Thatās the better option. Iāll check the vid in the morning as off for zeds 
Dink, thought what about VST levels/versions ā¦ Zzzzzzz 
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Hereās an image of the Fx pop-up on my keyboard track looks like. I have plugged in a midi controller as you are doing.
The Addictive Keys is a digital instrument plug-in. Iām not sure what the MPC Beats plug in is. Perhaps it is the equivalent of my Addictive Keys.
You could try adding this into the fx: āVSTi: ReaSynth (Cockos)ā that will take care of making sound from the midi input. I just tested that and it will generate sound.
You previously mentioned you see the meters moving when you hit the keys. Do you also see movement on the master track meters?
The image looks correct. That should route sound to your output device. Can you confirm that you have got sound if you sing and record via your mic?
Iām still thinking based on all youāve shared that you donāt have anything on the track to convert the midi into audio.
Please try adding the ReaSynth plugin to your fx and let us know what happens.
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@DavidP Woo hoo. Now Iām getting sound from the keyboard recorded track. Thatās using the 'VSTI: ReaSynth" as you suggested. Itās not a rich keyboard sound, so Iām assuming I need to find other suitable keyboard synth options. Thanks so much to all of you for your perseverance and help with this.
Even better, I was able to find the āVSTi: Mini Grandā that came with the AkaI and it sounds like a grand piano.
My pleasure, Tony, glad to be of assistance.
Digital instruments and midi really do open up a whole world of musical possibility. If youāve listened to the latest original I posted up in AVOYP or the Blue Lead Study, the drums and bass in both are created using midi and digital instruments. And there are other originals on my YT channel that use a range of instrumentation.
Thanks. I now loaded the Velvet and Hybrid options that came with the Akai, so a variety of keyboard sounds. Also watched a video on creating LoFi beats in GarageBand. Might try that also in Reaper.
Now to figure out how to get my zoom h5 interface working with Reaper, last time I tried it wouldnāt recognize my Shure mic throuth the zoom h5.
Tony
Glad you fixed it and it turned out it did need a virtual instrument plugin after all. What I canāt understand if the product has its own, why does it not install one by default. Is it more keys/synth than drum or is a combination ? There some really good plugins out there, if you are not happy with sounds.
@DavidP good call on ReaSynth, I tend to for get those Reaper originals !
Cheers
Toby
Hey Toby
At the moment Iāve only worked out how to get keys sounding good. The drum pads I think sound like bass notes, and Iām not sure how to get proper drums and cymbals from them yet. Havenāt done any research. Such fun.
Tony, as far as I recall @LBro helped @batwoman with this ages back though perhaps not making use of an external mic plugged into the Zoom. So perhaps LBro will jump onto this.
Perhaps better to start a new Topic since this Topic is all about hearing midi in Reaper.
Even assuming you can get it to work, ultimately I think what you need is an Audio Interface. I think the Zoom is great as an in situ quick and easy recorder but not designed to be an Audio Interface. Now whether or not it makes sense, forgetting financial considerations, depends on what you want to do.
If your use case is to practice playing and singing into a mic, then maybe the Zoom used as a recorder is sufficient.
If you want to make video recordings of you playing and sharing, then may still be OK to record the audio in the Zoom, the video on your phone, and marry the two together on your laptop.
But if youād like to produce a better quality recording of your guitar and vocal, play with use of fx to polish the dry recordings and eventually produce some full band recordings (ie adding drums, bass, and keys) then I think the AI is the right way to go.
I will start a new topic for that, if required. My zoom is the h5 which works both as a recorder and as an audio interface. Iāve been able to get the zoom to record well using a separate external mic into garage band and can contact Maggie separately to hear her story with the zoom. My goal is to bring the separate external mic and my guitar pickup through the zoom into reaper so I can adjust the levels, etc. Now that Iām recording tracks with two vocalists and the guitar, just doing it through the zoom (as a recorder) with itās xy mics does not give me enough control.
Cool. I guess the trick then is to ensure you have an appropriate audio driver that you can select in the Reaper preferences. Then should work OK
Here you are. I didnāt want to post links to my stuff in your Topic, but given that you canāt find them. Here are links to AVOYP
And this I chose not to republish but is on my YT channel and uses some other instruments:
Thanks, enjoyed listening to them. The visual effects on your song Self Destruction were interesting, how did you create those?
