Windows 7 - Wot no Midi?
Having recently migrated to W7 from XP I was surprised to find there is no way to select a default midi device so any output defaults to the built in Windows GS Wavetable synth which sounds ghastly. As I audition a lot of midi clips outside of Sonar this situation was difficult for me to deal with.
On XP I'd got used to using virtual midi cables such as Maple Midi cable but excellent as they are, most don't work under W7.
This combined with no native sub-system in Windows for midi was a big deal breaker for me for moving to Windows 7 as as I say I audition a lot of files, use some complex routing inside and outside of Sonar linking up different synths using a basic host program like Savihost.
Having taken the plunge and getting myself a 64bit Windows system fortunately I was able to sort out my midi requirements quite easily as it turns out.
First thing I needed was this little gizmo.
Putzlowitschs Vista MIDI-Mapper Control-Panel Version 0.93
Available here: (those that don't read German the link is halfway down the page)
http://akkordwechsel.de/1...a-und-der-midi-mapper/ The un-zipped file needs to be put in your
Windows/System32 folder for 32 bit systems, or into
Windows/SysWOW64 for 64 bit systems. Having done this this will give you a new icon in your control panels device manager (you may need a reboot before it shows up) where you can select any installed device, including hardware, as the Windows default midi device just like on earlier versions of Windows. Make a shortcut of the control panel icon on your desktop or somewhere convenient to you for instant access.
Next up was the virtual midi cabling, most of these that you find on the net are getting pretty old now and won't work under Windows 7 64 or 32 bit, but I did find one that does and is still being actively maintained.
Get that here:
http://nerds.de/en/loopbe1.html If you only need one virtual midi port this will suffice and it is free and works on both 32 and 64 bit systems.
Being as I was used to the 4 ports available on the Maple midi cable I chose to shell out the £15 on its bigger brother LoopBe30 which will give you up to a mind blowing 30 virtual midi ports!
For the last part of the chain my favourite little host.
Available here:
http://www.hermannseib.com/english/savihost.htm This delightful gizmo will make a standalone version out of almost any synth VSTi.
Having set all these things up you can use any standard Windows media player to play midi into any synth you like all without even double clicking a DAW icon, not only that having plenty of extra midi routing options within Sonar too brings a wealth of new possibilities.
post edited by Jonbouy - 2011/07/04 08:36:30