Midi set up question (Please help!)

I'm messing w/ Midi Beat Clock, and my buddy got it figured out, but I haven't! He sent me a session and told me what to do. He recorded some midi drums w/ an SR16 and told me to select Midi Beat Clock and PT would then trigger my DM (Drum machine) to play the midi notes that he recorded, but would use the sounds from MY SR16. This is great and all, but he runs his DM thru a mixer and I don't (he has the AM card, and I have the 001). And I think that's the problem for me. I seemed to remember reading that in order to hear the sounds, I'd have to have my DM ran thru a mixer. But why can't I just go to the Digi, enable four tracks and hear the sounds that way?? It seems that I hear them for a millisecond when I hit stop, but that's it. I had to actually record enable four tracks (because when playing back, I could see my DM was playing like PT told it to, and I could SEE fader lights, but heard nothing). So I basically record enable the four tracks, and while recording, I was then able to hear audio. I also noticed that PT was telling my DM to play, but I don't think it was using his midi notes/info. My DM was playing whatever pattern I had dialed up at the time, but at the tempo PT told it to play at. I was under the impression that if we had the same DM's, that PT would play the sounds from my unit, triggered by his notes/info. Is that right? But how I hear this happen? Maybe my problem goes way beyond all this crap. I can't even say for sure that my DM/PT is even SET UP right because I just don't know what I'm doing. I'm really frustrated and very confused. I hope someone can point me in the right direction, so I can get creative finally! Thanks! Jason

Why is it that everytime I ask a Midi question, I get literally NO REPLIES? Do you guys just not know the answer? Unwilling to help? Or is it too complicated to mess with? Just wondering because every Midi type question I've ever posted as gotten like ONE reply total (thanks jason). This problem has been doggin' my *ss for a while and i can't seem to figure it out. it's one of the only stumbling blocks preventing me from even using PT, and it's the one thing that I get the least help on. Jason

Sounds like your midi "may" be set up properly if you see the meters going in PT. I think your monitoring is what is wrong. Just a long shot here but try switching to "input monitor only" mode (Option + k key) before hitting play. Try this first. Or create 2 stereo AUX returns in PT and assign their inputs to the inputs on the 001 that your drum machine is connected to. Re: Midi IMO, midi has too many variables to effectively troubleshoot online unless the setup is very basic. This is probably why the lack of midi responses. dk

Hi Jason, Just want to prove that you sometimes do get more than one reply. Firstly, MIDI Beat Clock is only used to sync (ie. match tempo and play/stop/location) your drum machine's built-in sequencer patterns with Pro Tools. So, if your friend sent you a session, assumedly containing a MIDI track(s), then MIDI Beat Clock will serve no purpose. In fact, it may confuse the issue by forcing the drum machine to play its own sequence - as well as playback sounds triggered by the Pro Tools' MIDI track. This means you'll hear two patterns at once, if the drum machine can handle it. So for now, leave MIDI Beat Clock off (and/or your drum machine in 'internal' sync, rather than 'external' or 'slave'). Regarding monitoring. Personally, I use a mixer to hear everything I want at all times, but of course you can use the Digi001 alone. I know the 'hear it for a millisecond and then stop' phenomenon you mentioned. Try the 'input only monitor' although it didn't seem to make any difference to me the other day when I was experimenting with it. A definite method is to call upon an Aux Track for each input, route to the Pro Tools main output. Don't forget to turn it up (by default, they're turned down when first created). Hope that helps. Feel free to post back if you're still stuck. A couple of us do 'hang' around the dedicated MIDI forum on the DUC, but I think it's fair to say a large quota of PTers don't deal with MIDI. Phil