KVR Audio

padillac · Post by **padillac** » Wed Mar 02, 2022 8:38 am

I hadn't really looked at FL Studio before, and I just learned that it has multiple arrangement timelines. So, it may be the answer.

I am curious what other DAWs have something similar? Specifically:

- each timeline starts at bar 1
- arrangements live in the same DAW session - so no opening and closing files to change arrangements

The only two DAWs I'm familiar with are Live and Reaper, and both of those are limited to a single arrangement (as far as I'm aware).

Tj Shredder · Post by **Tj Shredder** » Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:39 pm

You can open multiple projects in Bitwig. But to activate one, it needs first to load all plugins. Its not fast. But you could copy paste from one to the other quickly…

richhickey · Post by **richhickey** » Wed Mar 02, 2022 9:13 pm

Digital Performer is the king of this with its chunks feature. Each sequence chunk can be its own arrangement, a variation or anything in between. Duplicating a sequence to do speculative edits is trivial. If you use v-racks and share them between chunks switching is fast with no plugin reloading.

padillac · Post by **padillac** » Sat Mar 05, 2022 6:04 am

richhickey wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 9:13 pm Digital Performer is the king of this with its chunks feature. Each sequence chunk can be its own arrangement, a variation or anything in between. Duplicating a sequence to do speculative edits is trivial. If you use v-racks and share them between chunks switching is fast with no plugin reloading.

Awesome thanks. For some reason I thought you couldn’t add post-instrument effects to v-racks, but you can. There does appear to be a limitation that you can’t automate any plugins in v-racks.

I see you can easily move instruments from a sequence to a v-rack - is there a way to do it the other way around? So after making a sequence referencing a v-rack, I can move / copy the instruments back to the sequence to automate them? Or is a totally manual one-at-time thing?

richhickey · Post by **richhickey** » Sat Mar 05, 2022 3:37 pm

padillac wrote: Sat Mar 05, 2022 6:04 am There does appear to be a limitation that you can’t automate any plugins in v-racks.

I see you can easily move instruments from a sequence to a v-rack - is there a way to do it the other way around? So after making a sequence referencing a v-rack, I can move / copy the instruments back to the sequence to automate them? Or is a totally manual one-at-time thing?

Yeah, v-rack plugin automation is a perennial feature request.

There is some way to get instruments->sequence but I don't know offhand, it might be manual one-at-a-time.

xbitz · Post by **xbitz** » Sat Mar 05, 2022 3:48 pm

this is the Cubase workflow

AudioBabble · Post by **AudioBabble** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 11:09 pm

padillac wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 8:38 am
The only two DAWs I'm familiar with are Live and Reaper, and both of those are limited to a single arrangement (as far as I'm aware).

I'm using Reaper, fairly new to it admittedly, but I'm sure I read somewhere you can have multiple projects open with one as slave and one as master... might be worth asking on the reaper forum

humanboeing · Post by **humanboeing** » Sat Mar 12, 2022 11:44 pm

Mutools Mulab 9 is expected to be released next month, it'll feature extended modularity which in short means you can have as many timelines as your cpu can handle

On top of that, if you don't feel like switching a DAW there'll be a VST version which will be the same as the standalone = you can run Mulab DAW in any DAW of your choice that loads VST2 plugs. In fact there is a beta version of both standalone and vst, you can pick it up yourself. Head over to Mutools forum.

EnGee · Post by **EnGee** » Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:18 am

You can run multiple instances of Ableton Live (after enabling this option).

magog · Post by **magog** » Sun Mar 13, 2022 3:02 am

I can vouch for Digital Performer chunks. They're awesome. The lack of automation in V-Racks is a limitation. Most people use CC-based automation to get around this.

With Reaper, you can have multiple projects active (and playing) at the same time, but I was not able to find a way to have them all share the same instruments (but I haven't played with it since version 5).

Studio One has Scratch Pads.

I just learned that Podium also apparently has multiple arrangements within a single project.

The new Mulab looks really cool!

machinesworking · Post by **machinesworking** » Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:43 am

Digital Performer like people have mentioned is the king of this, the limitation is that if you do host plug ins in a Sequence Chunk (for track automation etc.), it will take a little time to load instead of instantaneously.

You can chain Sequence Chunks (songs) together to play one after another with a user predetermined amount of time you set before the next one starts, which of course works a lot more fluidly if you don't load ten instances of Ominspher and Diva in each Sequence Chunk. Mostly you have multiple possibilities on how to use the features in DP, but you have to remember that some can battle with others.

The main difference here becomes how much does your composing rely on track automation? which is mostly drawn automation not played. A huge portion of DP users are Kontakt, Play, VSL, UVI library users, doing orchestral work, so MIDI automation works just fine.

If you're using plugins in the Sequence Chunk then you will probably want to work in a way that accommodates that, meaning allowing for a few seconds for the next Sequence Chunk to load. It's IMO still much better than the weird work arounds other DAWs do to accommodate similar ideas. You can literally have dozens of completely different songs in the same open Project, and each can either be completely different with their own plugins or you can host plug ins that you can control in a virtual V-Rack that allows for instant switching between Sequence Chunks.

GaryG · Post by **GaryG** » Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:04 am

humanboeing wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 11:44 pm Mutools Mulab 9 is expected to be released next month, it'll feature extended modularity which in short means you can have as many timelines as your cpu can handle.

I saw that and it's piqued my interest, I used to do this a lot in EnergyXT2, have multiple Sequencer modules to keep parts separate yet all part of the same project.

humanboeing · Post by **humanboeing** » Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:14 am

GaryG wrote: Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:04 am
humanboeing wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 11:44 pm Mutools Mulab 9 is expected to be released next month, it'll feature extended modularity which in short means you can have as many timelines as your cpu can handle.
I saw that and it's piqued my interest, I used to do this a lot in EnergyXT2, have multiple Sequencer modules to keep parts separate yet all part of the same project.

How was eXT like? Was it also modular oriented? I see it's still available, but don't feel like trying it out since it's abandoned, no need to get any hopes up.

GaryG · Post by **GaryG** » Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:51 am

I wouldn't buy it, stuck where it is, no VST3 etc. and never the most stable of apps for me.

Back in the day it was great, very modular, multiple sequencers feeding different or the same plugins. I guess quite visual which appeals to me.

humanboeing · Post by **humanboeing** » Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:35 am

AudioBabble wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 11:09 pm
padillac wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 8:38 am
The only two DAWs I'm familiar with are Live and Reaper, and both of those are limited to a single arrangement (as far as I'm aware).
I'm using Reaper, fairly new to it admittedly, but I'm sure I read somewhere you can have multiple projects open with one as slave and one as master... might be worth asking on the reaper forum

It's possible to Rewire Reaper into Reaper, just make a track and add Rewire:Reaper to its fx chain.

DAWs with multiple arrangement timelines