A Couple of suggestions & a possible problem

Cantabile
1

It may just be me, well OK, it’s PROBABLY me, but I think it would be nice for the focus to go on whichever window I click. Now, when I’ve opened plugin’s user interface & need to go back to the main screen, for example, I have to MOVE the plugin out of the way. I think it would be more useful for the focus to where I click. In this example, it should go to the main screen, but not it stays on the plugin.

I’m also not sure if this is ME, I just haven’t set things up correctly, or the software not identifying things correctly. I’ll throw it out there & let YOU either tell me how I SHOULD have set things up or say, YUP, that’s a problem…

I have an M-Audio Delta 66 Audio Interface. It has the possibility of plugging in the back for a Stereo Line In, but also plugging in the front for 2 individual Mono Inputs. So, I can have either 1 mic or 2 Mics plugged in or 1 instrument or 2 or 1 instrument & 1 mic etc. Sometimes I’m only using one of the inputs & even though I’ve set things up in the Audio Port Options to display each individual Mono Channel as a sub-category of the Input Port, I ONLY get stereo Inputs. Therefore I have one side that’s just got nothing plugged into it & it’s noisy.

Suggestions on my Suggestions? Responses to my Response? Questions about my Questions? Thanks for any assistance I can get.

2

Would you possibly be able to post a screen shot of your Options - Audio Ports settings page to see what you have? Thanks :grinning:

3

Hi Bruce,

Focus actually does move back to whichever window you click - where focus simply means the window that gets keystrokes. I think what you’re referring to is the fact that plugin windows always remain in front of the main window.

This is something that’s changed in v3 compared to v2 where plugin windows could disappear behind the main window. There are pros and cons to both approaches but personally I prefer the new approach - with v2, popups tended to get lost in the background and forgotten. Also switching between the main window and a popup meant going to the task bar and just all around more fiddly.

Certainly nothing here is set in stone and I’m open to suggestions, but for simplicity sake I’m reluctant to add options for things like this.

Re: your audio interface, as Dave suggested a screen shot would be handy but sounds like you just need to create a port with just one channel for the mono inputs. (By default when you create a new audio port, it’s setup as a stereo port but you can delete one channel to make a mono port).

Brad

4

Thanks guys. I appreciate you getting back to me. I understand what you’re saying about the interface/window/focus (not really focus) thing.That’s exactly what I was referring to & something I guess I’ll learn to live with. :cry: I guess…Shnnn. If I have to… Just kiddin’. I do understand & it’s more of a personal preference than anything. So, NO Problem.

THIS is a problem though. My audio. Now, if I was JUST smart enough to figure out how to upload this freakin… picture… I’d be… D’oh. There it is. .

Delta 66 Audio Ports.png780×560 43.8 KB

There’s my Audio Port Setup. Suggest away!!! Thank you for helping!

5

Hi Bruce

Not really following this statement:

What do you mean you only get stereo inputs? You created an input port with all four channels. The stereo “names” are just names you’ve assigned.

Anyway, I think what you really want is something like this:

in: Mic
  Signal -> Analog In 1 Delta 66

in: Guitar
  Signal -> Analog In 2 Delta 66

in: Stereo
  Left -> Analog In 3 Delta 66
  Right -> Analog In 4 Delta 66

Does this help?

6

Sort of. I’ve defined my ports as you have suggested, but I STILL only have a Stereo In available at the plug-in itself. With the Standalone version of whatever plug-in I choose there are Left, Right & Stereo Input choices. However, ONLY the Stereo input shows up in C3.
Here’s my new Audio Port setup:

Delta 66 Audio Ports2.png780×560 41.8 KB

7

Here’s what I STILL get at the Plug-in Input:

Delta 66 In Ports.png1154×801 94.3 KB

What am I not doing correctly or not understanding exactly? Thanks for putting the time on this.

8

Hi Bruce,
All you should have to do is select the first stereo input for guitar rig from drop down list. The physical ports were in the options setup along with the aliases you gave them. When you choose a physical mono input to route in C3 it automatically wires it to the stereo inputs on a stereo plug. On why no mono inputs in Cantabile I’m not sure but there could be a difference between the standalone Guitar Rig and the vst .dll that Guitar Rig provides for Cantabile and other Hosts to use. Brad would know that answer. But I have used Guitar rig and S-Gear and they only provide the stereo input in Cantabile as well. When you select one of the the stereo ins for Guitar Rig what happens?

