Hi.
Not sure if this already exists, but iam looking for a function where I can use the song position to trigger things.
For example:
I could load a backing-track (midi or wav) and at a specific position I would like to stop the song (time-line) and add a control change.
So I don’t need to manually change the presets.
Or… at the end of the playback I could let cantabile automatically load the next song.
That way I never have to do ANYTHING manually. Just play. 
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Roelli.
Hi Roelli,
See this Trello card and this discussion.
A basic implementation is high on the priority list.
Brad
Good!
Any chance to support this feature with a donation? 
We had the first rehearsal yesterday with my new coverband. And it would be cool if I could send program changes to a “T.C. electronics voice live vocal effect processor” because the vocals sound a bit poor (because the singer is using head-voice) compared to the original song “Muse - Hysteria”. They add a distortion effect and a harmonizer effect in the refrain.
And I could automate the state-switching with trigger events.
Very tight with your new group! Thanks for letting us listen …
Dave
I use a VoiceLive 2 in my setup, and I’ve encapsulated it into its own rack in my Cantabile Setup. Essentially, this is a rack that has two purposes:
In my songs, I simply include my VoiceLiveRack, connect a Route from my keyboard of choice (maybe with a limited note range) and then, for every song state, choose a fitting rack state. This way, I can sing lead in the verse and backing in the chorus, simply by hitting my “red button” for state switch. And of course, I also switch my keys or guitar to the correct sound for the chorus at the same time!
Since we don’t play to backing tracks, I simply perform this switching manually (one button press when starting chourus is not so much hassle; hey, it switches everything at once!) - of course if we had song-position-triggered state switching, you could also have these switches performed automatically.
Cheers,
Torsten
one button press when starting chourus is not so much hassle
Yeah. But we’re thinking about switching voice live presets every text line. (for the lead vocalist)
Like with this song… https://youtu.be/vt-UtzP1u1g?t=55s
The refrain of the song:
(You naughty thing) +harmonizer
You’re ripping up the dance floor honey +standard mic sound
(You naughty woman) +harmonizer
You shake your ass around for everyone +standard mic sound …
(You’re such a mover)
…
That means I would have to press ~100 times on my (not existing) red button. 50x to activate the harmonizer effect and 50x to activate the bypass-preset (standard lead vocals with no fx)
However… I have to do more important things first…
learn to use cantabile (at the first rehearsal with the new band it was a chaos because some sounds did not worked and some presets haven’t been loaded correctly… maybe thats because “auto update” was activated and I did something wrong
figure out how to use cantabile correctly
It seems that I have to use the background rack to make the standard midi routing from the midi keyboard to the rack input… in case the keyboard is defective (so that I don’t have to reprogram all routings in all songs)
and because I want to use the same songs on two different computers… the macbook on stage and my desktop computer at home.
I like to do all editings and sounds at home… at the desk. Then send these songs to my macbook.
I haven’t tried that but I think this can be complicated because Iam using different keyboards and different sound cards. That probably works with “alias names” I think.
Also I have to add a folder which is the same on both computers for mediaplayer files.
(C:\cantabile\mediaplayerfiles)
And Iam not sure how to save custom made Guitar Rig sounds so that they’re available on the other computer.
And there seems to be a problem with Guitar Rig and Program Changes. I have to select the sound category in guitar rig… then the program change works. We’ll see.
The biggest problem is to have the notebook screen visible when iam playing keyboard.
(I don’t have one of these “surface” notebooks which can sit easily on top of the keyboard.
Also I think I would better buy a notebook with the new “M.2” RAM. Seems to work better to use faster RAM then buying a faster CPU. (Prominy Guitar VST and Guitar Rig lasts ~12 seconds to load from SSD)
Question to Torsten:
It seems like using a small external Display is the best idea. I read that you’re using a 7" display… which one exactly? 800x600 resolution is ok? (not sure if my notebook can handle 2 different resolutions… it will probably lower the resolution when the external display is connected)
I think i missed your gig yesterday 
I thought I’d registered to your newsletter.
Thanks!
Frank.
