New to Synth Plugins

[sworkshop]

I record primary acoustic, jazz and blues.

I have a client that wants a bevy of synth choices now.

I have purchased a few from the Plugin Boutique. They install successfully.

But I give up on trying to get a sound out of them. My only output option is GS Wavetable.

How in the world do I patch in the new synth sounds. I have been trying for a couple of days and can't figure out how to do it...

I can get sound when I output to GS Wavetable (the only non-hardware choice).

Will appreciate if you can bring me up to speed...synths aren't my speciality

Thanks!

[sworkshop]

I was able to get sound out of it, though I'm still not sure how.

Next problem...can't press record it says it needs a live input. What is a live input? I am inputting from an active device (M-audio Keystation).

With audio, it is simple ..I just select a mic channel input. With this, don't know what to do besides use the Keystation as the input. Why would it not like that?

[Watchful]

You didn't say whether you're using Tracktion or Waveform, but the two are fundamentally similar.

On the right-hand side of the horizontal tracks, you have the outputs. This is where your plug ins go. Simply click the gray "+" in the upper right in order to call up the menu of plug in choices. Select the plug in you wish, and drag it to the output area (looks like this >__>) on the right-hand side of track 1.

On the left-hand side, you have the inputs. This is where you select your MIDI controller. Click on the input area (also looks like this >__> but on the left), and select your Keystation.

If you have configured your DAW for (1) the Keystation (which should be as easy as connecting its USB port to your computer), (2) audio (there's a setup menu where you would select the available outputs), and (3) the plug ins (scanning for the ones you installed, also from the settings menu), pressing a key on the Keystation should play a note through the plug in.

Create a MIDI clip by clicking on the red "+" up at the top right. Drag it to track 1 and position it where you want the notes to start playing.

To record the MIDI you play, you need to arm the track. Click on the red dot next to the "Keystation" input, then click the square record button.

This should get you going. You can create additional tracks, each with a different plug in... just remember to select the input for each track and deselect the old ones.

[Peter Widdicombe]

It might help to think of a .VST as a converter or filter. Filters are things like volume controls, echo, reverb, etc. They take audio input and process it back into audio.

.VST Instruments are typically converters. They take an input MIDI, and convert that to audio. So typically you have a MIDI track with MIDI input device (keyboard or MIDI data from the MIDI editor) being fed into an instrument .VST as the first processor on the right hand side of the track. From that point on, it's an audio signal that can then be processed with volume, pan, echo, etc. and fed to the standard audio output.

In your former case, MIDI input that has no VST will be fed straight through to output, and typically do nothing (unless you send output of the track to either default MIDI output or a specific MIDI output device.).

[sworkshop]

Thanks for the guidance guys. I'll get this thing to bend to my will eventually, I always do.

[zzz00m]

https://www.tracktion.com/training/videos

https://youtu.be/h-UY_bHh-eI

[Watchful]

I'll get this thing to bend to my will eventually, I always do.

You probably won't have to do much bending. I find Waveform is closer in some respects to logical signal flow than other DAWs, given how it views and presents inputs and outputs. You will quickly get the hang of it, and I predict finding all sorts of neat things you can do with it in very short order. Have fun! Be patient, and never be afraid to experiment with combining what you know about traditional audio with digital and VSTs. You're going to have some really remarkable ideas very soon.

[sworkshop]

Thanks for the good wishes

The video is great but it doesn't work that way for me @1:28 and forward.

Let me restate the original discussion, now that I have a little bit better understanding.

1) Using Keystation USB. I see it as an input in Tracktion (using 7). So far so good.
2) I select a track, set input to Keystation, put my virtual instrument plugin before the fader. Get no input.
3) When I go to arm the track for recording it will not let me. It say that I must select an input device.

I have difficulty understanding why this would happen. All visual clues say it should work. Checked midi filters, track output assignment, and many others and I cannot find the cause.

It is puzzling.

[dRowAudio]

A screenshot of your Edit with the MIDI input selected might help. Hopefully it's something obvious and quick to sort out.

[Peter Widdicombe]

When you select the keystation as input in a track, if you hit keys on the keystation generating MIDI events, you should see the input level meters for the track (where you selected it) bouncing. Is this happening? If it doesn't allow you to arm the track, it sounds like you hadn't actually selected the keystation on the "input chevron >>>" area on the left.

On the other hand, when you select the track itself, you should see a keyboard to the bottom of the screen. If you mouse-click keys there, do you hear sound from the VST you've placed before the level meters - provided you've selected a patch from the VST (if necessary - some VST's will not produce a sound until you've selected a sound patch).

[zzz00m]

What do you see on your available inputs menu when you follow the tutorial step at 1:50?

[sworkshop]

Thanks for the help.

Yes, I see the Keystation as an input in the Midi panel. I can finally get a sound out of if I select GS Wavetable as the output (seems funny...is this right?)

I am now able to arm the track and record (outputting to the Wavetable seems to be the trick), but the recorded part is playing back ia half step lower than the one I played. That may be something with the Keystation or a transpose settting somewhere...or not.

I feel like a dunce since everyone seems to say this is a simple 'plug and play' operation, but I know with everyones help that I am making progress.

Thanks

[zzz00m]

The GS Wavetable will work, but is not recommended. You have changed your track's output from the default audio device (preferred if you are using a soft synth, or audio tracks) to an arguably crappy Microsoft provided audio device.

So change the track output back to default audio, or delete that track and start with a new one. Maybe better yet, start with a fresh edit, the follow the next step.

You will need to add the Keystation as the track input on the left side of your track, and then insert any soft synth as a plugin in the track outputs panel on the right hand side of the track. You will need to select a preset in the synth to generate your choice of sound. No soft synth, no sound. If you have a synth plugin with an onscreen keyboard, you can use that with your mouse to check the audio output from the synth.

Then when you play your Keystation, the MIDI input device on the left sends MIDI messages to the soft synth on the right, and the soft synth then outputs audio to your default audio device.

[chico.co.uk]

Post a screenshot of what you're doing, instead of trying to describe it in words. It's faster and easier for everybody.

[Peter Widdicombe]

Just curious - what VST are you trying?

Actually, another - what version of Tracktion/Waveform? Different versions over the years have come with a number of built-in MIDI vst's (most of the older ones not great, but simple). Remember, an echo, or reverb, or distortion .vst won't actually produce any sound - you need a piano, or an organ, or strings... to generate actual sound from MIDI; or a sound library type, such as Collective (but you DO need to choose the sound on those).