Reaper, Overbridge - Analog Keys as sound card

Elektron Software Overbridge
#1

Necro’ing this thread so I don’t get yelled at again.

I’m having trouble getting stuff routed when it comes to using the A4 (actually AK) as a sound card…

Set up:
Windows 10 64 & Reaper

In Reaper I have the AK set as audio device as follows:

ASIO driver = AK

  • Enable Inputs (YES) and I’ve chosen Input L and Input R as I have a MicroMonsta plugged into the AK’s InLeft & InRight (i.e. I want to use AK as a “sound card”)
  • Output range=MainL and MainR

I have my MicroMonsta plugged into InL and InR on AK and I have ExtIn’s turned on in OB Control Panel
I have Left & Right from AK routed to HW mixer & MainL and MainR in OB CP turned on
In OB CP I have Synth tr’s 1-4 & external on, and master off (because when I leave master on as well, it seem to cause a feedback loop as Reaper’s meters spike)

But I’m not getting any sound… At all…

I have a track with OB on it for the AK, and when I play on AK, Reaper’s meters are moving, so I know there’s sound in there somewhere.

Meters in the AK section of the OB CP are also moving. But nothing is actually going OUT of the AK’s main L & R.

I have all the track audio outputs routed to the tracks L&R’s

What am I missing?

A4 as Sound Card
#2

OK, I’ve managed to get audio to the AK (i.e. using it as my outbound sound card), but I’m still not able to get the AK’s external inputs to output sound to DAW. I see their meter moving in OBCP, but it doesn’t seem to go farther than that…

This has got to be a bug, because if I plug this same synth into my AR’s external inputs, it works. Comes out the “Main” because AR’s OB doesn’t allow that individual routing, but at least I know that the signal chain outside the AK works. Of course this is not a good solution as the AR’s inputs are so low level with no gain control so it’s not a solution really…

#3

The AR inputs are always on, the A4 inputs need to be volume lifted (from default) … have a look at the Ext Track levels

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#4

Hmmm… OK, so I found where to raise the Ext inputs (FX track -> ExtIn) on the AK, and I can now hear my external synth out the AK’s main outs, but there’s still no sound for these ExtIn’s going to the DAW. Or PC at all. I tried setting the AK’s ExtIn as my windows sound source as well. Nuttin’…

#5

Be aware that if you raise the input level of the External Inputs in A4 you will hear them doubled in both the main outs and their own OB channel.

#6

Argh! I’m even worse off than I thought! It turns out the sound I was getting to my mixer, from the AK, is not sound as a “sound card” but it’s been coming out the main L/R of the unit… So now I’m even more stumped…

When I use OBCP and set it up to output say to Synth1 & Synth2, and set those channels up in my DAW as the L & R master outs, then plug into AK’s Synth1 & 2 outputs, I would expect that, per my routing in the OBCP that Synth1 & 2 would be my outs. That’s how it looks in the OBCP:

blob.jpg874×632 145 KB

But the actual sounds I get out the AK when I plug into Synth1 and Synth2 are the HW synth1 on L and synth 2 on Right!

WTF?!

Why does there seem to be a disconnect between what I’m seeing in the OBCP and what’s actually happening with the AK?

I know OB is or has been a bug laiden disaster and that’s why I’ve been avoiding it… Is that what I’m seeing here, or is it a config issue some place?

#7

I kinda figured that, but if I could at least HEAR them via OB I’d consider that progress… :frowning:

#8

Can you post a screenshot of your Live settings

#9

I don’t use Live… I use Reaper… But a DAW’s a DAW for the most part, unless there’s a known compatibly issue with OB & Reaper, but I’ve not seen any release notes to indicate that as a fact.

What’s odd is that all the audio stuff (either audio via the OB VST + my normal windows sound card --OR-- AK as a USB sound card) EXCEPT for the extin on the AK… and that’s a bummer… I may have to get another sound card with more inputs and just use OB VST audio to create multi-track setup…

I submitted a support request to see if ExtIn not working is a bug, as other posts have indicated it don’t work in Live either…

#10

I am not familiar with reaper but it sounds like you have everything setup correctly.
Check:

  1. You are getting your ext in L and R audio levels in Overbridge from the Micromonsta
  2. You are getting audio levels in your DAW

As you are using analog keys as your soundcard, this means that sound needs to be routed back from your computer to your analog keys, with your analog keys providing the sound source.
You have essentially turned off your internal sound card when linking to analog keys and are using it as a sound card.
Therefore you need to have audio come back out to your analog keys, (i.e. L and R main). Test this is working by generating some sound from your DAW (not sound generated from micromonsta or analog keys), and try and hear it from your synth. If this is not working it could be something to do with your audio routing settings in Reaper.

