I am aware that there are lots of conversations about “should I use the Global” however I haven’t yet seen one that meets my use case and so I wanted to see what the hive mind thought.
I play in a general covers band (Rolling in the Deep, Sweet Dreams, Shut up and Dance, Play that Funky Music and all sorts). As a results although I very rarely use the same patches, the overall layout is the same.
The setup is a
MODX 8
JUNO DS61
Komplete 14 ultimate (mostly kontakt)
All on a micro i7 32gb PC and going through a Behringer X18
The X18 allows me to have control over the output of both the Hardware and Software and this allows for some very details balancing of the sounds.
I have also utilized the Illuminated Keys Plugin/rack to allow for a NI lit keyguide (of sorts) and I also have a media player to play individual parts when someone cannot make a rehearsal.
Finally, I use GP4 to allow for control of all 16 parts of the MODX by the Juno and Control of the JUNO by the MODX (although this is less common) and to programme in splits. As we don’t have a guitarist I have been using some of the amazing Kontakt “Strum Guitar Patterns” to fill out the sound.
I am happy in general but wondered if there is a more efficient way of setting up.
I did play with the Global Rack for the initial Audio Routing however this just seemed like overkill. and most of my racks don’t have anything in common (other than the Illuminated keys and this has a different key guide per song as well as the Media Player, but this will have a different set of tracks per song)
I am worried that I am obsessing over Global Racks but that they are not really suitable for my use case.
I have optimised all of the Kontakt instruments and purged unused samples where I can. I am looking forward to the auto sampling coming up to try and make single “instruments” of the splits coming up
I agree if it works then that’s great but with all the talk about saving resources by using the Global Rack
I wanted to see if I was missing the point and there was a way I could save a chunk of resources. Unfortunately, apart from about 6 songs that both have either an organ base or a brass base then most of the racks are different. I just didn’t know whether because every rack will have the illuminated keys then should i seat that in the global rack and just call to it with a different front cover. - same with the Media Player.
Here is the Rationale
lluminated Keys allows me to check which physical key is being “depressed” for trouble shooting and as a reference. The colour coding is just so that If I haven’t opened a song for a while, I am easily able to remember how it has been mapped. the above example there are
Played using the JUNO
2 different instances of Native Instruments Kontakt strummed guitars for different song sections
A Native Instruments Kontakt Lead Guitar for the main INtro
Synth Pad on the MODX to underscore the Guitars played by the Juno
Controlled by the MODX
An Arp programmed on the MODX
A Lead Solo Synth on the MODX
and as on the NI plugin all three guitars are both mapped to the same section of the keyboard then there are multiple transposes already set to move them to a specific “Zone”.
Note - With the advent of the auto sampler I fully intend to sample the keyboard as set and then have three different guitar sounds sampled into a single sample patch …
Re the one MIDI MODX per channel. Again on the modx (88 key weighted Keybed) I have up to 16 parts available when creating a patch. The first 8 are controllable by the built in keyboard, the second 8 are controllable by a DAW however all are set from Midi CH1 to CH16.
By having a connection set up from the Juno (second teir with synth keybed) I can (using the buttons on the right hand of the rack) turn easily turn over control of any part on the MODX to the Juno.
Why?
well lets say I have a piano for one patch and an organ for a second. I want the weighted for the piano and the synth keybed for the organ but both are stored on the MODX
I have a live arp on the MODX and want to control that from a single note on the Juno
I have a brass sound layered on both the Juno and MODX so I can control both synths from a single Keybed.
All by clicking a button.
Finally, top left
when I started using GP3 I wanted a really clean way to send PC changes to all attached keyboards (I had a yamaha PSRS connected at one point and these were a nightmare with PC changes as there were multiple per patch) and I found the easiest way to track was to create a Midi block that was responsible for the PC and Tempo setting on every patch. May not be the best way, but it’s what I came up with - thats the PC blocks. The other blocks (Keyguide and Keyguide controller) control the scriplet to highlight each of the keys on each keybed via the illuminated Keys plugin
No, Not out of resources at the moment however I am always trying to find way of making the rig more efficient. and if we have something then why not use it (if it’s suitable)
If it works and you don’t really need to change anything, why bother?
Yes, you might use less RAM by putting stuff in the global rackspace — but if you have resources and you don’t need to read your email or surf the web while you’re performing ( ) and everything works for you then it’s not worth the effort (in my opinion) beyond perhaps the learning experience.
Thank you
Whilst i agree, i am setting up a new computer with GP4 and moving from GP3 and so although u do have a bunch of rackspaces to potentially import, i was hoping to clean everything up and start from scratch with a new install and new starting template especially as i have moved from from 3 to 4.
) and everything works for you then it’s not worth the effort (in my opinion) beyond perhaps the learning experience.