hi @Peter-Elfman

I've had a go at answering this, but I did it via video instead as the text response was harder to follow. essentially, there isn't an easy answer, but it is possible. :)

@sheppo!!! You're amazing, that was brilliant, thank you! Definitely not a waste of time, even if it doesn't work, I absolutely learned something. Let me give it a shot and get back to you.

hi @Peter-Elfman

I've had a go at answering this, but I did it via video instead as the text response was harder to follow. essentially, there isn't an easy answer, but it is possible. :)

The plot thickens. The lynchpin to the entire process you laid out is the MIDI Learn feature in the synthesizer. The original synth voice I chose didn't have a pan feature, so that option wasn't available to me. Choosing a different synth should have been the solution, but in a surprise twist, none of the other synth instruments that have a panning feature actually work. I can see the virtual keyboards playing the notes (if there is a virtual keyboard), but audio output is 0; sometimes the track and bus register the note info, sometimes they don't.

Given all of the issues I'm having with MIDI on this track (like not being able to use a MIDI track as a source for sidechaining) , I think I am going to throw in the towel, convert the tracks to audio files, and deal with things from there. Your help is very much appreciated as I did learn a hell of a lot, and I'll be applying that knowledge in future projects.

Yeah, midi is a real pain. In another DAW beginning with A the best thing it ever did was make the whole midi process a lot simpler, and as such got a lot of support early on. Pan CC works, for example, and midi learning is really as easy as can be expected. That said, if you have another soft synth with an oscillator pan, it likely has a midi control for it. When you have the soft synth window open click the F in the top right corner to see all the automation options, and it should have something in there that looks like "pan".

> not being able to use a MIDI track as a source for sidechaining

you can't side chain 'midi', because it's midi. Not audio.

However, you can use the midi bus (which is audio) as a side chain input in to a VST plugin on an event, audio channel, or bus. If you're looking at doing simple ducking of audio around a bass there are simpler options out there that bypass the need for sidechaining altogether.. Shaperbox by Cableguys is really nice.

> I am going to throw in the towel, convert the tracks to audio files, and deal with things from there

I totally get that. As much as I love Acid, I don't use it when I'm actually making tracks. But I think that's partly because I come from a tracker background and so midi is, after all these years, just needlessly complicated. Renoise is lovely though! :)

good luck!

Yeah, midi is a real pain. In another DAW beginning with A the best thing it ever did was make the whole midi process a lot simpler, and as such got a lot of support early on. Pan CC works, for example, and midi learning is really as easy as can be expected. That said, if you have another soft synth with an oscillator pan, it likely has a midi control for it. When you have the soft synth window open click the F in the top right corner to see all the automation options, and it should have something in there that looks like "pan".

> not being able to use a MIDI track as a source for sidechaining

you can't side chain 'midi', because it's midi. Not audio.

However, you can use the midi bus (which is audio) as a side chain input in to a VST plugin on an event, audio channel, or bus. If you're looking at doing simple ducking of audio around a bass there are simpler options out there that bypass the need for sidechaining altogether.. Shaperbox by Cableguys is really nice.

> I am going to throw in the towel, convert the tracks to audio files, and deal with things from there

I totally get that. As much as I love Acid, I don't use it when I'm actually making tracks. But I think that's partly because I come from a tracker background and so midi is, after all these years, just needlessly complicated. Renoise is lovely though! :)

good luck!

Hmm, I'll try side-chaining based on the bus. Thanks for that tip!

And, I hear you, about MIDI vs. audio files. I actually got my start way back in the day sequencing loops, but I also like to compose, and finding loops to match the music in my head is exhaustively laborious and rarely gets me to my goal anyway. I used to create my MIDI tracks in a different program and output them, but there's a lack of freedom with that technique, and with this current project, I'm really taking advantage of what MIDI has to offer, regarding that freedom.