Can you automate VSTi switching?

[discosux]

Hello,

I am wondering if this is possible: I am playing in a band on a MIDI keyboard connected to a laptop. The band plays along with a tempotrack (we got quite a few synced effects) while I merrily hammer my keyboard, thus triggering my VSTi of choice. This works very fine... but I want more.

What I'd like to do is to start playing a song on a ZR3 organ VSTi, switch to a nice Albino pad in the verse and use a JP16 sawtooth for the chorus. And I want to do that screaming overdriven lead from a Muon linked to 6 mad effects.

How do I do I automate this VSTi switching? I am far too lazy to remember all the settings, and simply not fast enough to switch tracks with my mouse, and I fancy the idea that starting a song sets all my stuff in the right position. Learning to play a song properly is enough of a challenge for me, lol.

Well... I got the following hosts:

Tracktion 1.6
Cubase SL3
CubaseSE
Live 4 LE
Sonar LE

Thanks for any info!

[discosux]

Addendum

Another way to describe this is: can I automate track focus switching in one of the hosts mentioned above?

[Caleb]

I believe you can do this sort of thing in EnergyXT, but to tell you the truth, I don't know if you can do it in these others.

Does your controller have the ability to switch the midi channel it transmits on? If so, maybe you can see if your host allows you to direct different midi channels to different tracks? Again, not sure if you can do it in these, but you can do this sort of thing in EnergyXT so you never know.

Caleb

[DELUDE]

I've also wondered if that's possible?

How does it work in EnergyXT?

[barbakane]

This is what I do in Cakewalk HS, which should be the same in Sonar:
Load you song, click on "options" at the top of the screen...drop down to "project"...click on "midi input" folder..find "echo mode" and tick the "manual" setting, and set the port to zero. Assign different midi channels to the vst's you want to play, and transmit that channel from your keyboard. When you want to change vst's, just change the channel transmitted from your keyboard.
I have an old Kawai K1, and leave it on the midi trasmit screen. That way I just change the channels, which can be done very quickly. Most other applications should have this same flexibility, but the steps will be a little different. Hope this helps.

[Caleb]

I've also wondered if that's possible?

How does it work in EnergyXT?

Well, the easiest way is to just use the modular window and dump in the VSTis you want to use.

Each VSTi has a wrapper that allows you to select what Midi Channel you'll receive on, so you can send messages using different channels to activate different VSTis.

If you're stuck sending all on the same channel, EnergyXT's modularity again becomes beneficial. Either you can organise splits using Midi Patchers where either different notes or even different velocities are directed to different VSTis, or you could use something custom-made in SynthEdit or SynthMaker etc.. that acts like a switch - perhaps activated by CC or by midi notes that won't be played (eg very low or very high notes).

EnergyXT is very flexible for this kind of thing.

Caleb

[discosux]

Well, I figured out the MIDI channel switching, at least in Tracktion, but the automation bit is what I am after, really.

Let me specify: can I add something in a song that changes the VSTi I am playing? I hate looking for stupid little knobs when I am playing, and I also don't fancy remembering which MIDI channel I use for which VSTi in a certain song. I hope to program that once, and forget about it within the hour.

O, I do use an old Korg X5 keyboard, which is useless as a controller, as far as I know. But it's light, dirt cheap, and it makes noise of it's own.

[Caleb]

With EnergyXT you can do this.
In fact, you should be able to do this also by inserting EnergyXT as a plug-in inside one of the sequencers you already own.

If you download the latest version to demo, I can help you set it up for testing.

Caleb