Not again - no Keyboard input

[Wino Bob]

If you want to sort through my previous thread "aahhh ...Oh boy" be my guest.

I have no idea why this is not working (again). It worked great for three days of testing, so I carefully wrote out instructions for me to use (see attachment, plus a little extra) - I wanted to make sure I did the same thing every time.

Now my keyboard and Reaper are not talking to each other. I've been tinkering with things but no luck.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[solger]

The steps in your attachment look OK.

First thing which comes to mind: are the notes played on the Casio inside the playable note range (indicated by the colored keys in Kontakt's virtual keyboard) of the loaded Kontakt instrument?

When you load the "Band / Classic Bass" instrument mentioned in your attachment, you can see that not all keys in Kontakt's virtual keyboard are colored.
So when you try to play, as example, a C1 MIDI note on the Casio, it won't trigger any sound samples from "Band / Classic Bass" because C1 is outside the playable instrument range (which is in this case: B1-G5 and C6-A#6).

The playable note range can vary depending on the loaded Kontakt instrument.

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In general, you can use this to check if any MIDI messages/notes from the Casio are coming into the Reaper Track (see 0:40 - 0:50 in the video): www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5mL2OSTrNc

1) Insert ReaControlMIDI before the Kontakt Plugin in the FX Chain of the Track (you can change the order of the plugins in a FX chain via drag and drop)
2) In ReaControlMIDI: click on the [Show Log] button
3) See if any MIDI messages are displayed in the MIDI activity log window on the right when pressing keys on the Casio

[Wino Bob]

Originally Posted by solger

The steps in your attachment look OK.

First thing which comes to mind: are the notes played on the Casio inside the playable note range (indicated by the colored keys in Kontakt's virtual keyboard) of the loaded Kontakt instrument?


---------------------------

In general, you can use this to check if any MIDI messages/notes from the Casio are coming into the Reaper Track (see 0:40 - 0:50 in the video): www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5mL2OSTrNc

1) Insert ReaControlMIDI before the Kontakt Plugin in the FX Chain of the Track (you can change the order of the plugins in a FX chain via drag and drop)
2) In ReaControlMIDI: click on the [Show Log] button
3) See if any MIDI messages are displayed in the MIDI activity log window on the right when pressing keys on the Casio

_________

1) Yes, I'm staying within the playable range regardless of the sample I'm playing.
2) Added the ReaControlMIDI before the Kontakt Plugin and played keyboard - no midi messages were displayed in the log

[Fergler]

Have you tried a different USB cable? Also make sure the device is fully enabled in the MIDI devices part of preferences.

[solger]

Originally Posted by Wino Bob

1) Yes, I'm staying within the playable range regardless of the sample I'm playing.
2) Added the ReaControlMIDI before the Kontakt Plugin and played keyboard - no midi mess(ages were displayed in the log

If you haven't already, try using a different MIDI cable for connecting the Casio to the Focusrite (to rule out a faulty cable/connection).

And also try using the Focusrite with a different USB cable, as Fergler mentioned.
In addition, check if connecting the Focusrite to another USB port makes any difference.

Originally Posted by Wino Bob

When I play my keyboard, my Focusrite pre-amp lights up, however

Just to clarify (since you mentioned this in the attachment):

- Is the Casio only connected via MIDI cable to the Focusrite? Or is it connected via Audio cable, as well?
- And in case you have both cables (MIDI + Audio) connected: is this led (which lights up) on the Focusrite a MIDI activity led? Or a led for the Audio Input?

[Wino Bob]

Originally Posted by solger

If you haven't already, try using a different MIDI cable for connecting the Casio to the Focusrite (to rule out a faulty cable/connection).

And also try using the Focusrite with a different USB cable, as Fergler mentioned.
In addition, check if connecting the Focusrite to another USB port makes any difference.



Just to clarify (since you mentioned this in the attachment):

- Is the Casio only connected via MIDI cable to the Focusrite? Or is it connected via Audio cable, as well?
- And in case you have both cables (MIDI + Audio) connected: is this led (which lights up) on the Focusrite a MIDI activity led? Or a led for the Audio Input?

