Wireless control of plugins and master volume using Android tablet

Cantabile
1

Hi, all. I’m a new member so please forgive me if this has already been asked. I haven’t purchased Cantabile 3 yet and want to make sure I can do everything I wish with it.

Already the software looks to be very flexible and should accomplish what I want, but it is the control aspect that I’m interested in.

My current scenario is: playing live with Korg Krome 61, Korg Nano Control 2, Windows i7 laptop (for Cantabile), Android tablet running MobileSheets Pro, Roland Duo Capture EX.

I connect the Korg to the midi in on the Roland and the Roland connects via USB to the PC as does the Nano. I have BloXpander as my current VST host and I use the Nano to control up to 7 instruments per song (mute, solo, pan, volume) with the 8th slider controlling main volume. MobileSheets Pro can also send Program Change messages, when you select a song, and I’ve got that changing Combis on the Korg via the Korgs USB midi port.

Unfortunately the Krome doesn’t pass thru the midi signal when it comes from the USB (at least I can’t find that if it does). If I connect the Krome to the Roland midi out I can get Cantabile to set the keyboard to the correct Combi when I change songs,

What I would like to do is use MobileSheets Pro to select my songs and have it wirelessly (preferably) set the song in Cantabile, which would in turn set the Krome to the correct patch as above. I’d also like to control the same per plugin settings (mute, solo, pan, volume) as well as Main Volume. Plus, if possible, I’d like to replace the Nano as my controller with another tablet (perhaps running TouchDAW?) connected wirelessly to Cantabile thus removing one cable (at least) and providing a much easier control surface.

Is anyone using this kind of set up live and, if so, what are you using for each part of the process? Could it be accomplished in another way?

Thanks in advance and my apologies for the verbosity!

Cheers!

2

Hi Brian

I use a slightly different setup, but similar in that I control Cantabile from my LivePrompter tool on a tablet via wifi - see here.

The key to this is to be able to send MIDI program changes (and bank selects) to Cantabile, which then takes care of everything else. I do this via rtpMIDI, which allows to send wireless MIDI from my (Windows) tablet to my Cantabile PC.

Not sure how your MobileSheets App sends MIDI data, but could you get it to send these program changes to Cantabile directly? Don’t know if there is an option to send MIDI data wirelessly from Android to your Cantabile laptop. How do you currently send program changes from your Android tablet to your Krome? Maybe use this mechanism to send the program changes to Cantabile instead; then attach the Krome to Cantabile.

As I understand, @brad is planning to build a network server into Cantabile at some point in time. This would allow to build an Android app that controls Cantabile directly over the network, without the need to send MIDI. But no idea when this will be available, so I suggest you try the above approach…

Cheers,

Torsten

3

I just pulled it off using TouchOSC Bridge (Link to docs)

I could easily use any of the layouts to send controller messages to Cantabile from my Android. (Works on IOS as well.)

http://hexler.net/software/touchosc-android

http://hexler.net/software/touchosc (for IOS)

Very important for this to work with Cantabile or other software:

TouchOSC Bridge

You might want these (require Java)

32-Bit TouchOSC Editor

64-bit TouchOSC Editor

Try the simpler layouts, like “Simple” and “Keys” and “Mix 2” to test it.

4

I have been using Forte to run my VSTs and to display lead sheets. It is similar to Cantabile live mode notes with background graphics display. So far, Cantabile3 surpasses flexibility of Forte by leaps and bounds except that C3 has some trouble rasterizing the graphics leadsheets are converted to. Occasionally, C3 will drop a horizontal line. If I need to read notes, that is not good. Think Every Good Does Fine. As a result, I’m examining options for using a tablet. I tried at one point, but couldn’t keep the power on. It would turn off in the middle of a gig. I’ve used a Galaxy Android tablet to access the server in my rack that runs C3. It was vary cool and wireless using VSC like when I had a Receptor. In the end, I had to plug it in and never could find a good stand to hold it. I’ve used my phone as a WLAN switch and that works pretty well. Just be sure you have a password in case someone figures out what you are doing. I haven’t tried an ad hoc connection–just haven’t gotten around to it. I tried using a USB-connected monitor, but it wasn’t reliable. Also, it required an ugly hardware hack to keep the chip’s graphics processor turned on.

As of now, I have a Lilliput monitor that sits comfortably on which ever keyboard I’m using. If I need to read notes (especially flute), I bring hard copy.

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Is Forte able to display non-rasterized leadsheets (i.e. scalable vector graphics) or is it just managing to display rasterized images better than Cantabile?

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I believe it’s that Cantabile drops raster lines to resize. I’ll try to do some screen shots. May be tomorrow or Friday.

