Alesis Nanopiano

Dear everyone,
 
I'd appreciate tips on how to access my Alesis Nanopiano sounds in Sonar Cakewalk Home Studio 4 XL. I currently have one midi lead connected from my Alesis module to my Behringer soundcard, which enables my master piano keyboard in the DAW, but I don't know how to call up the Alesis to use its superior sounds (should I refer to it as a soft synth, or maybe a plugin?)
 
Any help appreciated,
 
Jim
 
 

Hi Greg,
 
Thanks for your advice. I'm not sure if you statement 'Alesis's audio outputs into your sound card's audio inputs' refers to the jack/mic inputs and outputs; this suggests a live recording of the Alesis sounds. Or am I talking out of my end?
 
I'll attempt to find an ID for the Nanopiano online as suggested. I'll let you kow how it goes.
 
Cheers
 
Jim

funnyjim


Hi Greg,
 
Thanks for your advice. I'm not sure if you statement 'Alesis's audio outputs into your sound card's audio inputs' refers to the jack/mic inputs and outputs; this suggests a live recording of the Alesis sounds. Or am I talking out of my end?
 
I'll attempt to find an ID for the Nanopiano online as suggested. I'll let you kow how it goes.
 
Cheers
 
Jim

No, you're not talking out of your end . If you want to use the nanopiano's sounds, they'll have to be recorded live while the MIDI plays through it.
Hopefully, your SHS 4 isn't too different from my SHS 6. Let me take a look at how to get an ID entered. It's been a long time since I've done it...

It looks like Greg made some headway on the ID side of things.
Let's look at your signal routing.
I have found precious little information on the Cheetah, but I assume it has a standard MIDI DIN output.
You will need two MIDI cables.
The first will go from the MIDI OUT of the Cheetah to the MIDI IN of the B-Control.
The second will go from MIDI OUT A of the B-Control to the MIDI IN of the Nanopiano.

In SHS4, go to Options>MIDI Devices, and make sure all of the B-Control MIDI I/O ports are selected.
Also in Options>Audio select the B-Control Line In as an Input.
I'm not entirely sure how these will appear in the menu, but they should be fairly obvious.

You will also need two 1/4" T/S cables(ie. instrument cables).
Connect the Left/Right Outputs of the Nano to the Line In L/R of the B-Control.

In SHS4, insert an Audio track, and a MIDI track.
In the MIDI track:
Set the Input to the B-Control MIDI IN port.
Select OMNI or the channel the Cheetah is transmitting on.
Set the Output to MIDI OUT A.
Match the output channel to the channel the Nanopiano is set to receive on.
In the Audio track:
Set the Input to the B-Control Line In
Set the Output to your soundcard, or preferably your Master Bus.
To hear what you are playing, turn on Input Echo.
To record the nanopiano audio output, arm the track, and hit Record.

Here's the good part.
You record your actual performance to the MIDI track, just as you would with a soft synth.
You can edit this track at will.
Once you are satisfied with it, you can record the nanopiano output to audio.
Softsynths do exactly the same thing, but because the connections are virtual, and inside the program, they may be less apparent.
I hope that all makes sense.
It's really just a matter of completing the signal path.

I can also hear piano simultaneously under the sounds I've chosen,

 
Make sure each track that's playing through the NP are using different channels. Piano is the default patch.
Also, you may have the 'Always Echo Current MIDI Track' box checked under Options>Global.
 
I usually don't have the piano plugged into the interface. I have a small mixer it's connected to, the interface outputs too, so I can hear the MIDI and everything else while recording. If I decide to use my keyboard's sounds instead of a soft synth, I'll plug it into the interface to record it's audio.
 
Check your Behringer's control panel/preferences to see if you can lower the latency.

Re MIDI
‘OUTPUT to MIDI OUT A’ – I’ve assumed that this refers to B- Control 1 (I’m given two options,
B- Control 1 and B- Control 2)
 
I'm assuming that the B-Control has more than one set of MIDI in/outs. Mine only has one.
Select the one that your Nanopiano is connected to.
 

 
Match the output channel to the channel the Nanopiano is set to receive on - I don’t understand this.
Is the ‘output channel’ simply the MIDI Channel, i.e. termed ‘1: nanopiano’ in Sonar HS4?
I assume that now I assign preferences for Bank (i.e. Bank 1: sounds 0-127 in the Nanopiano and Bank 2:
sounds 128 - 256 in the Nanopiano) and Patch (the specific sound within these Banks).
 
I don't know about the 'matching the output channel to the channel the piano is set to recieve on' part. It may recieve on all channels; my Yamaha does.
The output is what you send the MIDI to, of course. The channel selection is just below the output box. If you don't select different channels for each MIDI track going to the same output, the MIDI tracks will all play the same patch, regardless of what patch you choose.
Most Instrument Definitions will have multiple banks containing multiple patches, while General MIDI (GM) has just one bank with 128 patches.
 