Hmmm - I guess in such a case, I’d try to teach my singer to actually work the VoiceLive himself - the newer versions (e.g. VoiceLiveTouch 2) have a “Hit” mode - you program a basis sound for a song and a “hit” sound that is only active on certain passages. You can trigger “hit” with a foot switch, or - for TC Helicon microphones - with a button on the microphone.
Call me old-school, but I would consider it too much “programmed” if the sound for the singer changed automatically every other line. I’d prefer the show to be operated by musicians and not run by the computer. So I’d feel less “cheated” if at least the singer made these sound switches himself - like playing an instrument.
Or maybe there’s someone else in the band who could sing the non-harmonized parts? Again: more “honest” and probably also more interesting 
first rehearsal with the new band it was a chaos because some sounds did not worked and some presets haven’t been loaded correctly… maybe thats because “auto update” was activated and I did something wrong
Yup - automatically update states is too dangerous for me! I keep it de-activated and actively choose when I want to save a state.
It seems that I have to use the background rack to make the standard midi routing from the midi keyboard to the rack input… in case the keyboard is defective (so that I don’t have to reprogram all routings in all songs)
and because I want to use the same songs on two different computers… the macbook on stage and my desktop computer at home.
I like to do all editings and sounds at home… at the desk. Then send these songs to my macbook.
I haven’t tried that but I think this can be complicated because Iam using different keyboards and different sound cards. That probably works with “alias names” I think.
Also I have to add a folder which is the same on both computers for mediaplayer files.
(C:\cantabile\mediaplayerfiles)
Yup, that’s what I do currently: all editing at home on my studio PC, then use them live with my laptop (and I even have a backup laptop that I keep synchronized as well)
Now, one step at a time:
No need at all to use the background rack for this. The Background rack is mainly for song-independent bindings, like faders that always change the overall volume or buttons that are set to always advance to the next state (like my big red button)
And Iam not sure how to save custom made Guitar Rig sounds so that they’re available on the other computer.
And there seems to be a problem with Guitar Rig and Program Changes. I have to select the sound category in guitar rig… then the program change works. We’ll see.
Yeah; I’ve fiddled around with GuitarRig for a while, but now, I’m firmly committed to Mike Scuffham’s S-Gear - simply THE best amp sim for me, and easy to manage in Cantabile. Plus, in Cantabile I can plug all sorts of virtual floor pedals in front of S-Gear for an even broader range of sounds.
Question to Torsten:
It seems like using a small external Display is the best idea. I read that you’re using a 7" display… which one exactly? 800x600 resolution is ok? (not sure if my notebook can handle 2 different resolutions… it will probably lower the resolution when the external display is connected)
Yep, I’m using a 7’’ HDMI display from Beetronics (http://www.beetronics.de/7-zoll-led-monitor-mit-hdmi), which outputs Full HD, which is pretty good for the Cantabile Song Notes View. I’ve set it to mirror the laptop screen, no fancy dual-monitor stuff…
I think i missed your gig yesterday
Opps, sorry! We still keep sending out our info to our (manually managed) mailing list, so I totally forgot about also triggering our web site newsletter! My fault - I’ll definitely remember for the next gig!
Was a nice gig (pretty hot, though) - played for 4 hours, and my Cantabile rig performed almost flawlessly. The only issue I had is that my wireless MIDI connection between my LivePrompter tablet and the Cantabile laptop broke sometime in the third set, and I didn’t have the time to re-boot the tablet.
Learned a lesson here: I had my Cantabile setlist alphabetically sorted (whole repertoire as a setlist) and simply switched songs via program change from LivePrompter. Once that connection failed, I had to jump to my laptop after every song to load the next one from the list. Next time I’ll also sort my Cantabile setlist by the performed sequence, so that when the connection from LivePrompter fails, I can simply step to the next song with a button on my master keyboard. Always have an easy backup
Cheers,
Torsten
Yeah… I could use this feature on sunday… at the next band-rehearsal. 
Why not use synchronous midi files?
You can issue any command you like at a specific song point.
Possible, which software do you recommend to make the midi file with program changes?
