SOLVED: How to Split Keyboard to Play 2 or More Instruments?

[Stephen Power]

Is it possible to play more than one instrument separately on the same keyboard in CbB? For the purpose of playing live?

I have a Nektar Impact LX61 but it does not have a split keyboard option. If there's a way to set this up in CbB, I'd be grateful for a detailed explanation bearing in mind I'm still finding my way around the DAW.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Edited September 22 by Stephen Power

[Kurre]

*Disclaimer - i've never felt the need to split the keyboard.* - I used 15 minutes to google it and edit the findings, this is the first things a came upon.

.

https://www.eareckon.com/en/products/freebies.html
MIDI Polysher is a free VST plugin
-With multiple instances of MIDI Polysher loaded into your DAW, you can create "zones" and control several instruments from a same MIDI keyboard (or controller).
For example, you can link the upper keys of your master keyboard to a virtual piano plugin and the lower keys to a virtual bass instrument but there is more you can do with it.
..
There's synth plugins that can split the keyboard.
"Assigning MIDI Controllers to Xpand!2 Controls"
In addition to pre-assigned MIDI controllers (such as Sustain Pedal and Volume), you can
assign MIDI controllers to parameters within Xpand!2 for automation or real-time control from
a MIDI keyboard or control surface.
Please see your DAW's reference manual or other documentation to learn how to do this.

Could be beyond your skill set, as you mentioned but it's doable.

I love Xpand!2 and recommend it even without using kb split functions.

[msmcleod]

Not easily... and you'll need a pretty good understanding of MIDI to do it.

You could use Drum Maps to route notes lower than a particular note to one instrument, and the rest to another.

Alternatively, if you want it to go to the same instrument on different channels you could use articulation map transforms.

[User 905133]

3 hours ago, Stephen Power said:

Is it possible to play more than one instrument separately on the same keyboard in CbB? 

I have a Nektar Impact LX61 but it does not have a split keyboard option. If there's a way to set this up in CbB, I'd be grateful for a detailed explanation bearing in mind I'm still finding my way around the DAW.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me you are asking something like, "If my keyboard/controller doesn't have software that allows it to set up zones to route to different software instruments, does CbB have a built in feature to make up for the keyboard/controller's lack of zone-setting feature?"

Since CbB has the ability to use plug-ins (third-party and ones included with CbB), and plug-ins can be used to enable different software instruments to play based on zones, I'd say the answer is yes. In fact, CbB comes with some plug-ins 

For example, on a midi track, you could use a MIDI FX plug-in (MFX) called the MIDI Event Filter.

Also, if you have a midi track that's already recorded, you could duplicate the track and edit/filter notes based on range with the different range selections being on different MIDI tracks, each being routed to a different synth.

Depending on what you want to do, these and other possible solutions might meet your needs.

[Stephen Power]

1 hour ago, msmcleod said:

Not easily... and you'll need a pretty good understanding of MIDI to do it.

You could use Drum Maps to route notes lower than a particular note to one instrument, and the rest to another.

Alternatively, if you want it to go to the same instrument on different channels you could use articulation map transforms.

Thanks again @msmcleod, it's probably beyond my skill set, at the moment, then.

[Stephen Power]

@User 905133 Not necessarily a built in feature, but a work-around maybe? I should have added to the OP, it's for playing live, not recording - I can do that.

Edited September 21 by Stephen Power

[azslow3]

If you want stable setup (f.e. to perform for more then yourself...), use proposed by @msmcleod way. Drum Maps is "core feature" of Cakewalk since long time and it easy to use, once you get the idea (but a bit boring to setup for 61 keys...).

If you want quick way, filter out keys you don't need with MIDI Event filter, as proposed by @User 905133. That is probably the simplest to understand and fastest to apply method. Note MIDI effect are "post", so when you record both tracks will have all events (till you apply the filter).

In general you may want more then just splitting, you may need transposing and deciding where controllers (pitch bend, pedal, etc.) should go.

An example of alternative (external) method: https://monochrome.sutic.nu/2023/08/15/how-to-split-a-midi-keyboard-in-windows.html

Please note that Cakewalk supports DX only MIDI processors, not VST MIDI processors. The later are theoretically also possible to use, but in practice that is error prone, especially for live setup.

 

[Craig Anderton]

The image shows how to do two splits.  You need a MIDI track for each instrument. They have the same input (in this case, a Komplete Kontrol keyboard). Each MIDI track has aMIDI Event Filter with Notes checked and a specified Key range. Make sure the Event Filter is turned on.

Then you have two Simple Instrument tracks. Their inputs are set to None. Select the instrument as the output in the MIDI tracks.  I hope this helps!

[Promidi]

Here is an example using a single keyboard to split between a piano and pads.

[Stephen Power]

14 hours ago, Kurre said:

*Disclaimer - i've never felt the need to split the keyboard.* - I used 15 minutes to google it and edit the findings, this is the first things a came upon.

.

 

Thanks for your time on Google. I did try myself (honestly). I'm going to look up the plugins you mentioned now.

Edited September 22 by Stephen Power

[Stephen Power]

@Promidi and @Craig Anderton Thank you very much for the images. I'm going to stare at them for a while and then it give it a go.

[Amberwolf]

I just use the very simple TenCrazy MFX Track Doorman

http://forum.cakewalk.com/FREE-TenCrazycom-MFX-Plugins-now-in-64bit-news-thread-m2887519.aspx

http://www.midiplugins.com/Plugin/54

Setup one midi track for each zone you want, all receiving from the same MIDI hardware input so they all get the same data from your Nektar.

Insert TC Track Doorman MFX into the fx bin of each of those tracks.

Set the keyrange you want each zone to cover, in the Track Doorman for each of those tracks.

Set the output of each track to send to the appropriate sound source.

It will now work both realtime and from clips on those tracks. 

 

If you record clips onto the tracks, it will have all the notes that came from the input, but they will be filtered by the fx bin to send only the notes for the zone to the output.  If you want the clips to only have the filtered version, you can apply the fx bin to the clips (there are several ways to do that). 

 

 

Edited September 22 by Amberwolf

[Stephen Power]

Thanks for all your help, guys! This is now solved, using MIDI Polysher, as suggested by @Kurre. I'm very grateful for all the input with this question - and I've been on another interesting learning curve.

[User 905133]

Glad you found a solution that met your needs.  It's nice to have a variety of options!  BTW, I finally found the post I had been looking for. 

On 12/4/2019 at 10:20 PM, User 905133 said:

. . . I have one range (C2 to C4) going to an instance of TTS-1 on a single midi channel.  I will try another range to create a second zone.  (I am more used to setting up zones on usb keyboards!)  OK.  Got two different ranges going to two different channels on TTS-1. 

 . . . with overlapping ranges you can get layering.

 

Edited September 22 by User 905133
edits