Playing multiple intruments at once

[jeff hollan]

I really need some help! This is what Im looking to do. First a screenshot so youll better understand. Im not real good at explaining. This is a shot of my rd 2000 by roland. Each fader is assignable. I want to assign midi channel 1 as a piano, 2 strings,3 hammond etc. I want to bring them in and out as i choose according to the song. Like if i want to layer 3 tracks i can, or 4, or 2, just by moving the slider. I have sounds that i love from Roland and Native that I want to use. Can cantible do that or does cakewalk have that capability? I was using abelton live 9 but it doesnt see my roland vsts for some reason. Any help is greatly appreciated. 

Jeff Hollan

[tecknot]

Hi Jeff,

I would create separate tracks for each instrument in Cakewalk and assigning the channel for each track, respectively, to your RD 2000.  Then utilize volume automation for emulating the on/off for the instruments as well as balancing the volume of each when layering as desired.

Hope I explained that clearly.

Kind regards,

tecknot

[Robert Bone]

Also, yes Cantabile can do that, where you can layer whatever sounds you want, from any number of loaded VST synths,  creating snapshots of each desired combination of actively layered or muted sounds.

Bob Bone

[Robert Bone]

So, with Cantabile, you could load load up snapshots that send midi info to your external keyboard, to set up channel changes, volume changes, etc., in addition, you could also load up multiple instances of VST synths (and/or effects), and also include any combination of active or muted sounds from any of the loaded VST plugins, as well as setting up virtual zones to map out different combos of sounds to specific key ranges, so that when you played on your RD 2000, you could have the Cantabile snapshot set the sounds on the RD 2000 to just how you wanted them at that moment, for that song, AND have additional sounds layered up to be triggered when you play the RD 2000 - perhaps with strings from Kontakt playing only for the middle two octaves of keys on the RD 2000, while perhaps flutes from Dimension Pro would play on the 3rd octave up from middle C on the RD 2000, and maybe have a nice bass sound from Rapture Pro play on the bottom 2 octaves of the RD 2000, etc.....

So all of the above could be in a single snapshot in Cantabile, and then another snapshot could have a completely different configuration on sounds and ranges, and midi channels, and different effects, and different volumes, etc.... PLUS, you could send midi data to control lighting, or trigger MP3 files to play when you hit the lowest key on the RD 2000 keyboard (you would set a particular key or other midi-enabled button) to start/stop playback of a song file, to function as a backing track while you played along to the backing track...

Cantabile is amazingly powerful - check out their free trial.  It does NOT replace Cakewalk - Cakewalk is fantastic for what it does best - recording/mixing/mastering (and some performance capabilities), but a program like Cantabile is specifically designed for live performance, and for instantaneous switching of sounds/channels/effects/volumes/routing of all kinds of VST plugins (both synths and effects, as well as controlling whatever external controllers/keyboards/midi-devices that you want to tie into it).

Bob Bone