Hi, I have been evaluating Cantabile for a few weeks and it seems great and very flexible, but I cannot find a way to bypass a rack. How can I do this?
“Usually” things don’t go through a normal rack. (There are utility Racks, but that is pretty advanced stuff).
So, maybe you have a MIDI Route from e.g. Main Keyboard to Rack1, then an Audio Route from Rack1 to Main Speakers. The MIDI Route terminates in Rack1. The Audio Route comes out of the Rack (from the VST in the Rack) and goes to the speakers. Thus Routes don’t usually go through Racks.
Maybe you mean “Suspend” a Rack? I find it’s often helpful to Suspend a Rack (clicking on the green “LED”). That will mute the Rack and any processing you have going on in the Rack.
What are you trying to accomplish? Pictures of the routing? Screenshots would help explain a lot.
I know this is an old post, but I stumbled across an easy solution, so I posted this for future needs …
I sometimes use racks to create items that I don’t own (or can’t find) like specific effects pedals or a multi-effect chain. In this case, being able to lump all of the elements together in one rack is better for organizing the blocks of a song (or another rack like a guitar + EFX + amp). It’s also a situation where bypassing the entire rack is handy. Disabling a rack is possible in Cantabile, but bypassing the rack doesn’t seem to be supported.
I use the Gain block for Kilohearts as my bypass element. It’s part of their free collection of processing blocks. They have minimal UI, but they also require very little system resources. Set the gain to 0dB (which is the default), and connect it from Rack: Stereo In to Rack: Stereo Out.
Now, you can use a spare MIDI CC to create a pair of bindings that toggle the Running status of this gain block and one of the elements in the main chain (ex: Gain in this rack). This switches the audio path between chain of effects or the bypass path, while still allowing the items in the effects chain to be adjusted ‘offline.’
In some cases, the disabled element in the effects chain can’t be adjusted. If you need access, consider adding another 0dB Gain plugin to the effects path.
If anyone knows of a simple VST that acts as nothing more than a switch, please let me know. If not, the kHz Gain block is the next best thing!
Hi @drawbars ,
in Cantabile Performer, you could use rack states to activate/deactivate routes. I also use racks to simulate effect chains. I usually setup a route directly from the audio input to the audio output of the rack. This route is usually deactivated, except in one state (the “Bypass” state) where it is the only active route. If I select the bypass state, the rack basically does nothing, just passing through the audio, but I can still change parameters via MIDI on the various effects.
Gabriel
That’s a great idea!
I suppose that I don’t think about using states much. The concept doesn’t seem to fit my ‘music gear mindset’ very well, I guess. But there’s nothing that prevents it from working for my needs.
I found another option: ABswitch by PongaSoft –
It’s freeware, very straightforward to use, and has a ‘soften’ feature that does a fast fade if the transition causes pops and clicks. It cuts things down to one binding (vs. two), and is very straightforward to look at in the routing diagram. It also has VST3 and VST2 versions.