____________
I do not have another pair of midi cables but if this latest round points to that, I will get some. I have switched out a different USB cable and put it in a different USB port. The only connections to the Focusrite are the two midi cables which light up the midi LED.
I’m testing two tracks.
Track one includes ReaControlMIDI and ReaSynth (in that order).
1) When the track is armed and I play the keyboard, I get the appropriate sound from the monitor speakers and midi messages in the log – all good
Track two includes ReaControlMIDI and Kontakt 5 (in that order).
1) When the track is armed and I play the keyboard, I get no sound from the monitor speakers but I do get midi messages in the log.
2) When I reverse the order, Kontakt 5 then ReaControlMIDI, arm the track, and play the keyboard, I get no sound from the monitor speakers. However, I do get sound from the monitors if I use the virtual keyboard.
3) I just noticed, in the upper right-hand corner of the Kontakt Player screen is “tune and 0.00”. The meters move when I play the virtual keyboard, and when I play my keyboard . . . what does that mean?

[solger]

Originally Posted by Wino Bob

The only connections to the Focusrite are the two midi cables which light up the midi LED.

OK. An active MIDI led on the Focusrite indicates that MIDI from the Casio reaches the Focusrite.

As a side note: for sending MIDI from the Casio into Reaper, it's enough to just use one MIDI connection: CASIO [MIDI OUT] ---> [MIDI IN] Focusrite. You don't need to connect the second MIDI cable in this case.

Originally Posted by Wino Bob

3) I just noticed, in the upper right-hand corner of the Kontakt Player screen is “tune and 0.00”...

- The tune knob (by default set to 0.00) allows you to globally change the pitch up/down: https://support.native-instruments.c...ds-Out-of-Tune
- The L/R slider below the tune knob is for globally panning the output audio signal.
- The level meters in the right corner show the current output level of the instrument. The volume slider below is for adjusting the output volume.

You can find more info in the 'Instrument Header' chapter in the Kontakt Application Reference Manual.

...The meters move when I play the virtual keyboard, and when I play my keyboard . . . what does that mean?

Moving level meters in the Kontakt instrument header mean that there's audio output from the played Kontakt instrument. So at this point we know that MIDI from the Casio reaches/triggers the Kontakt instrument and generates audio output (indicated by the level meters). But according to your description it looks like that the audio output from Kontakt doesn't get back into the Reaper Track (for whatever reason) and therefore audio doesn't get through to your Monitor Speakers, as well.

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Although I don't think that this might be the issue here, the next thing to check is the assigned audio output channel in the Kontakt instrument header. The default setting [Output: st. 1] should be fine: https://support.native-instruments.c.../OutputSt1.png

Another thing to try in general is loading Kontakt into 2 or more Tracks and see if the problem (getting no audio output from Kontakt) is the same on all Tracks.

If the problem persists, try doing a [Clear cache/rescan] of the plugins via Preferences > Plug-ins > VST, just in case.

[Wino Bob]

- The level meters in the right corner show the current output level of the instrument. The volume slider below is for adjusting the output volume.

Moving level meters in the Kontakt instrument header mean that there's audio output from the played Kontakt instrument. So at this point we know that MIDI from the Casio reaches/triggers the Kontakt instrument and generates audio output (indicated by the level meters). But according to your description it looks like that the audio output from Kontakt doesn't get back into the Reaper Track (for whatever reason) and therefore audio doesn't get through to your Monitor Speakers, as well.

Another thing to try in general is loading Kontakt into 2 or more Tracks and see if the problem (getting no audio output from Kontakt) is the same on all Tracks.

If the problem persists, try doing a [Clear cache/rescan] of the plugins via Preferences > Plug-ins > VST, just in case.[/QUOTE]

[solger]

I had a look at your attachment (verbiage 4.zip) and I'm starting to wonder if this might be a bug of the Kontakt plugin (since it seems to work fine with other virtual instruments like Reasynth) ...

In the Kontakt Player when you click on the NI icon at the top right corner: which version number (5.x) is shown?
And can you please also attach the current .RPP project file (with the 6 Tracks) to a post so I can check if something else comes into mind.

