Old 03-18-2019, 02:55 PM   #1
Musicianaire
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Default ReaControlMIDI - no sound

First time using RCM in order to use the sounds from my Yamaha DGX-660 keyboard. I'm using RCM to read a Cakewalk instrument definition file. Got everything set up according to the manual, but when I play the keyboard there is no sound.

I checked the RCM Log, and I see activity when I play the keyboard, so it seems everything is otherwise working as it should.

The track is armed and set to "Record: input (audio or MIDI)"
Record monitoring is on.
Input is set to "MIDI: Portable Grand (my keyboard), All Channels"

No idea why I don't hear anything.

EDIT: Now I'm totally confused. Solved the no sound problem (keyboard Local function needed to be On), and I successfully recorded a few measures of drums. BUT...
There is no playback sound. And I noticed that soon as I start recording, RCM changes the Program to <user>, instead of keeping it at Standard Kit 1 (the kit on the keyboard), which is what I set it to.

What's making that happen?


EDIT #2: Solved THAT problem (closed it all out and restarted), but now, after successfully recording some drums there still is no playback sound. The meter shows activity when recording, but not during playback and of course I hear nothing.

...annnd I don't know what I'm doing. When I change kits on the RCM window, the kits don't change on the keyboard. And I can't find a manual for RCM that explains how to get started.
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Last edited by Musicianaire; 03-18-2019 at 03:26 PM.
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Old 03-18-2019, 04:17 PM   #2
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Did you enable the MIDI output of the Yamaha DGX keyboard in Reaper prefs (MIDI devices)?

Did you select the appropriate MIDI hardware output (Yamaha DGX) in the track's routing window?

Once you are getting sound while playing back the MIDI track you might wanna set LOCAL control of the keyboard back to off to avoid double sound while live-monitoring what you are currently playing during recording.

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Old 03-18-2019, 07:20 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SonicAxiom View Post
Did you select the appropriate MIDI hardware output (Yamaha DGX) in the track's routing window?
.
That's the ticket! Thanks! And I turned Local back to Off. Drums are recording and playing back with sound.
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Old 03-18-2019, 07:38 PM   #4
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cool, glad it's working now
In the email notification I got for your reply you wrote that you heard piano sound with the drums. Did you sort this issue out in the meantime (by setting Local to "off")?

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Old 03-18-2019, 07:49 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by SonicAxiom View Post
cool, glad it's working now
In the email notification I got for your reply you wrote that you heard piano sound with the drums. Did you sort this issue out in the meantime (by setting Local to "off")?

.
At first Local On or Off didn't make a difference, not sure why. I did some more fiddling around and suddenly it worked. To confirm, I closed everything without saving, and started over with a new project. Worked perfectly this time. Weird. Thanks again!
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Old 03-18-2019, 07:56 PM   #6
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you're welcome

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Old 10-22-2020, 06:13 AM   #7
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I'm coming to the party a bit late but I was looking on the Internet to see how I can I use Reacontrol with my Roland keyboard (I tried with Roland digital piano used as a midi keyboard but that didn't work either).

I opened a new track set it up to play my midi keyboard. Inserted Reacontrol. I can see a yellow signal when I strike a key on the keyboard. Loaded 4frontpiano plugin, that sound plays (orange-coloured signal in meter with yellow signal).
Loaded the GM.reabank and selected different instruments but all I hear is my piano plugin.

Sonic Axiom wrote
"Did you enable the MIDI output of the Yamaha DGX keyboard in Reaper prefs (MIDI devices)?"

When I go into Midi devices under the Midi output window

I see "A-series keyboard not present", A-series keyboard MIDI OUTPUT not present" (A-series is my Roland midi keyboard.

But if I go further down the list I see "A-series keyboard disabled" and "A-series keyboard MIDI OUT disabled.

What item should I enable in this list?

At the moment, when I go to my router, under Midi hardware output there is nothing. I enabled both A-series keyboard options, one after another, and looked in the router and did see them. But with both options all I get is the sound of my 4frontpiano plugin. Is this plugin causing the problems, do you think?
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Old 10-22-2020, 06:19 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Burnsjethro View Post
I'm coming to the party a bit late but I was looking on the Internet to see how I can I use Reacontrol with my Roland keyboard (I tried with Roland digital piano used as a midi keyboard but that didn't work either).

I opened a new track set it up to play my midi keyboard. Inserted Reacontrol. I can see a yellow signal when I strike a key on the keyboard. Loaded 4frontpiano plugin, that sound plays (orange-coloured signal in meter with yellow signal).
Loaded the GM.reabank and selected different instruments but all I hear is my piano plugin.

Sonic Axiom wrote
"Did you enable the MIDI output of the Yamaha DGX keyboard in Reaper prefs (MIDI devices)?"

When I go into Midi devices under the Midi output window

I see "A-series keyboard not present", A-series keyboard MIDI OUTPUT not present" (A-series is my Roland midi keyboard.

But if I go further down the list I see "A-series keyboard disabled" and "A-series keyboard MIDI OUT disabled.

