Cakewalk midi output problem

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Member Since: Jan 04, 2007

Hi all

I have just bought a new sequencing software, cakewalk music creator 3. I know there are better ones but this is good enough for what i need and I have an older version so therefore am used to using it. My problem is, I have installed it into a brand new laptop which I was led to believe when I bought the laptop had a soundblaster sound card installed and it seems to as the volume control etc of the PC gives me a fancy window that calls itself soundblaster, but cakewalk seem to think it is an emulation, not the real thing, thanks Dell!.

Now, the reason I have a prob is that when I try to select a midi output ( so i can use the cakewalk to play back the tunes I create) there are none to select exept the midi mapper which is no good. So basically, the sequencer cant play back sound at the moment. Cakewalk tell me the 'emulation' is probably to blame, and that it probably doesnt have a midi output in it like the real Soundblaster would ( i found that hard to believe that a sound system on my laptop wouldnt have that) > They advised me to purchase a synthesizer software??

What I dont get is...on my other PC with standard sound card i do have these outputs and the sequencer plays back but on the all singing all dancing card, I do not? Cant be right?

They also suggested that maybe the soundcard didnt install properly, i will uninstall it and re-install later to check that but in the meantime if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I have a new laptop especially for music recording, and I cant even play back with it.

Many Thanks in advance

martin

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Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jan 04, 2007 08:37 pm

Hey Martin, indeed Dell has ripped you and many others off with that hokey ploy. It is nothing more then generic AC97 sound chip but it runs with SB software. Neat how they get away with that.

Anyway, you need to go to your windows control panel first off and choose the Sounds and Audio Devices property page. Then in the audio tab there should be a section called MIDI music playback. You should have several choices for the default device. Maybe like this.
Microsoft GS wavetable SW synth
SB midi synth or possibly Creative midi synth. You can choose one of them to get a better sound then the mapper has.

You will then need to go the options dropdown menu in Cakewalk and go to the Midi Devices tab. In there you should see your selections as I stated above. Choose on of them in the midi output section and you should be able to select it in the track as the output midi device to playback your midi tracks.

And welcome to HRC by the way.

Member
Since: Jan 04, 2007


Jan 05, 2007 10:05 am

Hi and thanks for the welcome.

Unfortunately I have tried that. In the audio options no matter which midi playback I select it does not appear in the midi playback options in the Cakewalk program. All other players and progs run fine on the PC, I even have a basic recording program with the sound card and that plays and shows me that the midi playback is working correctly. Its just in the CWalk software playback options box, nothing appears other than the midi mapper option (which does nothing either)

I am convinced now that either the CW software is faulty in some way and is not recognising ( or non compatible) with the sound card set up. OR, there is something somewhere that needs to be ticked, selected or switched on to enable CW to pick it up??????

totally stumped, as are most others I have asked...including Cakewalk support.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Jan 05, 2007 11:11 pm

OK, then I am pretty sure that the SB fake thing is not supplied with the synth part of the chip.

I do know that the MC 3 software from Cakewalk comes with a software synth called Edirol Virtual Sound Canvas. You simply need to open that up and you will have 16 channels giving you 16 instruments to choose from. One channel of course will be drums. Simply assign each new track you create to a different midi channel and choose the instrument in the VSC and you will be good to go. It also comes with the Dream Station DXi synth which has some killer sounds in it as well.

Member
Since: Apr 11, 2007


Apr 11, 2007 11:08 pm

yep, Newer soundblaster cards (live, X-Fi, etc.) have a problem with several recording softwares. To fix it, you have to go to Creative.com, and use their "Auto-update" function. You will see an update for the card listed as "critical". I forgot the name of it, but it's 43Mb long, and it fixes those problems. I went through three keyboards before I found out it's a problem with Soundblaster.

Hope this helps.

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