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Old 07-23-2017, 12:14 PM   #1
Alexadry
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Default Newbie unable to hear playback when recording

Hello,
I am super new to all of this DAW stuff and am having problems recording tracks using Garritan Instant Orchestra. I think the problem may be with the input/output part. I am confused by all the stuff to learn at times and feel overwhelmed, but if I can get used to it by the time the trial is up, I will definitively purchase the software. I just wished I could understand it.

Here is what I have done so far:

-I use Windows 10 on my PC. I am using Garritan Aria Player 64 with Reaper x64 trial version.

-I open Garritan Aria Player and then Reaper.

-Under options/preferences/VST I made sure I have "C:\Program Files\Garritan\ARIA Player."

-Under options/preferences/ device I have:
-audio system Wavout (this was by default, I tried direct sound and playback still didn't work)
-Input Microsoft Realtek high definition,
-Output Speaker HP Realtek,
- sample format 16bit,
-Audio thread priority; Asio MMMC proaudio /time critical ( this was there by default,I don't know if this was something I was suppose to download?"

-My Garritan aria mixer switches are all set to high.
-FYI I am not using a microphone or headphones.

-On Reaper I have record armed and then use Control R to record. In: Record input: audio or MIDI. Infx: Input mono left, but tried different settings and non worked. With these settings, when I record it detects the sound of me playing as the bottom part of reaper waves go up and down as I hit the notes.

-I tried with record monitoring on/ auto and off. When on or auto I hear my own talking which I do not want.

-On Reaper I also selected track/install virtual instrument on new track/VSTi/aria player Garritan

When I listen to the recording, I hear my fan blowing (the A/C) but none of my playing! or sometimes I hear my playing just a bit but a very faint almost metallic sound.

All I want is to just simply record what I am playing with Garritan, no background sounds. Please bear with me, I am very illiterate in DAW so if you need to explain me what to do simply say stuff like go here, press here instead of using technical terms.

I got Garritan for my birthday last week and naively thought that was all I needed to use it and record. Just discovered I need Reaper, and now on Reaper I am totally lost and have been trying to record for over a week with no success. Help is much appreciated!

Last edited by Alexadry; 07-23-2017 at 12:19 PM.
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Old 07-23-2017, 03:48 PM   #2
DarkStar
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Hello Alexadry and welcome to these forums. You'll find many helpful people here and a lot of useful information. Make sure that you:
When you installed Garritan Aria Player you probably installed both the standalone program (the .exe file) and one or more plug-ins. It is the plug-in that you should load into Reaper.

So try this:
(a) start Reaper only,
(b) in the Preferences, set the VST path to wherever the Aria Player .dll file was installed (you might need to search your disk to find it),
(c) create a track in Reaper, open the FX Browser and load Garritan onto that track,
(d) load an instrument into Garritan,
(e) click its virtual keyboard and you should hear some sounds and see the track meter move in Reaper.

If so, then we can move to the next stage:
(f) Arm the track for Recording AND enable Input Monitoring,
(g) for the track's MIDI Input device, select your MIDI keyboard (what are you using?) or Reaper's built-in virtual keyboard,
(h) if the latter, then display it (off the [View] menu),
(i) click Record and play / click the keyboard,
(j) you should see the MIDI data being recorded onto the track, and hear some sound
(k) click Stop when done and Save the recorded MIDI onto the track.

Yes, I appreciate that these are technical terms but full details of all these steps are covered in the User Guide and the videos.

Let us know how you get on - and don't panic we were all at this stage at some time.

If Garritan is your first installed plug-in or you only have a few, then we can offer some advice before you press on and install loads more.
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Old 07-23-2017, 09:30 PM   #3
Alexadry
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OK,thanks for your help,
I did look around the user manuals and several videos but cannot find something that specifically addressed use of Garritan/ Aria with Reaper and on how to record and then listen to the playback. I mean, it could be its covered by I just do not understand the steps or what I doing wrong. After a week of trying things out and reading, I decided to surrender and ask for help.

Now here is how ignorant I am in all this stuff:
I was able to open Reaper alone (hurray!) now I am trying to figure out how to "set the VST path to wherever the Aria Player .dll file was installed."

I did a search and looks like Garrita/Arian is located in my Windows C/Program files/Garritan/Aria Player/VST. Now here I find:
Aria player Multi VST x64 dll
Aria player Multi VST x86 dll
Aria Player VST x64 dll
Aria Player VST x86 dll

If I stop at Aria player without opening the VST folder there are other dll file choices like:

libdndnfile_64 dll
portaudio_64 dll

To me this is like Greek! Is it any of these? and if so, do I cope and paste it and then how do I set the VST path? Do I just go to reaper/preferences/VST and replace what I had before and press add or maybe re-scan and then OK?

Sorry, but I feel I will get further stuck in the next steps as I know already that I cannot figure out how to open the FX Browser, and if it's the button I think it is, it asks me to select several versions of Garritan Aria and not sure which one is the right one now.

