens

peate

When you untranslate a plug-in, it's removing it from the DSP without physically removing it from the page like unload does. All the "wires" get disconnected and it's resources are freed for another plug-in. Useful if you want to experiment with different effects but are limited in resources like all 10k1 cards are.

I agree the names of the plug-ins are somewhat exotic, but I've gotten used to them. I don't know of any list and I think it's been mentioned before. There are however a lot of guides in the Forum and on the kX homepage. This one is a good read and explains a lot. Just save your settings and go for it.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/effects-...-your-dsp.html

Maddogg6

edit: doh! I misread this at first - it is *not* recommended to connect FXBus to epilog directly.
I thought you said proFx Mixer didnt work... /edit

The MX6/8 may not be obvious (??)

The Outputs from top to bottom on the LEFT side of the plugin;
MAIN L/R
REC L/R
Send 1 L/R
Send 2 L/R

The MX6 has 6 input strips (for the purpose of clarity I avoid using other terms like 'channel' here)
Each Strip has a Level control, 2 SENDS, and a button for; strip 'E'nable, 'M'ain enable and 'R' enable.

The SENDS are POST level - so adjusting the strip Level will also affect the strips sends.

The SWAP switch allows us to easily hear what is being sent to the RECORD outs by internally swapping the MAIN and RECORD outputs.

Another less obvious feature of MX6/8 mixers are; if you right click on the VU meter - you can set how quickly peaks fade - making it easier to catch/see peak levels.


Agreed, considering kX is aimed at 'musicians' it uses terminology I never seen in any studio or any audio application.

Epilog represents 'end points' for audio in the context of the DSP - hence the term 'epilog' These 'destinations' include the physical outputs (to interface with our real workd) and WDM/ASIO record bus input so software can be fed audio to be recorded or processed by host audio applications like a DAW.

You can think of FXBus as a 'playback' bus.

Prolog - represents all the physical inputs - here is 'start' of processing of real word audio signals. So Prolog sorta makes sense to in that context as well.

I often think of the Physical outputs as the 'monitor' bus, and the ASIO as the 'record bus.

FXBus - this is more specific to the hardware - FXBus is an internal bus in the hardware where software creates audio streams and the FXBus plugin is our interface to these software generated audio streams - they include; ASIO Playback, Wave 0/1, 2/3, 4/5 & 6/7 playback; Decoded AC3; kX Synths and DirectSound3D.
What audio is present on what FXBus line is dictated by the kX Router and is user changeable to some point.
10K1 has 15 FXBus lines and 10K2 cards have 64.

Naaa - its not just you, its *what* gets sent to reverb... I tend to use mid-hi freqs only to avoid muddy/boomy low end. But I love some chorus on the lows to make them a little punchier.
And thats why we have them sends in MX6/8 - we can send what we want to the reverb, and with varying levels by mixer channel/strip.

Unless they are special (aimed at being some workaround for some model specific bug, or, an experimental use plugin) - most are self explanatory, or are explained at web sites that explain common audio effects.

Max. M. has some less popular / cryptically named audio effects.

Most should say, already understand the difference between EQ and a Filter; What a compressor Limiter does and how to best use it; The difference between a reverb and a Delay Line - and again, the ways to use them. etc.. Which are all explained at sites like Harmony Central or several other sites.
Things like Wave Shapers, Wave Generators, Chorus, Crossover ets... are also more commonly used terms easily found on other sites.

Hope that helps. Any specific questions and many here I am sure are more than happy to help.

Steve Wellens

I thought I'd post the final configuration I use in case someone else finds it helpful:


http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/6...settingab7.png

Attached Images

 

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Steve Wellens