PLG150AN, AN1xEdit, and XGedit with Cubase VST5
By Gary Gregson
Originally posted Winter 2001.

< Is there anyway to use the PLG150AN editor (made by Gary G.) in Cubase VST 5.0? Is it possible to have both going at the same time? >

It is possible to use AN1xEdit (and XGedit) together with Cubase 5.0. The main problem is ensuring you have multi client drivers for your MIDI port/device such that both apps can access the ports simultaneously. For those using AN1xEdit with PLG150AN - I guess you are using the SW1000XG card? In that case make sure you have the latest multi client drivers for the card, i.e., drivers later than V2.2.2.

Also note that the SW1000XG drivers are multi client on output ONLY. So you can have two apps share the MIDI outs but only one accessing the MIDI IN!

The other option people often want is to record XGedit/AN1xEdit control movements directly into Cubase. This is possible using a Pipe driver such as Hubi's LoopBack device or MIDI Yoke. Normally I would recommend some setups whereby you route XGedit/AN1xEdit data 'Thru' Cubase. However since you are using Cubase 5, I am afraid these will not work. Cubase 5 MIDI 'Thru' function appears to be broken. If you 'Thru' SysEx via Cubase 5 you get garbage. (I have had various reports that the latest public beta releases of VST5 fix this problem but, not reliably - the problem now appears to be intermittent. This problem affects all external editors and remote control devices that use SysEx :-(

Even when VSTs MIDI 'Thru' function was working (in 3.7) another problem existed, in that the 'Thru' SysEx size of VST is restricted to 512 bytes. This is OK for XG data and AN1x parameter changes but not large enough to 'Thru' AN1x bulk data!

So, I would recommend you use the following setup:

The main problem you need to overcome is getting three applications to talk to the SW simultaneously, i.e., VST, XGedit and AN1xEdit. The SW drivers are multi client but only allow two applications at a time to talk to the synth output - and only one to talk to the input. Therefore you need to use Hubi's to allow all apps access.

Hubi's LoopBack device comes in two parts:

  • An installable driver that provides the LB1 - LB4 virtual MIDI ports.
  • The Hwmdcable.exe program that can be used to connect virtual MIDI ports to real MIDI ports.

What you need to do first is install the driver part of the archive. To do this:

  1. If you haven't already done so, first unpack the Hubi ZIP archive to a suitable temporary folder. If you have the archive already unpacked on CD etc., then just go to step 2.
  2. Go to Control Panel and select the 'Add New Hardware' applet.
  3. Step through the hardware wizard until you get to the screen that asks if you want to search for the hardware or select it from a list. Choose the "No, I want to select the hardware from a list" option and press next.
  4. Scroll down the list and select "Sound Video and Games controllers" then click Next.
  5. On the next screen select the "Have Disk" button, then use the Browse button to locate the folder where the Hubi programs are located. You should find a file called OEMSETUP.INF there. Select it in the Open file dialog and press OK.
  6. Thereafter just follow the hardware wizard prompts until Hubi is installed.

You will then need to restart your machine. When it has rebooted you should find that the ports LB1 to LB4 are available for selection in MIDI program.

Now Setup as follows:

XGedit:
In=NONE
OutA=LB1
OutB=SW1000#2 Synth

AN1xEdit:
In=NONE
Out=LB1

Run a copy of Hubi Hwmdcable.exe:
In=LB1
Out=SW1000#1 Synth (This connects both AN1xEdit and XGedit outputs to the SW1000#1 Synth port)

Now Run Cubase SetupMME program and setup the following drivers:

Inputs:
SW1000 MIDI IN - enable
LB1 - Enable
LB2 - Enable
LB3 - Disable
LB4 - Disable

Outputs:
SW1000#1 Synth - enable
SW1000#2 Synth - enable
SW1000 MIDI OUT - enable
LB1 - Disable
LB2 - Disable
LB3 - Enable
LB4 - Enable

Now run Cubase:

Go to VST Options MIDI setup and ensure that LB1 is ticked in the MIDI Inputs drop down box. This will connect the output of XGedit and AN1xEdit to the input of VST via the Hubi driver LB1 and allows you to record the output of both programs in real time if you desire!

Go to VST Options Midi Filter and ensure that all RECORD filtering boxes are unchecked (in particular, SysEx.) However, make sure that the THRU SysEx filter box is checked. This allows VST to record SysEx from XGedit/AN1xEdit but prevents it from being "Thru'd" (as VST5s MIDI 'Thru' will just corrupt the data.)

Go to VST Options and ensure that play in background is checked. This allows VST to continue working even when XGedit/AN1xEdit is the foreground application.

Note that VST saves some MIDI port and filter configurations with each song (.ALL file). Hence you may wish to make the above settings and then save as DEF.ALL to your VST install folder. Thereafter VST will always have the correct settings when you create new songs (although you may need to make the necessary adjustments in older songs.)

Using this setup you will notice that only two applications are talking directly to any one of the SW1000 output ports so everything should be fine. If you get 'Device already in use' messages, make sure you have the latest multi client SW drivers from the Yamaha support site http://www.xgfactory.com.

Also note if you are using PLG150AN that AN1xEdit must be running in PLG150AN mode (select from its Setup menu). The PART dial (just above the on screen keyboard) determines which XG part is replaced (default is part 1). The CH dial determines which MIDI channel is used (default is 1). The BOARD and DEVICE dials should both be set to 1 for the SW1000 as a host.

If you need to refresh your setup, always perform a refresh synth from XGedit first (from the Utils menu) then perform a refresh synth from the AN1xEdit menu (Utils menu). This ensures that the XG parts are configured before the PLG150AN information is sent.

Note you don't need the input of XGedit/AN1xEdit connected up since VST is handling all input. Also there is no point in connecting the input to AN1xEdit with the PLG card since you cannot request bulk dumps from the card!

Regards

Gary
Email:
Gary@yme.co.uk
http://www.yme.co.uk/yme