Using the receptor live: snapshot + zload confusion!

[lawst]

I've read through the receptor manual on the snaphot and zload functions but with not owning receptor to try out the concepts, i've been left a bit confused.

When I play live I tend to use a set of different patches for each song. The only thing which generally stays the same in each song is a piano. We play our entire set to click as we have samples loops and other stuff running so we go straight from one song in to the next for most songs. This means I need all my patch changes to occur very quickly and dont have time for a large sample library such as Ivory to load. Therefore I need to load ivory up at the start of the set and keep it loaded through the entire gig but at the same time I would want to be able to change the patches in the other VST synths I have loaded such as MASSIVE and Zebra2. Ideally I would like to be able to make all the patch changes occur in MASSIVE and Zebra2 with one program change rather than having to send a separate change message to both plugins.

From what I've read it sounded like the multi patches were a good fit however it seems changing through multipatches forces a reload on all plugins therefore I will have a minute wait for ivory to reload. The snapshot feature only seems to let you enable and disable instruments with a predefined patch for each instrument which is fine if you only need 16 sounds for an entire set however I tend to use around 5 different sounds per track so by the 4th song I'm going to need to switch banks and wait for everything to load.

This leaves Z-Load which I still dont fully understand

How would I go about the above on the receptor?

[gregh1]

Current versions of the Receptor OS allow you to send snapshot program changes on one specific MIDI channel (e.g. 16, but you can choose), leaving all other MIDI channels free to be used to change the internal programs of VSTs.

[lawst]

cool so that means as long as I dont need more than 15 vst instruments loaded I can keep ivory on standby, activate the other channels as I need them and send program changes to the other instruments.

Is is possible then to automate the patches changes when i change snapshot or do I have to manually send patch changes to each instrument seperately?

For example massive say massive has 3 patches called patch1, patch2 and patch3. When I select snapshot1 massive will automatically load patch1, when I select snapshot2 massive will load patch3 and when I select snapshot3 patch2 will be loaded etc?

[gregh1]

Re-read the 1.6 release notes (actually, the 1.5 notes which are also in that same PDF). Here.

Basically, moving between snapshots (within a single bank) will only change the Receptor mixer settings (vol/pan/bypass/etc), not presets within the VSTs.

To change presets within a VST, you would send program changes on the matching MIDI channel. If you do that, then change snapshot (perhaps bypassing the VST), then come back to the first snapshot, your VST will still be at the preset where you left it.

[lawst]

Thanks for clearing that up. Zload is my only option I guess since it always keeps the plugins in memory.

Last question (I hope!). Does ZLoad only keep the plugin application data in memory but not the patch data. I.e. would a sample based plugin such as Ivory still have to reload its samples (after its been loaded previously) when I change to a different multi even if the Ivory patch is the same in both multis?

[citizen020]

with zload it loads everything from scratch - i use akoustik piano and it takes a little while to load every time i change multis, even if it's in the same slot and the settings are the same.

a little annoying, but...