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Hi Tony,
I am glad you got your Zoom going. In helping Maggie on this end, a long time ago. It became apparent she needed to move onto a dedicated AI. We found the Zoom to have shortcomings that were tough to work around. Sounds like you need more than 2 simultaneous Jacks to plug into. So unfortunately a lower cost 2 channel AI is probably not going to work out for you. You would need something like this. All the best as you record. Let us hear what your working on!
Keep rockān,
LB
Iām interested to hear about the zoom shortcomings. I had issues early on with the zoom in garage band and when I posted about it on fb, friends said the zoom was at fault. Turns out it wasnāt the zoom. I did get a chance to try the zoom side by side with a presonus AI and expected or hoped the presonus would be noticeably better. One of the tracks I did with the presonus was a little better, one was much worse.
Iām not trying to defend the zoom at all, just trying to make sure I understand how something like the Scarlett would be better.
At this stage I believe I need 4 inputs, but other more experienced musos have said to put down just the guitar track first, and then come back and record the other tracks, vocals, drum, etc. I will try that as well.
Tony,
Let me get with Maggie as she has a better memory of our Zoom issues than I. I want to say the latency seemed high, but again my memory is fuzzy.
What I do know is that your gear is quite different. She was on a challenged Win 10 notebook that cost maybe $800 AUD. So maybe it was $600 USD and that is not much machine. Here Zoom I think was less than what you have as well. At least I think that was the case. I know a Mac can be better at being a music platform than Win is. So that too may influence what is going on.
As far as inputs go, 2 would get you a long ways, recording in different sessions as many tracks as you desire. But 4 is always better. From what little I know about what you do, 2 might suffice most of the time. But then, why did you add 2 more inputs to the Zoom, for what I think is a total of 4 inputs? I think I recall you saying you want your wife in on what you are doing. If you then bring in guitar on its own DI or mic, your vox and her vox. You need 3 inputs. If that is something you will be considering to do, then plan accordingly. I would also shoot for getting the midi input jacks as well. Though those are not as important as you can add them when you need to add a physical keyboard via stand alone addon midi ports for all of $15.
So if you were to look at the Focusrite you probably have 2 choices:
2i2 - $170 USD - Ok if you are just after 2 real time channels at once.
4i4 - $240 USD - This is the one if you want or need 3-4 channels at once.
As far as latency goes. If you are in Reaper, you can see the latency in the upper right corner of the screen. As shown here:
Shoot us a screenshot of what you have there using Reaper and your Zoom.
Keep rockān,
LB
@LBro Wow, thatās a heap of helpful info. Before I want to look at any upgrade I want to stretch the limits of my current gear. What Iām interested to understand is how issues with latency would manifest? My thinking, which I donāt present myself as anything more than a beginner with this kind of recording, is the DAW is to capture the particular track, so Iām confused as to how latency would be an issue.
Hereās the latency shown with my zoom h5 and my macbook pro which is a 13" 2020 model.
If thereās a resource you can link me to that explains the issues with latency, Iām all ears.
The reason I added 2 more inputs to the zoom was due to our travel arrangements, we are currently living and traveling in our RV Camping Trailer / aka Caravan and access to music shops is sporadic. Iād read about the input module (It takes the place of the standard xy mic) and by chance the music shop in country Australia that I stopped at had one in stock and given we donāt have a fixed address, I figured it was easy to just go ahead and get it as it could be very difficult to source one while on the road at a later date.
Iām not aware that the H5 has any midi option. A quick google on the subject didnāt educate me otherwise. The akai midi keyboard is a separate project / usage although I could see situations where I use it in conjunction with the H5. Just not as likely.
Tony,
Latency can hinder you in the DAW. One place it might show up is if you get your guitar in the DAW with the track record button enabled. Maybe put on a guitar plug and add some effects to your guitar signal. Now, listen to the output from the DAW. What you well may find is that you strum the guitar and later you hear your strum. It will probably echo if so. Basically the guitar signal is late from the strum. That is one form of latency.
Midi - The Zoom does not need to do midi at all if you just want to add midi drums, keys or another midi instrument in the DAW. But if you want to plug a real keyboard in for instance, you need a midi input into the computer. Many AIās above entry level might have midi inputs. But again, you can get them cheap, under $20 USD.
I talked a bit to Maggie. Together I think we recalled her issues. At that time her laptop was very challenged. She had a lower Zoom model than yours. I think the AI Zoom driver was not very well written and it was hard on her machine. Reaper would freeze up, I think it had some audio noise as well. I want to say she had to run the samples very high to get it to work and that meant her latency was unacceptable.
All the best,
LB
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