Instrument plugin not playing midi controllers

Cantabile
#1

I’ve recorded MIDI note information along with controller settings and have added it to a media player. Synth plugins play the notes OK but they do not respond to the controllers, in this case cc 80 and cc 81, I can confirm the CC data has been recorded as it appears in a MIDI monitor on the media player, but for the life of me I can’t get the instruments to respond. There is another topic which describes similar problem and suggests using a rack but this also fails to work (besides making little sense to me) I’ve set up a binding to the MIDI output of the media player routed to the instrument plugin and defined a CC (CC 81) but no go. I assume this is possible and if so will the instrument plugin play all recorded controllers or does a separate binding have to be defined for each and every controller?

Thanks in advance

#2

key question: does the vst instrument actually recognize these cc values? either natively or via midi learn?

also: is it a vst2 or vst3 plugin? vst3 plugins seem to struggle with some midi commands - that’s where it’s useful to create bindings to tie CCs directly to vst parameters.

1 Like
#3

For test purposes I’m using Surge XT which is probably VST3 and Bloodbucket probably VST2, I have bound a range of controllers to both these VST plugins, including CC 80 and CC 81 which are generated by the AKAI MPK’s joystick. All instrument controls that are bound in Cantabile respond to the MIDI Controller in real time so they definitely work.

Using Surge XT as a test, I have set Cantabile to record MIDI, started it recording and played a few notes while twiddling the joystick. The recorded MIDI file is loaded into a media player and routed to Surge XT. It faithfully replays the notes but not the joystick movements. I have verified that the CC commands generated by the joystick are contained within the MIDI file. I’ve routed to another instrument which is called Bloodbucket with the same result. Notes but no CC.

At some stage I will get around to screen shots.

Thanks

#4

Just checking: how are you binding these instrument controls to MIDI controllers - are you using Cantabile bindings with VST parameters? i.e. you send MIDI from your AKAI MKP to Cantabile, then use Cantabile’s cc 80 bindings to control parameters within your synth?

If this is the case, that would explain why this isn’t working with MIDI files sent directly to the plugin - the bindings aren’t receiving the CC values, and the synth doesn’t know how to deal with them…

Easy solution: put your plugin and the CC bindings inside a rack, connect the plugin to Rack MIDI in, and make the CC bindings also listen to Rack MIDI in. Now you can send your AKAI MPK MIDI input to the rack, as well as the media player output - both should now do the same…

Cheers,

Torsten

2 Likes
#5

Well… After sort of understanding your advice I somehow managed to achieve the desired result.

Thanks