UniWire Manual Supplement This document discusses UniWire and how to use it with Receptor Muse Research, Inc. 970 O’Brien Drive Menlo Park, CA 94025 USA Tech Support: (650) 326-6180 Main Office: (650) 326-5400 February 17, 2006 Copyright 2004-2006 Muse Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Muse Research, Inc.
Muse Research, Inc.
UniWire™ Manual Supplement UniWire™ is a new way to connect one or more Receptors to a computer-based digital audio workstation using only Ethernet cables—no audio or midi cables are needed. In addition, UniWire instrument and effects plugins are installed on your host computer, which allow your digital audio workstation to communicate with Receptor as if it were both a virtual instrument and a virtual effect plugins.
Connecting a Single Receptor with UniWire If you have a single Receptor and no other Ethernet hardware is connected to your computer, you can use a simple “Ethernet crossover” connection to connect Receptor to your host computer. Simply use a special type of Ethernet cable, called a crossover Ethernet cable, and connect it between Receptor’s Ethernet port and your computer’s Ethernet port. More detailed discussion of network connections are contained within the Receptor manual.
The following illustration shows just one way in which Receptor and UniWire might integrate with a laptop running a sequencer, and how Receptor can greatly expand the processing capabilities of your computer beyond the limits of its internal CPU.
2 For this basic tutorial, make sure that the Enable Receptor Audio+MIDI I/O option is disabled and the Bypass MIDI Filter on single channels option is turned ON. Both these options appear in Setup View. To do this from Receptor’s front panel, with the SETUP button lit, make sure that the UniWire Receptr I/O parameter is set to Audio+MIDI Disabled, and that UniWire MIDI Filter is set to Bypassed.
In the large routing area in the right portion of the UniWire plugin window, select All Receptor Channels from the Send MIDI To menu. When you select All MIDI Channels, the UniWire plugin addresses Receptor exactly as if you had actual audio and MIDI cables connected to Receptor. With this option selected, your host computer sends 16 MIDI channels over Ethernet (rather than MIDI cables), which Receptor routes according to the MIDI Filter settings in each Receptor Instrument Channel.
3 In your computer sequencer, select an audio track and instantiate a UniWire FX on that track. Every host application has a different way of doing this. See your sequencer manual to learn how to route audio tracks through virtual effects. Some host-specific examples are included at the end of this documentation. 4 In your computer sequencer, open the edit window for the UniWire FX that you just instantiated. Again, this process is different for every host.
UniWire—Receptor Setup Details The Setup View parameters indicated in the following illustration all have some effect when used with UniWire. In addition, there is a new UniWire Audio Input option available in the Source Selector for each Receptor instrument channel. Each of these new UniWire options is discussed in the following sections. Enable UniWire option The first thing you’ll notice is a new section on the Setup page, called UniWire. The first parameter in this section is called Enable UniWire.
Enable Receptor Audio+MIDI I/O = OFF When UniWire is enabled and this option is OFF, then your host computer and the UniWire plugin are in complete control of Receptor. Receptor’s built-in audio and MIDI capabilities are disabled and Receptor becomes, essentially, an extension of your computer sequencer.
Bypass MIDI Filter on Single Channels There are two ways that UniWire can address Receptor: • on ALL Receptor channels: Using this method, UniWire communicates with Receptor exactly the same as if you had connected a pair of MIDI cables between your host computer’s MIDI interface and Receptor. Your host computer sends 16 MIDI channels to Receptor and Receptor responds to those MIDI channels using the various MIDI Filter settings provided on each Instrument Channel.
reason, Muse Research strongly recommends that customers who turn ON the Enable Receptor Audio+MIDI I/O also connect a S/PDIF cable between Receptor and their host computer and set Receptor’s Sample Clock Source to S/PDIF Sync Enabled. Sample Buffer Size If UniWire is enabled, Receptor automatically sets its Sample Buffer Size to match the value defined by your host sequencer. No other options are available since the two buffer sizes must match exactly.
Then, why even have a UniWire effect that cannot send audio? You can insert this in your Input channel and send MIDI to Receptor and record the output of Receptor’s Master channel. The UniWire instrument, which does the same (sends MIDI and receives audio), cannot be inserted into an audio channel, so you need the FX to do that. UniWire—Plugin Details In general, the UniWire Instrument plugin interface looks as follows, though variations in appearance exist depending on various parameter settings.
