Xpand 2 with Cakewalk

[Andrés Campos Aguilar]

I have a midi file with 7 channels. I create an instrument track with Xpan2 and assign the first 4 channels to this track. I create another instrument track with Xpand 2, it would be Xpand 2 - 2 and I assign the following three channels to Xpand 2 - 2. The problem is that these last three do not sound. The latter are channels 5, 6 and 7 in CbB and I assign them in the Xpand 2 plugin to the first three channels, which would be 1, 2 and 3 in the Xpand 2 - 2.
How could I make the last three channels (5, 6 and 7) sound with the Xpand 2 -2?

[Blindeddie]

if all the instrument midi is on separate tracks. change the midi channel of the tracks assigned to Xpand 2-2  to 1, 2 and 3.  Since you are using two separate instances, you can reuse the channels.

Peace,

 

Blindeddie

[abacab]

I will first ask if you have  tried opening the MIDI file in Cakewalk, before trying to insert any instruments?

Do you end up with either (1) a project showing a MIDI track per channel (so 7 MIDI tracks), or  (2) is all of the track data on one MIDI track?

In scenario (1) above you could easily just insert two Xpand!2 instrument tracks below the 7 MIDI tracks, and route them individually to the respective Xpand!2 instances and the desired channel and preset. This is fairly easy to do.

Since Xpand!2 will not respond to MIDI channels 5-16, use MIDI channels 1-4 only.

So you would be using a setup like this in the track view/inspector:

• Track 1 / MIDI track 1 > Output: Xpand!2 1 / MIDI ch 1
• Track 2 / MIDI track 2 > Output: Xpand!2 1  / MIDI ch 2
• Track 3 / MIDI track 3 > Output: Xpand!2 1 / MIDI ch 3
• Track 4 / MIDI track 4 > Output: Xpand!2 1 / MIDI ch 4
• Track 5 / MIDI track 5 > Output: Xpand!2 2 /  MIDI ch 1
• Track 6 / MIDI track 6 > Output: Xpand!2 2  / MIDI ch 2
• Track 7 / MIDI track 7 > Output: Xpand!2 2  / MIDI ch 3
• Track 8 / Xpand!2 1 / MIDI ch 1-4
• Track 9 / Xpand!2 2 / MIDI ch 1-3

Alternatively, the 2nd scenario with all of the MIDI data in one track would be far from ideal.

To make this work with your MIDI file scenario (2) above, you would need to have the MIDI channels 5-7  in a separate MIDI file with those parts converted to MIDI channels 1-3, respectively.

Then you could put the new MIDI file on the track with Xpand!2 2 and the other 3 channels will respond there.

In truth, Xpand!2 is probably not the best choice for this scenario, and it would probably be simpler to use a VSTi that is 16 part multitimbral if you plan to use pre-recorded MIDI files with more than 4 channels. Cakewalk TTS-1 will do the job for up to 16 MIDI channels (GM compatible), and is included with Cakewalk. Some other paid options to consider might be Garritan, SampleTank,  Kontakt, or Halion.
 

[Blindeddie]

For scenario 2 that abacab mentions, a simple fix is to run the Cal script "split channels to tracks" and that would create a separate track for each channel.  Cal scripts can be run by going to "Process" --> "Run Cal Script" and selecting the script I mentioned. just thought I would mention it!

Peace,

Blindeddie

[Andrés Campos Aguilar]

Thanks abacab your solution is the right one and it works for me correctly.
regards.

I don't understand Blindeddie's solution well.

[abacab]

9 hours ago, Andrés Campos Aguilar said:

I don't understand Blindeddie's solution well.

You would understand if you had encountered a MIDI file type 0, with all of the channels in one track. The CAL script would have split out (un-merged) the channel data to separate MIDI tracks so you could carry on with what you wanted to do.

For more info on this, read up on MIDI file types. Here is a quick overview: https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/what-difference-between-midi-type-0-midi-type-1/

Quote

Type 1 files contain separate information for each track. For a Type 0 file, however, all the tracks are merged into a single track, although MIDI channel information is still retained.

Confusing? Yes.

Glad you got it working!
 

Edited November 3, 2019 by abacab

[Andrés Campos Aguilar]

After you mentioned midis 0 I understood the explanation of Blindeddie.

Thanks to both of you