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Here is C3 with a page from the church gig

C3 Screenshot 2016-03-16 18.42.52.png1277×860 127 KB

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And here’s the same page from Forte (both in Live Mode equivalent)

Forte Screenshot 2016-03-16 20.39.43.png1600×900 138 KB

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Hey Richard,

Could you send me a copy of that image you’ve got loaded into the show notes.

Also, although the show notes were never intended as a score reader, I should have realized that it’s pretty tempting to try anyway. I’m guessing you’d like a way to better fit that sheet on screen vertically?

Brad

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Show notes works “good enough”. I use a Lilliput monitor on Vertical and it works pretty well… Like I said (while accidentlly hijacking this thread) I just get a few lines dropped here and there. Sight reading would be a problem, but it’s a little better than words and chords.

Thanks for your attention.

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow v134 (D-E).png2550×3300 160 KB

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OK, the next build fixes the rendering of the image so the lines no longer disappear.

Also, I’ve added the ability to rescale images - just select it in the show notes panel (so it gets the blue border) and use Ctrl+PgUp/PgDown to adjust the scale. You can scale up as high as you like but Cantabile will then re-scale its back down to the width of the show notes panel (as it currently does)

eg:

Pasted image1291×926 113 KB

This will be in 3160 coming soon.

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12

You, sir, are awesome.

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@brianvic sorry for hijacking your thread. Neal seemed to be handling you questions before I could respond–and they were probably better than I would have come up with. I used to use a Kurzweil 2500x as a master controller. I could use the layers in the SETUPs to send patch changes to my computer (or at times Receptor). I think if you make the Korg the master, you can send SONGLIST and STATE numbers as patch changes (say on ch 16) and sync SONGLIST numbers pick the song, STATE numbers per song pick the sections. A lot of my songs have only one STATE precluding the need for additional STATES. One way or the other, you have to either let CANTABILE change the KORG or the KORG change CANTABILE. If you try to do both, it could get ugly and confusing. For live Jam-style playing, I use a couple of “generic” songs (rock, ballad, synth, horns, etc.) and pick the generic song, then have faders on the KB or Novation controller to “fine-tune” the sound.

BTW, thanks for the idea of the Tablet software. I feel like I’m pretty close to making it work. I think I’ll have to use Bome MT to route MIDI around. I’m already using it for integrating the Novation with Cantabile. I’m not sure it’s NECESSARY given Cantabile’s extensive MIDI filter and control capability. I think I’ll get it to work, then see if I can get it to work without it later.

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@RackedBrain I’m perfectly happy being hijacked! :slight_smile: I’m glad to get any assistance and actual use cases really help.

I’ve nearly got a working setup. Just didn’t think about how much configuring I’d have to go through!

My preferred process is:
Mobilesheets Pro for song selection. This is connected to the Korg via USB. Each song brings up the music and sets the correct patch.

The Korg is connected through a Roland Duo audio interface using standard midi cables. When the correct patch is showing I move off it and back on. This sets Cantabile to the correct song, if required.

I’ve also got TouchOSC running on my new Samsung Galaxy Tab A. It wirelessly connects to my laptop and Cantabile using a WiFi hotspot on the laptop. Touch Bridge provides the virtual midi ports.

I’ve still to finish building the TouchOSC GUI, but what I have is working great. I’ve got 8 channels controlling output gain on each rack/plugin in a song as well as the Main Volume of Cantabile itself. All via song bindings or the background Rack for the Main output.

I’ve also added a mute and solo button on each channel. So far I have the mutes working using a Binding to the channel Bypass. Still figuring out if I can do something with the solo button since Cantabile has no solo function. At least not one I’ve found. Is there any kind of macro programming? Then I could create a macro to mute all channels EXCEPT the incoming one. Perhaps one for Brad?

I only have a partial selection of my set configured, but so far I’m very pleased with how it’s working. I can almost forget about what’s going on and just press a couple of buttons to set everything up. There may be another way of doing all this, but I understand this way and I don’t want to use the PC as my master controller. My Mobilesheets song book is king on stage! :grinning:

As I discover new ways of doing things I’ll post on the forum in case it’s of interest to others.

1 Like
15

There’s no mute/solo button yet in Cantabile, although you can go a long way towards simulating them with bindings (as you’ve been doing). Worth also considering muting instruments by disabling the MIDI routes to the instruments - that way any sustained sound (or held notes) will continue to sound until released, rather than being chopped off, as you get with bypass. Cantabile is clever about not leaving any hanging notes if you cut the route while there’s MIDI activity on it.

Brad has been contemplating adding mute/solo - have a look at this thread.

Neil

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Image rendering bug and scaling feature in 3160 available now.

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