Hi Basso,
thanks for your interest in Vienna MIR.
Actually your questions should be
covered in Section D of the MIR Manual: "Entering the MIR Orbit:
Integration and Optimization of Vienna MIR in Your Daily Work",
starting on page 71.
=================
1. Typical Setup 1 – Vienna MIR on a
dedicated computer
This setup encompasses two computers:
System A is the Windows Vista 64bit / Windows 7 64bit machine that
hosts Vienna MIR; Machine B is any other source of MIDI data – not
necessarily a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)! In other words:
Machine B could be a Windows-, OSX- or Unixbased computer running any
kind of MIDI-generating software (pure notation software, or typical
sequencing application), or even some piece of hardware, like a
sequencer box or simply a MIDI keyboard.
1.1. MIDI Connections
Looking at this scenario, there will be
two typical ways to route MIDI into Vienna MIR.
1.1.1. Hardware MIDI connection: Here
Machine A (which is hosting Vienna MIR) will have to be equipped with
some kind of MIDI interface, allowing for the connection of the
well-known five-pin cables. You will have to connect the MIDI Out of
Machine B to theMIDI In of Machine A which is hosting Vienna MIR. Of
course, this MIDI interface can also be part of the audio hardware
built intoMachine A.
Make sure you have enabled the hardware
MIDI ports in MIR’s preferences (Options > Audio Settings >
MIDI Tab).
This approach is straight-forward and
easy to implement. On the downside there’s the restricted amount of
possible individual MIDI targets within MIR (one MIDI port – i.e.,
one MIDI cable – can only handle a maximum of 16 channels;
typically, each instrument instantiated in Vienna MIR needs to be
connected via one dedicated MIDI channel), and the bad timing
behaviour of most MIDI interfaces except the most advanced ones.
1.1.2. Virtual MIDI connection: If
Machine B is a computer, as opposed to a hardware MIDI sequencer it
is possible to omit hardware MIDI completely. Using 3rd-party
utilities like MOL (MIDI over LAN) supplied by MusicLab
(http://www.musiclab.com/-products/rpl_info.htm) or ipMIDI – MIDI
over Ethernet supplied by Nerds.de (http://nerds.de/en/ipmidi.html),
the network adapters of both Machine A and B can be used for the
transmission of MIDI commands. Both utilities mentioned above are
available for Windows and OSX.
Make sure you have enabled the virtual
MIDI ports in MIR’s preferences (Options > Audio Settings >
MIDI Tab). There are many benefits to gain from following this route:
No additional hardware is needed, the connections allow for a
virtually unlimited number of MIDI ports (and MIDI channels), and the
timing of MIDI commands ideally is tighter than that of conventional
hardware MIDI interfaces. You have to be prepared to deal with IP
addresses and other non-musical concepts, though. Troubleshooting can
also be pretty demanding, because neither network hardware nor the
respective protocols were designed for real-time applications like
MIDI-controlled music.
In the end, you would see net-MIDI
ports as selectable MIDI outputs on Machine B, and net-MIDI ports as
selectable MIDI inputs on any Vienna Instrument (or VSTi) within MIR.
HINT: Please refer to the manuals and
guidelines of the respective 3rd-party manufacturers’ utilities for
up-to-date information regarding their proper installation and
settings.
[....]
2. Typical Setup 2 – Vienna MIR
side-by-side with a MIDI sequencer / DAW / notation program on the
same machine
With the advent of powerful Intel i7
multiprocessor-based computers with 12 or 24 GB RAM (server solutions
with Xeon processors even manage up to 96 GB), the idea of having MIR
working on the same machine with a full-blown audio workstation like
Nuendo or Cubase has lost most of its Science-Fiction odor. Some
thorough planning provided, one single machine can be the backbone of
an uncompromising working environment for virtual orchestration.
While the basic issues are the same as in set-ups with two separate
computers, the solutions for MIDI transmission and audio connections
may differ considerably.
2.1. MIDI connections
2.1.1 Hardware MIDI connection:
Although both applications reside on a single machine, they will
basically treat MIDI data like coming from an outside source. This
means that it’s still possible to plug a MIDI cable coming from a
MIDI Out to the MIDI In of the same machine – even using the same
MIDI interface! For example: Cubase sends MIDI data to Out Port 1,
MIR receives this MIDI data stream from In Port 1. This comes
especially handy when testing new configurations or working with
small arrangements, as it abates the necessity of installing
3rd-party software utilities.
Make sure you have enabled the hardware
MIDI ports in MIR’s preferences (Options > Audio Settings >
MIDI Tab). Of course it is important to avoid MIDI feedback loops, as
they will most likely halt the whole system. It is therefore
advisable to disable the MIDI Inputs meant to be used with MIR in the
DAW.
At first glance this approach might
seem a bit unusual, but it is straight-forward and easy to implement.
On the downside there’s the restricted amount of possible
individual MIDI targets within MIR (one MIDI port – i.e., one MIDI
cable – can only handle a maximum of 16 channels; typically, each
instrument instantiated in Vienna MIR needs to be connected via one
dedicated MIDI channel) and the bad timing behavior of most MIDI
interfaces except the most advanced ones.
2.1.2. Virtual internal MIDI
connection: MIDI is “just” another data transfer protocol, which
is why its data can be interchanged between applications without any
dedicated hardware involved. Several “virtual MIDI cables” or
MIDI loopback utilities are available. We had good success during
development and testing with LoopBe30 from Nerds.de. The application
allows for up to 30 independent virtual MIDI ports (480 MIDI
channels!), which is more than enough regarding the fact that the
maximum number of instantiated instruments inside Vienna MIR is 128
(or 32 inside Vienna MIR SE). – For testing purposes, LoopBe1 from
the same manufacturer provides the same functionality with a single
virtual MIDI port.
Make sure you have enabled the virtual
MIDI ports in MIR’s preferences (Options > Audio Settings >
MIDI Tab). The virtual MIDI ports you have enabled in LoopBe’s
control panel will appear as “Internal MIDI” device.
Again, it is important to avoid MIDI
feedback loops, as they will most likely halt the whole system. It is
therefore advisable to disable the MIDI Inputs meant to be used
with MIR in the DAW.
IMPORTANT: LoopBe1 and LoopBe30 offer
the possibility of automatic MIDI feedback detection. This feature
will shut down any MIDI connection as soon as the data transfer rate
exceeds the “canonical” 31.25 kbps of the original MIDI
specifications. Actually, for today’s virtual studios this value is
completely meaningless, so it is highly advisable to switch OFF this
option in LoopBe’s control panel.
If you not only want to connect
applications on a single computer, but also exchange MIDI data
between two computers without using MIDI hardware, you can try
MusicLab’s MOL (MIDI over LAN) which provides MIDI ports over your
Ethernet connection.
[...]
======================
... the good news is that obviously your audio-interface is multi-client compatible ("according to the ASIO SDK 2.1", I assume), so there should be no problem to run MIR side-by-side with Sonar (provided your computer is powerful enough, and there are 64-bit drivers). Just make sure that the latency of the audio system can be set to powers of two (i.e. 256, 512, 1024, 2048 ... samples). - This has nothing to do with MIDI-routing, of course. :-)
HTH,
