Mixcraft 9

[Jeff Hollande]

Would be very grateful if one of the experts here is willing to answer following question.
Thank you very much for your help !

Is Mixcraft a DAW and usable for a midi keyboard  ?

Best regards, JH

[ckobu]

Hi Jeff
I tested Mixcraft and I didn't like it. Especially not for MIDI communication as there are no Instrument Definitions for Yamaha.
A much better and free option is Cakewalk by BandLab.

[Jeff Hollande]

Thank you for your fast reply. 👍

I am very familiar with Cakewalk by BL but I am not aware if this DAW is suitable for a Midi keyboard, a keyboard with no built in sounds though.🤔

Best regards,
Jeff The Grateful

[GeirH]

Hi Jeff,

I'd certainly answer "yes" to both your original questions, although "usable" and "suitable" are rather vague requirements. Since you're already familiar with Cakewalk, can you be more specific?

Cheers,
Geir

[Jeff Hollande]

Thank you for your kind reaction.

It is my intention to work also with my midi kb.
Therefor I am looking for a prog that can be used for this kind of keyboard.
Mixcraft is new to me.
I wonder if Mixcraft is the right one or not.

[GeirH]

Hi,

Well, any DAW with MIDI sequencing (including Cakewalk and Mixcraft) will be able to record incoming MIDI data from your keyboard. It would therefore be very helpful to know what equipment you have, and what you wish to accomplish. 🙂

You will need a sound source, since your keyboard doesn't have a built-in tone generator. You can use a second keyboard with sounds or a sound module for this, as long as it too can be connected to your computer.

If you don't have a second instrument, you can instead use VST plugin instruments as your sound source, and Mixcraft includes a lot of them. This requires that your computer has a good audio interface (built-in sound cards are often too slow). 🙂

Cheers,
Geir

[SeaGtGruff]

Mixcraft is my favorite DAW for its ease of use, but there are a few things it doesn't have or do which in my opinion prevent it from being the best DAW overall. I'm hoping these lacks will eventually be added in future updates, but for now there are workarounds.

As with any DAW, each user will have their own reactions-- both positive and negative-- to its various features and functions, so it's always a good idea to download the free trial versions of any DAWs you're interested in so you can test drive them for a while to see how much you like or dislike them.

The following comments are my own opinions, but I've tried to keep them fact-based rather than opinion-based.

SETUP

Pluses: Setting up a keyboard is very simple; you just connect it to your computer and it's available to use. Note that if you connect it after Mixcraft has already been started up then you'll need to refresh the list of available devices. In contrast, some DAWs make you enable a keyboard for input or output before you can use it, or even create a sort of configuration profile for it-- possibly two or more configuration profiles. So as far as being able to just connect your keyboard and start using it, Mixcraft is one of the best DAWs for that.

Minuses: Unfortunately, Mixcraft doesn't include "patch lists" or "instrument definition files" for various keyboards, nor does it let you import them. This means if you want to tell your keyboard to use a particular voice then you must use the MIDI Bank Select and Program Change numbers to select that voice. However, once you've set up a patch for a MIDI track you can save it as a new patch for future recall, which means you do have a way to create a list of patches for your keyboard. This isn't an ideal solution, though, because the patch information includes which MIDI channel you want to use, and if you change to a different MIDI channel then the Bank and Program numbers will need to be set up all over again; that is, you might need to set up and save the same patch multiple times, once for each MIDI channel you want to use it on.

SY***

Minuses: Mixcraft doesn't include any support for Sy*** messages. Fortunately, you don't need Sy*** messages for simple and basic use of most keyboards; indeed, a few of the other major DAWs, such as Ableton Live and PreSonus Studio One, don't include any Sy*** support, either! Nevertheless, most keyboards do use Sy*** for setting up their system effects, such as reverb and chorus, as well as for various other system-related things, so Sy*** isn't exactly some dispensable frill that you can live without.

PLUGINS

Pluses: Mixcraft lets you add your own third-party plugins for virtual instruments and effects, and it can use plugins of just about any format-- VST, AU, AAX, etc. In fact, the 64-bit version of Mixcraft has a built-in "bridge" that lets you use either 64-bit or 32-bit plugins, which means you can continue to use any beloved older plugins that haven't been updated to 64-bit versions. In contrast, other 64-bit DAWs generally make you use a third-party bridge utility if you want to use 32-bit plugins. Also, some DAWs don't let you add third-party plugins unless you buy a more expensive edition of the DAW.

Minuses: Most commercial DAWs come with their own selection of high-quality soft synths, virtual instruments, and effects, which is one of the reasons why the major commercial DAWs can be extremely expensive-- you aren't just paying for the DAW, but also for the soft synths and virtual instruments that the company produces. While Mixcraft does include a few of Acoustica's own virtual instruments, most of the plugins which are included with Mixcraft are actually third-party plugins, and most of them are available for free on the internet-- although they might be hard to find, and I think Mixcraft might include special licensed or customized versions of certain third-party plugins.

SPLITS AND LAYERS

Pluses: It's incredibly simple to create splits and layers with Mixcraft. Whereas other DAWs usually make you set up a separate MIDI track for each split or layer, Mixcraft lets you add multiple outputs to a single MIDI track, as well as set each output to a specific range of notes, or shift it up or down by a certain number of notes, etc. This means you can quickly and easily layer two or more voices together, including voices generated by different external instruments or virtual instrument plugins. And you can create any number of splits the same way. But if you prefer to set up each layer or split on its own MIDI track, you can do that as well. Also, you can save a given setup of splits and layers as a new patch for future recall.

WORKAROUNDS

Cockos-- the company that produces the popular REAPER DAW-- has a free MIDI plugin that lets you create or import patch lists, as well as letting you work with Sy*** messages. You can use this to help you work around Mixcraft's lack of support for patch lists and Sy*** messages.

Those are what I see as Mixcraft's major pluses and minuses. Other users might have a different list, as determined by what they use a DAW for and which features are most important to their needs.

[Jeff Hollande]

Thank you so much for your very interesting and so useful feedback and information. 👍
Best regards, Jeff H