Over the past several months we’ve had many of our MOTU customers asking questions pertaining to getting Bitheadz Unity and Retro programs running with their MAS systems. Here are some step by step instructions courtesy of the Sweetwater Tech Support Team.
With the release of Digital Performer 2.6 (and higher) and MOTU Audio System 2.0 (or higher) Unity and Retro are now able to route their audio outputs directly into Performer or Digital Performer. Up to 34 channels for Unity DS-1 and 18 channels for Retro AS-1 will appear as available inputs for audio tracks. MAS 2.0 (or higher) supports a new type of plug-in called a Virtual Input Plug-In. Software that support this, such as Unity, can send a number of audio outputs to MAS which are available as inputs to audio tracks. These inputs appear right along side your physical inputs (in 1-2, Analog 1-2, ADAT 1-2 etc.).
Follow these steps to use the MAS 2.0 Plug-Ins:
1. Turn off Always Load at Startup in FreeMIDI
a. First open FreeMIDI Setup.
b. Choose FreeMIDI Preferences… from the File menu.
c. Uncheck Always Load at Startup.
This is important. Always Load at Startup is on by default and it causes many problems for Unity and Retro users. Unity and Retro load anytime FreeMIDI is loaded. This is how you can play them from DP without actually launching any other application. However, you can’t make any changes to the Unity or Retro Control Panel while they are loaded in the System. This prevents changes, like setting the audio output to Plug-In, from taking effect until a reboot.
2. Copy the Unity/Retro MAS Plug-In to the plugins folder
a. In Unity the plug-in is located in ‘Unity DS-1 Folder: Unity DS-1 Utilities: MOTU MAS 2.0 Plug-in’
b. Copy the file to; ‘System Folder: Extensions: MOTU: plugins’
3. Set Unity/Retro audio output to Plug-In
a. Quit all Unity, Retro, FreeMIDI and Digital Performer applications. Make sure step 1 was completed.
b. Open the Unity/Retro Control Panel via the apple menu.
c. Under the I/O section choose Plug-In for audio output
d. Close the control panel and click ‘ok’ in the save changes dialog
4. Launch Digital Performer
5. Create a MIDI track and choose Unity or Retro as the output.
6. Create a Stereo Aux track and choose Unity or Retro Main 1-2 as the input.
(If Unity or Retro doesn’t appear as a choice for the input then the plug-in is not installed correctly).
7. Make sure your Aux track is assigned to an output you can hear.
* Play some MIDI. You should be able to hear Unity or Retro now.
* To record the output create a Stereo Voice instead of a Stereo Aux.
Most users have been able to monitor regular audio tracks when not playing or recording, however, some people haven’t been able to. Don’t assume that things aren’t working if you’re using a Stereo Voice and the transport is stopped. The nice thing about an Aux track is that you can record MIDI without recording the audio. After you have the MIDI perfected then set up the Stereo Voice and record the audio.
Other issues to be aware of:
* You cannot use DAE and the MAS plug-ins at the same time.
* If you have use ‘OMS when available’ checked in FreeMIDI preferences Unity and Retro may stop working. To fix this open FreeMIDI Setup and assign the ‘Bank Select Ctrl0′ and ‘Bank Select Ctrl32’ properties. For some reason they are removed when FreeMIDI uses OMS.
* Choose ‘FreeMIDI Applications’ only in FreeMIDI Prefs and ‘patch through in background’ in Basics>MIDI Patch Through… if you would like to hear sounds while editing.
* We recommend having Basics>Audio Patch Through selected.
* Latency is now determined by the buffer settings for your audio hardware. Change this in Configure Hardware Driver. The smaller the buffer the lower the latency.
* Retro’s individual channel outputs are mono, Unity’s are stereo.
