Can no longer record midi

[TVR PRODUCTIONS]

I have not used CW for a month due to a video project. Just opened it up and there was an update. I opened again and I can no longer record any midi from my Alesis Q49 midi controller. I inserted a soft synth track, chose the patch, armed, echoed and nothing. I can click the note with my mouse on the vst interface.  Oddly, when I first opened Cakewalk it said there were no midi devices. I closed CW, unplugged my controller's midi and power cables and re-plugged. Started CW and it is in the Preferences. As far as I know, I did everything I can do. I even opened a previous project and tried to input onto a track and still no sound. What am I missing? This is the first issue since began using CW over a year ago.

[David Baay]

Can you record MIDI, even though you might not hear the synth respond?

[reginaldStjohn]

You say that it is in preferences, does that mean that you see your Q49 as a midi input device and it is checked?  If so, then do you hear any sound when you select the VSTi track and play on your keyboard?  Do you see any midi activity on the track?  

On the input of the instrument track make sure that the input to the instrument has your midi controller selected and using the same channel or omni

[Robert Bone]

My guess is that you possibly have the midi controller plugged into a different USB port on the computer, OR some other USB device was plugged in to a different port, and this may have caused Windows to internally remap what devices go to which ports (it uses some sort of numbered system internally, I think).

Anyways, even though Cakewalk Preferences may show your controller, if you are getting no detectable midi activity pressing keys on the controller, in Cakewalk, you might consider:

1) Making sure USB ports have the same devices plugged into where they USED to be plugged in, OR

2) Remove the midi controller as a midi input and output device in Cakewalk Preferences, in any affected project, then click Apply, then add the midi controller back in, as an midi input and output device, and then after again clicking Apply, see if you now have midi activity again, when pressing notes on the controller.  If so, save the project, and make note of what devices are plugged into which USB ports, in case things move around again in the future.

Please note, that on the 2nd option above, you might have to save your project, and close and open Cakewalk again, in between removing the midi controller in Preferences, and adding it back in.  So, if step 2 above still doesn't square things for you, then indeed try removing the midi controller from the project in Preferences, clicking Apply afterwards, then saving the project with the midi controller gone, closing Cakewalk and opening it up again and going back into the project, THEN add the midi controller back in, click Apply, and if the midi controller now triggers sound again, save the project with the midi controller re-added.

Not sure if this s what your issues are, but it might be the case, and if so, then the above is one way to correct it.  (or if you followed step 1 instead, and put devices back into the same USB ports they were in before any got moved, or new devices had shifted the internal mapping between devices and ports, step 1 might fix you up).

Hope the above works, and isn't too confusing.

Bob Bone

 

[Chaps]

1 hour ago, TVR PRODUCTIONS said:

I have not used CW for a month due to a video project. Just opened it up and there was an update. I opened again and I can no longer record any midi from my Alesis Q49 midi controller. I inserted a soft synth track, chose the patch, armed, echoed and nothing. I can click the note with my mouse on the vst interface.  Oddly, when I first opened Cakewalk it said there were no midi devices. I closed CW, unplugged my controller's midi and power cables and re-plugged. Started CW and it is in the Preferences. As far as I know, I did everything I can do. I even opened a previous project and tried to input onto a track and still no sound. What am I missing? This is the first issue since began using CW over a year ago.

If your controller is connected to a USB audio interface via MIDI cable then you may have to select the audio interface as the MIDI device.

[Robert Bone]

2 minutes ago, Javadude54 said:

If your controller is connected to a USB audio interface via MIDI cable then you may have to select the audio interface as the MIDI device.

I just specify None for the Input parameter on my midi tracks, and that equates to Omni in Calewalk, so that when that midi track's Input Echo is toggled On, that midi track will process midi data from any midi device.  So I do not specify anything but None on any of my midi tracks, and it all works just fine.

The only situation where the above would not work as needed, would be if I were recording more than one midi track at the same time, using multiple midi controllers, where each midi controller needed to trigger notes from specific midi tracks - so if I was for some reason recording midi strings on one track, at the same time I was recording a midi lead on a different midi track, using two midi controllers, only then would I have to get more specific, assigning each midi controller to specifically send midi data to one midi track or the other.  (I have never in 30+ years of recording midi keyboards, been faced with that situation - I would simply record each midi track separately, and then using Input values of None work just fine).

Bob Bone

 

[TVR PRODUCTIONS]

I haven't touched anything since I used it last, other than unplugging the power from the controller and the usb cable from the controller. I am using  midi cable from controller to focusrite. There is only one midi in on the controller so that is not it. 

It turns out that I believe that the latest CW update that I installed today is causing the issue by conflicting with my Focusrite Scarlett 1820 2nd Gen controller . I can play audio from any other source, (You Tube, Sound Forge, etc) but as soon as I open CW and it scans the plugins, I just got 4 Blue Screens in the past 20 minutes.  We can close this thread.  I am opening  a new thread.

 

[Gswitz]

If you add a midi controller in preferences and then unplug the device routed to it, the next midi device will automatically route to it.

I don't think this is useful behavior. My Alpha track never routes to my alpha track controller through my interface. 🙂

But, you have to go unassign it or delete the controller. Every time you start cakewalk it will assign midi to the controller and then you will not be able to record from that midi device.