Audio Engine Dropout

[philip davey]

Apologies if this is the wrong place or its been asked before but i am new to all this (first ever DAW).

Have my Arturia Microlab keyboard plugged in but dos'nt work in Cakewalk (recognised in setup as Midi input) although "screen keyboard OK". If I unplugged my keyboard and plug it back in i get "Audio Engine Dropout (0) error.

Hope this makes sense - any ideas what it could be welcome.

 

 

 

[Jon White]

Oh, where to start ... ?

Your Microlab board is what is called a "controller".  It sends MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) commands to other devices and triggers them to do various things.  In using it with a DAW, you'll use it as a MIDI Input device as you see it has been designated.  It will trigger "soft synths" (digital instrument programs) in your PC.  Arturia makes some great ones, by the way, emulating historic synthesizers, pianos and organs.  

So, after doing a VST scan in your preferences menu, see what VST instruments you have listed.  If none, find some you like and install.  You will then call one up in a track "Insert | Soft Synth".  Your MIDI Input device should be assigned to it in order to play it.  You monitor the track and there it should be.  Your Arturia's MIDI signals will be triggering the sounds.  Those commands will show up in the track when you record, designating pitch and time and duration and strike velocity.

There is a lot to learn, but there are lots of videos and help available.  Your audio dropout might just correspond to a USB interrupt glitch when the PC changes its status upon plugging the device in.  Make sure to consider getting a DAW-compatible audio device, as your built-in soundcard will most likely not be up to the task.  Use WDM or ASIO audio drivers when at all possible.

[philip davey]

Jon, thanks for coming back.

Please excuse my ignorance.  Am I right in thinking that my keyboard (midi controller) won't  necessarily play all the instruments in Cakewalk but only ones that are "compatible" with it ? (which is why I can use a screen keyboard but not my microlab) - or have i got it all wrong.

I looked at all the available instruments but they all seem to be SI- Bass Guitar. SI- Drum Kit etc (the only thing with VST was VST2 Breverb 2 which i assume wasnt an instrument).

Finally (I promise, I have narrowed it down to if I disconnect my keyboard, restart Cakewalk (everything works OK with the screen keyboard) i then plug Microlab in as soon as i tick the pop up to connect it Bamm "Audio Dropout". Hope this all made sense.

Once again thanks for your help. 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by philip davey
mispelling

[Jon White]

The external keyboard should work just fine.  You may have to go into MIDI settings, though, and choose it as your input device.

On the audio dropout, as long as it is only that, and not that you LOSE your audio driver functionality, it may be fine. 

Plug your keyboard in with Cakewalk not loaded and reboot, then open Cake and go to MIDI settings and choose that controller as your primary controller.  Then, when you load a soft-synth, make sure that the track has that controller assigned (should be default if you selected only it as a viable device) and on OMNI or Channel 1.  It should be fine.  It should play the SI stuff fine.  Yes, breverb is a plugin for audio processing, and not a soft synth.

Also, if Arturia has a general MIDI driver, install that.  Might only use the generic Windows driver and work fine.

[philip davey]

Hi Jon, 

Making some form of positive progress - will update you and let you know.

Again, Thanks.

Edited May 3, 2020 by philip davey
Update