Change between Object using Program Change

Hi all.

First of all, I want say thanks to the Cantabile developers for such an amazing software.

For now, I’ve been using Cantabile lite, and it is really capable.

Lately I’ve been trying to find the way to change between objects (or plugins). Let’s say one Kontakt with a Grand Piano, and one UVI Workstation with another. I know how to do it using MIDI Channel. But I would need it to do it using program changes.

So I wonder if there is any way to set the Program Change 1 to that Kontakt, and the Program Change 2 to that UVI WS. And if is possible, which verssion of Cantabile would I need (Lite, Solo or Performet)? Of course I’d be willing to upgrade from the lite version to another more capable.

Many thanks for reading this.

I guess you would need Cantabile Performer - you will need song states to achieve this.

Essentially, song states are configurations of all the plugins within a song, so you can set one state to send your input to Kontakt and another state to send input to UVI.

Have a look at @brad’s excellent video on states; it shows how this works.

Then, once you have defined your states, you can then assign a binding so that any program change received selects a different state (another helpful video here)

Not sure if there is a way to achieve this in Solo - it has bindings but lacks song states. So I guess you’ll really need Performer.

Cheers,

Torsten

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This is exactly what I was also wondering. Any definite answer? Also want to change between “objects” as fast as possible. Now when I have only one object with several presets (different instruments/soft synths of the same plugin = Kontakt/Komplete control) the preset change takes a few seconds, which is too long :confused:

All help highly appreciated :slight_smile:

Cantabile 3 x64 (free version)
Win10 Pro 64b
i5 3.3Ghz
8Gb ram
128Gb ssd

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The definite answer is that yes, you need Cantabile Performer to do that - unless someone finds a very convoluted way to get around that, but (being one of the guys with the most convoluted setups) I really doubt that there is a way around it.

Plus: it’s really worth getting Performer - it’s a great piece of software! And it’s also definitely the right thing to reward @brad for his effort in building this great software. If you can afford Kontakt and its libraries, you should definitely consider spending the money on Cantabile…

Cheers,

Torsten

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Well, there’s a problem with switching presets in Kontakt: being a sample-based instrument, changing presets means clearing the previous sample sets out of its memory and loading new ones. This is not a Cantabile issue, but one of using sample-based instruments.

The obvious answer to get almost zero switching time would be to load all your instruments into Kontakt, either as a bank or as a multi-instrument, and switch between them with program changes (which you an do in Cantabile Solo) or by changing the Midi channel of the routing to Kontakt in Cantabile (you’ll need states to do that, so it’s Performer you’d need). Or you can load multiple instances of Kontakt and activate the routes to them based on song states (again, a Performer feature)

But of course your memory will limit the number of instruments you’ll be able to keep loaded in parallel - given you only have 8 GB, you’ll hit a ceiling soon.

So the alternative solution is to move to other, more memory-efficient instruments instead of Kontakt. Korg M1, Xpand!2 or the Roland range come to mind. Or, if you’re not so much about natural sounds, the whole palette of soft synths is at your disposal - they can switch presets far more quickly, and loading multiple instances of them in parallel will also be possible.

Then watch @brad’s great video on fast song switching - lots of good information there!

I have a pre-loaded setlist of over 60 songs with over 130 plugins, and seamless state switching is not a problem. But it did take some thoughful building and optimizing (and a ruthless selection of the right plugins) to get there (there’s only one instance of Kontakt in there, and I NEVER change the sample set).

Cheers,

Torsten

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Thank you Torsten for the clarification :slight_smile: Hmm… I really like the Komplete sounds. But I’m really a newbie regarding this “multiple instances at a time” stuff. I’ll have to investigate the different ways I can configure the Komplete/Kontakt and its instruments. I really do not need tens of instruments, basically only something like 5/song. maximum ram for the laptop is 16Gb, I hope that’ll be enough? Yesterday the performer showed the ram usage to be under 1 Gb, so at least for a few instruments it should be ok?

I’m really tempted to buy at least the Solo, but I need to find the proper way of configuring Performer/Komplete/Kontakt before that :slight_smile:

Thanks :slight_smile:

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Many thanks to all of you. It’s been really helpful :+1: