Beatstep midi to microbrute in logic x

[Damien2003gt]

Just picked up these two units along with a drumbrute. I'm trying to trigger the microbrute with the beatstep pro via midi (cv looks too complex.. correct me if I'm wrong). The microbrute doesn't appear to be responding to the beatstep midi messages. With that being said the drum brute sounds f-ing fantastic.

[megamarkd]

You will need to have the sequencer you are running to the Microbrute on the same MIDI channel as it first.  I don't use DAW's, so I don't know the finer points of get one ready for sending MIDI externally.
With a straight MIDI run, it's a simple case of plugging the MIDI out of the BSP into the MIDI on the Microbrute, with the MIDI out from that going to your Drumbrute.  I use an old MIDI workstation sequencer for recording MIDI to, which is is similar to using a DAW in that aspect.  I run my other sequencers into it via it's MIDI in's, then out to my synths via it's MIDI out's.  I need to make sure that the tracks on it are set to the same MIDI channels as the devices they correspond to (synth's, drummachines, etc).  I'm guessing there is a setting within Logic X to assign MIDI channels to the various tracks that need MIDI running through them.
I hope this helps you get going.

[Damien2003gt]

Sorry but no that's not the issue. I don't need the midi from logic. The midi is from the  beatstep and I want the midi signal from the beatstep to trigger the microbrute then the audio will be routed to logic and recorded in an audio track.

[megamarkd]

You still need to have the MIDI channels matching.
If you don't need to run any MIDI from your computer, even for synchronised starting of your recording suite and the hardware, just connect the MIDI out on the BSP to the MIDI in on the Microbrute.  If that doesn't work, something is wrong more than not getting your MIDI connections right.

[siseturist]

How it needs to be done:
1. If you connect microbrute to computer with MIDI cable (better than USB because of noise issues) then you have to set it up in Audio Midi Setup
2. Then create MIDI track in Logic - set its output to microbrute (if it's connected via USB then it should just show up as Microbrute, if via MIDI, then you should see it the way you have set it up in Audio Midi Setup)
3. Check if that channel is sending notes to Microbrute, if it does, then it's all set up correctly, if not, then you either have wrong MIDI channel or have set the outpot incorrectly.
4. Play notes in seq mode with BSP while that MIDI track being active on which you want to control Microbrute. If that doesn't play anything, then you don't have BSP connected correctly with Logic. For doing that open environment (CMD+8), if environment doesn't open it means you have disabled it in Logic, then enable it. From environment from top left corner take Click & Ports from Layer. There you will see all your connections and everything. Make sure that either BSP which you should probably see there is connected to input notes or some input view monitor connected to input notes. If you send SUM to input monitor, then everything is being sent to DAW.
Environment is pretty powerful tool - from there you can actually route different controllers to different instruments, filter data, change MIDI data etc...
Good luck!

[Damien2003gt]

How would I connect the mb to the computer via midi? A usb to midi interface? That seems like an unnecessary work around.

[siseturist]

Midi interface yes. That might seem like an unnecessary workaround, but via USB all internal electric noise from the computer is being transmitted to microbrute and you will hear it from its output. It of course depends on your needs - if you're not doing some hard-core studio recordings with your microbrute, then you might not need it. But if you want to record audio from it then ditching the USB connection might be useful!

[Damien2003gt]

You still need to have the MIDI channels matching.
If you don't need to run any MIDI from your computer, even for synchronised starting of your recording suite and the hardware, just connect the MIDI out on the BSP to the MIDI in on the Microbrute.  If that doesn't work, something is wrong more than not getting your MIDI connections right.
[/quote

Yes!!! Thats what im getting at!!! How can I confirm that my microbrute is or isnt sending midi notes out via the midi cable? Also.. Which sequencer does the microbrute send midi notes out to? 1 or 2 or 3? And how does one switch between cv and midi for a particular sequencer channel?

[megamarkd]

Are you trying to send the notes from the Microbrute' sequencer to the Beatstep Pro or the other way around?  Oh yeah, make sure you have the MIDI adaptors for the BSP plugged into the MIDI minijack sockets.  And that the out cable goes to the in on the other device.

If you want to know what is coming out of your Microbrute, your BSP or your Microbrute, you can use a MIDI monitor like MIDIOx (for Windows).  Plug the device you want to check into you machine via USB and tell the monitoring software to use the MIDI IN with the device's name on it.  Now hit play or play a note on the device.  The monitor should give you a list of data.  With MIDIOx there are two columns you will want to look at, Note and Channel.  This will let you know what notes a coming out of the device on which channel.

If you want to quickly check which channels the BSP is transmitting on, press and hold the button marked "Chan".  If you haven't done this before, the sequencers will be set to transmit on MIDI channels 1, 2 and 10 for SEQ1, SEQ2 and DRUM respectively.  I'm not sure on how to check and change the channel on the Microbrute and Drumbrute, but it's a safe assumption that you have them still set to defaults, which I'm also guessing will be channel 1 for the Microbrute and channel 10 for the Drumbrute.  It's a really good idea to read the manuals for all your new gear.

[siseturist]

It's a really good idea to read the manuals for all your new gear.

+1  & perhaps something which explains what is MIDI and how it works.

& For monitoring midi data on OS X there's an app called Midi Monitor (and you can of course do all that in Logic's environment as I mentioned earlier)