Midi-ntimidated how to question

[442w30]

I have a boss DR-770 and I am too lazy to program it.
I have taken some midi songs and taken out all tracks except the drums and now want to push them to the boss.

I know nothing about midi really, but would like to connect the boss to the pc and either play them through the boss or move them into the boss.

I am REALLY lazy, so which cables will I need? Eventually I'll read the how tos and manuals, but I like learning by getting up to my eyeballs in problems then digging out. Guess I am a sadist [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

I have a SB 5.1 value so what cables/gender will I need?
Also, I will be hooking up a Flextone II HD to this. It will all be in a 'loop' right?

What I am thinking is 1/4 mono to mini convertor to the sound card, 1/4 to midi splitter? Then three midi cables, one into the drum machine, one into the flextone from the drum machine out, one out of the flextone to the PC?

Or would I want to connect only one device to the midi chain at a time? I don't think I need to keep the flextone hooked up all of the time, only for tweaking. Is there much need to keep it hooked up?

I have 0 midi cables right now and don't plan on buying one of everything to find out I only needed one cable and a different sound card or a usb midi device or a game port-->midi interface.

[Newc]

Re: Midi-ntimidated how to question

I have a MidiSport USB MIDI thingy - it doesn't work.
I've got an older gameport/souncard->MIDI thing that works great with my SB Live 5.1 [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I'd say get the gameport MIDI adapter if you can find one, simply because they should be less expensive.
The adapter comes with 2 cables - In and Out. You would run the cable's Out to the 770's In, and the 770's Out to the cable's In.
If you want the HD in there for MIDI tweaking as well, you'll need one more MIDI->MIDI cable.
With that cable in the chain, your MIDI chain would be:

PC MIDI Out->770 MIDI In
770 MIDI Out or Thru to the HD's MIDI In (some units are marked HD's MIDI Out to the PC MIDI In

Now, most MIDI-capable machines have ports marked as "Out/Through", which means that unit's Out also acts as a Thru, and some can only be Out OR Through, but not both, whle still other units have 3 MIDI ports - In, Out, Thru - Through passes the MIDI signal straight to whatever that unit's connected to, but that unit can't control what it's connected to, it just passes the word from the PC down the line to the HD, for example)

So, get a PC MIDI adapter (USB or Gameport) with 2 cables on it (In/Out)
Get a standard MIDI-MIDI cable (check your unit's specs - some are 5 Pin, some are 9-Pin - the Books tell you which one you have on each unit. A 5-Pin MIDI cable will work on a 9-Pin port, but a 5-Pin port will not have the extra holes for a 9-Pin cable)

As for getting sound from the HD AND the 770 into the PC at the same time, you need a mixer/recorder/some sort of similar interface for that, as your card has only one useable Audio Input - the Line In. The Mic In is ok for webchat crap, but not recommended for anything like music [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

If you do run those into a mixer, get one of those 2xRCA->1/8" stereo adaptors for MP3 players, rather than a clunky 1/4" Y with a 1/8" adaptor. There's not a lot of room on the back of a sound card [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]
Run from your mixer's Main/Stereo Outs via RCA cables to the Line In so you can record the drums into your PC.

If it's too complicated, read it in little bits going step by step [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Creepy]

Re: Midi-ntimidated how to question

If you're interested in a Gameport-Midi cable, I have one that I don't use. It's still in the package. PM if you like.

[442w30]

Re: Midi-ntimidated how to question

Thanks NewC, exactly the info I needed.

Creepy, expect a PM! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]