MIDI and soft synth best practice?

[bassface]

Hi all.. im a bit new to this and its a bit confusing...

my question is ..how do the pro's control several soft synths..ie all on OMNI or dedicated midi channels.

 whats the best practice for using several soft synths.

 if some one could answer/point me to a tutorial/youtube clip etc

that would be great

Thanks

[Gswitz]

Omni directs any midi to your synth.

When you have multiple midi inputs that go to different synths you don't want omni.

For each midi channel you want to select the correct input.

Don't forget there are midi only plugins like filters and delays and other cool things.

Edited September 10, 2019 by Gswitz

[bassface]

thanks

 

so if i have two synths

and i want to send to them on two different channels

where do i tell the synths what channel to respond to..in the synth itself..or somewhere in the track options?

thanks

[David Baay]

Each synth  presents its own port to Cakewalk, so unless it's a multitimbral synth that needs separate channels to drive separate instruments, you don't need to use a specific channel to drive it; it will respond to anything, and because it's a separate port, the MIDI on the track that Outputs to that port can't be picked up by any other synth. For single-channel. 'mono-timbral' synths like this it's easiest to insert it as a Simple Instrument that automatically sets up the MIDI and Audio routing to and from the synth for you, but I often recommend using separate tracks and setting up the routing yourself until you thoroughly understand how it all works.. 

The reference to not using Omni is referring to the MIDI (or Simple Instrument) track's Input assignment. That doesn't need to be set to a specific channel, either, but you do want to set it to only listen to your keyboard/controller's port. With the Input set to Omni, it's possible for the track to pick up and echo MIDI being passed through or generated by other synths that have MIDI Out capability. The only time you might need to specify an input channel is if your keyboard is transmitting on more than one channel at the same time.

Edited September 10, 2019 by David Baay

[Promidi]

2 hours ago, bassface said:

my question is ..how do the pro's control several soft synths..ie all on OMNI or dedicated midi channels.

 whats the best practice for using several soft synths.

 if some one could answer/point me to a tutorial/youtube clip etc

What I do is have a separate MIDI track for each soft synth. 

Even though the MIDI channel generally won't matter, I usually stick to channel one - unless the synth is a multitimbral synth. 

[David Baay]

16 minutes ago, Promidi said:

Even though the MIDI channel generally won't matter, I usually stick to channel one - unless the synth is a multitimbral synth. 

I should say I'm also in the habit of setting the track Input channel to 1 since the keyboard I used for the first 25 years of my MIDI 'career' transmitted on both channels 1 and 2 at power-up by default.  It is a best practice just to be sure you don't echo/record doubled note events.

[bassface]

Thanks all...so which is it? use omni coz it doesnt matter or use a separate midi channel for each soft synth.

ive been checking youtube for something that might help..but nothing yet

[msmcleod]

If it's a multi-timbral synth, you're better sticking with Omni.

That way, it'll receive all the channels it needs.

The Omni setting only applies to hardware MIDI inputs, or VST instruments that send out MIDI data (and only then if you've enabled MIDI output on that synth). It doesn't include the outputs of Cakewalk MIDI tracks.

To be honest, I almost always stick with Omni, regardless of whether its multi-timbral or not. The ONLY exception is when I'm using a VST that outputs MIDI data itself (e.g. Jamstix). In this case, I have to make sure that the Jamstix output is unchecked for all other synths other than AD2.

 

[bassface]

ok still mucking around with this

i have Kontakt up with 2 different sounds;  keys and strings 

how do i control the keys with midi ch 1 and the strings with ch 2 the only i have been able to do this is by changing the channel manually on my external KB controller .

i would have thought that i would be able to change the ch internally( without manipulating by ext kb) but if that is so i cant work out how to do it.

thanks

[Promidi]

16 minutes ago, bassface said:

i have Kontakt up with 2 different sounds;  keys and strings 

how do i control the keys with midi ch 1 and the strings with ch 2 the only i have been able to do this is by changing the channel manually on my external KB controller .

i would have thought that i would be able to change the ch internally( without manipulating by ext kb) but if that is so i cant work out how to do it.

 

Check the inspector (press i on your computer keyboard) for the MIDI tracks playing Kontakt .

Set the MIDI channel of the track controlling the keys to channel 1 and the MIDI channel of the track controlling the strings to channel 2

[bassface]

thanks but thats the first thing i tried...no can do

i cannot assign seperate midi  channels from within cake walk..

very frustrating

[Canopus]

Try this.

Input is set to Omni. Channel is set to "MIDI Channel 1" and "MIDI Channel 2" respectively. Kontakt is set correspondingly. In Preferences I've got "Always Echo Current MIDI Track" enabled.

Edited September 10, 2019 by Canopus

[Promidi]

38 minutes ago, bassface said:

thanks but thats the first thing i tried...no can do

i cannot assign seperate midi  channels from within cake walk..

very frustrating

I was able to do it on my system. 

Albeit I used Sampletank 4 with two parts , one being keys on MIDI Channel 1 and and another , strings on MIDI Channel 2

I created 2 MIDI tracks, both routed to Sampletank 4.  I set MIDI track 1 to Channel 1 and track 2 to channel 2 and I was able to control the tracks in Sampletank 4 independently. 

I set the input of the MIDI tracks to Omni - therefore it did not matter what channel the MIDI controller was set to.  Whatever channel a respective MIDI tracks is set to determines the track that is played by Sampletank 4

Even though I did this with Sampletank 4, I am sure Kontact would be the same principle.

What version of Cakewalk are you using? 

[David Baay]

Once you have your two tracks with output channels assigned, you simply change focus from one to the other, and 'Always Echo Current MIDI Track' in Preferences (enabled by default) automatically enables the Input Echo on that track to the specified output channel.  Note the 'A' in the Input Echo button in the screenshot; this indicates Track 2 is being Auto-echoed because it's focused (track name highlighted).

Edited September 10, 2019 by David Baay
Corrected track# reference.

[bassface]

thanks for your detailed response..

i will try all this when i get home from work

thanks

[abacab]

I think that the example posted above by Canopus clearly shows  the Cakewalk   MIDI track and Kontakt channel assignments needed to make the two instruments respond on separate channels.