Hi there. Very new user, using midi in live performance for the first time for an upcoming show (normally just use keyboards/synths with onboard sounds). I’ve figured out some basics, but I’m trying to see how I can use Cantabile to trigger a specific VST, have that VST play for a designated period (measures/beats), and then stop.
The song is “Time”, by Pink Floyd.
I’ve used Cantabile to route two sounds on a split to my keyboard controller (Arturia Keylab Essential 49 Mk3, if that matters), so I can play the synth bass and the organ sound.
*I am wondering if I can use Cantabile bindings or other features to control one of the touch-pads on the controller to trigger the “tick-tock” sound effect via VST, and then have that sound automatically end after a certain number of beats, as it does in the original song.
Alternately, could I use the onscreen keyboard to route/trigger this effect? I have managed to connect the “tick-tock” to that keyboard, but the sound only plays as long as I’m clicking on the virtual keys–I want the triggered sound to continue for X beats, as noted above.
Sorry for what I’m certain is a real “noob” question, but any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Cantabile can do what you say but it would help to know which version of Cantabile you are using. I think you would need the Performer version to do it. Let us know what you are running and we’ll figure it out.
I’m still in the “trial” period, but given the fact that I wouldn’t be a power user, I was planning to purchase the “Solo” version when the trial expired. So, no way to do it with that version?
By the way, if I can’t set it to turn off after a certain number of measures, I would be ok with tapping the pad again to cancel–I guess the only question then would be–can I route a sound only to the pads on the keyboard, or does Solo only route to the keyboard keys themselves?
It can do it manually I believe (you press a pedal and it starts the media player or sequencer and you press it again and it stops it). It will not do it in an automated way on a timeline. You need Performer for that action.
I alluded to that being the way to go in the previous post and it should work fine.
You can route to external keyboards if they are configured in the MIDI ports in Tools>Options>MIDI Ports. You can use the keys on the controller to trigger VST sounds loaded in Cantabile. You can also send MIDI notes to the hardware keyboard to trigger notes on it using either regular routing or bindings.
It sounds like Solo should do it so I guess now it would be good to know exactly what you have built up in your song. Can you post the song here? If not can you post some screen shots of the routes pane so we can see what you have going so far?
What I want is to route the item that’s currently on the Onscreen keyboard to the “Brand new white keyboard”–but not to the keys themselves. Rather, to one of the touch-pad controls at the top of the keyboard. I would like to tap one of these pads to start the VST of the clccks ticking, and then hit the same pad to cancel that. Thanks so much for your help so far!
As far as I know the pads on the keyboard default to MIDI notes that are sent on the same channel as the keys so you could use the pad to send the note to Cantabile and use a binding to enable / disable the routes involved.
So in theory you would have to rename the route(s) you want to control with the binding. Do this by selecting the “Brand new white keyboard” slot and hitting the F2 function key and then give the route a unique name. It will be added to the port name you already have. Once that is done you need to find out what MIDI message is being sent by the pad(s) on the keyboard. Place a MIDI monitor on the input route that is sending from the keyboard and see what notes or possible messages are being sent. Once we know that answer we can fix the route and build a binding for it.
FWIW I have the binding figured out. It toggles on the press of a key or a MIDI pad like you asked for. I needed to get onto the Solo version to check it and it worked fine. Let me know when you are ready to try it on your rig.
