Ableton/Computer Sound Problem

[Dulcetjones]

I finally decided to get into the free Ableton Lite that came with my Mustang amp but I'm baffled by my inability to get sound out of my speakers with either the computer keypad or the midi interface synth I have(via USB). I had sound at one point yesterday with the computer keypad but now I get nothing, the meters on the screen show something happening when I hit the keys but after several hours of sleuthing I can't get it to come out of the speakers. I also had the meters jumping with the USB synth yesterday but not today. I have checked and re-checked the control panel settings and all that.......help? (the pdf manual is clear as mud, all 524 or so pages).

[digitalkettle]

May be obvious but worth asking: do you have an instrument assigned to the channel so that MIDI can produce audio?

[tehLORD]

You need to point Ableton to the correct output driver. If you have an audio interface it'll be the ASIO driver that came with the interface (or the Mac equivalent if you're on Mac). The alternative will be your computers system audio driver if you're using it's onboard sound. If it's the latter you'd do well to download the free ASIO4all and use that instead as it'll provide better latency.

[Dulcetjones]

May be obvious but worth asking: do you have an instrument assigned to the channel so that MIDI can produce audio?

As dumb as this sounds, I have no idea how to assign an instrument to a channel, nor can I find that info in the manual. Even more frustrating is that I had sound from the computer keypad but can't even get that to work anymore(and I do know about turning that option on/off). I've been through the setup instructions a hundred times, and the computers control panel. I have the basic "Synthmaker" program and can get everything to work in that as it clearly has the routing for USB and computer keypad shown. Also, in Ableton besides the meters registering when I push keys the box in the upper right hand corner lights up yellow as it should to indicate it is receiving a MIDI signal, I just can't seem to get it out to the speakers.

[Dulcetjones]

Thanks digitalkettle and tehLORD, I'm on a PC with Windows 7 and have had relatively little trouble with lots of other programs but this one is more complex than anything I've tried(I am much more a guitarist than keyboard player). I just found and subscribed to the Ableton Youtube channel, so with your suggestions and Youtube I might be able to make some noise.

[Dulcetjones]

Major breakthrough! All the text, instructions, manuals etc..., said use ASIO. So I used ASIO until I was ready to take a hammer to the whole works and then decided to try the computers internal I/O set up instead. Now everything that I couldn't get to work actually works! So, what's up with all this ASIO stuff? Well, it did get my heart rate up for a while there anyway.....

[tehLORD]

Do you have an audio interface with ASIO drivers? Just picking ASIO is no good unless the ASIO driver is pointing towards the outputs of something it's connected to.

[Dulcetjones]

Do you have an audio interface with ASIO drivers? Just picking ASIO is no good unless the ASIO driver is pointing towards the outputs of something it's connected to.

This is where it gets weird. I had the computer keypad working with ASIO yesterday for about 10 minutes and then I tried a different instrument sound and it stopped working. Going back to the one I was using when it did work didn't fix it, nothing did. I tried and re-tried everything, re-read the manual, rebooted the computer and re-checked all the settings. Gremlins I tell ya.