If you want to hear your micromonsta sound and analog keys sound through your computer speakers or connected headphones, then you need to use your computer soundcard settings instead, such as winapi or asio4all (assuming you are using windows).

#11

Re #1: I get levels in OB Control Panel, but not in DAW/VST
re #2: I’m getting audio from both AR & AK. I’ve actually got it set up with 4 indv. tracks split out for AK, and 8 tracks split out for AR. All works great with AK as sound card, or using the PC’s crap. built in sound card.

I also was able to play VST’s (drum machine, synth, etc.) from Reaper and route it to AK’s and hear it. so again, it’s working as an audio out device just fine.

The ONLY thing that’s hosed is there’s no sound coming in from ExtIn…

#12

Try switching off all other tracks and focusing on ext in.
Try using your internal soundcard to see if you can hear the ext in audio via your computer.
I am not familiar with Reaper so cannot really help beyond that. I set this up with Bitwig and Live and Studio One 3 a few weeks back and all worked fine for me in terms of passing audio.
Have you got the ext in tracks mapped in reaper? This is how it works with other daws, you need those tracks mapped in the daw correctly. Perhaps there is an issue at this point?

Also, I took a lok at this, there seems to be a setting in reaper to select track 5 - 6. Maybe something like this needs to be set for external in tracks.

#13

Hey Cosmic,

For a bit more context, here’s my setup:

OBCP

blob.jpg865×621 131 KB

Here, I’m playing my MicroMonsta, and you can see the levels in OBCP

Here’s the track routing for the track that’s hosting the OB VST:

You can see that ExtIn’s are routed to 9 &10 as well as all the other tracks are routed to their respective individual outs

In Reaper (it’s basically the same as pretty much any DAW really) I’ve got 5 tracks that are taking those routings. 1-4 for synths and 1 for ExtIn.

What’s making me bang my head is that all 4 synth tracks work just fine. So why is Ext not behaving?

If NONE of them worked, then I’d assume I was just doing something stupid. But if ExtIn is supposed to work just like a regular track input… It’s not…

And, if I bump up ExtIn volume per another post, then it comes out the AK mains from it’s internal routing. Not via OB.

Here it is playing Tr1

Pasted image293×629 17.3 KB

Tr2

Pasted image408×625 21.3 KB

Tr3

Pasted image363×673 21.1 KB

Tr4

Pasted image351×655 21.7 KB

And now the Grand Finale… ExtIn!!!

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So, meters read for all voices and ExtIn in OBCP
Sound comes in for all voices
No sound for ExtIn

I tried setting it up with nothing routed to mains or FX inside the AK and then routing main to my daw via OBCP and low and behold, I can hear the extIns… But for some reason, even though I have voice routing setup with them all unchecked in AK, I’m getting a weird voice doubling/flanging effect when I do this.

So I’m pretty sure there’s something broken with ExtIn and OB. Everything works the way it should but that… :frowning:

#14

Thanks for digging up that video… Unfortunately that’s not the right direction. That’s more DAW->AK/4…

Maybe ExtIn is only good as an OSC source? But I don’t think so because the manual signal flow shows that ExtIn should join up right before the main outs. Thus if I route something into ExtIn, and I set ExtIn as a source in OBCP, since I can see those levels, I should be able to get that audio into my DAW…

#15

Hi
I think the additional info you provided might help others who are familiar with reaper assist you better as you have explained the issue well.

#16

Can you map ext in tracks to ID 7 and 8 instead of 9 and 10 on that grid? Shift everything to the left 2 places. The manual talks about ext L and R needing to match with ID 7 and 8. A long shot but worth a try.

#17

Those are the ASIO ID’s. The Numbering here is just Reaper’s internal track numbering. If that was not the case, when I tried to play track 4, I’d hear nothing and when I played ExtIn it woudl show up on that track. Make sense?

#18

Ugh… Just got word from Elektron support that this is a bug… ExtIn don’t work… Is there a “Know Issues” thread I’m missing, because having 1/3 of the outputs not working seems like kind of a big deal…

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#19

well at least it is reported and is known, so hopefully a fix soon.

#20

No, there should be … but it’s something we’d have to do amongst ourselves … maybe best started by a Mod/Admin as we’d be able to edit posts longer than the default for users and may be able to negotiate with support … my hunch is that we’d have to keep this curated ad hoc amongst ourselves … there have been attempts previously for single devices, but they’ve not been maintained and had a different objective

AN official list would make even more sense (for us), but I don’t see that happening … most issues are discussed on here somewhere, it’s just a case of keeping tabs

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