Midi play xoxbox problem

[xonec]

Hi, I cant get my xox to play midinotes from a miditrack in ableton. Everything else works, like getting audio out of the xoxbox in sync with my ableton etc...
I saw this topic several times on the forum, tried al the explanations in the topics but it don't seem to work.
I must say i'm a noob in all of this.
I used this topics to make it work:

http://adafruit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=20537

http://forums.adafruit.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27708

So, this is what I do:
midi interface midi out TO xoxbox midi in
Mix out xoxbox TO Stereo in 1&2 audio interface
Audio interface stereo out 1&2 TO my monitors
I set my xoxbox to midi play and select pattern group 2 because the midichannel in ableton is also 2
I made an audio channel in ableton to receive the audio from the xoxbox

Here you can see the specifications of my audio and midi track:

Problems xoxbox.png (170.01 KiB) Viewed 2360 times

what am I doing wrong? I've spend hours finding a solution


Thanks in advance!!

[LoopStar]

you need to set your channel 2 (where the clip is the x0x should play) to 'auto'. It's set to 'off' so Ableton doesn'T send midi-notes.

[xonec]

Yes, I already tried that. But still no sound... Or do I have to set the xoxbox as master and ableton as slave?

[MMM]

I'd start by testing if the xoxbox actually receives MIDI; and this I would test by syncing it to Ableton.

Open the preferences, enable sync for the MIDI output you're using, put the xoxbox into "Pattern MIDI Sync" mode and start Live. The xoxbox should start now as well and run in sync with Live.

[LoopStar]

According to your screenshot your audio in is channel 3 of your soundboard, but in you description you say the audio out of the x0x goes to channels 1+2. But basically the way you'Ve set up things should be working. Maybe the cable is faulty?

[xonec]

Yes, because when I switch to midi sync the sound comes out of that channel. I already checked the other audio track channels when I put the xox in midi play mode.
Everything else works well, I can sync ableton with the xox without any problems.
Hmm strange... I use a really cheap midi interface from ESI, It just consist of 2 midi cables and a USB. ( http://www.esi-audio.com/products/midimate2/ ) I'm gonna test it again with a MIDI interface from a friend. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the replies!

[MMM]

Let's try a step-by-step approach here.

Connect the xoxbox and and the audio interface (only an audio connection, no MIDI connections at all). If you now start playing a pattern on the xoxbox: Does the audio make it into Ableton Live? LoopStar was right with his observation about the discrepancy in audio channels. The Mix out of the xoxbox is mono, not stereo; so it's not necessary to connect it to two inputs on the audio interface.

So let's sort out this audio connection issue first and then we'll continue with the MIDI problem (if there is one).

[xonec]

Yes the audio makes it to live in random mode for example. I had an audio cable that splits mono to stereo. But idd I gonna use the mono signal to connect to the audio interface, the less cables the better. The mix out of xox is now connected to audio input 1 of my audio interface

[MMM]

So let's summarize: If you connect the xoxbox to your interface the way you describe then you get audio into Live from input 1? Just put the xoxbox in keyboard mode and press a few note buttons.

Now let's see if we're getting MIDI to the xoxbox somehow. Without Live actually playing record enable the MIDI track. Now press on your computer keyboard a few keys in the middle "letter" row (the one from A to L). The output meter in the MIDI track should light up for each press. Correct? If so don't change anyting for the audio setup and track.

Now connect your MIDI cable to the MIDI In of the xoxbox. If I read the manual for it right this particular MIDI interface will automatically determine for each cable if it is connected to a MIDI input or output so theoretically it shouldn't matter which one you use. Just make sure it is the MIDI Input of the xoxbox.

Now, put the xoxbox in "MIDI Play" mode. Set the MIDI Channel for the xoxbox to "1"; and set also the channel for the MIDI track to "1". Press again a few keys on the computer keyboard. Does this result in any activity from the xoxbox?

[xonec]

I found what was wrong to play midi notes. In my midi sync preferences I had to set the output to track! Silly little thing that made me search for hours

Now I have a new problem: the audio signal from my xoxbox has a little latency. I tried to fix it by changing the sync delay in my midi sync preferences but that doesnt seem to help :/

[MMM]

Now I have a new problem: the audio signal from my xoxbox has a little latency. I tried to fix it by changing the sync delay in my midi sync preferences but that doesnt seem to help :/

The question is if this latency is related to MIDI and the xoxbox or to audio (the interface and its driver).
Did you do the compensation for audio driver errors?
There should be a Live tutorial for this. It probably can be found under the "Help" menu (I don't know how this tutorial is called in English, though). Just go though the various tutorials; I believe it's the second one.

[xonec]

Nice, I found the tutorial!! tomorrow it's xoxbox abuse time!

thanks for the help guys!!!

[xonec]

Pffff. Still can't get my xoxbox to play sync in midi mode. I used the tutorial like you said but I just don't get the sound in Sync. I tried to set the input in sync in preferences, changes the port type from MME to Direct sound but nothing helps. I'm getting really frustrated

[LoopStar]

Getting the x0x to be 100% in sync with Live is really difficult. First of all you need to get a low latency driver for your soundboard. Best are ASIO drivers but you don't get them for every soundboard. Then you should check the settings of the soundcard (buffer size, input bitrate and sample frequency) and try to optimize your settings. But be careful... setting things too tight might result in getting issues with the stability of your setup (like crackling noises, high cpu usage and such). When you've reduced the audio latency of your setup as much as possible you have to set the midi latency in Live's preferences.

[MMM]

Pffff. Still can't get my xoxbox to play sync in midi mode. I used the tutorial like you said but I just don't get the sound in Sync. I tried to set the input in sync in preferences, changes the port type from MME to Direct sound but nothing helps. I'm getting really frustrated

Neither MME nor Direct Sound would be my preferred driver model. Does you audio hardware have ASIO drivers as well?

If you use the xoxbox in keyboard mode and use it to trigger one of Live's internal instruments - do you get a significant latency? Does it feel "sluggish"?