G6 - Pro Tools 9 - Syncing issues!!

First of all, what you want to do has nothing to do with "syncing". Yet another studio/music term bastardized by hip hop culture.

1. Run the audio outputs of your Fantom to the audio inputs of your M-Audio box. Can you record it like you can record a mic or guitar? If so, then you're half-way there. If not, the problem is with your M-Audio device.

2. Install the Fantom-G driver in your computer. Restart afterwards.

3. Connect the Fantom to your computer via USB. Use a dedicated USB port on the back of your tower (or if it's a laptop, the side). Don't use any sort of USB hub.

4. Set up ProTools' MIDI communication. Use the Fantom-G as the input and output device. ProTools forums can help you with this.

Yet another studio/music term bastardized by hip hop culture.

LOL!! Thats' awesome! ;-)Thank god it wasn't the Techno culture.. oh wait that don't exist does it? Still considered a genre' ain't it?

Um, he probably does want to sync it midi (midi-sync)to his protools so that when he records his parts in there, they will be in time... But first he has to be able to make sure he get's audio in first. if not, whats the point?

You must forgive TAW for what appears to be his arrogance .. It's not arrogance, He's just too smart for his own good.. but he ultimately mean well as you can see he did give you the instructions..

Yeah, it sounds like arrogance, and it probably is, but it's also the truth.

I worked in Top-40-selling hip hop/R&B writing camps throughout the late 90s and early 00s and witnessed first hand how:

• Chorus became "hook"
• Hook became "that thing that's cool there"
• Middle-8 became "bridge"
• Bridge became "pre-hook"
• Entire song with all instrumentation minus vocals became "beat"
• Beat from any drum machine or drum library (even acoustic libraries) became "808 track"
• Logic, Cubase, Digital Performer, Cakewalk, Nuendo, and ProTools all became "ProTools"
• Simply connecting two pieces of MIDI gear became "sync"
• Syncing became "Huh? Why would I want to do that?"

No.

It didn't come from the dance scene. Dance producers bastardize their own terms (like the ten million sub-SUB-genres of electronic music that are 90% identical in every respect), but "sync" is not one of them.

That's cus Hip Hop has always taken things form the world and made it's own.. Evident even in the music... Sampling musical riffs and making then their own for example.. taking words and making them their own.. taking clothes and wearing it their own..

For what you're saying though, you can't blame Hip Hop culture for the uneducated.. the problem is that you treat newbs as idiots, then blame their whole culture for it... As if no one else in that culture knows better... It's no wonder you have Audacity in your id name. If you knew your history you'd know that every culture has their own lingo even if they do speak the same language, so if you speak to someone from a different culture and they have a different dialect or lingo, you should know that it isn't wrong, it's only different from your own. they understand it the same way, they label it different is all...

Although all, I've never heard anyone I know say this:

• Beat from any drum machine or drum library (even acoustic libraries) became "808 track"
• Logic, Cubase, Digital Performer, Cakewalk, Nuendo, and ProTools all became "ProTools"

But I have heard people think that "808" was a big speaker in their car!

Other than that, it's good to see you again, man!

Nah, it's just a pet peeve of mine. I'll get over it eventually, like I got over everyone with ProTools Free talking about how they had a "ProTools Rig".

And I was a part of that culture, so I should rightfully take some of the blame. But man, it was frustrating as hell being asked to "fix the vocals in the bridge", only to find out a day later they meant the middle 8.

Just babbling. Yaboytrax, sorry if I offended ya'.

Septimo, how's things? Happy New Year, brother.

Septimo, how's things? Happy New Year, brother.

Good, man! like wise!

it was frustrating as hell being asked to "fix the vocals in the bridge", only to find out a day later they meant the middle 8.

LOL! I get it,man.. I've had to serve as translator from artist to engineer before.. But that had taught me a lot in the past so I'm grateful..

like I got over everyone with ProTools Free talking about how they had a "ProTools Rig".

Hahahaha! everyone has their beginnings... Countless years into it, I'm still learning...

Take care...

Lol, none taken. I was confused at first like "What does anything I said have to do w/ hip hop?" I just want my fantom sounds inside of pro tools and be able to record from there.

In my mind.. sync means connect, lol. I'm new to all of this!! I'm hoping to a recording in LA this summer so maybe then I'll understand the "correct" lingo.

But I did all that you said but got a bit confused at step 4. I can SEE that midi is being played but I can't hear anything.

(my set up) I downloaded the drivers. I have both my M-Audio box and Fantom connected via usb into my mac… I have my Fantom's IN going into the box's OUT. And the Fantom's OUT going into the box's IN.

The Fantom's AUDIO out (1/4" cables) need to be sent into the M-Audio's AUDIO inputs (1/4" cables).

The most important thing to understand about MIDI is that it is not sound. No sound ever goes down a MIDI cable, nor the MIDI stream within a USB cable.

To make things even more confusing, the Fantom can send audio signals via its USB connection, but the audio stream is very very different from its MIDI stream.

It's pretty sketchy getting both your M-Audio and Fantom sending/receiving audio via USB. It requires setting up what's known as an aggregate device in your Mac's Audio/MIDI setup, and I'm not positive ProTools 9 even supports aggregate devices (earlier versions didn't even support non-Digi or M-Audio interfaces at all). Therefore, it's best, at least for now, to just run audio cables from the Fantom to your M-Audio device and record sound that way.

Keep the Fantom's USB connected for MIDI tho'.

Here's how the whole beast will work, once it's set up correctly:

1. Playing a key on the Fantom sends a MIDI note message (among other things) down the USB cable. This MIDI note message is NOT sound, much like pressing "Q" on your QWERTY keyboard is not a printout of a 32-point Helvetica font with drop-shadow. It's just a Q message.

2. A MIDI track in ProTools records that you pressed middle C (or whatever) and stores this data on the track as a note message.

3. The MIDI track sends the middle C message back out to the Fantom and tells it to play the note.

4. The Fantom plays middle C and generates a sound, which is sent from it's 1/4" audio outs (OUT A L/R) to the M-Audio's 1/4" audio line ins.

5. On a ProTools AUDIO track (different from a MIDI track), this sound is recorded as a waveform, only after which is sound actually recorded into the computer. Alternatively, you can set up an Aux input channel (instead of a recording track), where you're simply monitoring the sound of the Fantom's outputs through ProTools' mixer. This gives you more flexibility because you can change the sounds at any time, even after sequencing the MIDI parts—much like changing your "Q" from 32-point Helvetica with a drop-shadow to a 64-point Arial in purple (you don't have to retype the Q, you just change the font).

What's cool is that all five steps can take place instantly, with imperceptible delay.

There's a really good starter guide to MIDI here: http://www.midi.org/aboutmidi/intromidi.pdf