#2 shows the input, my Saffire and MIDI Omni, which recieves from all channels. #3 shows my output, also the Saffire which is connected to my Yamaha keyboard, on channel 1 and the ID for the Yamaha, #5 and #6 the banks and patches for that bank.
 

 
 
 

Re AUDIO
Set the Input to the B-Control Line In – I’m offered one option: B - Control ASIO (4in, 4out) and I
opt for stereo B-Control 1.
 
That should work. Just make sure you plug the audio cables into that input on the B-Control.
 
Set the Output to your soundcard, or preferably your Master Bus. – I’ve opted for Master.
 
Yes, and make sure the Master's output is to a valid B-Control output.
 
As you can see in the Drivers image below, I have 10 outputs available with the Saffire, but I only have 1 selected. Each of the 5 outputs is a stereo out, so 1 is 1 and 2, 3 is 3 and 4, etc. The last one, 9, is the S/PDIF digital output. I could potentially create a 7.1 surround sound mix.
 
OPTIONS
 
‘In SHS4, go to Options>MIDI Devices and make sure all of the B-Control MIDI I/O ports are selected’ –
in INPUTS I have one B-Control device selected, in OUTPUTS, two B-Control devices (1 and 2)
 
That should work.
 
Hopefully, your Options menus will look something like these from SONAR Home Studio 6. I have all my MIDI channels assigned to the Yamaha ID.
 
Also in Options>Audio select the B-Control Line In as an Input.’ In AUDIO OPTIONS – ASIO > DRIVERS I
have selected all available B-Control INPUT and OUTPUT drivers (4 in each).
 
While it doesn't hurt to select ins and outs you may never use, it can add another level of selection you don't have to go through when recording or playing back the project. If some of your ins and outs are digital S/PDIF (for instance) and you don't have anything connected to your digital ports, having them on the list of possible choices could be confusing. I just select the ones that I use so the list isn't too long and to lessen the chance of misselecting an in or out, resulting in me thinking the program or audio interface broke and spending hours troubleshooting and cursing because nothing I do will fix it then posting a plea for help in the forums only to have someone write "check your in/out settings".
 

 
OPTIONS > ASSIGN INSTRUMENTS
OUTPUT/CHANNEL
Make sure each track that's playing through the NP are using different channels - In this category
I’m offered ‘OUTPUT 1:B-Control/ Ch 1 to Ch 16’ and ‘OUTPUT 2:B-Control Ch 1 to Ch16’. - Should I
hightlight ‘OUTPUT 1:B-Control/ Ch 1 or more or all 16 channels?
 
If you want to use the Instrument Definition on all channels, select them all. I would (did). If the B-Control Output 2 is another MIDI port and you later connect another MIDI keyboard/sound module, you can add that ID and select output 2 to use MIDI channels 1-16 for that keyboard.
See the first image.
 
USES INSTRUMENT
I’m offered a selection, including NanoPiano. I obviously choose NanoPiano.
 
Good. What other choices do you have? Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth and a bunch of devices you don't have? The MS GS synth is okay to learn MIDI on, but it doesn't sound too good. Your Nanopiano and most software synthesizers will sound much better.

Nicely done, Greg.
Jim, keep us posted.

As Bob wrote, finding info on the Cheetah isn't easy; most of the search results I get are for sale ads. Since you have the manual, I think you should keep applying cold compresses to the bleeding eyes and find out how to set it up.
Not being a smart a...leck, but it looks like it's a problem with the keyboard's settings, and I can't find the manual.
Have you tried using software synthesizers to see if the keyboard operates differently through those synths?
Click Insert>Soft Synths at the top. If you have Edirol VSC, try that. It can recieve input from up to 16 MIDI channels. What other soft synths are available on the list?
Anyway, insert a soft synth, set a MIDI track to record from the keyboard with it's output set to the synth, channels and patches set, the try to record multiple channels and see how they play back through the soft synth.

Hi Greg, Robert and all,
I've read the appropriate section of the Cheetah manual and followed commands to select channels and ports with no joy, probably due to the fact that I don't know what I'm doing.

I have, however, managed to record multiple sounds in SHS4 by hitting Record and then manually selecting the desired Patch on the Alesis hardware; I'm not switching the channel, but simply selecting a new Bank and Patch. I still have the MIDI piano sounds playing underneath but muting the MIDI track solves this problem. I am content to continue in this ham-fisted way as I've come to a dead end trying to perform this via the DAW, but if the above suggests an obvious mistake stopping the execution within SHS4 I would welcome further enlightenment. It's dark in here.


Meanwhile, thanks very much for your interest and help. Long live altruism!


Regards,


Jim