What item should I enable in this list?

At the moment, when I go to my router, under Midi hardware output there is nothing. I enabled both A-series keyboard options, one after another, and looked in the router and did see them. But with both options all I get is the sound of my 4frontpiano plugin. Is this plugin causing the problems, do you think?
what are you trying to hear, your keyboard?
Do you have the audio of your keyboard routed into Reaper?
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Old 10-22-2020, 07:00 AM   #9
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Thanks for answering Domzy.
As you saw in a previous question of mine the other day I was trying to get my Roland digital piano to be able to use the GM.reabank thing. With the digital piano I was trying to unlock some hidden sounds that are available in the piano by using a DAW.


I couldn't get that to work. So I thought I would try to use GM.rebank with my midi keyboard, so I followed some online instructions to get it to work using Reacontrol. My midi keyboard works fine with my different plugins (4frontpiano , London strings,...) and when you load GM.reabank you are supposed to get all these different sounds: trumpet, electric bass,...

But all I get is the sound of my own 4frontpiano plugin and if I turn that off I see a yellow signal in the meter but no sound. If I turn 4frontpiano back again I can see the usual orange audio signal and the yellow signal.
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Old 10-22-2020, 10:15 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Burnsjethro View Post
I opened a new track set it up to play my midi keyboard. Inserted Reacontrol. I can see a yellow signal when I strike a key on the keyboard. Loaded 4frontpiano plugin, that sound plays (orange-coloured signal in meter with yellow signal).
Loaded the GM.reabank and selected different instruments but all I hear is my piano plugin.

Sonic Axiom wrote
"Did you enable the MIDI output of the Yamaha DGX keyboard in Reaper prefs (MIDI devices)?"

When I go into Midi devices under the Midi output window

I see "A-series keyboard not present", A-series keyboard MIDI OUTPUT not present" (A-series is my Roland midi keyboard.

But if I go further down the list I see "A-series keyboard disabled" and "A-series keyboard MIDI OUT disabled.

What item should I enable in this list?

At the moment, when I go to my router, under Midi hardware output there is nothing. I enabled both A-series keyboard options, one after another, and looked in the router and did see them. But with both options all I get is the sound of my 4frontpiano plugin. Is this plugin causing the problems, do you think?
It is possible that your MIDI keyboard appears multiple times in the MIDI device menu. Maybe you plugged it into another USB port than the one you usually use. You have to enable the one that is currently available in Reaper MIDI devices (input and output). You should also remove the old entry for the keybpard by right-clicking it and choosing "forget device". As soon as you have enabled your keyboards MIDI inputs and outputs in the MIDI devices menu, your keyboard should appear in the MIDI input and Hardware MIDI output drop-down menues.

With regard to what sounds you can hear: MIDI data has no sound on its own. It just carries the data of what notes to play and how long and how strong. This is probably no news for you. I'm still mentioning it to avoid misconceptions. The actual sound is either generated by a VST instrument (like you did) or by redirecting the MIDI data to an outboard MIDI device (like your keyboard, provided it can produce sound in the first place). If you play MIDI notes through ReaControlMIDI, all it does is altering the bank and sound numbers of the MIDI notes that run through it. Those MIDI data packets may then be sent back to your keyboard, provided you have set the MIDI hardware output of the track to your keyboard and the keyboard is configured to receive MIDI on that exact MIDI channel.

Only if everything is set up properly to match (Reaper MIDI devices, MIDI hardware connections, MIDI channels, MIDI transmit and receive channels on the keyboard), altering bank patches of the GM banks file can trigger the GM MIDI sounds of your keyboard.

Maybe you can find (or make) a reabank file for your particular keyboard. This would allow you to switch to any of the keyboards own sounds (not only GM) from ReaControlMIDI while seeing the actual sound labels. Building reabank files can be a huge PITA, though, so I hope you can find one that already exists

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Last edited by SonicAxiom; 10-22-2020 at 12:22 PM.
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Old 10-22-2020, 11:18 AM   #11
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Thanks a lot SonicAxiom. Very informative.
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Old 10-22-2020, 12:20 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Burnsjethro View Post
Thanks a lot SonicAxiom. Very informative.
you're welcome! Please report back if you get everything running as it should!

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Old 10-22-2020, 12:49 PM   #13
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Thanks again, SonicAxiom. Will do. Although you may have to wait a bit foir my report as I am not terribly competent in these kinds of things.

When I plugged my Roland midi keyboard in a few years back I never clicked enable in output and input. It "magically" appeared when I clicked the input menu to the right of the track and it has worked fine ever since.

My interest was piqued when my wife bought me a Roland digital piano for my birthday and I saw an article about unleashing more sounds in the piano with the help of a Daw (the example in the article being Reaper).

https://synthesizer-explorations.blo...83209574132051

(under the heading "GS sound selection from a DAW"). As I had no success with this I thought I would try with my midi keyboard.

Meanwhile, maybe I should be spending more time honing my meagre piano skills rather than worrying my pretty little head about the bells and whistles!
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