Multi track TI recording / monitoring

[Amatik]

I feel really stupid, but having been a hardware only guy for 20+ years I'm just now delving into using the TI as a plugin, but I can NOT figure this out at all and I've been tinkering with it on and off for a few years and just give up each time. Please help!!!!

First off, I haven't decided on whether to use Fruity Loops or Cakewalk as my main interface, but I am using SoundForge for wave editing and am able to launch Virus Control... so, here's my first set of questions:

1. I can not hear anything once the Virus Control is activated. Am I able to use the headphones out to monitor the Virus? I read that this is not possible, nor that the Virus is able to control itself via midi... in other words, I need a second midi/USB controller and a dedicated sound device to hear sounds out of the Virus once the Virus Control is active... true?

2. If not true, how the hell do I set this thing up? Isn't there a way to just sit at my TI and edit a user arpeggiator via Virus Control and hear my changes? How do I do this?

3. If I use Fruity Loops, for example, how do I set it up so I can actually hear the Virus? I have tried and tried and just have no clue how to do this.

4. A step by step procedure and/or a visual diagram of routing would be really nice to see.

5. HELP!

[nutrinoland]

are u able to hear any other sounds in fruity loops ? if not...then your audio settings need to be adjusted...

when u open virus as a plugin in fruity...it just plays...enter some notes into the piano roll....

also check midi settings in fruity...

[feedingear]

why not read the step by step tutorials that come with the Virus TI for using each DAW. there is an imageline one there for FL under the Documentation folder.

[MBTC]

The Imageline forums are your best bet for this info, unless they've updated it in the last year the Access documentation was pretty crummy here and not up to date with any recent version of FL at that time. There are a lot of FL folks on the IL forums that use Virus and other hardware and can give you specifics on delay compensation and overcoming latency issues.

As far as using the Virus as your MIDI controller (your question #1) -- hard for me to say for sure because I had a desktop version and was using a separate controller when I did this, but if you're having difficulties here I would simply check the controller settings in FL, make sure nothing else is on the same channel as the Virus etc. I can't see any reason a Virus KB wouldn't function as a MIDI controller to drive the sounds through the VC instance in the DAW as long as port/channel are set up correctly. Unless things have changed you will want to insert a MIDI OUT into the step sequencer as if it were a plugin, and set the port/channel to correspond to the VC plugin settings. With VC, sadly you only have 3 outs which is kind of limiting (one of the main things I'd like to see them fix before I repurchase).

As far as hearing the Virus I don't remember a lot of issues there, but you should try setting the Virus as your sound card. Once all the software is installed properly I believe it shows up just like a driver in your audio settings in the same place ASIO4ALL, or the driver for your existing card shows up.

Let me know how you make out in FL. I never got past latency teething pains.

[Amatik]

Thanks for the suggestion about looking into the IL forum. Good idea. As for the tutorials, perhaps I am missing them, but I have not discovered any really good documentation that's step by step - seems like most just tinker with things until they figure it out, which is fine by me, only problem is I'm clearly missing some crucial steps (hence my stupidity).

Couple things to update you with, though... I have gotten the midi and audio to pass through into FL! What threw me off on the midi issue was that there are two midi choices when selecting the midi control. Each line looks the same but only one works when activated.

Here's my next couple questions, now that I have midi and am able to receive audio from the TI:

1. In the PDF setup guide from Access (which is very basic setup info), for the FL setup, it says to adjust several different settings for the "VST Wrapper Settings". I am using FL Studio 8 and can not find this anywhere. I DO find a thing called "Fruity Wrapper" but it does not appear to operate in the same way that I expect in that it does not appear to be a settings host for VST instruments, furthermore, I do not see any settings menus that get me into the "processing" tab for adjusting the settings. I'm getting some glitchiness which I believe may be able to be fixed if I can access these other "processing" parameters.

2. How do I assign subsequent TI tracks to different midi channels within FL? In other words, I was able to insert a TI track in FL, but I can't seem to figure out how to, for instance, assign my TI midi channel sound #1 to Mixer 10 in FL, and TI midi track #2 to Mixer 11 in FL, etc.

If I can clear up these two things, I think I may, for the most part, be in business.

Thanks again!

[MBTC]

In FL9 (which has been out for a year or so, so I strongly recommend getting off FL8, particularly since FL upgrades are always free), the button you want looks like 1/4 of a gear cog and is in the upper left of the wrapper that encloses all VST plugins. I do seem to remember earlier versions of FL took you into that tab a different way but its been so long I dont remember how. But you definately need to get that menu tab to work with Virus Control successfully.

And you know for the second question, I seem to remember that due to the fact that you can only have one instance of VC, all sounds of the virus must go to a single mixer track! How primitive is that? It's a limitation of the evil Virus plug-in and not FL. Thanks for reminding me of one more reason I got rid of my Virus.

Now as for the mixer track limitations, others may tell you to simply record your Virus parts as audio, then you can send them to individual mixer tracks, and depending on the type of music you make, this may be a feasible solution, and also effectively removes any polyphony limitations and eases the latency issue quite a bit. It is not really an option for my music creation style because I always want to be able to tweak and automate in realtime, and once I've bounced to an audio file there's a limit to what I can do without having to re-record all over again.

Also it's very possible that some of the things you would normally put on an individual mixer track could be applied directly to each multi-timbral sound on the Virus? (i.e. delay, reverb etc)... I didn't get that far with my Ti2 before I sent it back.

[feedingear]

@MBTC - Virus Control can mix to three USB outs, making 3 individual channels. Stop posting misinformation, it is getting really tiresome. Let someone who actually knows how to use the software help out the community.


@Amatik - watch this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ5WyuQH8c8

It is using the old TI os hence the different skin but the same things should apply.

[Amatik]

OK, that video helped, except I do not that the little cog wheel graphic to click on for the Fruity Wrapper settings, but there is a pull-down menu with most of the TI settings/toggles that I need to make but it does not look like the menu in the example.

I am still experiencing some lags and pops/clicks here and there - not all the time, but this is enough for me to at least experiment with... what I'm finding out is that I think it is just going to be easier dealing with software VSTs (and not the TI). Probably give me better results anyway.

A question about the arpeggiator programming though - can there be a note shift in each step? If so I am not seeing how to adjust this parameter. I see the step velocity, note length, etc, but no pitch shift per step. I thought that this was an option, perhaps not.

Thanks again.

[feedingear]

@Amatik "OK, that video helped". enough said...

As far as the pops and clicks - what is your buffer size set to? Give it at least 512. The other problem could be you are using patches that using too much DSP, which will result in the TI sometimes producing pops, crackle and clicks.

If you are experiencing latency when playing your keyboard live, you could try to hit the D switch on each Virus TI part on Virus Control (next to the M and volume channel for each part) - this is what I do when when I track in Cubase and need to compensate for the delay.

As MBTC says above - you could also check out forums for those templates with delay compensation/wrappers as well and see if it helps.

[Timo]

Please, keep it clean and stay on topic. I've soft-deleted the OT posts for now.

As Feeding Gear states, if you do not know something as being fact, try not to spread misinformation maliciously.

Everything's been said, so don't continue the argument.

Thanks.