very LOW MIDI signal. please help

Hi Scott,

I need a little more info...are you using your keyboard as a controller for one of GB's software instruments or are you trying to import the keyboards synth sounds?

What kind of keyboard? How long has this been going on?

Did you know that the Mbox works with GB but not very well? Make sure that you have the most current drivers for it.

Where do you read a level of the midi signal?? I have a suspicion that you are confusing audio and midi.

"Where do you read a level of the midi signal?? I have a suspicion that you are confusing audio and midi."

Yeah I've gotta agree, MIDI has no 'volume'. Do you mean intensity? Like when you touch a key softly or hard? Try testing with GB's built-in keyboard and see if it does the same thing. Clicking the inside of the keys produce low intensity, towards the edge produces the loudest intensity. You really need to give us more detailed information though.

There's a slider in GaragBand's Preferences under Audio/Midi. Try to crank that up!

MIDI levels are confusing in Garageband. You really need to rely on your ears rather than the levels. A MIDI level can be o.k even if it is just showing a little green.

For software instruments I do this:

1. Create a new software instrument.

2. Before leaving the creation window click on the details arrow.

3. In the generator pulldown menu (the second one) select something other than 'manual.'

4. Click 'create'. If the volume is still too low double click on the track to open the details section again and click on the pencil icon to the right of the 'generator' pull down menu. There is a volume slider there. Try moving it slightly higher.

Some keyboards are MIDI controllers and volume levels can be set directly from the keyboard. My Keystation does this.

Kurt

If I may correct you a little, Kurt: At the midi controller, you can only control something that's called velocity which is not the same as volume. With some instruments, it changes the sound, not how loud it is. For a "normal" sound of the instrument, the velocity should be in the mid-range, otherwise your piano will sound like someone's beating the sh** out of it, even at low volume. This can also be controlled by the slider in the GB prefs, as I stated before.

The other thing is to adjust the volume of your software instrument's output. Some instruments, like basses, in GB tend to be soft in volume, so Kurt's recipe on cranking it up should help.

O.k, if we are going to quibble about terminology, fine.

What this user is talking about are the levels on the meter for a software instrument track. These can be raised by increasing the velocity and or turning up the volume on the meter, but the meter in Garageband is simply not helpful. It may read low in the green and be blasting sound through your headphones. This is the point I am making.

My last session used all software instruments except my voice. Meter levels were all over the place but the sound mixed down well because I ignored the meters and used my ears to determine levels.

If you need to have more control over the levels, convert your MIDI instrument track to a Real track:

Solo it, export it, then drag it back into your session.

Kurt