Hi there. I have a yamaha mm6 keyboard which I have connected to my mac using midi, in logic express it shows that it is detecting the notes, yet nothing plays through the laptop speakers! I am selecting external midi when I make a new track btw. If I record something it even shows the notes as I play, but no sound. I want to use the instruments on the keyboard but don't know how to do this. Also I have a boss dr 670 drum machine and I can't get that to work at all in logic, the keyboard worked if I used a software instrument in logic. I want to also use the drums from the machine and things like it's quantizing, but I can't get logic to pick it up at all. If anyone could help, it would be greatly appreciated.
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Logic express 9 problems with midi keyboard and drum machine.
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You say that Logic is detecting the MIDI note data, so you have your MIDI connected properly, but you hear nothing through the laptop speakers. That's possibly because the track is attempting to send the notes back to your MM5 during playback, not to a Logic software instrument. If you don't have any speakers hooked up to your MM5's audio output, you'll have a problem. Remember: MIDI cables only carry note information, not the resulting audio output.
Incorporating a drum machine into a computer-based DAW takes some thought as well. Logic sees the drum machine as simply another sound-generating module, unless you set Logic to sync to the DR-670's MIDI clock (most computer DAWs sync to its own internal clock by default). Even then, note recording and playback will be done mostly in Logic, not on the DR-670 itself.
In both cases, you want to hear the external gear's sound come through the laptop speakers, ideally blended with Logic's internal software synths. You'll need a small audio interface to do so. Edirol, M-Audio and PreSonus all sell decent multiple-input audio interfaces; check them out. These will be better for monitoring audio output as well-- better signal to noise ratio, higher bitrate support than the laptop's audio chip, etc.
Incorporating a drum machine into a computer-based DAW takes some thought as well. Logic sees the drum machine as simply another sound-generating module, unless you set Logic to sync to the DR-670's MIDI clock (most computer DAWs sync to its own internal clock by default). Even then, note recording and playback will be done mostly in Logic, not on the DR-670 itself.
In both cases, you want to hear the external gear's sound come through the laptop speakers, ideally blended with Logic's internal software synths. You'll need a small audio interface to do so. Edirol, M-Audio and PreSonus all sell decent multiple-input audio interfaces; check them out. These will be better for monitoring audio output as well-- better signal to noise ratio, higher bitrate support than the laptop's audio chip, etc.
Ok thanks a lot. So is it possible to use the instruments on the keyboard and drum machine in logic and recited with these sounds? If this isn't possible how would I go about using the drum machine with the software instruments in logic, because I would like to use the pads instead of having to use a keyboard to record the drums. Thanks.
Yes, it is entirely possible. You'll need to have both MIDI In/Out for both the MM5 and DR-670 connected to the laptop (a 2x2 MIDI interface will work), and the audio output from both fed into an external audio interface, as mentioned before, as your laptop by itself will not have enough audio inputs.
Each MIDI track that's mapped to either external instrument should have its own corresponding audio track.
When recording your drum track, you'll notice that each pad on the DR-670 records its own note number. Rather than trying to quantize on the fly from the pads, build the drum patterns (using the note number knowledge) in Logic using step entry. You can have one MIDI track hold the basic drum patterns (repeating to fill out the song using Cut/Paste), and another MIDI track pointing to the DR-670 for fills and the odd incidental cymbal crash.
If you feel more comfortable building the pattern on the fly, set your DR-670's MIDI track to record in a loop and set to quantize while recording, then start triggering drum sounds. This emulates the auto-quantization built into the drum machine; however, Logic stores the notes, not the drum machine.
I'd like to show where each of these functions are, but I'm not a Logic user. I use Cakewalk SONAR with a small collection of outboard gear (Roland XP-10, Roland JV-880 module, Yamaha AN200 desktop synth/drum machine). The basic concepts are the same for each program, though.
Each MIDI track that's mapped to either external instrument should have its own corresponding audio track.
When recording your drum track, you'll notice that each pad on the DR-670 records its own note number. Rather than trying to quantize on the fly from the pads, build the drum patterns (using the note number knowledge) in Logic using step entry. You can have one MIDI track hold the basic drum patterns (repeating to fill out the song using Cut/Paste), and another MIDI track pointing to the DR-670 for fills and the odd incidental cymbal crash.
If you feel more comfortable building the pattern on the fly, set your DR-670's MIDI track to record in a loop and set to quantize while recording, then start triggering drum sounds. This emulates the auto-quantization built into the drum machine; however, Logic stores the notes, not the drum machine.
I'd like to show where each of these functions are, but I'm not a Logic user. I use Cakewalk SONAR with a small collection of outboard gear (Roland XP-10, Roland JV-880 module, Yamaha AN200 desktop synth/drum machine). The basic concepts are the same for each program, though.
Hey thanks a lot for that. 
the only problem is that I'm pretty new to a lot of this and I'm just kinda confused. Sorry. but the thing which is confusing me is that, when connecting to the drum machine, I can't get the drum machine to even do anything even if I've selected a software instrument. :S because I don't mind to much about not being able to use it's sounds in logic...just don't know why it's not working. Thanks.
the only problem is that I'm pretty new to a lot of this and I'm just kinda confused. Sorry. but the thing which is confusing me is that, when connecting to the drum machine, I can't get the drum machine to even do anything even if I've selected a software instrument. :S because I don't mind to much about not being able to use it's sounds in logic...just don't know why it's not working. Thanks.hi, i have a slightly similar problem.
I have a regular yamaha keyboard, using a midi usb converter to play into logic 9 but it doesn't seem to be detecting it at all.
Are there any settings im forgetting about etc?
I don't remember having to do it before
Please help!
I have a regular yamaha keyboard, using a midi usb converter to play into logic 9 but it doesn't seem to be detecting it at all.
Are there any settings im forgetting about etc?
I don't remember having to do it before
Please help!
This sounds like a setting/configuration in Logic, and unfortunately I'm of no help there. As I said earlier in this thread, I'm not a Logic user.
However, make sure that when you're trying to "play" into Logic, make sure that you're recording onto a MIDI track, not an audio track.
Have you tried to record a MIDI track using the DR-670's input and output? Not with the Start/Stop buttons, but manually hitting the pads to produce notes on the MIDI track in Logic? Provided you've got your MIDI cables connected correctly, you should see MIDI notes in the track. Once you figure out which note number the Kickdrum pad (for example) is on the DR-670, you should be able to send that note number repeatedly back to the DR-670, and it should trigger the Kick sound audibly. Same as for the other drum sounds.
One last thing: Is your drum machine's MIDI track set to the same MIDI channel as the drum machine itself?