Yamaha KX 49 & Composer problem

[thorben]

Originally Posted by Sherry C

Hi Thorben,

Ah, I use MIDI controllers, too, and so have to use a different "soft" device for my playback device.

What device do you use in Cubase? If it's a stand-alone synth (either an external unit or some sound library or such), then you should be able to use it as the MIDI Playback Device with Composer as well (eg. Roland VSC or such).

If you don't have one (I haven't used Cubase), then I can recommend SynthFont (www.synthfont.com) as an alternative to look at. You'd need to use a virtual MIDI cable, which you can find info about at this thread.

ttfn,
Sherry

Dear Sherry,

I installed SynthFonth, Maple MIDI and ASIO4All and now my KX 49 plays with very low latency. I tried to get Composer to play through Maple Midi, but I'm not sure how to set that up. At a stage I actually think I made a midi loop, because Composer hung and I had to kill it.

The problem I have now is that I cannot start Composer at all. I gives an error: "It has been detected that Composer was previously run on your system....." - I have tried to restart my PC, but Composer still won't start and I can't uninstall it either, so please HELP!!!!

Regards
Thorben

[thorben]

Originally Posted by thorben

Dear Sherry,

I installed SynthFonth, Maple MIDI and ASIO4All and now my KX 49 plays with very low latency. I tried to get Composer to play through Maple Midi, but I'm not sure how to set that up. At a stage I actually think I made a midi loop, because Composer hung and I had to kill it.

The problem I have now is that I cannot start Composer at all. I gives an error: "It has been detected that Composer was previously run on your system....." - I have tried to restart my PC, but Composer still won't start and I can't uninstall it either, so please HELP!!!!

Regards
Thorben

Hi Sherry,

As you can see above, I can't use Musician anymore, any idea how to fix?

Regards
Thorben

[Sherry C]

Hi Thorben,

My apologies here - I had typed in a nice reply to your previous post, but apparently didn't properly post it after previewing it. My only excuse was that I was probably still "under the influence" of my pain medication as I had an arthroscopy on the 29th

What I had posted was that it appears that something really goofed up the installation. You can first try re-installing the program "on top" of the current installation. Hopefully that will fix it.

If it doesn't fix it, then you'll need to do a "manual uninstallation" if the usual "Windows/Control Panel/Install or remove software" option doesn't work.

1. Delete the \Program Files\Notation\Composer directory.

2. Run RegEdit and delete the Uninstall entry for Notation Musician:

(a) Run RegEdit from Windows Start / Run. (To run Regedit, click on the START button, then click Run. A dialog box will come up with a space to type in the name of a program. Type in "regedit" without the quotes. Click OK when you have typed it in, and the registry editor will open.)

(b) Use RegEdit's Edit / Find command and search for "Notation". You'll find many entries in the registry for Notation, doing "Find Next" by hitting F3. It's fine to delete any of them if you don't intend to run any Notation programs. However, there is one important registry entry to delete in steps (c) and (d).

(c) Keep hitting F3 (Find Next) for "Notation" until you find the entry for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Uninstall{3FA380...E6A63}, where the ... is a long bunch of numbers and letters. You see in the right window pane of RegEdit several entries with "Notation" in them. The important thing here is that you have found the Windows Registry Uninstall entry for Notation.

(d) Use RegEdit's Delete command to delete this Uninstall entry.

Now you will no longer see Notation Composer listed in Control Panel / Add-Remove programs.

At this point, you can reinstall the software, and all should (we hope) be well.

ttfn,
Sherry

[thorben]

Hi Sherry,

No need to excuse yourself, I'm happy that you will help.

I did a "manual" uninstall, after that I removed all references to notation in regedit and on the hard disk.

I rebooted, and did a new install, after another reboot I started Composer, but nothing happens on the screen. In task manager I can see that composer.exe is running.

Regards
Thorben

[Sherry C]

Hi Thorben,

This sounds like an issue that was taken care of in a maintenance release... can't remember how long ago. Sometimes the application would be minimized (for reasons we never figured out completely), and even on starting, would automatically minimize. This behavior should only occur with (1) older versions of Musician or Composer (the current version is 2.6.3) and (2) older OSs (operating systems) than Win 7. If you don't have the latest 2.6.3 version of Composer, you can visit the Redownload Page to have your download link emailed to you.

If you have an OS previous to Win 7, and the problem still occurs, take a look at the task bar along the bottom of your screen. Do you see the Composer icon in the task bar after you've started it? If so, then right-click it, and select "Maximise". That should bring Composer back up to full screen. (This trick works for any Windows application.)

Here's hoping...
Sherry

[thorben]

Hi Sherry,

I was installing 2.4.2, but when I installed 2.6.3 it worked like a charm.

Thank you so much for your help.

Now back to the original issue, how do I configure the Virtual Midi cables to work with Composer. The KX 49 works fine with Synthport and ASIO4All and I have installed Maple Midi, but I just can't work out how to set it up.

Kind regards
Thorben

[thorben]

Originally Posted by thorben

Hi Sherry,

I was installing 2.4.2, but when I installed 2.6.3 it worked like a charm.

Thank you so much for your help.

Now back to the original issue, how do I configure the Virtual Midi cables to work with Composer. The KX 49 works fine with Synthport and ASIO4All and I have installed Maple Midi, but I just can't work out how to set it up.

Kind regards
Thorben

I GOT IT WORKING.

Thanks for your help, it's now working without delay.

Regards
Thorben

[Sherry C]

Hi Thorben,

Glad we got the one problem solved!

For MIDI cables: You can kind of think of them in a similar fashion to physical cables, but with the caveat that each cable has to have a defined directionality. By that, I mean that each cable (eg. Maple 1) should be set only as an "In" or an "Out" for any given MIDI device. I'll use "Maple 1" as the example MIDI cable below.

To use SynthFont with Composer as a MIDI Playback Device, using "Maple 1" as the virtual MIDI cable to connect them:

Since you've already installed SynthFont and Maple MIDI, as well as Notation Composer, all that is left is to configure them.

Be sure that SynthFont is running before opening Composer. This assures that the connections will all be made correctly. (Sometimes it works ok to open it after, but sometimes not.)

In Composer:
1. Click on Setup/MIDI Device Configuration.
2. Then Port/Select Ports.
3. In the Left hand "Input ports", uncheck the Maple 1.
4. Click "Ok" to exit and save.

This step above effectively sets the "directionality" of the Maple 1 virtual cable to go Out from Composer, and In to SynthFont.

Now, in SynthFont:
1. Edit/Options
2. IO Ports, and click to select Maple 1 in the upper-left hand "Select MIDI Input ports" box.
3. Click "Ok" to save the selection.
4. Now click the "Activate MIDI Input" button on the tool bar.

Now when you play a song file in Notation Composer, it will use the soundfont that you have open in SynthFont to play the song. Likewise, if you play your keyboard, routed through Notation Composer, it will also use the soundfont in SynthFont.

The cool thing about soundfonts is that there are a boatload of really nice ones available free on the internet. We have an information page at http://www.notation.com/Articles-Soundfonts.htm that might be helpful in getting some really good instruments, as well as interesting pads and such, or even tutorials on how to create your own soundfonts

Hope this helps!
Sherry