Connecting an ASR-10 via MIDI to Ardour

#1

Hi everyone,
I have bought Ardour because I assumed that it would be right for my setup… but as they say, to assume is to make an “ass” of “u” and “me”…
I have an Ensoniq ASR-10 which I have resurrected recently (with some new SCSI hardware) to listen to and edit some old MIDI tracks from 20+ years ago. I assumed that Ardour would allow me to use a MIDI keyboard, to output and receive midi, and then play back the music on the ASR-10 through their respective instrument channels, but I don’t seem to be having much luck with my setup, as while Ardour is aware I have a midi interface plugged into my mac, there is no data transfer when i play and hit record on Ardour even though I have set up my ASR-10 to transmit midi data.

Have I simply made a mistake in purchasing this software? Is it all about software instruments now? Or is there something simple that I am missing to make this work? If not, can anyone recommend a program that is more suited to old-school music equipment that is MIDI based, where I can use the ASR-10’s sounds instead of that of those that are software based?

Any constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

#2

Rest assured you got the best tool for your purposes that you can get. )-;

Ardour perfectly inputs and outputs MIDI data, if nothing happens on your end, you may have overlooked some settings.

To read MIDI you have to select your MIDI device on the mixer strip Input AND hit the little DIN-plug button to light it up green => enabled
To write MIDI data, you have to select your MIDI device in the output of your strip’s mixer.

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#3

Ardour was designed as an audio workstation, so a lot of the work flow comes from an audio centric style of working. To record MIDI you will need to create a MIDI track in Ardour, then connect the input of that track to your MIDI interface (although it will probably automatically connect if you only have one MIDI interface, so you may just need to verify the connection).

A MIDI track also needs a connection from the output of the track to something which can play audio, which in your case would be back out through your MIDI interface to the ASR-10 MIDI input.

Have you gone through the Ardour manual already? It may be hard to follow if you are not already familiar with a digital audio workstation type program, but it does have sections on MIDI setup and recording with MIDI tracks.
Ardour manual

What is your end goal? Do you want to record the output of your ASR-10 and make multi-track recordings that you can process and mix, or do you just want to send MIDI to the ASR-10 and play it in real time? If you only want to deal with MIDI, and not audio, then “MIDI sequencer” is the term you want to look for. There are programs which only deal with MIDI, and may include music notation editing as well, depending on the focus of the program. The focus of Ardour was originally just audio recording, editing, and mixing, but MIDI has been added for quite some time. The combination of audio and MIDI together can sometimes make it a little awkward compared to an application which is only focused on MIDI.
It does work fine as a truly old school MIDI recorder. I still have a hardware MIDI recorder which was more like a multi-track recorder for MIDI, if you made a mistake you just recorded the sequence again, there wasn’t really editing available. If you had something like that in mind then you don’t need a full blown MIDI editing program, and Ardour will have more than enough MIDI capability for what you need.

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#4

Your DAW investment will pay off, Ardours midi capability is excellent. Tell us more a about your ASR-10. I am and old sampler romantic myself and have an s950 that I just put in storage after the power-supply died after a power outage. It could have been the lightning storm that caused the power outage that killed it or a spike as the power came on again. A vintage spx90 died at the same time so mourning… for the guitarists who have one plug it in to the mike input of the akai and experience the creamiest of overdrive sounds.

I love the metallic clang of the spx90 and have been able to recreate some of the magic by using some of the bit reducing plugins that is available before and after some of the many reverb plugins that exist for Ardour.

Midi editing in Ardour speeds up dramatically once you figure out what you spend the most time doing with the mouse and put in some custom key shortcuts for the activity, Ardour is deep and well worth it.

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#5

Thank you for your help Robert.

Since my initial post, I have been able to bridge the MIDI connection where Ardour outputs MIDI note messages to my ASR-10 and triggers samples via the ASR-10’s instrument channel. My MIDI interface’s BLUE LED lights up every time MIDI note data is MIDI “OUT”-putted from Ardour.

However I am still unable to MIDI "IN"put any MIDI data from my ASR-10 to Ardour. I have set my ASR-10 to receive and transmit MIDI independently via the 8 instrument channels, and I am confident that the ASR-10’s MIDI setup has been done correctly.

When I press a note on the ASR-10 and trigger a sample, I can hear the sample through the speakers, however the MIDI interface’s GREEN MIDI "IN"put LED does not activate.

I tested the MIDI interface on another computer with an old version of CAKEWALK and the MIDI "IN"put LED was activating whenever I pressed the ASR-10’s keys, so I could at least confirm that the MIDI interface was working properly.

Anyway, I am still obviously missed something in the software configuration. If you have any further ideas on how to complete my MIDI configuration I’d love to hear your ideas.

Sincerely,

Styles.

#6

Thank you for your help SIAB,

Sorry to hear of your equipment damage, that’s a bummer. I hope the equipment can be restored to full working order.

