What are instances?
Instances are a unique feature of Gig Performer that lets you use the application more than once at the same time. It’s not just separate windows - the computer treats them as completely separated applications with their unique settings and resources. This also gives you potentially more processing power.
How do I use multiple instances?
The are several reasons the concept was created. I’ll give you a few examples:
-
Multiple band members can have their own Gig Performer application with separate rackspaces, settings, inputs and output on the same computer.
-
To make better use of the available processing power you can outsource resource-heavy plugins to a separate instance since it uses different CPU cores
-
My personal use: I see instances as completely separated environments including all needed settings: audio, MIDI, plugin, rig, display and predictive loading settings. So I have an instance I use on stage, one for the studio and one for mobile use.
How do I create or start instances?
Instances are created, deleted and launched from the file menu of the main instance. While all settings are stored separately, the moment an instance is created the settings are duplicated from the currently running instance. Use this to your advantage, but don’t forget they go separate ways from that moment on.
Link to the manual: Multi-instance support
Instances can also be started independently from the main instance using the command line or an AppleScript. This can be useful if you don’t want the main instance running while using another instances.
On Mac there is a terminal command that I have wrapped in an AppleScript so I behaves like a regular application. You can even copy the GP icon and replace the default icon so it looks like a regular app. That way you can automatically launch this instance when the Mac is started, too.
GP Studio.zip (391.6 KB)
Double click to launch or open in Script Editor and change the name „Studio“ to whatever you like.
For Windows see the blog below.
How do I connect multiple instances?
By design the instances are completely separated from each other. This is a big advantage especially if you use it for different musicians. In some cases you may still want some connection between them, for example to send audio and MIDI or the synchronize the rackspace selection. There are several ways to do this:
- GP5 introduced a built-in option to send or respond to rackspace and song changes via OSC. If the ports are set correctly one instance can reflect the selection done on the other.
Link to the manual: OSC - Using GPRelayer you can transfer audio and MIDI back and forth across different instances. Use more relayer plugins if you required more than two audio channels.
Link to the manual: GP Relayer - If you like to synchronize widgets across instances you can use scripting and custom OSC messages in combination with the „On WidgetValueChanged“ callback on one instance and the „On OSCMessageReceived“ callback on the other.
You can also synchronize them via MIDI (with the IAC bus, for example, or the OSC MIDI in and out blocks).
Check out this blog article for more detailed explanations: How to use multiple instances in Gig Performer 4 - Gig Performer®
And please also see this collection of very useful knowledge on instances:
[blog] How to use multiple instances in Gig Performer 4 - #42 by npudar