Kontakt5, EWI4000s and Notion4

[Damp Sneaker]

Hi all,

First I should mention that I picked up Notion 3 a while back and shortly afterwords shelved it and the DAW stuff altogether so as to just spend all my time learning my instruments and music theory. Now I'm pulling these things off the shelf, upgrading them and hoping to get into some composition and recording fun. I'll add that I'm an amateur doing this stuff after work and on weekends and that my playing could clear a room pretty quick, but it keeps me happy. I'm also an old fart who just turned 64 last week.

Anyhow, my immediate dilemma is as follows: I upgraded my Notion to v4 yesterday and it looks really nice. I really want to be able to enter notes in real time with MIDI controllers (those being a StudioLogic VMK-161Plus keyboard and an Akai EWI4000s wind controller) for composing and just plain learning purposes. I'm using the wind controller with Kontakt5 (full version) and SampleModeling's "Sax Brothers" package primarily. I also have an upright piano library from Native Instruments, a wind instrument pack from Patchman Music and Dan Dean's Solo Strings Advanced installed in Kontakt, in addition to the Kontakt Elements collection that comes with it. Using Kontakt in stand alone mode I can use the EWI or the keyboard to control any sounds that are installed no problem. Likewise, using Kontakt as VST or AU (I'm using a MacbookPro) inside either Studio One or Reaper DAWs, I'm able to use either the keyboard or the EWI with wild abandon. Not so (so far) in Notion. The keyboard works great right out of the box without having messed with anything; indicators react in Kontakt and notes appear in Notion after recording. The EWI does neither. Notion seems to not know that it even exists. When I look in preferences, there's no sign of the EWI in the choices of MIDI controllers, and I'm not seeing any option to add a controller. I've been messing with this all day and feel that I've hit a dead end at this point so I'm mainly asking here to see if there is some inherent problem in using a breath controller with Notion so that if there is, I can stop wasting my time and move on. If someone could point me in the direction of a solution so I could stop working and start playing, I'd be very grateful.

--thanks very much for any help!

[wcreed51]

Notion only allows one input device to be selected at a time. Does the EWI show up in the MIDI input dropdown list in Preferences?

[Damp Sneaker]

Notion only allows one input device to be selected at a time. Does the EWI show up in the MIDI input dropdown list in Preferences?

Thanks for responding. No. The EWI is nowhere to be found on the "MIDI Input" drop down list. The keyboard is listed. My audio interface is listed. My PreSonus Faderport is listed. My IK Stealth guitar pedal (that's not even plugged in right now) is listed. It might be worth mentioning that I use a Midi Solutions "Merger" box (2 in, 1 out) in order to use the two controllers with the one MIDI input on my audio interface (Echo AudioFire2). Works great with everything I've used it with. I did try bypassing the Merger box and plugging the EWI directly in while troubleshooting this but to no avail. All other programs I use (including Kontakt) see the EWI with or without the Merger, but not Notion.
Right now I'm going to try going food shopping and see if that works. Thanks again.