Connected To The menu lists every Receptor currently connected to your network. UniWire will communicate with the Receptor you select from the Connected To menu. By default, UniWire communicates with the first Receptor in the list. So, if you have only one Receptor, you can basically ignore this menu. If you have multiple Receptors, then you’ll use this menu to choose which of your Receptors to communicate with.
Routing Area Use this area to define how audio and midi data flows between your host application and Receptor. UniWire Instrument UniWire FX Routing Area ‘Send MIDI To’ Menu ‘Send Data To’ Menu The name of this menu changes depending on whether you’ve instantiated a UniWire Instrument or a UniWire FX, but the function is basically identical. Use this menu to tell UniWire where, in Receptor, to send the data from your host sequencer.
• Receptor Channel 1-16, Buss 1-2, Master When you select one of these individual channel options, UniWire sends all 16 MIDI channels to the single Receptor Channel you select and, if you’re using a UniWire FX, it also determines which Receptor channel receives that audio data. Furthermore, when you select one of these individual channel options, UniWire displays an additional Control menu immediately below the Send MIDI To / Send Data To menu.
‘To Control The’ Menu ‘MIDI Controls’ Menu This drop-down menu appears only if you address Receptor on an individual channel (meaning you select something other than ‘All’ from the Send MIDI To / Send Data To menu). Menu appears when “Send MIDI to” is set to anything other than ALL. Note that the name of this menu varies slightly depending on whether you’re using a UniWire Instrument or an FX. If you’re using an instrument, the parameter is called “To control the.
MIDI Only Option Check this option to prevent the UniWire instance from transmitting audio data over UniWire. This is particularly useful if, for example, you’re using a UniWire instance to control a specific plugin’s MIDI parameters and another UniWire instance is already being used to transmit audio processed by that plugin.
Status Lights These are ‘warning’ lights that let you know if there are any problems with UniWire communication between your host computer and Receptor. Buffer Size Mismatch When using UniWire, Receptor and your host sequencer must have exactly the same plugin buffer sizes. As such, Receptor will automatically set itself to the buffer size used by your host sequencer. If, however, your host sequencer is set to a buffer size not supported by Receptor, then the Buffer Size Mismatch LED will light.
Important: When you save a file in your host sequencer, it will remember only which patches were used by Receptor -- it will NOT remember any unsaved edits contained within Receptor. That is, if you modify any Receptor patches, you must save those edits as a Receptor Single or Multi patch if you want them to be properly recalled when you open the sequence file in your host application.
The following are basic instructions. See your host sequencer’s documentation to learn, specifically, how to route audio/midi data and instantiate/edit plugins: 1 Connect audio and MIDI cables to Receptor. 2 Connect a crossover Ethernet cable between Receptor and your host computer or, if using multiple Ethernet devices, connect a standard Ethernet cable between Receptor and your host computer’s Ethernet Router/Switcher. 3 If possible, connect a S/PDIF cable between Receptor and your host computer.
3 Open the edit window for that UniWire˛FX plugin, and tell it to Send Data to the same Receptor channel you just configured. This will cause UniWire to send audio from that Receptor channel over UniWire and into your host sequencer.
3 Open the editor for that UniWire˛FX and tell it to Send data to the Receptor channel you just configured to listen to the UniWire audio input. To send MIDI from your host sequencer to Receptor over UniWire: 1 On Receptor, configure those channel(s) on which you want to receive and process the incoming MIDI. For example, if you want the data to play the Minimonsta plugin on Receptor Channel 1, then choose Minimonsta from that channel’s Source selector.
IMPORTANT: Since you wish to use both Receptor’s audio circuitry and your computer’s, you essentially have two different audio interfaces connected to your computer. As such, you must synchronize them by connecting a S/PDIF cable between Receptor and your computer’s audio interface. To synchronize Receptor’s audio to your host computer’s audio interface: 1 Connect a cable from the S/PDIF OUT port on your computer’s audio interface to the S/PDIF IN port on Receptor.
Host-Specific Examples The following sections discuss, on a host-by-host basis, how to communicate with Receptor via UniWire. Each example assumes you are familiar with your host sequencer and how to use it with native instrument and effect plugins. Using UniWire with Cubase SX or Nuendo This section assumes you know how to instantiate, play and record virtual instruments and effects within Cubase SX.
Cubase Uses Receptor as an External UniWire Instrument The following describes how to use UniWire to make Receptor act as an external instrument within Cubase˛SX3: 1 Before beginning, make sure UniWire is enabled on Receptor. To do this from Receptor’s graphical interface, click the SETUP tab and check the Enable UniWire option in the new UNIWIRE section in Setup View.
