Recording virtual instrument sessions?

[fathomstory]

Hello,

I am a newb to Tracktion Waveform and DAW music making. My thoughts on the way a DAW works is to open a track, pull up a virtual instrument like a keyboard or a drum kit, find the sounds you like and record that. I have an AKAI MPK Mini, so I managed to get it to trigger the virtual instruments. I found some cool sounds that I like and hit 'record'. Apparently, you cannot record a live virtual instrument session. So, if you play a melody, the DAW will not record it. Instead, you have to 'draw' the melody on a track through a piano roll and subject that 'drawing' through different sound libraries. Can I not just play something and record it? Because I would play something and think, "oh, that is nice" and try to record that bit. But am told by veteran musicians that DAWs and computers do not work like that. Why not? If I can record live streaming TV or music, why not my own sounds for a DAW? Is this correct? If I *can* record my noodling sessions, how can I do so?

[pough]

The first thing you need to do is give those veteran musicians a kindly pat on the head.

Not only can you record your MIDI input, you can do it in at least two different ways.

1) Record
It's a relatively new thing in Waveform that you can record without recording, which is what I suspect happened to you. I know that sounds weird, but people wanted the ability to turn off and on the individual channels while recording, so there is no longer a warning that no inputs are ARMED to record, which of course results in nothing being recorded. Oops. Make sure that an input is armed for recording so that recording records.

Armed or Armless.png

2) Big Brother is Listening
Waveform has something called "Retrospective record." That means that it is always recording into a buffer, even if it's not in recording mode and even if your input is not armed. (Unless you have disabled it.) You can set the buffer length through the main menu in the bottom left via Options. (This might not be true for the Free version. I've never used it, so I don't know which features it doesn't have.) Note that it won't necessarily know the proper starting place for resulting clips and also that your own timing might not match the edit's timing. But at least you won't lose it.

Tips for Newbies: Tell us at least your OS and Waveform version (Free or Pro + version number) when asking for help. It helps us help. Also, open up the Controls Panel at the bottom of the screen. It has SO MUCH STUFF IN IT. Remember that it is context-sensitive.

[dysjoint]

Your midi input and virtual instrument is on track (x). Click on any other track input and select 'route audio from track (x)'. Arm the input and press record. This is a very simple way to do an online render as you can still tweak all your synths and vsts in real time and record the output. Just take note of the usual things like clipping, although you can choose to record a 32 bit file as a safety net.

Edit: if you want to record multiple tracks at once, set the outputs of tracks (x), (x + 1), (x +2) etc to all go to another single track. You could rename this other track 'bus' or 'jam bus' or whatever. Now do the same as above but for the recording track choose to route audio from this 'bus' track.

[pough]

Is... is that what the OP meant by "record it?" It didn't occur to me that they might have meant, "record the audio output of the virtual instrument."

[dysjoint]

Probably not, I read it a second time and I think you were right lol. At least we covered the bases.

[fathomstory]

@pough Thanks for the response. I am running TW Pro 13 on Linux.
That little triangle that indicates whether a track is armed to record or not, is not present. In fact, that region is empty save for the label, 'Track 1', 'Track 2' and so on.

For clarity to others post here, this is the intent: on one track, I would like to assemble some beats, on another track, an additional layer of beats, another track, some synth melodies, another track, ambient sweeps, another track, audio field recordings and so on. So on one track, while noodling on the MPK mini, I want to record some of the beats (and other sounds) I come up with. I am not a professionally trained musician and cannot read music. So I am not like the pros who draw their melodies on the time sheet or piano roll or whichever. Though I do have a lot of experience with post production audio and video editing, that is not the same as making music. Though I would like to learn some of the fundamentals of music at some point....

[pough]

That little triangle that indicates whether a track is armed to record or not, is not present. In fact, that region is empty save for the label, 'Track 1', 'Track 2' and so on.

Oh, you're farther back in the process than I realized. I think. If you click on the dark area under where it says "Track 1" then you can choose your input options. Once an input is chosen it can be armed.

