I am new to Renoise, I mostly use Reaper but wanted to try something new to shake up my songwriting process. I have gone through the video demo’s and have the basics down to a degree. I have the manual open on my second screen and easy access to the wiki. I have read the midi sections over and over again, but I cannot get all my settings correct. I am very close but something is wrong.
I am using the demo version of renoise and after doing the demos I think I will be buying it but I wanted to make sure I can get this synth hooked up first.
What I have so far. I am trying to sync via midi and audio a Roland JD-Xi.
I have the JD-Xi (jdxi) internal settings configured as MASTER, midi drive source USB and the USB driver set to Vendor (both audio and midi are sent in this mode via ASIO drivers which are disabled in Renoise demo version, so not sure if I am able to send audio direct to renoise). I also have the jdxi hooked up to my MBox 3g inputs 1/2 via TRS cables to monitor in real time. The MBox is connected via USB.
In Renoise demo I have my Audio settings Direct Sound (only option).
In device: Primary Capture device, cannot load buffers it says for any Mbox options (no asio maybe)
Out device: Mbox speakers.
In Midi settings I have:
Device A (2-JD-Xi)
Device B (Oxygen 25)
Midi Clock Master and Slave are NONE and NONE
(I have tried setting up JDXI as both master and slave. As Master the transport fictions sorta work but I could not get anything else to work. As slave I could record key presses to trigger samples on the synth but nothing would play (ill get to that part) in a second.
Ok so the JDXi has two digital synths on channels 1 and 2, an analog synth on channel 3 and a drum machine on channel 10.
I have nothing mapped via midi yet (have not got that far)
So I thought I could have 4 instruments in the instruments window running at once, each to its own JDXi channel. (1,2,3,10)
In the edit window I rename Track 1 to 606 Kick 1.
I go to the main MIDI window in Renoise.
I want to set up a 606 kick in track 1.
Line In
Assign 2-JDXi
Channel 10
default start and ends
Assigned Track: 606 Kick 1 (track 1).
Line out
Assign 2-JDXi
Channel 10
Everything default (off)
Mode LineIn Ret
I then go back to to edit mode
Add a LineInput to track 1 (606 kick1)
It see’s my primary capture device (cannot select inputs 1/2 from Mbox)
Latency is set to Midi Return mode.
At this point right here is where things are wrong. Renoise is connected to the JDXi. I select my drum machine (channel 10) and hit a kick. It plays twice, very quickly. If I turn my main volume all the way down on the JDXI, I get no sound at all. I thought at this point even if the JDXi is not pushing sound directly out to the Mbox, the midi triggered in Renoise would playback out the primary sound device? But does not seem to be working that way. Maybe something to do with the virtual keyboard, in the midi window being triggerd as well?
So I then go into edit mode, his ESC and set my recording step pattern length to 8. Select Track 1, hit F9. Tap my 606 Kick 1 a few times to fill the pattern every 8 steps. It WORKS! It records my midi notes
The (2-JDxi set to channel 10) instrument is assigned to 00 and I see D-2 00-Volume etc. So that seems to work great.
Hit play no sound. Midi sync lights up top right, only red one blinks. Check my volumes, Jdxi is at 75% Mbox is at 50% Renoise master and channel volumes are not muted and at default settings. Nothing comes out. I notice the JDXI instrument ( the little square) is not lighting up. It seems it is not recieving midi on channel 10.
If I trigger some kicks from the JDXI keyboard I still get the double kick effect. But it makes sound and the line in meter shows audio coming through.
I have been stuck at this for a couple days and after going through most of the tutorial videos and reading the wiki Renoise is starting to click with me. I really dig it, and would like to purchase it maybe just to dink around with sample wise, I would really like to get this synth up and going. It feels like I am just missing a couple flicks of the switch here and there, a gnats ass away from getting this sorted out. Also then if someone could point me in the right direct as how to create multiple JDxi Instruments for each channel that would be great.
Any help would be appreciated.
Edit:
I just figured out how to create another JDXi instrument and give it a new channel. I think I just had to sleep on it. So now I can create 4 jdxi instruments, each set to its own channel and then assign each instrument to a track figured out. I just need to get rid of the double midi trigger “hit” and get playback when I try to play my recorded midi triggers? Ugh I feel dumb here.
Edit2: After some more fuckin around I switched my “In Device” in Audio setup to “NONE” and all my double note triggered hits disappeared, but now none of my meters move, I am hearing sound from the JDXI via L/R outs to Mbox, and the midi notes and individual instruments are lighting up so midi is being transfered, but no audio inside Renoise.