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HN 2 newbie orientation ?'s

Posted

Hello

i am having a few set up difficulties/ confusions and i would appreciate if someone could set me straight.

first i will preface by stating i have hammered through the manuals and online tutorials so i haven't quite digested it all but it is an exciting program so ....

1) i am having difficulties with the audio midi setup:

a) when i have multiple sounds on one port but independant midi channels i am hearing all the sounds on that port when i play imported midi files or play from the the selected sound play icon in the midi setup.

iE i have a drum kit setup as a multichannel program in Halion 3 - kiks on ch #1, snares on # 2 hats on #3 (via cubase). the midi input channels in the inspector reflect this setup with the IAC buss 1 as the input to the drum kit. this problem is also occurring on IAC buss D wherte i have two lead synth sounds using midi chanell 1 & 11. the sounds have been creaed and labelled in HN 2 in the audio midi setup and appear in the intrument categories and the Sounds indexes. how can i correct this?

b) what is the purpose of Labelling the manufacturers name and device in the device descriptions? am i confused about the intended organization of a device description - thinking that a device is to reflect a basic setup for a song in cubase? i have organized a device to include kit, bass lead 1 lead 2 and rythm/ chord sections with the idea that 5 parts could cover a lot of arrangement work and i could use the sound manager within HN to access specific sounds on a per project basis.

thanks

phi

i have more questions about the program but ... soon


Mon, 2010-08-02 - 14:20 Permalink

Hi phi,

welcome to the user forum and thanks for your detailed problem description.

Your understanding of the midi/sound concept in general seems to be correct. Multiple sounds on the same port are quite standard, provided each sound uses a separate midi channel. As far as I understand your Halion drum kit, it offers individual samples on different channels (same port). Therefore you need to create a separate HN2 sound with a fixed midi channel assigned to it for each drum sample you have. As all of them are part of one device, they send to the same port which the device is connected to.

However, a separate sound per sample is a real waste of instrument resources, as HN2 only allows a limited number of instruments per song. One instrument can not send to multiple channels. You should perhaps create a simple drum kit patch in Halion that has all samples on a single channel, mapped by pitch (before you export from Cubase, merge the individual midi tracks into one). Such a "Kit" is also easier to record with HN2 directly.

The manufacturer and model names are intended for known software or hardware instruments. Indeed they do not make much sense for sound racks on a per project basis. You can keep the suggested default names (from version 2.0.5 upwards, HN suggest your name as the manufacturer and a generic "SoundRack" with a numbered suffix).

An instrument remembers the device names and categories, so if some other user loads your song, HN can find the same or similar sounds in the other user's sound racks automatically.

HTH

Christian

Mon, 2010-08-02 - 19:40 Permalink

Multiple sounds on the same port are quite standard, provided each sound uses a separate midi channel. As far as I understand your Halion drum kit, it offers individual samples on different channels (same port). Therefore you need to create a separate HN2 sound with a fixed midi channel assigned to it for each drum sample you have. As all of them are part of one device, they send to the same port which the device is connected to.

However, a separate sound per sample is a real waste of instrument resources, as HN2 only allows a limited number of instruments per song. One instrument can not send to multiple channels. You should perhaps create a simple drum kit patch in Halion that has all samples on a single channel, mapped by pitch (before you export from Cubase, merge the individual midi tracks into one). Such a "Kit" is also easier to record with HN2 directly.

i definitely set up each voice/ sound with a dedicated midi channel in cubase and in HN ( i think) so i will review the steps in the manual and tutorial to see if i made an error. I have the sounds categorized in the HN2 audio midi device setup.

my multichannel drumkit is a very helpful method in cubase as it allows independent outputs of each sound and a range of sonic choices when starting a new project. i have a few arrangements that use this halion bank so in the short term it is not as efficient, as you say, but i would like to get it working in HN2.

[quote]

The manufacturer and model names are intended for known software or hardware instruments. Indeed they do not make much sense for sound racks on a per project basis. You can keep the suggested default names (from version 2.0.5 upwards, HN suggest your name as the manufacturer and a generic "SoundRack" with a numbered suffix).

OK.

Is the basis accompaniment import dialogue intended for importing SMF type 1 and the import Phrase for SMF type 0? or can you clarify the differences between the two commands? i am having some difficulties getting my arrangement imported correctly.

TIA

phi

Mon, 2010-08-02 - 23:07 Permalink

The basis accompaniment import command imports multiple tracks and stores the result as the basis accompaniment of the song.

The phrase import imports a single track only and stores it in the currently selected instrument's phrase.