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Fast Track C400 MIDI not working

JimmyM

JimmyM

Apr 11, 2005
127,261
125,195
Plymouth NC
Disclosures
Endorsing: Yamaha, Ampeg, Line 6, EMG
#1
So last year I got a Fast Track C400 which I set up for audio but not MIDI, and now Avid wants me to pay for support, which is pathetic because I already bought the product. I will never buy another Avid product again as a result. But in the meantime it's what I've got, so let me throw this out to you recording mavens...

I set the track on my DAW (old copy of Sonar...8.0 I believe) to use the Fast Track's MIDI input and output. I am able to send MIDI info from my keyboard controller to the DAW and it records, but I can't hear it when I play, nor can I hear any output, either through the Fast Track's headphone jack or hooking it up to my comp's internal soundcard. The audio playback works fine through both, though. I read on the net it's because I didn't have a softsynth loaded, so I loaded one and it still doesn't work.

Does anyone have a clue what I'm doing wrong here? TIA!
 
#2
If you are using a softsynth in sonar I think you need to link the midi track with the softsynth track. Like set the output of the midi track to the track that the softsynth is on. It's been awhile since I've tried this and I'm at work so I don't have sonar here.
 
#3
MIDI can be really tricky when using it for the first time, because you have both the MIDI routing and the audio routing to contend with.

Sounds like you have the midi coming in, and being routed to the channel in your DAW. That's a good start. I assume that after recording you're seeing a midi clip in your DAW, and if you double-click it you see some notes in the midi editor.

Next step is to get those midi notes to go to something. Check to see where the track is routing the midi data to. Is it going back to your interface and out the MIDI out port, or is it being routed to a softsynth on the channel? If you're not hearing anything on playback, odds are the MIDI data is being routed to the MIDI out on your interface. I'm not sure how you check or change that in Sonar, the documentation will have something, or there are almost certainly tutorials on youtube.

And of course even once you see the midi indicator flashing in your softsynth (most have one), the audio from it still might not be routed to your outputs, you'll need to check on that too!

Once you get it working, save the track as a template so you can recall it in new projects!
 
#4
to use the Fast Track's MIDI input and output
Click to expand...

There you go! You told it to send the MIDI data to the MIDI out port. So that should be connected to the MIDI IN of your keyboard. The keyboard (if it makes sounds on it's own), will play back (assuming it is set to receive on the MIDI channel you recorded on). Plug your headphones into the headphone jack on your keyboard to hear it....

You can also route the audio from the keyboard through your interface and into a stereo audio channel in your DAW. Save that till you get comfortable with all the MIDI routing pitfalls...
 
#5
Unfortunately, my keyboard is a little old Roland controller with no onboard sounds. Tried the little VSTi's that come with the DAW, and sometimes I can get something, sometimes I can't. But even though it's pretty latent still, I am finally getting some signal to pass and I can actually hear it with a couple of the VSTi's. I have this feeling I'll have to invest in a real VSTi drum prog. Bah...doggone money pit.
 
#7
Cool man, thx for the tip! And thanks to everyone else who helped! Had my computer rockin' for years, but last year I got a new one that wouldn't run my 2496 PCI card so I had to get this Fast Track. Wasn't all fancy with cartoons of people playing, but it worked.
 

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