Other then that… seems like I always have to use an external software… load the midi file, edit it, reload it into cantabile…
Seems to be much easier to click on a song position at the timeline and use this as a trigger.
Any DAW. I would imagine that most folks who are using Cantabile for live work are also using a production DAW as well. They can all produce midi files.
If you don’t have something that you use, Reaper is a good place to start. Personally, I’m on Nuendo and it’s extremely easy to output whatever midi is contained in one of its projects as a MIDI file.
As long as you are tempo matched, you’ll have no problem. You can issue* the most intricate commands* precisely on cue!
For those that are running audio backing tracks produced on a DAW, just output the required midi using the tempo of the project.
If you’re freewheeling your project and simply using Cantabile to produce a click, you can sync the midi file to Cantabile and it will be perfectly in time.
I agree, this would be an excellent possibility for simple patch changes and triggers.
The difficulty with midi files is that to hear the effect, you need to be running as close to a mirror of the Cantabile setup as possible, and that can get tricky.
I wonder if it might be possible to open a midi file as a text window in Cantabile, with a filter similar to that employed in the midi monitor, so that only events of a certain channel and status byte be shown, with the ability to nudge events and, perhaps, change their channel.
Short of that, one is pretty much asking for a full scale midi editor in Cantabile, and I’m guessing that breaks the philosophy of what Cantabile is?
It’s tricky because automation is definitely a part a modern live show, and Cantabile is so good at being the hub of that show. How much should Cantabile be responsible for?
If Cantabile could run as a midi plug in, as was talked about back in C2 days, perhaps the integration of
midi files could be that much tighter.
I wonder if you can use one of the simple MIDI sequencing VST plugins for this, such as piz midi looper, slaving to Cantabile’s clock? It might make the workflow a little easier, rather than preparing a MIDI file in a separate DAW and playing it via a media player in Cantabile. I haven’t tried this…no promises 
Neil
I’m thinking that the simplest way to create a midi file is in a DAW.
How about using something like http://www.tobias-erichsen.de/software/loopmidi.html or equivalent, and simply connect your sequencer to Cantabile for the purposes of setting up midi files. (Assuming that you have not got a production DAW that you could simply connect a midi cable from)
That loopmidi app works perfectly.
It’s a great way to produce synchronous audio and midi.
The most intricate automation can be setup, with Cantabile in place,monitoring every move as it’s entered into the DAW.
Once everything is in recorded and is seen to be working, export the midi file (and any audio which may be required) and import to a Cantabile media player - and then lose the DAW,
IMO, this allows Cantabile to be what it is - a streamlined app for live performance, which can harness the power of a full DAW to create material which can turn Cantabile into an automation powerhouse.
Loopmidi looks good, thanks!
(it lasts some time to notice that loopmidi needs to be in play mode, otherwise it will not react to the play button in cantabile)
So the idea is to add a Note in Loopmidi and use the Note as a (time-based) trigger within the bindings to send a programchange, right?
Thanks,
Roelli.
Hi,
There is no ‘play’ mode in the loopMIDI app that I’ve linked to above. All it does is provide virtual midi cables between your apps. I play back from my sequencer/DAW into Cantabile using a virtual cable to connect them and then, once the midi from the sequencer is making the correct moves in Cantabile, I export the midi file and bring it into Cantabile, where it is assigned from the media player (s) to the correct destination (s) In this GIF, Nuendo is connected to Cantabile with a virtual loopMIDI cable. Cantabile has the loopMIDI connection activated in its Input Ports.
That input is sent to the required destination, in this case a synth which is changing patches and also has its volume controlled. Once all of that is working as required, a midi file is exported from Nuendo and imported into the media player, It’s only then that Cantabile needs to be in play, in order to play back the midi file.
Sorry if I’m stating the obvious, I just couldn’t work out what you meant by loopmidi being in ‘play mode’.
.
I’m tempted to just jump in and implement this but I want to design it properly and I think live loop control and a few other ideas all tie into it. So it’s not imminent, but high on the list.
Hi @brad,
I’ve read, you are currently in developing cantabile for mac.
But can you tell us about the timeline for implement this feature?
THX
Wurlitzer