Does "Waveform" allow me to use external midi instruments?

[Amelia70]

Hello, I am looking for a new DAW as I am just having too many issues with studio one. I have put up with them for over a year and I don't seem able to receive competent support.

I am using Studio one for composition and mixing, and have used that as my main DAW since i started writing my own music (tons of experience in the analogue mixing and production world prior).

Waveform looks intriguing but I read the manual and watched the videos, and am not seeing options to use external synths, of which I have many. Can someone shed some light on this please?

Also, how is stability thus far? I migrated to a mac this year and I find that Studio one is far less pleasant on the mac than it was on my PC, however I otherwise very much enjoy the macintosh operating system, and have gotten used to it very quickly.

Minimum outlay is preferred, and waveform is cheap. However i can not lose the use of my synths, so would love to know if they will work. Can waveform send midi beat clock to external synths, and finally, can i put delay times in per device to compensate for individual hardware synth timing offsets?

[jabe]

When you click on something, the lower middle panel (the Properties Panel) shows its properties, assuming you haven't hid it with the Hide the Properties Panel button. When you highlight a track, the third column of its properties has one called Track Destination. Change it to whatever the MIDI output on your interface is called.

[Amelia70]

Hello Jabe, and thank you.

The one thing I love about mac is the built in midi toolbox, so i have set up all my external synths with their correct names.. I'll get the waveform demo now and give it a go.. if it's as easy as just choosing the midi port referring to each synth, that's wonderful.

However.. I still do not see any options in the manual to tell waveform to send midi beat clock.. My work is rather tempo based (modern pop), so that is essential.

Furthermore, as explained above, without timing alterations available per channel it wouldn't be of much use to me either.

To explain more clearly.. Say I have 16 midi synths.. Every single one of those suffers from some latency and midi timing inconsistencies.. It's just the nature of the protocol. In Studio One, I am able to set manual amounts of offset for every channel.. No DAW, from what I know, will ever get 100% perfect timing with a large variety of external synths, as that is just the nature of the beast. We have to deal with d/a conversion latency which varies, and midi latency which varies. But this manual feature allows me to get it pretty darn tight - basically as good as can possibly be, and a VERY noticeable difference to just leaving everything at default.

My friend that also uses Studio One, uses pro tools in addition to it for certain styles of project, and she tells me that pro tools has even more options to adjust timing of external gear and get it really tight.. But I checked out the demo, and it's a strange DAW, as well as being ridiculously expensive, yet crippled compared to the more expensive versions. $649 for 128 tracks is just too expensive. Actually, 64 tracks, as I work at 96K. The nail in the coffin was that not one of my hardware synths that has a plugin editor, has one that works with pro tools.. So that's out of the question.

I need something that hosts VST or AU, it doesn't have to be both, and has solid midi timing as well as options to tweak port timing. I also need something that isn't a crash fest like S1 is. Thanks again.

[Peter Widdicombe]

How do you have the 16 external midi synths hooked up? If you daisy-chain with MIDI Thru that may be part of the problem. (or are these USB-based modules?). You can get MIDI-splitters that might provide a little more consistency at the MIDI hardware level... Although I don't know if anybody makes a 1-IN 16-out version.

[ThereIsNoLimitEr]

Kenton THRU-25 gives you 25 Outs. A bit pricey perhaps but should be a solid piece of gear. I have the THRU-5 and it works well.

http://m.kentonuk.com/products/utilities/thru-25.php

[rosesbyrosex]

The answer is in your heart

[zzz00m]

Hate to say this, but with your extensive hardware MIDI studio, you might be better served with a DAW that started life as a MIDI sequencer, such as Logic Pro or Cubase. Logic Pro X is Mac only, and only $199 in the app store.

If you go into Waveform: Settings > MIDI Devices > and click on any MIDI input port, you should see a data slider down in the bottom area called "Time adjust"[early/late, in ms]. I don't see this for the MIDI output ports.

[dRowAudio]

Have you had a look at the "Insert Plugin", it's designed exactly for this purpose and has fields to set the latency.
Bill Edstrom did a video of using an external audio effect here but the idea is the same for MIDI (just choose a MIDI output and audio input): https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/qmo2umn781

[Amelia70]

How do you have the 16 external midi synths hooked up? If you daisy-chain with MIDI Thru that may be part of the problem. (or are these USB-based modules?). You can get MIDI-splitters that might provide a little more consistency at the MIDI hardware level... Although I don't know if anybody makes a 1-IN 16-out version.

no daisy chain..

some are using their own usb port and driver, which works great.

all others have their own dedicated in out port on one of two motu midi interfaces

[Amelia70]

Hate to say this, but with your extensive hardware MIDI studio, you might be better served with a DAW that started life as a MIDI sequencer, such as Logic Pro or Cubase. Logic Pro X is Mac only, and only $199 in the app store.

If you go into Waveform: Settings > MIDI Devices > and click on any MIDI input port, you should see a data slider down in the bottom area called "Time adjust"[early/late, in ms]. I don't see this for the MIDI output ports.

Thank you.

Hmmm.. yes that doesn't make sense does it, I need timing settings for the output ports. I also still haven't been able to find a way to adjust beat clock settings..

I think waveform is not for me anyway, i haven't really enjoyed the demo so far, even though I have used it daily. I find it quite convoluted for something that is supposed to be so streamlined.

I also find it very odd that I can't lasso and click anywhere empty to de select stuff.. I have to hold a modifier key. I actually don't think i could ever get used to this.

Thanks everyone.

[Amelia70]

Have you had a look at the "Insert Plugin", it's designed exactly for this purpose and has fields to set the latency.
Bill Edstrom did a video of using an external audio effect here but the idea is the same for MIDI (just choose a MIDI output and audio input): https://w-edstrom.wistia.com/medias/qmo2umn781

i don't monitor my midi hardware synths through the daw at all. I use external analog for zero latency.

[Stuttaton]

I also find it very odd that I can't lasso and click anywhere empty to de select stuff.. I have to hold a modifier key. I actually don't think i could ever get used to this.

You can deselect stuff by pressing the ESC key. Can it get simpler than that?

[Cortmarshal]

If you want Waveform to behave like another program, why wouldn't you just use that other program?

Esc key deselects. I find it odd that you would want to have to click and drag to lasso nothing.

You can set latency adjustments on the midi inputs, and on the audio inputs coming back in from the synths.