Feature Request: Custom Instrument Maps for VSTi's

[abacab]

5 hours ago, User 905133 said:

How about capturing patch changes when recording midi data during the compositional process: press a button on a keyboard and the patch number gets recorded onto the track.

Yep, I believe that is how it works now, unless you are filtering that MIDI data from the recording. But that patch number would only be useful in the context of the same VSTi loaded with the exact same bank anytime you played back that MIDI track with those changes.

But your VSTi would still have to be coded to recognize MIDI bank/patch changes, else they would be ignored. Some do, and some don't.

[John Bradley]

7 hours ago, User 905133 said:

How about capturing patch changes when recording midi data during the compositional process: press a button on a keyboard and the patch number gets recorded onto the track.

Yeah, I could see that, I guess. I'm not a keyboard player (work exclusively in the PRV), so I don't even record keyboard, let alone long, multi-preset performances,

On the other hand, I do play guitar, and I don't do tonal changes mid-track, either. Maybe after recording I'll automate an effect bypass or level (i.e. wah, or delay), but going from rhythm to lead (even in a 'never more than one guitar playing at any given moment' arrangement) - that gets done as two separate tracks.

[JohnK]

it has little to do with changing the patch mid-track.

[abacab]

9 hours ago, John Kalabric said:

it has little to do with changing the patch mid-track.

It also has little to do with the DAW. MIDI Bank/Program changes are already available.

[JohnK]

4 minutes ago, abacab said:

It also has little to do with the DAW. MIDI Bank/Program changes are already available.

On your second point, not by name, for VSTi's that do not support the interface. I am not asking for bank and patch changes. Read the OP again.

Cakewalk is a DAW, not simply an audio editing software. A DAW includes MIDI and audio. Read the docs by Cakewalk, they are full of MIDI refs. How could you say a DAW has nothing to do with MIDI? Even if you don't believe a DAW should have MIDI, obviously the makers of Cakewalk do think its an important part of this software. 

Cakewalk ( by twelvetone)  was actually a sequencern (i.e. MIDI only) long before it handled any audio. I have been using Cakewalk since v1.0 for windows (a friend had it for DOS before that), then it moved to SONAR by Cakewalk, and now it is Cakewalk again. It has always handled MIDI, and as I said, long before it handled audio.

 

[abacab]

1 hour ago, John Kalabric said:

On your second point, not by name, for VSTi's that do not support the interface. I am not asking for bank and patch changes. Read the OP again.

I read it again, and it's not really clear what you are asking for here. In a earlier post you stated that it was about bank/programs. Then in this latest post you said you are not asking for them. Do you just want to manage patch names?

Quote

Cakewalk is a DAW, not simply an audio editing software. A DAW includes MIDI and audio. Read the docs by Cakewalk, they are full of MIDI refs. How could you say a DAW has nothing to do with MIDI? Even if you don't believe a DAW should have MIDI, obviously the makers of Cakewalk do think its an important part of this software.

You clearly misunderstood the point that what I was trying to make. It's not the DAW's fault if the VSTi doesn't share program info with the host, it's entirely up to the VSTi developer to fix that. That was what I meant by it's not the DAW. It's the plugin. Still MIDI, but the other side of the fence. The only interface for this communication was baked into the MIDI standard decades ago.

You may want to take a look at this project, VST and standalone: https://www.pluginguru.com/products/unify-standard/

It appears to be attempting to do something from the ground up that might be useful for managing VSTi. There is a demo version to play with.

Quote

Cakewalk ( by twelvetone)  was actually a sequencern (i.e. MIDI only) long before it handled any audio. I have been using Cakewalk since v1.0 for windows (a friend had it for DOS before that), then it moved to SONAR by Cakewalk, and now it is Cakewalk again. It has always handled MIDI, and as I said, long before it handled audio.

And I have been using Cakewalk for 20+ years and know all about Twelve Tone when it was MIDI only. I used to sequence external MIDI synths with that originally, so I am quite experienced with MIDI. I have moved on to VSTi at the present time. I generally still mostly do sequencing, and very little audio.

Edited August 25, 2020 by abacab

[User 905133]

On 8/11/2020 at 10:55 AM, User 905133 said:

Just to be clear, your basic request is for the ability to create and use Instrument Definitions for soft synths (currently only available for synths accessed via ports and channels) as clarified in the following quote.  It makes sense to me if it can be done, esp. for custom patches and patch banks (in addition to factory patches/banks).

On 8/9/2020 at 10:42 PM, John Kalabric said:

Well, actually I am talking explicitly about VSTi's which do not really have physical MIDI ports. I know for physical MIDI ports CW already has the feature. I am requesting it to be brought across over to VSTi's as well.

 

On 8/24/2020 at 1:11 PM, User 905133 said:

On 8/24/2020 at 12:38 PM, John Bradley said:

Perhaps I'm coming at this from an entirely different direction, but I'm not sure why anyone would want to send bank and preset numbers to a VSTi.

How about capturing patch changes when recording midi data during the compositional process: press a button on a keyboard and the patch number gets recorded onto the track.

21 hours ago, John Kalabric said:

it has little to do with changing the patch mid-track.

  I guess I misunderstood your Feature Request a couple of weeks ago. It really seemed to me like you wanted something akin to Instrument Definitions for Soft Synths. Oh, well.  Thanks for the correction.

Edited August 26, 2020 by User 905133
to add back in the quote that was referenced on 8/11/2020