Hi all. I have scoured the forums but I struggled to find an answer.
I have been trying to use Cantabile as a microphone effects tool. (the usual EQ and compressors, but then fancy effects like reverb, voice manipulation, autotune, etc)
I have been trying to create a bindings folder to bypass effects, and it works fine when I have cantabile open and up front on my screen. But as soon as I minimise, or go onto a different window, the bindings I have chosen for the bypasses don’t work, but only work when I click back on cantabile. I use keyboard buttons like END and HOME, CTRL+1, etc.
I have a midi keyboard, but it’s at another house. Is it worth going to get that and assigning a note to press to do this? or will it still not work if cantabile is not the focused window?
I think the reason it’s not working for you is that you are choosing command keys that are always assigned to a function in the other Windows programs you are going to. This creates a conflict and Cantabile defers to the program window you have open. If you choose a key that is not as used it will likely not conflict. I recommend the Function keys above F8. I use F9 and F10 and the system wide key press a lot and they haven’t conflicted yet but as I said it is dependent on what your other programs you are running are. Here is an example binding that works on my system when Cantabile is not in focus.
The advantage of using a MIDI device (keyboard, drumpad, controller) is exactly as you describe: it will always work independent of Cantabile being the focused window or not.
Using “normal” key presses will collide with the normal Windows usage of this keyboard. Establishing “system wide key presses” can help, but will not work for all keys and create all kinds of funky side-effects. E.g. if you use END or HOME, this will collide with the use of these keys in the Windows desktop or other programs - not sure if you can actually successfully override these keys as system wide key presses. I’d definitely stay away from using such keys for bindings.
My suggestion: get a small cheapo MIDI keyboard, stick post-its on the keys as labels and use it to control your setup
The two controllers I use for Cantabile are my Elgato Stream Deck and MIDI Designer Pro on my iPad. Both of these are capable of sending MIDI commands, which means you are not at the mercy of Windows focus.
Stream Deck is quick and easy - MDP is by far the most flexible.
