Using Mixer

[amriser]

This program can be pretty maddening for someone's who's a musician but not a recording engineer. I think I have my mixing board set correctly now, I have 3 tracks (Piano, strings, bells), they are all playing the right sounds and when I slide the faders up and down, the volume levels on each track respond appropriately. But when I push the solo or mute buttons on a track, nothing happens. If I click these buttons in the Track window, they work OK.

Why won't they respond on the mixing board?

[Jerm]

Okay well I understand your frustration but please remember that this program contains quite a but of functionality and that can sometimes lead to this reaction.

The Mixer mute and solo buttons send MIDI Controller 7 (Volume) to the devices and therefore may not have any affect especially if the device does not respond to MIDI controller 7.

[amriser]

Thanks for the answer... I wish it meant something to me. /:-)

I have been searching and searching through the manuals but they simply assume too much knowledge on the part of the user. I get completely lost in terminology that is undefined, or when it is defined it references other terms that I don't understand.

I simply need a Metro for Dummies book that shows me how to set up tracks, assign sounds and effects and control them. It seems funny that I am unable to locate anything in that vein that I can understand.

I'm not completely clueless... I can usually find my way around a sound board. But I don't speak the language, and there is nothing in the documentation that I can find to teach it to me.

Functionality is wonderful. But so is accessibility.

[Jerm]

Well it sounds to me like perhaps a book or a tutorial on MIDI would be helpful for you.

[Scoot]

I suggest that you go to the links pages and find a soundfont to start off with.

If you don't have any as yet go to hammersound and in the collections section of the 6th page is one called 8MRock11e

It's not the best but it has a lot of instruments for 8 meg so it would give you an idea on what instruments sound like compared to quicktime.


Do a command 9 and command zero and drag the DLSMusicDevice onto a midi track. Install the soundfont into it.


Then go to the menu command modify outputs and busses and allocate a track to DLSmusicDevice. You can replace existing outputs if you want which will leave you with just one output and fader in the mixer to keeo things simple to understand what you're accomplishing.

Then you can choose an instrument to use Bank and Pgm. in the tracks or graphic editor to hear the result.
The fader will work the volume of the track cause you have allocated it to do so.


Once you have mastered this, read the PDF on the downloads page about using the AUX bus to put on effects or instruments such as soundfonts.


Soundfonts are audio so you can add reverbs and EQ to them.....something you can't do to the quicktime standard sounds.