FL Studio/Hardware Sound Modules.

[MagnaOpera]

Okee. So... In the last few months I purchased three things (well more really, but these three pretain to my question):

- Akai MPK49 USB/MIDI controller
- E-Mu Proteus FX rack-mountable sound module
- M-Audio MIDI-Sport USB-to-MIDI interface (1x1)

Right, so in order to enable the MIDI-out on the MPK, I needed to get an AC adapter and power the MPK thru that instead of via USB. I got the power adapter yesterday.

I powered the MPK up using the power adapter, ran a MIDI cable from the OUT on the MPK, to the IN on the Proteus. Plugged my phones into the 1/4" headphone jack on the sound module and it worked PERFECTLY. I could hear everything, I didn't have to fuck around with the settings on the MPK at all. I was elated.

So, I decided to record some of the shit I was tapping out... I ran the MIDI-IN cable on the MIDI-Sport interface to the OUT port on the Proteus. Opened up FL-Studio, enabled the MIDI-Sport in the MIDI options menu and...

NOTHING. No sound whatsoever. I was like "wtf". So I verified (twice) the setup which didn't involve the computer (MPK OUT->PROTEUS IN->1/4" Headphones) and it worked every time.

How can I get FL studio to "hear" what I'm playing using the MPK/Proteus combo? I don't even really need to integrate it into the step-sequencer or anything (although that would be dope).

Has anyone done this before? Heard anything? I searched high and low on google and couldn't find an answer to such a specific question.

Help!!

 

[The Arkitekt]

MIDI isn't sound, its just notes/velocity/etc data

 

[MagnaOpera]

Well, what a terribly vague and mildly unhelpful answer.


Are you implying that I need to connect the sound module to my computer by some other means?

What's the deal here... I'm 90% sure that that's the connection setup that they demo'd in the user manual for the Proteus. controller->proteus->computron all via MIDI. I could be wrong though...

 

[sYgMa]

MIDI isn't sound, its just notes/velocity/etc data

...I'll paraphrase...

If you plug your rack to your computer via midi, all you'll get you computer to recieve is midi infos (of course). So if you want the computer to get the sounds from your rack, you need to have a audio cable going out of your rack and in your computer sound card... because

MIDI isn't sound, its just notes/velocity/etc data

Your setup which didn't involve the computer (MPK OUT->PROTEUS IN->1/4" Headphones) worked every time because, the midi infos from your MPK are recieved by the Proteus which reads them and "translate" them into sounds that are IN the PROTEUS and you plug your headphones in the proteus, so you hear the sounds that are in there... the midi cable coming out the proteus is not sending those sounds to the computer because...

MIDI isn't sound, its just notes/velocity/etc data

 

[MagnaOpera]

ok so:

mpk49 midi out->proteus midi in.

proteus 1/4" stereo out->mixer 1/4" stereo in

mixer->computer


Is that correct?

 

[sYgMa]

Like Mr. Burns would say: "Excellent."

 

[P_1]

when in FL, what do you do to get it to record the sound coming out of your rack?

 

[The Arkitekt]

Ive heard FL sucks at recording for some reason? idk, im an FL user but never used it to record, might wanna look into that or see what others have to say about it.

 

[P_1]

yeah it doesnt seem like it would be a good fit to record something out of a sound module or keys. i was fucking around with directwave yesterday and my keyboard and it did the job but it was too much of a hastle and was wondering if someone on here knew a better way to do it on FL.

 

[MagnaOpera]

I was planning on just using Edison to record the shit i'm playing... I dont think its that much of a hastle really. it's "funner".

 

[P_1]

I havent tried Edison personally. I was thinking in investing in either a protools system or cubase.

 

[Step Soprano]

I was planning on just using Edison to record the shit i'm playing... I dont think its that much of a hastle really. it's "funner".

wrong choice... FL is a nice tool, but theres a reason 99% of commerical producers would never use it, solely. To effectively use eternal sounds its 1000x easier to use a real DAW such as pro tools, logic, or cubase. That way you can record the midi at sametime as your audio, so that, effectively(via chopping the sample) you can put the sounds to any tempo or groove you want, and adjust the midi accordingly. Much more efficient, and good technique for ya arsenal. Not sayin drop FL, as it's a good tool and I'm definitely no one to hate on someone elses shit, just givin a thought. Hopefully it'll help

 

[MagnaOpera]

wrong choice... FL is a nice tool, but theres a reason 99% of commerical producers would never use it, solely. To effectively use eternal sounds its 1000x easier to use a real DAW such as pro tools, logic, or cubase. That way you can record the midi at sametime as your audio, so that, effectively(via chopping the sample) you can put the sounds to any tempo or groove you want, and adjust the midi accordingly. Much more efficient, and good technique for ya arsenal. Not sayin drop FL, as it's a good tool and I'm definitely no one to hate on someone elses shit, just givin a thought. Hopefully it'll help

Yeah I figured there are probably easier *(more expensive) ways to do this. However I am not really a commercial producer, so my workflow doesn't matter. I'm just doing this for fun/little projects.

 

[sYgMa]

wrong choice... FL is a nice tool, but theres a reason 99% of commerical producers would never use it, solely. To effectively use eternal sounds its 1000x easier to use a real DAW such as pro tools, logic, or cubase. That way you can record the midi at sametime as your audio, so that, effectively(via chopping the sample) you can put the sounds to any tempo or groove you want, and adjust the midi accordingly. Much more efficient, and good technique for ya arsenal. Not sayin drop FL, as it's a good tool and I'm definitely no one to hate on someone elses shit, just givin a thought. Hopefully it'll help

... my thought, but I think FL Studio is really under rated? I don't know, cuz I didn't use them that much, but I don't know if another DAWs can match the flexibility and user-friendlyness of FL.

And I really FL Studio IS a real DAW. ... That's just me but I wouldn't use Pro Tools to make a beat. To record it and to mix it, it's great though.

 

[Formant024]

FL does all the basic stuff other daw do aswell, even record midi/audio at the same time...for real

 

[MagnaOpera]

^ x2 it ain't the program it's what you do with it.

 

[sYgMa]

^^^^ And the people say: "Amen."