9

Hi Bruce,

Ah ok, I see what you mean now by only having stereo available. You’re talking about the ports on the plugin itself. Just like you can create ports for your physical hardware in Options, you can also create ports on plugins - select the plugin and from the Edit menu choose Audio Ports.

When you insert a plugin Cantabile will create a default set of ports based on the number of input/output channels the plugin has + meta data that some (not all) plugins provide.

For example, here’s Guitar Rig 5’s audio ports. Notice I’ve added a new Mono In port and mapped the one input channel to both of GR5’s stereo input channels. You could map it to just one channel, you could create two mono input ports, one to each L/R channel etc…

And now I can create routes to it:

This is explained in more detail here: Working With Audio Ports.

Also, there are some rules about how ports with mismatched channel counts are connected. (eg: what happens if you map a stereo audio input port from your sound card to a mono input port on a plugin?

You might also be wondering if you need to edit the port definitions every time you insert plugin in cases where Cantabile guesses wrong. Atm, yes, but see this Trello card. Also, you can just copy/paste the whole plugin and the ports will be copied too.

10

What! I was certain that the Cantabile fairies were just making my stuff hook up easy for me. I better reread that part of the guide. :smile:

1 Like
11

OK. I’ve spent the last 2 days reading the docs on this & reading this post over & over & over & over &… well, you get the idea. I am completely stumped. I just don’t get it. I can’t get or see any way to get my audio interface to do what you’re suggesting OR what you wrote in the docs. I can’t get an input & output on the same output channel no matter what I’ve tried. Nor do I see ANY possible way to configure it like that.

How in the WORLD did you get you audio device to show “Guitar Rig 5”??? How did you get the Stereo Out to show “Plugin Output …” & “Plugin Input…”??? For ME, even if I give a Port an Alias, it doesn’t show up in the Audio Channel. What am I missing? My audio device doesn’t change at all in the Channel Setup, all that changes is what I name the ports. I don’t see ANY way to get through to a plugin in the configuration. Again. WHAT am I missing here? I’ve tried right clicks & searched every menu over & over. Do I need to do a "Left Shift + Right Ctrl + Both Alt keys & Right click at the same time or something? :confused: I did finally figure out that I need to exit C3 & come back in before the Aliases Show up. That’s not much to show for 48 hours of work though…

I just need some more guidance with this I guess. I AM an Engineer by education. I didn’t have the much trouble learning Calculus, C++ OR Assembly Language. I feel like I’m trying to learn Greek from a Chinese handbook translated from Russian into Swahelie. Or did I turn into Homer Simpson when I went to sleep last night? Hmmmm… I do have thing for donuts…D’oh!

12

Select the plugin in the slot (it will high light) go to Edit>Audio Ports…

There are physical ports you configure in the options and plugin ports for each plugin you have loaded this is what you would be editing in the above case.

There is no current hot key for this you have to make your own. (Edit Plugin Audio Ports)

Edit : Brad said this in his post above… “select the plugin and from the Edit menu choose Audio Ports.”

13

Bruce,

Like Dave says, sounds like you’ve still missed the Edit → Audio Ports command.

Ouch - that’s a big concern! Open to suggestions on how to improve it. Immediate thought is to put Audio Ports command on the right click menu, but not sure that’s enough if it’s really this difficult to grasp.

Brad

14

To my way of thinking, that definitely belongs in a right-click menu rather than in the Edit menu. I tend to look to right-click menus for commands specific to an item and to menu-bar menus for generalized, system-wide settings. I would never have intuited highlighting an item first and then selecting a menu item from the menu bar (though I finally did learn to do this for the MIDI monitor!) :wink:

Terry

15

Ignore me - just saw this was 9 months old, and naturally, the audio ports setting does now exist as a right-click menu item when clicking on a plugin object! (Color me Duh!)

Terry

1 Like