Almost ready to actually make microtonal music...

Greetings all... I've got CronoX set up with Ugly VSTi and they work together
beautifully. I am able to hear the sounds from the softsynth through the computer
speakers and the microtonal scales load without a hitch-- amazing. Only problem is:
I am unable to control the softsynth remotely with my Roland HP-2800G. I'm really
not sure what the problem is or how to diagnose it. I know the HP-2800G works fine
as a MIDI controller since I have it correctly hooked to the Mac via a TASCAM US-428
MIDI interface-- the connection is confirmed working since I use it all the time to
input notation with Sibelius. I put an email into LinPlug, but I bet somebody here
knows the answer. Also: I'm not quite sure how to load patches, but I'll read the
manual more thoroughly. Best, -Justin

Justin,

{you wrote...}
>Greetings all... I've got CronoX set up with Ugly VSTi and they work together
>beautifully.

Yaya! Now let's diagnose...

>I am able to hear the sounds from the softsynth through the computer >speakers and the microtonal scales load without a hitch-- amazing. Only >problem is:
>I am unable to control the softsynth remotely with my Roland HP-2800G.

You mean "when I play the kbd it doesn't activate the synth", right? I say this because one of the things you can do is automate the knobs and sliders by sending info from a midi kbd, etc. But you mean just play, right?

So when you hear sounds from the synth, is that by using the mouse and clicking on the on-screen kbd?

>I'm really not sure what the problem is or how to diagnose it. I know the >HP-2800G works fine as a MIDI controller since I have it correctly hooked >to the Mac via a TASCAM US-428 MIDI interface-- the connection is >confirmed working since I use it all the time to input notation with Sibelius.

I have a funny feeling it might be the Ugly VSTi host. If you have any chance of trying out another softsynth, even if it isn't microtonal, you might want to do that - if neither is getting input from your Roland, then it is the host that is not working properly. You might try Crystal:

http://www.greenoak.com/crystal/index.html

A completely free softsynth that sounds very nice and has OSX versions for both VST and AU.

>I put an email into LinPlug, but I bet somebody here knows the answer. >Also: I'm not quite sure how to load patches, but I'll read the manual >more thoroughly.

It's possible you have to download some preset patches separately, I think I did. When you have patches extracted to a folder somewhere, the window under "Presets" shows a patch name, and left/right arrows surrounding a folder icon. The arrows go to the prev and next patches in that folder, and the folder icon opens up a list that you can pick from or change to another folder. Pretty straight-forward.

BTW, I thought of you and your pals tonight as I was looking for stuff. Are you already aware of:

http://www.osxaudio.com/

Cheers,
Jon

It sounds like you need to select/enable the MIDI port from within Ugly VSTi
or Cronox. This is typical of such programs since computers can have
multiple MIDI and audio ports.

John Loffink
The Microtonal Synthesis Web Site
http://www.microtonal-synthesis.com
The Wavemakers Synthesizer Web Site
http://www.wavemakers-synth.com

>
> Greetings all... I've got CronoX set up with Ugly VSTi and they work
> together
> beautifully. I am able to hear the sounds from the softsynth through the
> computer
> speakers and the microtonal scales load without a hitch-- amazing. Only
> problem is:
> I am unable to control the softsynth remotely with my Roland HP-2800G. I'm
> really
> not sure what the problem is or how to diagnose it. I know the HP-2800G
> works fine
> as a MIDI controller since I have it correctly hooked to the Mac via a
> TASCAM US-428
> MIDI interface-- the connection is confirmed working since I use it all
> the time to
> input notation with Sibelius. I put an email into LinPlug, but I bet
> somebody here
> knows the answer. Also: I'm not quite sure how to load patches, but I'll
> read the
> manual more thoroughly. Best, -Justin
>

> You mean "when I play the kbd it doesn't activate the synth", right? I say
> this because one of the things you can do is automate the knobs and sliders
> by sending info from a midi kbd, etc. But you mean just play, right?

That's exactly what I mean. The Roland doesn't have any knobs/sliders although the
TASCAM US-428 *does*. I'm just unable to activate the synth by playing the
keyboard.

>
> So when you hear sounds from the synth, is that by using the mouse and
> clicking on the on-screen kbd?

Yep.

>
> I have a funny feeling it might be the Ugly VSTi host.

I have a funny feeling you're right, because Ugly VSTi can't receive the MIDI data
either.

>If you have any
> chance of trying out another softsynth, even if it isn't microtonal, you
> might want to do that - if neither is getting input from your Roland, then
> it is the host that is not working properly. You might try Crystal:

I'll try it right now.

> It's possible you have to download some preset patches separately, I think
> I did. When you have patches extracted to a folder somewhere, the window
> under "Presets" shows a patch name, and left/right arrows surrounding a
> folder icon. The arrows go to the prev and next patches in that folder, and
> the folder icon opens up a list that you can pick from or change to another
> folder. Pretty straight-forward.

I'll look into this.

>
> BTW, I thought of you and your pals tonight as I was looking for stuff. Are
> you already aware of:
>
> http://www.osxaudio.com/

I've bookmarked it! Thanks. -Justin

I tried out HostX instead of Ugly VSTi. HostX acknowledges input from the Roland via
the Tascam, but every time I press a key I get an error message: "error: vst~:
midievent: effect doesn't want events" -- Also HostX won't load CronoX.

Does anyone know of a proven VST host that works with CronoX and accepts midi
events without fail? -Justin

J,

{you wrote...}
>I tried out HostX instead of Ugly VSTi. HostX acknowledges input from the >Roland via
>the Tascam, but every time I press a key I get an error message: "error: >vst~:
>midievent: effect doesn't want events" -- Also HostX won't load CronoX.

Crap.

>Does anyone know of a proven VST host that works with CronoX and accepts >midi events without fail?

AND (always be sure to append this important info) runs in OS X on the Mac platform. Also, check with your OSX friends: even if they aren't into micro, don't you think at least one of them may be running VST-based music software that you could try out?

Cheers,
Jon