Where is input monitoring so I can enable it? Is it the "record disable (input monitoring only?)" or "record monitoring?"

Then, I have no clue where I can find the the Input device option so to select Reaper's built-in virtual keyboard (yes, by the way, that's what I am using for now, I have MIDI keyboard but that's my next project!)If it's the button I think it is, it then asks me to select All channels or any number from 1 to 16. Which would it be?

That's how bad I am right now! Thanks for your patience!

PS, is there a way for me to upload pictures so I can better explain where I am at and if I am selecting the right stuff?

Last edited by Alexadry; 07-23-2017 at 10:32 PM.
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Old 07-23-2017, 10:48 PM   #4
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Oh, wow, persistence pays off! I think I got playback working, I selected "record output multichannel" and input MIDI virtual keyboard and am listening to what I played! Does this sound right?
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Old 07-24-2017, 03:37 AM   #5
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This would be the folder to select: "C/Program files/Garritan/Aria Player/VST", replace the existing contents of the VST path (without the quotes), then 'Clear cache / rescan'. User Guide 1.16.

To open the FX browser: click the FX button for the track, or do it from the [View] menu. If you are using Reaper 64-bit, then Aria player Multi VST x64 dll is the plug-in to load. Otherwise use Aria player Multi VST x86 dll. Either of these will give yopu the possibility of multiple, separate audio outputs for different instruments in Garritan, so that you can mix them or apply different FX to them in Reaper.

Input Monitoring (also known as Record Monitoring) is this button on the track:

Make sure that it is ON; you can also right-click the RecArm button to set it (there it is named 'Monitor Input'!)

In the v5 theme, by default the Input Device field is not visible, drag down the lower edge of the Track Control Panel (TCP) to see it:

Choose 'All channels' for the moment.

This will record the MIDI data from the Virtual Keyboard, not the audio from Garritan. You can then edit the MIDI to fix any mistakes, add notes, move notes etc etc. The "Record output" choices are not needed, they would record the audio from Garritan; stick to Record Input.

To upload pictures: How to post screenshots (in Post #2)
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Old 07-24-2017, 03:53 AM   #6
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And now a word about plug-in folders.

Some VST plug-ins have problems when located in the 'Program Files' folders, given the security checks applied by Windows (from Vista onwards). The general recommendation is to create two folders, outside that folder, e.g. C:/VST64 and C:/VST32. Two folders are used to keep the 64-bit and 32-bit plug-ins separate, which makes subsequent selection / use easier. The only VST plug-in path you would need in Reaper would be one of those two.

Within those two folders some people have sub-folders for each plug-in developer (Garritan, Native Instruments, IK Multimedia, MeldaProduction, FabFilter etc) or for different plug-in categories (Samplers, Synths, EQ, Reverbs, Compressors etc).

It is much easier to adopt this sort of organisation before you go installing tens (hundreds!) of plug-ins. If the installer has the option to select the location for the plug-ins, I would suggest uninstalling Garritan and reinstalling
it, selecting the appropriate sub-folder for the 64-bit and 32-bit plug-ins. IF not, then it MIGHT be OK just to move the .dll files (someone-else will confirm / refute this)

PS: Some developers also provide VST3 plug-ins; these go into (sub-folders in) specific folders, e.g. C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3. If you want to use those you would add that path to Reaper's plug-in path list.

Phew!
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Old 09-04-2017, 05:03 PM   #7
Alexadry
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Thanks for the help, but this is really getting too difficult for me. I am totally lost and don't think I have a high IQ enough for this stuff to put it honestly. Is there any easier software for me to use? My reaper trial is almost up and still am having trouble. I have 10 days to figure things out.

It should be an easy task really, but today my Aria Player doesn't have sound (when I use i with Reaper only) despite the fact that the volume is up and Reaper software is not showing some buttons for input output as it usually did (I started a new thread for this). Forget about reading the manual, to me it's like Greek. To me it all feels like flying an airplane to put it bluntly. There are too many things that need to be checked, things that may go wrong if I do not follow my checklist and I cannot understand the instructions.

Last edited by Alexadry; 09-04-2017 at 05:13 PM.
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Old 09-04-2017, 06:53 PM   #8
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Don't give up on it, Alexadry. I only started a couple of years ago with home recording, and had no previous experience with music software. I had loads of issues with software and hardware. It was a steep learning curve and could get extremely frustrating. I thought I would simply install a soundcard and a DAW on a PC, and then get creative making music straight away, instead of headscratching and troubleshooting. Eventually I got on top of it, and you will too.

It's a very helpful forum here so, with patience, you can work out any problem.

One thing that might help is saving a project so you keep any progress you've made setting things up in Reaper. Once you have everything working you can save it as a template, enabling you to start a new project from a point where everything is working, and can focus on making music. Good luck.
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