Gameport midi + a new MIDI question

[titser_marco]

Is this still a viable and practical option today? I have this Audigy card with a MIDI game port and I was wondering if I could use that as a PC-MIDI interface. What issues can arise from this setup?

[3650guy]

yes you can use that as a midi interface. getting a gameport to MIDI cable is another thing. i once used this kind of cable on a MSI k7t (duron procie) for about 6 years. and then when i test this cable on a sb live card  on a msi km400 (microatx w built in video) bam lots of latency issues which i couldnt resolve. it depends on your hardware i guess. a usb to midi interface is still practical. some midi interfaces are sometimes posted sa keyboard classifieds.

 

[KitC]

Is this still a viable and practical option today? I have this Audigy card with a MIDI game port and I was wondering if I could use that as a PC-MIDI interface. What issues can arise from this setup?

Been there, done that. I once even had 2 'blasters in my pc (AWE32 and SBLive!) with individual joystick-to-midi cables each! Worked fine although sysex as sometimes a problem, albeit rarely. Just for kicks, I even had 2 joysticks attached plus Sonar PE editions allowed the joysticks to control surround panning... that was wild. All my midi interfaces are usb now.

[3650guy]

you mean to say that joysticks can assignable midi continous controllers too ? i never knew that.  ala bang dead spot yan joystick na yan? yan ba yung me pitch and yaw.. har har.  i've always though that either you use the connector as a midi interface or as a joystick. wow.. kewl.....

[KitC]

I once experimented with this: VMidiJoy http://vellocet.com/software/VMIDIJoY.html   - previous versions worked with analog joysticks using gameports but the newer version now is usb only. Could do pitchbends as well as assign other controllers; I had a fun time assigning resonance and filter cutoff for some wild filter sweeps. It was weird having a joystick on top of my keyboard workstation because there was a disassociation with manipulating sound with one hand away from the workstation itself. More info here: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Jan03/articles/pcnotes0103.asp

In Sonar naman, you can add a control surface and one of the presets is a joystick panner. This has been around since Sonar 4 and it does work, provided you have a surround system to be able to hear it. The surround functions are only available with the producer editions of Sonar, though. Cubase has something similar although my version, SL2, does not have surround capabilities.

[titser_marco]

Hey, hey, hey...interesting.

I'll be getting the Audigy card next week and i'll see how it goes. I'll update you guys and ask questions if it doesnt work hehehe

[titser_marco]

Woohooo, finally got the Creative Vibra Card and the MIDI keyboard is working with the PC now!

Now, the next thing I want to know is why my Alesis SR-16 has this MASSIVE delay when it sends MIDI signals to the PC. I was planning on archiving the patterns on the SR16 as MIDI files so that I can run them through some drum samplers and samples in the future. Any workarounds to this?

[3650guy]

hmm check mo dun sa device manager kung wdm or something else ang driver.  i though you were getting an audgiy card which has support for the "faster" asio drivers.  make sure that the recording software is set to use the alesis as the master clock... or something...

[titser_marco]

Ah okay.. so I have to set the drum machine as the clock generator? By the way, inde pala sha Audigy; it's some Vibra card.

Sige, I'll check later.

[3650guy]

the creative vibra is a couple of notches below the entry level SB live series - i guess. so that would account for the latency errr delay...

ala pa reply ni KitC kasi, weekends are philmusic free days... he he

added:

also set the recording resolution of your "recording software" to 96ppq or 120ppq depending on the sr16's default timebase (midi resolution) when recording from the sr16's drum patterns...

[KitC]

ala pa reply ni KitC kasi, weekends are philmusic free days... he he

Well, in a manner of speaking... The pc is in the office serving as a testbed of sorts. I usually bring it home every weekend so I can surf but we had an album launch last saturday so there. Didn't feel like lugging the computer home after attending MarvinQ's wedding the friday before.

If recording midi from an external device, better it be the master and your software is slaved to the midi clock coming from the device. Nong is right about using the same timing resolution.

[titser_marco]

I see. So I reckon, I should ditch the Vibra? Grabe, I couldn't even find drivers. Blech.

Pero here's another weird thing: my Sibelius only plays the tones during playback and note entry using the mouse, not during the actual note entry through midi.

[3650guy]

try to aim for an sb live that has the gameport/joystick connector. madami sa tipid pc. 500 bucks and above, and then try to use the kx project drivers which is available from the 'net. this will give you ASIO like performance. 

for the second part of your problem it must be a midi routing problem.
midi input so be the vibra drivers.

anyway if you will be getting serious with this midi thing then get either an m audio or emu card... kahit second hand basta working he he...
the rest bahala ni si KitC sa iyo...  hehe

[titser_marco]

try to aim for an sb live that has the gameport/joystick connector. madami sa tipid pc. 500 bucks and above, and then try to use the kx project drivers which is available from the 'net. this will give you ASIO like performance. 

for the second part of your problem it must be a midi routing problem.
midi input so be the vibra drivers.

anyway if you will be getting serious with this midi thing then get either an m audio or emu card... kahit second hand basta working he he...
the rest bahala ni si KitC sa iyo...  hehe

I actually got an SB card with a gameport connector, but I don't think it's SB Live..

[KitC]

There's an SBLive in tipidpc for Php350: http://tipidpc.com/viewitem.php?iid=2230070

I've used this and the gameport midi quite successfully, though I'll be honest in saying that I've never used it with XP. It should work with the new kx drivers, but be prepared for some configuration tweaks when it comes to kx. Better to get the Maudio 2496 which someone is selling for P2.5k: http://tipidpc.com/viewitem.php?iid=2229129 - just make sure it comes complete with all breakout cables.

[3650guy]

what 2.5k?  get it na.....  very good entry level card....

[titser_marco]

Hay, it's working na with the keyboard.

But Reaper doesn't sync with the drum machine!