Need help with MIDI

Mortal_Dezire

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Mar 31, 2007
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Kearney, NE
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So I'm trying to get into some composition style instrumentals to put on an album, (ala Glen Danzig) and I've been looking into using MIDI, (I'm broke and I live in NE. 'nuff said...).

I'll be very blunt here. I don't know shit about MIDI. :erk:

I know a few of the basic concepts behind it, but I have no idea how to use this with Cubase LE, (my main DAW). If anyone is willing to help me out with this, that would be greatly appreciated.

BTW- I found this VST that looks pretty interesting. Has anyone ever used this before? And if so, what the fuck do some of those controls mean!? I'm a musician, not a computer programmer!!!

http://www.dontcrack.com/freeware/downloads.php/id/3879/software/String-Theory/
 
Do you have a midi controller of some sort? Or will you be entering the data manually ?
What are some of the terms you do not understand?
Here is some quick basic steps
First step is to create a midi track in Cubase..
Then open up a VST instrument..this should be located under devices
Then go back to your midi track and choose your VST instrument for your output
Then depending if you are using a controller of some sort (select that device as your input) or you will manually entering notes (you can select all midi inputs)
Make sure your midi channel matches the channel in your VST instrument
Then using your controller start pressing some keys and you should here your selected sample from the VST instrument
If you are not using a controller, you can open up the sequencer and enter notes manually...
 
I don't have a controller. I want to try to use Finale to input the notes, but I don't know if that's possible. Does Cubase LE have a sequencer? I know nothing when it comes to this stuff. Its all new territory for me.
Things that are confusing to me are terms like Oscillation, Mod wheel, things like that. I've never played a synth.
 
In regards to using Finale ...after you take care of doing your shit in Finale you would save it as a midi file... Then import that midi file into Cubase on that MIDI track you created earlier (based on my above reply) after you insert the file you can double click on it to open up the data so you can edit the midi data in Cubase....
Oscillation An electronic device which generates a periodic signal of a particular frequency, usually a sine wave, but other waveforms (square, sawtooth, triangle) are often used. Oscillators are common in audio devices such as synthesizers and test signal generators. Early synthesizers used oscillators as the basic component for all of the sounds of the machine. All of the filters and envelopes modified the sound created by the oscillator to produce the desired sound. Nowadays most keyboards produce sounds by playing back samples recorded on chips or by more modern synthesis techniques such as Physical Modeling (see WFTD archive Physical Modeling Synthesis), FM, LA, or any number of other methods that have been employed in the past 10 years.

Mod wheel-A mod wheel (diminutive for Modulation Wheel) is a controller found on keyboards such as MIDI controllers and synthesizers, which takes its shape in the form of a wheel mounted perpendicular to the surface of the keyboard. The wheel itself is imbedded in the surface such that only the top half protrudes. The mod wheel is used to add expression or to modulate (change) various elements of a synthesized sound or sample. One typical use is to modulate an LFO in order to produce vibrato. Another would be to control the speed of rotary speaker emulation. There are many other applications as well depending upon the architecture of the instrument being controlled. In order to create such effects, mod wheels send continuous controller messages (CC), which send the movements of the wheel as well as knobs, sliders, pedals etc. (See WFTD MIDI Control Change) For example, your synth's modulation wheel or lever will almost always send CC1 messages. Each CC has a possible range of 0-127, so when you move the mod wheel down to its rest position, it should send a CC1 with a value of 0, and when you push it up to its highest point it should send a CC1 with a value of 127. CC values are not smooth, they're stepped, that is, a standard mod wheel can send a value of 56 or a value of 57, but it can't send 56.329 or 57.1. Depending on what sound parameter CC1 is controlling, you may hear a slightly grainy, stair-stepped effect (See Zipper Noise) when you move the mod wheel while holding a note.