RE my ASR-10, I have configured it in the following way for the MIDI Instrument parameters:

“TRANSMIT (MIDI) = via Instrument Channel”
“MIDI OUT CHANNEL =” determines which channel MIDI data will be transmitted on. I have set each ASR-10 track its own MIDI channel, 1 through to 8.
MIDI STATUS = BOTH refers to being able to hear the samples being played on the ASR-10 when I press a key and simultaneously transmitting MIDI data through that particular MIDI Instrument’s Channel.

Re the SYSTEM MIDI parameters, which are another feature set on the ASR-10, are set as follows:

MIDI BASE CHANNEL= 1
TRANSMIT ON = Instrument Channel
MIDI IN MODE = MULTI which means that each of the ASR-10 instrument channels (1-8) can receive MIDI data for each channel.

Since my initial post, I have been able to bridge the MIDI connection where Ardour outputs MIDI note messages to my ASR-10 and triggers samples via the ASR-10’s instrument channel. My MIDI interface’s BLUE LED lights up every time MIDI note data is MIDI “OUT”-putted from Ardour.

However I am still unable to MIDI "IN"put any MIDI data from my ASR-10 to Ardour. I have set my ASR-10 to receive and transmit MIDI independently via the 8 instrument channels, and I am confident that the ASR-10’s MIDI setup has been done correctly.

When I press a note on the ASR-10 and trigger a sample, I can hear the sample through the speakers, however the MIDI interface’s GREEN MIDI "IN"put LED does not activate.

I tested the MIDI interface on another computer with an old version of CAKEWALK and the MIDI "IN"put LED was activating whenever I pressed the ASR-10’s keys, so I could at least confirm that the MIDI interface was working properly.

Anyway, I am still obviously missed something in the software configuration. If you have any further ideas on how to complete my MIDI configuration I’d love to hear your ideas.

Sincerely,

Styles.

#7

Thank you for your help Chris.

I have read bits of the manual, as well as trying to feel out the software to discover answers!

To answer your question, my end goal is to finish an album I started and almost finished in the late 90’s. It’s simply a legacy project. Most of the tracks are near completion. The MIDI files are on an old laptop that is in need of repair - the 3.5" disk drive no longer works. Once repaired though, I would be able to transfer the MIDI files to Ardour so I can do the final edits, then take those MIDI files and my ASR-10 to a studio so that an engineer can record, mix and master them.

I understand what you meant about looking for a “MIDI sequencer”, and I did look around before I found Ardour, however Ardour seemed like a great “Bang-for-the-buck” alternative, as it wasn’t in my budget to spend hundreds of dollars for software.

Thank you once again.

#8

Can you confirm that the Ardour MIDI track you’ll be using to record has the correct port of your MIDI interface selected for that track’s input (which should be the MIDI IN port on the interface that your ASR’s MIDI OUT cable is connected to)?

#9

It is indeed. I checked, and the sequencer applications I had in mind are not available on MacOS, so working past your current problem and trying out Ardour is probably the best course.

There is an IRC channel (IRC is an older chat protocol if you are not familiar) that the developers frequent as well as several users. You can ask there and often get realtime help with configuration problems. You can connect directly from your web browser here:
Ardour IRC channel on libera chat

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#10

Hi Belladonna,

The MIDI interface I’m using has two 9 pin MIDI plugs on one end and a USB connector at the other end, so it’s not like a traditional MIDI connection in that sense. But thanks for reminding me that MIDI in goes to MIDI out and MIDI out goes to MIDI in! I had forgotten that… it’s been soooooo long :slight_smile:

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#11

Glad to help! Did it get you closer to solving your issue?

Yes, most modern MIDI interfaces use USB, whether its a dual cable version like yours, an external ‘box’ with a MIDI IN and OUT port (like my ancient MIDIMAN 2x2 that I still use), or one built into an audio interface. The principle should be relatively the same in regards to connecting to an external synth or other MIDI device, though:

Device MIDI OUT to Interface MIDI IN
*to send data from device to DAW
Interface MIDI OUT to device MIDI IN
*to sent data from DAW to device.

Let us know how it goes! :smiley:

-B.

#12

Hey Belladonna,

Here’s a quick update…

I have not been able to get Ardour’s MIDI to work with my Ensoniq ASR-10 properly… and to make things worse, the SCSI2SD drive that I bought for my ASR-10 is frequently not being recognised as a hard-drive to boot from so my keyboard is essentially inoperable. So on that note I’m going to give it a rest for a while until I have energy to fave it all and try again some time in the future!

Regards,

Styles

#13

*until I have the energy to face it all and try again sometime in the future!

#14

I totally get it. A break away from these kind of problems can sometimes be helpful. I might look for the ASR-10 manual online at some point and and see if anything jumps out at me in the device’s MIDI section.

Take care and see you around!

#15

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