6 From the Connected To menu, select which Receptor you wish to use. If you have only one Receptor, it will appear automatically in the Connected To menu. If you have multiple Receptors, the first will appear, but you can select a different one in the Connected To menu. 7 Set the desired Latency. This setting is global across all UniWire instances. 8 Configure your UniWire and Receptor options as previously discussed.
4 Click a blank plugin field and choose UniWire FX from the Muse folder. Instantiated UniWire Effect Click to open UniWire plugin 5 Click the plugin’s EDIT button to open the graphical editor for the UniWire plugin. 6 From the Connected To menu, select which Receptor you wish to use. If you have only one Receptor, it will appear automatically in the Connected To menu. If you have multiple Receptors, the first will appear, but you can select a different one in the Connected To menu.
9 Click the Launch Receptor Remote button to open Receptor’s graphical user interface. 10 Using the channel you selected from the Send Data to menu, assign its Source to UniWire. 11 Assign effect plugins to one or more FX slots (A, B, or C) 12 Play your Cubase sequence and you should hear audio from the desired Cubase channel run through the Receptor effects chain, just as if the effects were running within the host application.
Notice that, in this example, both tracks are bussed to the same audio outputs (“Stereo (PS6)” in this case) Both tracks appear on same output buss 2 Mute the Audio track. It’s important that you mute any tracks whose signal you do not want captured in the bounce. The reason for this is that, when you perform a realtime bounce operation in Cubase, you record all audio that appears on a particular buss.
6 In the resulting dialog box, enter a name for the mixed file, select where you’d like to save it, select which buss (Outputs) to render to disk, configure the desired format options and, most importantly, make sure to check the Real-Time Export check box. 7 You’ll hear the audio play back in realtime as Cubase captures it, and you’ll see a progress dialog box as the audio is captured. UniWire Manual Supplement 31 Muse Research, Inc.
7 When you have finished capturing the audio, you can choose to have it automatically imported into your current Cubase sequence. As you can see in the following illustration, your UniWired track has been captured as an audio file and imported into Cubase. If you mute the UniWire (MIDI) track, you’ll hear the bounced version, now fully rendered to disk. To learn more about how to route audio signals within Cubase and how to render files to disk, please see your Cubase documentation.
6 At the top of the UniWire plugin, click the Wrench Icon to open the UniWire Instrument’s graphical editor . 7 From the Connected To menu, select which Receptor you wish to use. If you have only one Receptor, it will appear automatically in the Connected To menu. If you have multiple Receptors, the first will appear, but you can select a different one in the Connected To menu. 8 Set the desired Latency. This setting is global across all UniWire instances.
10 Play a MIDI keyboard connected to Live and, if the keyboard is selected in Live’s MIDI From field and the channel is record enabled, then you should hear Receptor just as if you had connected it to your computer using audio and MIDI cables. Live uses Receptor as an External UniWire Effect The following describes how to use UniWire to make Receptor act as an external effect within Ableton Live version˛5: 1 Before beginning, make sure UniWire is enabled on Receptor.
6 From the Connected To menu, select which Receptor you wish to use. If you have only one Receptor, it will appear automatically in the Connected To menu. If you have multiple Receptors, the first will appear, but you can select a different one in the Connected To menu. 7 Set the desired Latency. This setting is global across all UniWire instances. 8 From the Send Data To menu, select which Receptor channel you want to use as an effects processor.
Bouncing to Disk in Ableton Live Obviously, there will come a point when you’ll want to bounce your virtual UniWire tracks down to audio files. This process is nearly identical to any other bounce operation that uses external hardware. Essentially, you must render all UniWire tracks to disk in realtime. You cannot freeze UniWire tracks nor can you render them in nonrealtime using Live’s Render to Disk command.
3 In the new audio track, use its Audio From menu to select the output from the MIDI track that contains the UniWire instance you wish to render. Then record enable the new audio track by clicking its Track Arm button. You might also wish to mute the output of the new audio track, so that you don’t hear both the UniWire (MIDI) and the bounced (audio) track play during capture. This menu tells the Audio track to record the audio signal generated by MIDI Track 2.
Live records the output of the MIDI track as a new Audio clip, in real-time. 5 Adjust the length of the resulting audio clip as desired. 6 Mute the MIDI (UniWire) track, un-mute the new Audio (rendered) track, and play back the sequence. You’ll hear the bounced version, now fully rendered to disk. To learn more about how to route and record signals within Ableton Live, please see your Live documentation. UniWire Manual Supplement 38 Muse Research, Inc.
