Another beginner

[Jim Obermeyer]

I just bought a Alesis QS8.2 and I have an iMac Os X running on 10.2.8 with your 6.1 demo on it. I looking at buying a M-Audio USB Uno 1X1 MIDI Interface. Do you think these items will work well together. If not can you advise me on what interface to buy?
P.S. I'm just a hobbist looking to record midi sounds in tracks.

[Jerm]

I just bought a Alesis QS8.2 and I have an iMac Os X running on 10.2.8 with your 6.1 demo on it. I looking at buying a M-Audio USB Uno 1X1 MIDI Interface. Do you think these items will work well together.

Yes they should work fine. If you don't mind limiting yourself to 16 MIDI channels this is a good solution. If you add another external MIDI device you may need to upgrade the MIDI interface as well.

Of course you should purchase Metro 6.4.x as 6.1 is a very old version now.

[Jim Obermeyer]

Of course you should purchase Metro 6.4.x as 6.1 is a very old version now.

Thanks for the info. Are there hard copies of the Metro 6.4 program I can buy or can they only be purchased by downloading. The reason I'm asking is my iMac is not connected to the internet. thaks Jim

[Jerm]

Yes. The easiest thing to do would be to purchase the software, download the installer and then burn it to a CD. Then install the software from the CD on the remote computer.

Qualification of the software on the remote computer can be performed via our support email.

We can, upon request, provide and mail a CD but you will need to cover the shipping charges and allow up to three weeks for delivery.

[Jim Obermeyer]

Ok thanks I'll probably make arrangements to buy a CD and pay the shipping because my computer on line is a Windows and the remote is the iMac. I'm purchasing the interface now and I'll see how it works. I'll be getting back to you. thanks for the info Jim

[Jim Obermeyer]

Just to refresh your memory, I'm using a Alesis QS8.2 with a M-Audio 1x1 midi interface into an iMac 10.2.8 with a 6.1 demo version of Metro. My problem is this:
I record a piano part on track one, when I go to record a string section on track 2 the playback for track one sounds like the string section not the piano while I'm recording.

Is it something I'm doing wrong with the program or did I buy the wrong midi interface. thanks

[Jerm]

Hello Jim,

Usually this happens if you are sending track 2 to the same MIDI Channel as track 1 or the MIDI device is not in multi-timbral mode.

To solve the first possibility be sure that track one's output is 'Alesis - 1' and track two's output is assigned to 'Alesis - 2'. This setup can be configured in the tracks window popup.

To set the Alesis to multitimbral mode please check its user manual.

If this is not clear or you get stuck at any point please post here again.

[Jim Obermeyer]

Hello Jim,

Usually this happens if you are sending track 2 to the same MIDI Channel as track 1 or the MIDI device is not in multi-timbral mode.

To solve the first possibility be sure that track one's output is 'Alesis - 1' and track two's output is assigned to 'Alesis - 2'. This setup can be configured in the tracks window popup.

To set the Alesis to multitimbral mode please check its user manual.

If this is not clear or you get stuck at any point please post here again.

Jerm, here's where I'm at:
I hook up the iMac to the internet and I downloaded a newer version of Metro LX demo. I trashed the old one.

I lined up track one's output which say USB Uno MIDI-1 (not Alesis - 1) and I also set my Alesis MIDI channel to one also. I recorded a piano part with no problem. It played back as a piano. I used the same deal for track two which say USB Uno MIDI-2 and set my Alesis for channel 2 but with a string section. Track one then plays back as a string section while I'm recording on track 2.

I checked my owners manuel for the Alesis and it just says the instrument is multitimbral but I can't find any mode selection.

I'm making another post on this site to see if there's any Alesis QS8.2 users on here.

I do like this Metro program and I know you are a busy man, but I live in a small hic town in east Tennessee and will not be able to find much help with this. Is it possible to have a few minutes of your time on the telephone on my nickel? Only if we can't solve thsi via these posts. I appreciate all your help.

[Jerm]

I lined up track one's output which say USB Uno MIDI-1 (not Alesis - 1) and I also set my Alesis MIDI channel to one also.

This says to me that your MIDI Studio setup is incorrect. Go to your utilities folder and run AMS (apple's MIDI Setup program) and make sure all the connections exactly reflect your studio. You can add devices, like the Alesis, and attach it to your MIDI interface in AMS.

...
I checked my owners manuel for the Alesis and it just says the instrument is multitimbral but I can't find any mode selection.

I am not familiar with the QS8 but I went to their web site and noticed that there are two modes, program and mix. Are you in Mix mode? I think you should be. I tried downloading the reference manual but it is corrupted.

[Jerm]

Well I went back to the Alesis site and was able to download the QS8.1 manual which I hear is virtually the same keyboard as the QS8.2.

In the manual it says "MIDI has 16 channels. While in Program Mode, your QS can transmit and receive information on only one of them. As noted just above, the current channel is shown by a small indicator along the bottom of the LCD display."

In the manual it also says "For those of you who do MIDI sequencing, one of the most useful Mixes will be #00 in the User Bank. This is the multi-timbral Mix. It lets you assign different Programs to each of 16 different MIDI channels, making it easy to build anything from a small pop/rock ensemble to a complete orchestra."

So to recap, I think you should be in Mix mode and you should select User bank mix # 0.

[Jim Obermeyer]

Ok I checked out that section in the QS8.2 manual and it reads a little bit different but I can follow it. I'll play around with it tonight and get back to you. Thanks again.

[Jim Obermeyer]

Ok Jerm I think that worked. I know I have to rethink the QS8.2 but it's doing what I want it to do with the Metro Demo. I'm going to hook up the iMac to the internet again and purchase the Metro LX. Thanks again for your help.

[Jim Obermeyer]

I got an email from you about the upgrade. I'm going to purchase Metro LX does it come with the new upgrade?

[Jerm]

Yes.

[Jim Obermeyer]

I purchased Metro LX last weekend and it loaded up fine and it work fine till today. Now I'm getting an error message when I start up. It's Error
-54 Atempt to open Locked file for writing.
After I click ok Metro opens up but all the settings for the output changed.