[Wino Bob]

Originally Posted by solger

I had a look at your attachment (verbiage 4.zip) and I'm starting to wonder if this might be a bug of the Kontakt plugin (since it seems to work fine with other virtual instruments like Reasynth) ...

In the Kontakt Player when you click on the NI icon at the top right corner: which version number (5.x) is shown?
And can you please also attach the current .RPP project file (with the 6 Tracks) to a post so I can check if something else comes into mind.

The version is 5.7.0 (R32),License Type-Player, Processor-x64 (SSE, SSE2, SSE3)
Does the "(R32) " mean the 32 bit version, and I have a 64 bit Processor?
Let me know if you can get into the attached - I wasn't sure if I was supposed to use a zip file.

Many thanks solger

[solger]

Originally Posted by Wino Bob

The version is 5.7.0 (R32),License Type-Player, Processor-x64 (SSE, SSE2, SSE3)
Does the "(R32) " mean the 32 bit version, and I have a 64 bit Processor?

The Kontakt version looks OK, so far:

- 5.7.0 (R32) is the latest available update version (if I remember correctly R32 is just NI's internal Revision number).
- And 'Processor-x64 (SSE, SSE2, SSE3)' indicates that it's the 64-bit version of the plugin (a 32-bit NI plugin would show Processor: IA32 (SSE, SSE2, SSE3))

Let me know if you can get into the attached - I wasn't sure if I was supposed to use a zip file.

Yeah, thanks. In general, you can attach .RPP files directly or put them in a .zip file. It's fine either way
I'll report back when I had time to take a closer look at the .RPP file ...

[solger]

OK, looks like the problem in the 'midi test.rpp' file in post #10 is that there are some things loaded as Input FX in all Tracks - indicated by the little green <IN|FX] button in the second row on the left in the screenshot - which are basically blocking the incoming MIDI from going through the rest of the Signal Chain in the Kontakt Tracks:




So for all (ReaSynth and Kontakt) Tracks in the Project: click on the little <IN|FX] button (shown in the second row in the screenshot) to open the Input FX chain and remove all FX entries from there.

And in general, make sure that virtual instruments like ReaSynth, Kontakt Player, etc. are added (manually) only as Track FX (which is the [FX] button in the first row in the screenshot).

I hope this solves the problem.

[Wino Bob]

Originally Posted by solger

OK, looks like the problem in the 'midi test.rpp' file in post #10 is that there are some things loaded as Input FX in all Tracks - indicated by the little green <IN|FX] button in the second row on the left in the screenshot - which are basically blocking the incoming MIDI from going through the rest of the Signal Chain in the Kontakt Tracks:




So for all (ReaSynth and Kontakt) Tracks in the Project: click on the little <IN|FX] button (shown in the second row in the screenshot) to open the Input FX chain and remove all FX entries from there.

And in general, make sure that virtual instruments like ReaSynth, Kontakt Player, etc. are added (manually) only as Track FX (which is the [FX] button in the first row in the screenshot).

I hope this solves the problem.

_____

All Input FX entries have been removed (no green lights). For the four Kontakt tracks (regardless of whether the track is armed or not) I get correct sample sounds and meter readings using Kontakt's virtual keyboard.

At first, (also regardless of whether the track is armed or not) I had no sounds or track meter levels (or level meters in the right corner) showing any activity when playing my keyboard.

However, I then restarted my computer. Everything now seems to work!! We were here once before and I swear I will try not to mess anything up (and will pray to the voodoo god of restart).

Thanks again solger - truly appreciate it.

I swear I'm not making this stuff up

[solger]

Originally Posted by Wino Bob

... However, I then restarted my computer. Everything now seems to work!! ...

OK, great


Just as a side note: using ReaControlMIDI's Log function or using a different virtual instrument plugin like ReaSynth as Track FX is a good strategy in general to check if incoming MIDI notes/messages are getting through to the Track FX chain. Or to narrow down if a problem might only be with a certain instrument plugin (if other instrument plugins are working fine with the same setup).