Is there a way to use Cantabile as a plugin inside a DAW like Reaper, Mixcraft, etc.??? Other applications can do this, like iOS apps, Unify, etc.
I think this would be a great future update or maybe a partner app that opens existing Cantabile saves but functions as a plugin.
I LOVE Cantabile so much and have a lot of great layered sounds that are all setup and tweaked for live performance. It would be great to have access to these in a DAW for recording/looping. Not that I can’t play them into Loopy Pro on my iPad, but I’m usually not connected that way,
Short answer: No, you can’t load Cantabile into a DAW as a VST. You can use Cantabile alongside a DAW using virtual audio/MIDI cables (such as Voicemeeter), but I don’t think that’s what you’re looking for.
Try searching for ‘cantabile as vst’ in the search box.
It does take a little work, but I use Blue Cat’s PatchWork. I set up many of my racks into CCP because I can drop drop it into any DAW. You can save your work into CCP as a preset, and use it in anything. The video shows it all. It has saved me a lot of time when running a DAW.
The audio patching thing is the easy solution, I could use Loopy Pro in my iPad as the DAW and loop some things and then have it. I’m mostly using Cantabile for live real-time stuff and my whole workflow is based around that.
Is there any advantage of using Cantabile as a VST over running two programs connected by virtual MIDI cables – assuming that the computer has enough horsepower? I run a similar setup: a laptop with Cakewalk connected to a microPC running Cantabile, connected by RTPmidi (Ethernet MIDI). It works great, and I have all the functionality of Cantabile to play, loop, etc.; all I have to do is dedicate a virtual MIDI channel or two to connect the two DAWs. In fact, I almost forget that Cantabile is a DAW in this setup, because it acts just like another workstation. It’s been working flawlessly for almost three years.
I have my DAWs, Cubase and Reaper. Then Cantabile for gigs.
I don’t need integration between the two worlds, but that’s my personal point.
Cantabile as a VST might be intriguing, but I’m sure Brad would say ‘that’s not why I made it’.
Not to belabor the point, but it’s understood that DAWs typically fulfill a studio function and that kind of bloatware is best not taken onto a stage.
Cantabile is not a DAW and we wouldn’t want that. Cantabile is for playing.
Studios are also for playing in, and Cantabile promotes playing for reasons we all appreciate.
It would be a major creative boost in that world.
As I see it, a vst plugin capable of loading and playing a cantabile rack (with all its content) would greatly simplify my workflow.
I often use racks to obtain layered sounds (e.g. dexed layered with obxd plus effects) or to emulate “multis” (for instance I have a tx802 emulator rack based on dexed). When it comes to record those sounds in a daw, I either use virtual audio cables or I rebuild the same layer in unify.
For guitar, after building a very complex cantabile rack, I decided to go a different route (nembrini’ s nexus) in order to have something working in both cantabile and the daw.
Just my 0.02 euros (we debated about this a few times before and I also tried to imagine how it could be done: probably one should replicate many of the function of cantabile’s engine in vst form…not a small task).
Its existence would create demand.
It’s interesting how this particular topic raises its head periodically and it’s pretty much the same conversation… there’s not much to say that hasn’t been said.
The only reason it drops off is because we’re lovely people who don’t want to drive Brad nuts.
Probably worth mentioning that plugins like patchwork and metaplugin exist.
They can theoretically provide all the portability of complex setups between platforms.
The issue?
They don’t function like Cantabile.
All of Cantabile’s concepts, graphics etc, are already highly developed.
Others here, Brad especially of course, can describe the complexity of wrapping that into a plugin.
Cantabile is perfectly suited to its task. Let’s keep it that way. I see no pressingly good reason for it to run as a plug-in. Brad’s developement effort is precious and best allocated to making it the best live performance software available.
I think the fact that this is true is somewhat obscuring something else which is true.
It’s completely understandable that we all see the priority as Cantabile’s development.
There are aspects of the program, as it stands, that some users will never touch with a 10 foot barge pole. This does not consign those developments to the scrap heap.
No, but it does consign some of them to the bottom of a long list of prioritised development, which will continue to grow as time progresses. I have requested features that it seems only I am interested in - I accept that.
This idea of Cantabile as a plug-in-plug-in requires a whole new approach, and likely a whole new development branch. I can’t see that as a good use of Brad’s effort.
