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The problem with DAW MIDI tracks and IAA Instruments that are also controllers
For lack of a better place to bring this up in the presence of both developers and users....
The Problem (using Cubasis as example host):
You have a MIDI track and insert an IAA instrument.
The instrument app you added is also the controller you want to use to play the instrument when recording/auditioning this MIDI track in Cubasis.
Because IAA only sends midi to instruments (not receives from them), you are forced to use existing virtual midi solutions to get the midi output from that app into the Cubasis track.
So you do that, switch to the app and begin playing, and now Cubasis takes that midi input and feeds it back into your app via the IAA mechanism, which causes the app to trigger the notes again almost simultaneously, causing phasing/flamming.
This sucks, because there is no good way to automatically detect that this kind of midi feedback is going to occur on either end because IAA and virtual midi are completely decoupled. The remedy is simple, in the instrument/controller app just disable the touch actions from triggering audio, and only have it send MIDI in these conditions (or decide to ignore MIDI input from IAA during this time). The trick is making this automatic, or not a terrible burden on the user to have to switch it on and off.
Developers: Have any of you solved this in an agreeable way? Ideas?
Users: More ideas?
Comments
Seems to me it should be on the Cubasis end. We want it to record MIDI but we don't want it reflected back to the app. Essentially the same as a record monitor but we only want to not monitor MIDI. Toggling record monitoring is standard fare for DAWs but maybe DAWs could indeed make it automatic by checking to see if the virtual midi port in use is the same as the IAA instrument?
I agree that the DAWs should be the ones that solve it, because there are fewer of them. But they'll have the same problem trying to automate it, using heuristics based on port names is probably the most likely way.
We also have to convince all of them (or at least Cubasis) to actually do it.
That's what the "Midi Thru" button (top left in the MIDI Routing panel) is for. Make sure it is off.
No, that only controls sending the midi input thru to the output. The problem here is that it always feeds the input into the inserted IAA instrument plugin, and that's what we need to be optional as well.
I see where you're coming from, but it seems a lot of trouble to implement when simply changing the order of actions in your workflow provides a solution.
Don't insert the app as an IAA instrument until AFTER you have recorded the MIDI track via virtual MIDI... It's not even an extra step.
On the IAA track go to the routing tab. "All MIDI Ports" is selected by default as the input. Set this to "None" and then set up your separate MIDI track with your virtual MIDI on the input, making sure you get the channels set up to line up with the IAA instrument. I'd also set the MIDI output from this track to "None" just to be sure the MIDI is only going where it is needed.
Job done. You should be able to now be able to audition and record from the IAA instrument without double triggering. Don't forget that once you have recorded, in order to play back, you will need to either turn on MIDI out for that track or drag the MIDI part to the IAA track, the latter being my preferred option.
This is for Cubasis and I tested it with iSEM.
Hans and Tien at blue mango are the only devs I'm aware of that got it work,but they'd be better at explaining it.
They didn't really get it to work, they just sacrificed a part of their functionality when operating under IAA. I think the previous two posts presented good workarounds in Cubasis, thanks!