How to add outboard MIDI gear to a Buzz song
My tutorial on sidechaining last week got quite a few hits, so I thought I would write up some more Buzz techniques.
This tutorial will teach you how to integrate an external MIDI synthesizer (or drum machine, or groovebox ..) with a Buzz song. In this scenario, I have a drum loop playing in Buzz. I want to synchronize the arpeggiator on a hardware synth– say, my beloved microKorg– to Buzz so the synth plays in time with the drum pattern. Then I want to use my favorite Buzz effects on the synth.
1. Go to Edit -> Preferences and go to the MIDI Output tab. Make sure the MIDI device that goes to your synth is checked. In this diagram, my microKorg is connected to “Out-1 USB MidiSport 8×8″.
2. Add a Rebirth MIDI 2 machine and connect it to Master. Right click on the Rebirth machine and choose Settings from the menu. Pick your MIDI device from the “Select Midi Out” dropdown. Set the appropriate MIDI channel (my synth is set to channel 1). Switch the “Song position unit” to “MIDI beats.” Then click OK.
(As you can see, the GUI for Rebirth MIDI 2 is buggy on my machine. It works fine though, so don’t worry if the settings box looks weird.)
3. Set your synth to sync to an external MIDI clock. (If you happen to have a microKorg: turn Edit Select 2 to MIDI and then turn Clock to EXT.)
4. Create a pattern for your Rebirth MIDI 2 machine called “start.” Put a 00 in the first column. This is the signal to start sending MIDI time code.
5. Add your Rebirth start pattern to the sequence and start playing your song. We now have MIDI sync. Play an arpeggiator or sequence on your synth.
6. The next step is to route the audio out of your synth into Buzz so you can use Buzz effects and mixers on it. Connect the output of your synth to your sound card’s input.
7. Add a Polac ASIO In machine to your song.
8. Right-click your ASIO In, go to the Inputs sub-menu, and pick your audio input device.
You’re done. Your synth is MIDI-synced and routed into your Buzz song. Now you can use your favorite Buzz effects on your hardware synth.
If your soundcard has multiple inputs, you can route multiple synths into Buzz in this manner. Even if you only have one stereo input, you can pan one synth hard left and another one hard right. Then add two mono Polac ASIO In machines to use their signals independently.