Choosing input options.png

How are you able to get the MIDI from your MPK Mini to trigger plugin instrument sounds without having chosen an input?

For clarity ... I want to record some of the beats (and other sounds) I come up with.

Just for clarity, are you wanting to record the MIDI that comes from your MPK Mini or are you wanting to record the audio that comes out of the plugin instrument?

Recording the MIDI should allow you to play it again and also to change the instrument/preset later on.

Recording the audio from the instrument plugin allows you to capture in-the-moment sounds that may not ever be repeatable again, eg. if a plugin instrument or effect has some randomized aspects.

[fathomstory]

@pough I clicked for dear life beneath the track number labels, both right and left, but no such option as you describe occurs. There is nothing there. No darker shaded region as described.

Now this part: "Recording the audio from the instrument plugin allows you to capture in-the-moment sounds that may not ever be repeatable again, eg. if a plugin instrument or effect has some randomized aspects." Yep, that's what I want.

So basically, what I need to do is to assign the MPK mini to the track for record purposes. Right now, I can select something like the Wavetable or the Subtractive synth or the drum machines and play some notes, but it will not record. (However, it is my understanding that the other cool synths I have in my package are not available in Linux.)

[dysjoint]

It's possible to show or hide inputs, you may have accidentally hidden them?

[fathomstory]

@dysjoint Nah, I went into 'view' and showed a whole bunch of stuff, but arm / record does not 'show' on the track level. There must be somewhere else in the settings to bring it up...

[pough]

It's possible to show or hide inputs, you may have accidentally hidden them?

I forgot that was even an option.

I clicked for dear life beneath the track number labels, both right and left, but no such option as you describe occurs. There is nothing there. No darker shaded region as described.

Shift+F12 toggles the visibility of the inputs. You can also control it using the eye at the top right of the UI.

I guess since the default action is for the default MIDI device to follow the selected track*, you have been able to use your MPK Mini to audition on whichever track has focus, but not record. Incidentally, Alt+R will arm or disarm all inputs. But I think it's better to be able to see what you're doing.

* Settings -> General -> Track Inputs

[pough]

Yet another request for devs to add a "WHAT THE HELL HAVE I DONE" feature that lists all magic key presses* pressed. The sheer number of newbies who come here believing in ghosts because they pressed the letter Y is reason enough.

* And no, I am not asking to tie it to undo. I just want to know things like the above. I look at the keyboard when I type. If I think I'm in a text entry box and I'm not, it can end up looking like a toddler was in control for a while.

[fathomstory]

@pough wrote "Shift+F12 toggles the visibility of the inputs. You can also control it using the eye at the top right of the UI."

Ahh, there it is! It looks like I can play and record bits, now. Thanks so much! What a lot of work for something that ought to be readily available!

It is interesting how I envisioned a music making DAW working and how one actually works. But the idea of playing and recording sounds is closer to how I thought DAWs work. Though I bet the more 'complicated' way of drawing your melodies and sounds, like what pro musicians do, is probably the better option in the long run. Am just going with what is easier for now...

[Watchful]

However you make music is the right approach, provided you like the results.

[Peter Widdicombe]

If you really want to "script" music, there are authoring packages out there that allow you to enter notes as notes/rests and normal notation. Waveform isn't really build around that premise at all, as you have to use PianoRoll to do it that way; and it's not GREAT at that; but it's very useful for correcting errors.

Better, if you have a MIDI keyboard, is to record (unless your piano-playing capability is really limiting) MIDI events/ That's preferable in most cases to recording the sound from an external synth; unless your a knob-twiddler and your music relies on external controls to capture filter/envelope/random things ; or external arpeggiation.

Remember you can easily go back and correct errors manually through piano roll, and quantize, and loop or copy/paste afterwards. If you can't play 2-handed, then record them as separate tracks.

Give all of the methods a shot; and you should quickly realize which works for you. Just be aware that they all exist; as you can still sequence midi where appropriate, and record audio from modular synths for some tracks if you like. It's also possible, in some instances, to record and alter control channel information if you rely heavily on that kind of performance; provided your synth or module can send that kind of MIDI.