I am looking to convert from Brainspawn Forte and am having a difficult time wrapping my head around the “logic” of GP. Hopefully someone can offer some insight…
In Forte, I load all my VST synths and samplers (about 15 total) in one rack, and simply create a scene for each song (or part of a song), and from that one rack I can configure and route all my synths, changing any presets (or customized sounds) to any section of any controller keyboard.
In other words, I use one “master” rack, create different scenes, and with one touch of a button forward all the sounds and MIDI routing can change wherever I want them to from any synth or sampler. I can have 1 synth map to 4 different sections of a controller, or when necessary, map CC controls from one controller to a synth being played on another (that’s great for when you need to use one expression pedal for multiple synths together).
It doesn’t seem to be that easy with GP. Could I do something similar in GP, or do I have to create a rack for every song, and create variations of that rack to move within the song?
I have looked at various video tutorials online, but have yet to find something that is similar to how I go through a live show.
I switched from Forte to Gig Performer abut three years ago. It was an excellent move. Once you get your head around the graphical nature of the GP interface, programming is a real breeze.
And yes, I use one rack space per song. With predictive loading set on three, a song/rack space for me loads in two or three seconds. GP is a great program - go for it!
My two cents on “the big picture”…
In Brainspawn Forte you have one big rack of all your VST’s and you create different “Songs” by muting/unmuting the VST’s (so each song has the VST’s you want, and mutes VST’s you don’t want in that song).
In Gig Performer you start with a new blank rack for each song and add just the VST’s you want.
And, BTW, if you want to map knobs, sliders, etc make sure you start trying to use widgets early on. (Don’t use a VST’s built-in auto learn to map knobs, etc from your controller to the VST. Use widgets instead.
I appreciate the early responses…especially the link from @npudar . Thank you!
My concern is, I play in a Prog tribute band…20 minute songs. There are many instances where I will have 4-6 parts to one song (called “Scenes” in Forte) and they could use an entirely different set of synths. I am not seeing how I can incorporate wholesale changes of synths within one rack in GP. If I need multiple racks just for one song, is there still wisdom in changing over, in spite of Forte’s difficulty in handling newer plugins?
Switching between racks in GP may not be practical for me, as many times I need a complete set of new sounds from 5-6 different synths within a beat of music. Is that a doable requirement?
I will keep looking and experimenting. Any nuggets of wisdom are totally welcomed. I would really like to change over…I just need to make sure that GP can handle Rick Wakeman’s rig in a laptop as quickly as Forte does.
Uhmmm—I do a Genesis medley in one of my Prog bands where I am switching entire sets of plugins in the middle of a beat while leveraging patch persist to keep the old sounds working. That’s one of the key features of rackspaces.
Check out this video from a show — the recording is lousy (both soundwise and visual) but it will give you an idea of what can be done.
you have the option given to load all the VSTs you want into one rackspace,
and just mute/unmute them as you need. (based on the CPU power of your PC)
You can do that by using widgets and controlling many widgets by one button or footswitch.
Look at the widget edit field ( connect first a widget -for example a button- to a VST),
check the available options. On top ( right side of the edit field) you see: “bypass plugin”.
work with that command.
Group all needed widgets into one group ( see manual).
you need to have one widget per one bypass command/control ( sorry, my english fails here). So, a one knob control to mute/unmute many plugins is easily doable.
You need to understand the widget concept.
But, that task will be a good exercise anyway. you can learn here several things in one go.
I´d just do a test rack just to check this operation out.
I was a Forte ‘snob’ for years and I built tons of complex scenes/songs in Forte’. I’ll admit it took me awhile to simply ignore my Forte’ knowledge and fully embrace GP. Embrace racspaces, variations, songs and song parts. As DJH stated, he plays in a Peter Gabriel/Genesis tribute band and does tons of VERY complex changes through GP. That is why he built it in the first place.
GP is actually simpler than Forte’, but switching live hosts in general is more difficult than switching recording DAWS in my opinion. There is more at stake in live performance.
Trust the many of us that have switched from Forte’ to GP since Brainspawn shuttered its’ virtual doors. This is the best place to turn and the best community to help you make that change.
Thank you @xpansion and everyone else for chiming in with tips and encouragement.
While I do not consider myself a “snob” for using Forte, I do agree that it would probably have been easier to use GP had I never started with another VST host in the first place.
I found Forte very intuitive…I never used a manual or watched a tutorial vid. It just “happened.” I am not experiencing this here, hence my frustration. No doubt if someone created just one of my performance songs with me watching along, that would be all I would need to get going. Alas, I know of no one who does this type of stuff other than me (locally), so I will continue to poke and prod. Hopefully it will “click” sooner rather than later!
Hi @Joey, did you watch the tutorials provided on the Gig performer Website?
There are some very interesting videos on You Tube and most important:
Did you read the manual?
Sure best is a software which does not require a user manual, but which kind of software would that be?
Gig Performer is so powerful - sure when you are experienced with some other DAW’s or similar like Mainstage you can use Gig performer without reading any manual or watching tutorials.
But when you want use it optimal - you have to read
I have been reading the manual…however I will admit that in my desire to get up and running, I know I am missing things. I feel kinda “under the gun”…being in limbo between platforms while still trying to perform with my band.
For example (and I know it’s there somewhere)…I use a few samplers (Kontakt, Sampletank, etc)…in Forte, those samplers are fully loaded with all their sounds and remain “static” as you move through each scene/song/setlist. I didn’t see how you can load, Kontakt for example, with 16 MIDI channels of samples, across all the racks and songs for an entire performance so you aren’t re-loading the instrument with each passing song (or section of song).
But in Gig Performer it is better to use different rackspaces and use the plugins/sound you need for a song.
With variations you can switch between sounds by using widgets to bypass or unbypass plugins or by blocking Note On messages etc.
When you enable patch persist you switch between rackspaces seemless without any glitch
Sure you can use a Sampler, load it fully with the sounds you need on different channels.
But this way you need more RAM and maybe you get hanging Notes when switching MIDI channels.
I understand your rationale…but that’s one of my main concerns. I use some rather robust sized sample sets (lots of large orchestral patches). To have them loading and unloading in Forte during a show was a disaster. MIDI locking and crashing galore! Once I realized I could load up the sampler with everything and leave it there…then just access whatever channel I need per Scene (song)…it became as stable as a sitting boulder. I’ve never experienced a RAM issue before.
