An audio error when a VST plugin is used?

[yogurt]

Every time that I add a VST plugin to a track with MIDI audio, it doesn't play anything.The output bar does not detect any audio either.
I get a yellow triangle and when I hover over it, it says "This track contains wave clips which may be inaudible as the audio will be blocked by some of the track's filters." Though it shows this before I have made any edits.

Does anybody know what causes this or how it might be fixed?
Thanks I'm a noob

[mikoatkvr]

Sounds like you might be putting an fx plugin 'before' your MIDI plugin in the FX chain ?

[yogurt]

whats the FX chain?

[mikoatkvr]

FX chain is a term used for more than one plugin in a row. Can you explain a bit more about exactly what you have in your track, maybe a screenshot would be even better?

[Watchful]

Also, what do you mean by MIDI audio? I want to be sure you're not putting an audio clip in the track with a VST instrument after...

[yogurt]

file:///C:/Users/audre/Pictures/Screenshots/Screenshot%20(574).png

I put the audio clip in the track before I added the plugin...

[jabe]

I'm afraid your link references an image at a location on your computer. We don't have access to view it.

[yogurt]

https://imgur.com/a/PrTYTwA

[Peter Widdicombe]

Helm is a vst which takes MIDI note events and converts them to audio. However, your track contains audio; so your "signal path" is effectively Audio -> volume control -> Helm -> output. Helm will see no incoming MIDI events, and the net result is silence.

Remove Helm from the path, and you should hear your audio track. If you want Helm sounds, then you need

(Track or input with midi events) -> Helm -> volume control

There really is no such thing as MIDI Audio, unless you have a midi source and have already rendered it so that IS an audio track. Don't think of it as MIDI at that point. From the looks of it, your track is audio.

[mikoatkvr]

Yes as Peter says " your track is an audio file ", you generally cant add a VST instrument only VST effects. There are a few Plugins which allow audio to pass through as well as MIDI, one I can think of is Redux (made by Renoise).

[Peter Widdicombe]

Not really true. If you have an AUDIO track, you only add VST effects. If you have a MIDI file or a keyboard that generates MIDI, you have the whole world of VST instruments you can use (and these can be followed then by vst effects).

If you're new to this, remember a synth may have 2 kinds of outputs - MIDI, which is just note on/note off/ pitch bend / modulation, etc. (USB or 5-pin DIN cable); PLUS the AUDIO output; typically the standard guitar-style plug/cable. CONTROLLER keyboards normally only have MIDI output, and will not generate any sound on their own.

Waveform and DAW's will handle either AUDIO or MIDI inputs, but they are different.

I actually got a cheap Casio keyboard at BestBuy about 2 years ago. Sound is mediocre, but the keyboard actually felt OK; and it has MIDI output. I turn the sound down on it all the way, and just use it as a controller that's light and relatively easy to carry around the house.

[Watchful]

When dealing with this stuff, remember there are two types of plug ins: instruments (VSTi) and effects (VSTfx).

Also, as Peter said, remember there are two types of sources: audio (stuff you can hear) and MIDI (nothing more than instructions to the computer, like the paper we used to load into player pianos).

MIDI -> VSTi + VSTfx = sound!

Audio -> VSTfx = sound!

MIDI -> VSTfx = no sound

Audio -> VSTi = no sound

Audio -> VSTi -> VSTfx = no sound

Hope that's helpful. It looks from your screen shot and from Peter's diagnosis that you're doing Audio -> VSTi = no sound

Believe it or not, you're super-close! Don't get frustrated!

[mikoatkvr]

@Peter i should have mentioned that I have to layer an audio clip on top of a MIDI clip for this to work with Redux. Then in Redux you add a line-in effect, which reads any audio coming in on the same track as well as playing the incoming MIDI to it's internal sampler. I know this isn't a usual workflow, but I do use this sometimes.

[Peter Widdicombe]

OK - I didn't see evidence of MIDI in the track, only audio. In any case, move the volume control to the END, then, after the MIDI+AUDIO vst. Yeah, MIDI-Choir works the same way.

[mikoatkvr]

@peter I'm not the OP of this post Anyway when you overlap both Audio and MIDI you can see both ( sort of ). I'll not confuse the post any further but I just wanted him to know that it is ( in rare cases ) possible to use certain Instruments and Audio together in one track. I guess these plugins are kind of hybrid in that manner.