I’ve been a hardcore Forte user since about 2005 and sadly with it ending I have to look at porting across years of work But Gigperformer is looking good so far! However, I’m struggling to figure out how to achieve the following:
In my current setup I have 3 keyboards MIDI’d in, Forte does all the layering/splits/rerouting of controllers, and then MIDI goes back out to all of the boards. SO that means I can play board 1, and layer it with board 2 and 3, on any channels I want, with any splits and routing I want. This gives me unlimited possibilities with layering multiple boards together. But as far as I can see in GigPerformer, one MIDI input can only have 1 key zone, so to achieve this I would have to create multiple MIDI inputs (p;ossible 10 for some songs, which would get very messy). So as an example:
Play Keyboard 1 on Channel 1with local control off, connect to MIDI Input 1 into Forte. Then inside Forte I take that one signal and layer it/split it/transpose sections, so that it then outputs back to the same keyboard, but maybe on channels 1 (full keyboard), channel 2 just left hand, channel 3 right hand but tranposed, where the sustain pedal from the same keyboard only sends through to channels 1 but not 2 and 3, and then I can also send it out to keyboards 2 and 3 and do similar things
That’s just an example, but in Gig Performer the only way I can see to do that is to duplicate the MIDI input lots of times? Is that correct?
If so then for my personal use it would get very messy I think, as I have it setup so I just have one sustain pedal, and then I route that to whichever outboard or soft synths I need, so I’d need to create a new MIDI input for each of those treatments
Thanks in advance for any help and hope I explained that correctly! Pete
Each MIDI in/out block will handle one device with one split. The split itself could contain multiple parameters like key range and velocity etc…
You can route and block channels in each block so to do what you are trying to do you may have to create multiple MIDI in/out blocks. If you name then properly - it will actually be very easy to manage.
Things that users coming from Forte and other applications are typically not taking advantage of is our Widgets system and Rackspace/Variation concept.
For example … you could have one MIDI In block, but then have a few knob widgets that connect to its MinNote/MaxNote/Transpose etc… parameters.
Now you can create several variations in that rackspace and after switching to a specific variation - move those knobs so that the split/transpose/channels etc match what you want.
Variations are automatically remembered and recalled when you activate them.
Song parts can be connected to a variation and automatically switch everything of you.
It is always challenging to switch to a new piece of gear - be it hardware or software after using something for many years, but I think you’ll find GP to be very flexible and constantly improving.
As a former Forte user myself, the best advice I can give you is to stop trying to think in terms of how/what you did in Forte, and instead try to look at Gig Performer as a new product rather than in terms of a replacement for Forte. I was slow to take this advice and it would have saved me thrashing in getting my rig fully converted to Gig Performer.
In terms of the midi inputs, just remember you can have ‘multiple’ midi inputs for a single controller. This does create some virtual cable spaghetti but as per the feedback I’ve gotten from other GP users, this is normal. Also, don’t try to fit widgets into the same category as controller re-mappings in Forte. It is a very different paradigm. Widgets are extremely flexible and powerful.
If you use Kontakt, there’s no more of the ‘preloading’ your samples on opening the rack as long as you’re using predictive loading in GP. That has been a HUGE improvement for my workflow and performance.
I can tell you this though; while there are some things I could make an argument I could do quicker in Forte, GP has been far more flexible and stable for me so far. I’m only 4 gigs into my conversion, but my bandmates and I have all been pleased with the change.
But Gigperformer is looking good so far! However, I’m struggling to figure out how to achieve the following: