Multiple midi tracks in Acid Pro 10

Stephen-Maddison wrote on 3/1/2023, 7:00 AM

I am back again with this issue on ACID Pro 10.

I insert a midi track,insert a soft synth, and record a clip (using an external midi keyboard) which I then freeze.

I insert a second midi track, insert a second soft synth, which produces a second synth bus.

When I attempt to play the second synth on the second midi track, Acid plays using the first soft synth. I check the soft synth drop down on the second midi track and it clearly shows the second synth is selected. Nevertheless, ACID insists on playing only the first soft synth which is NOT selected for this track.

Is it because I am using the same keyboard for both midi tracks?

I have also tried inserting additional busses and routing the first midi track to bus A, and the second to bus B.

This makes no difference. If I attempt to play notes on the second midi track - routed to bus B - I can see that the keyboard input is being sent to bus A!!!

What am I doing wrong?

Do I need to set up the keyboard to use separate midi channels for the midi tracks? If so, this would seem to limit the number of midi tracks you can use.

Any advice or help with this would be greatly appreciated. Is it worth persisting with ACID at all?

Thanks.

Comments

SP. wrote on 3/1/2023, 7:51 AM

@Stephen-Maddison Can you show us a screenshot of the MIDI input and MIDI channel settings of both tracks? You can upload a screenshot with the blue arrow icon above the text box.

emmrecs wrote on 3/1/2023, 8:19 AM

@Stephen-Maddison

Do I need to set up the keyboard to use separate midi channels for the midi tracks?

Yes!

Each MIDI track that requires a different soft synth must be transmitting on a different MIDI channel. So, in your case, for your first track you need to have your keyboard transmitting and the track receiving on, say, MIDI channel 1. Your second track must then be set, for both keyboard output and track input, to channel 2.

The limit on the number of MIDI channels (not tracks) is set at 16, which is the maximum number that is allowable in the original MIDI specification. There are ways to increase this number but that requires you to have some sort of interface which allows for multiple MIDI out sockets. However, if you are working entirely "in the box", i.e., all your synths are within ACID, this is not so easy to set up, I think. (I don't have ACID so cannot check whether a multi-output MIDI interface would make it possible to simultaneously use more than 16 channels.)

BTW, there was no point in posting your question twice! Your other post has been hidden.

Jeff
Forum Moderator

johnebaker wrote on 3/1/2023, 2:35 PM

@Stephen-Maddison

I have hidden your third post on the same issue.

While the issues with the forum response speed, due to external issues, are ongoing, once you have clicked send, please wait for the page to refresh either with your post displayed or an error message appears.

Thanks

John EB
Forum Moderator

sheppo wrote on 3/6/2023, 5:11 AM

hi @Stephen-Maddison, This is by design, although, yeah, it is confusing. The reasoning here is that you would use different midi porgrams / channels on the same soft synth to play different instruments. A lot of orchestral sample libraries work like this.

but yeah, I agree, it doesn't make a whole heap of sense.

The correct workflow is

Insert a midi track
- a corresponding midi bus is created.
- The virtual instrument sits on the midi bus, and recieves midi data from the midi track
- The midi track has its output set to the first midi bus
Insert a second midi track
- its output is also set to the first midi bus.
Right click on the track controls for the second midi track, select output -> insert soft synth -> select a new soft synth
- a new midi bus is created, with the new soft synth on it

hope that helps,

Stephen-Maddison wrote on 3/6/2023, 10:03 AM

Gentlemen

Thanks for your comments and advice. Following the last post, I had a conversation (via email) with MAGIX support. Following a lot of fiddling about with the parameters, this is what I have found.

I don’t know if this is how Acid is supposed to work, and the manual was not much help.

Basic procedure.

New project.

Insert a MIDI track.

Set the input to the midi keyboard attached to the computer.

From the output drop-down menu select “Insert Soft Synth”, and select a synth from the list.

Playback the synth.

Record a MIDI clip.

Insert a second MIDI track.

Set the input to the midi keyboard attached to the computer.

From the output drop-down menu select “Insert Soft Synth”, and select a synth from the list.

Playback the synth from the keyboard.

Both MIDI tracks playback with their respective synths. Bus tracks for the two synths both show output when a keyboard key is pressed.

Set the input on MIDI track 1 to “Auto” or to “Input Off”.

Input from the keyboard now plays the synth on MIDI track 2.

Track 2 can be recorded while track 1 plays back.

This seems to work for any number of MIDI tracks (have tried 5), with a mix of synths or multiple instances of the same synth. As long as the track on which you are recording is the only track set to input from the keyboard, and all other MIDI tracks are set to to “Auto” or to “Input Off”, any or all of the other tracks can be playing back while recording to the active MIDI track without interference.

This may be obvious to more experienced users of ACID but I am not among their number. However, I can now do what I wish to do with ACID.

I hope that this might be of some help to others.