Hello all - long time keyboard player but new to GP. Rebuilding my rig into a hybrid setup and getting ready to play live again.
I have 5 hardware synths - Nord Stage 3, Nord Wave 2, Sequential Rev 2, Yamaha Motif Rack XS and an Integra 7.
Mac Mini M1 racked with Arturia and other VSTs.
MioXL and an XR18 for MIDI and audio routing (and an interface for the Mac)
So essentially I have 3 keyboards that can use onboard sounds or trigger other ones, 2 rack synths that can be played by any of those keyboards as well as VSTs. I also have a Yamaha MFC10 that can be put into the config to change banks, trigger things, etc.
I’m doing a lot of covers and can see things changing per song, so for example I could be using the Stage B3 on the bottom along with a VST on the Wave one song, and for another playing something on the Wave internally and the Motif on the Rev 2.
I’ve been able to wire up basic stuff to route MIDI and audio fine, but would love some tips on how to best set things up for a set list and to give me flexibility if needed.
To be most flexible I would use the keyboard controllers just as midi controller.
So local off would be best.
Then in Gig Performer you can create your splits and send midi out to your hardware or to the vst.
You should read about setlist mode, because here you can create songs and songparts and can reuse rackspaces.
Thanks for the feedback and your help! I will definitely look into set list mode.
My concern with using local mode only is that it basically eliminates 3 of my keyboards, and I like the performance capabilities and sounds from each of them. The second disadvantage is that it puts a lot more weight on needing to use VSTs.
I wondered if there was a way to create a panel for each keyboard that lets me select the MIDI channel to talk to and to select local mode on or off, plus then send the appropriate program change.
So imagine for one keyboard configuration it would be set to play the Integra 7 and have local off, another to play local on and not play anything else, a 3rd to play a VST layered with a local sound, etc. I’ll have to look at the panel designer to see how that could be done. Anyone with suggestions here?
No the wiring I would do in the local rackspaces.
Sure you could do a routing in the global rackspace, but the you would have to use gpscript and widgets to adjust that to your needs.
Best is do your splits and routings and send pc messages to your hardware in the local rackspaces.
You can send out a s many midi messages you want to your hardware when songs or song parts are selected.
The initial idea of the global rackspace was to place plugins you need for all rackspaces,
Like master compressor or eq etc.
Some users use the global rackspace with vst and make changes via gpscript.
I am not a fan of that because it makes things more complex.
And when you have a decent machine with cpu and ram using local rackspaces is straight forward.
Actually, too much knowledge about MIDI can bite you when you try to use a modern plugin host like Gig Performer.
In particular, consider leaving all your controllers on MIDI channel 1 (easy to do since presumably they’re all on separate USB ports) and let Gig Performer handle splits, layering and (if necessary) midi channel changes.
For example, if you want three different areas of a keyboard to control three different sounds on a single multi-timbral plugin that uses MIDI channels to determine which sound to play (like Omnisphere or perhaps Kontakt, or even a hardware synth like the Kronos that supports multi-channel combis), then create three MIDI In blocks, set the keyboard range (lower/upper) for each one, and then change the output channel for each block
In this image, there are three MIDI In blocks, all receiving MIDI from the same keyboard.
And so, for example, the Top only handles notes starting at C4 and the channel number for output is changed to 3
Yes, that was something I was definitely planning to do.
Assuming I don’t do splits (at least right away) it seems like I could have a top, middle and bottom keyboard represented which would then feed the appropriate output (hardware or VST).
I saw a scriptlet to handle program changes and imagine that’d be in the mix as well.
You misunderstood me (or rather, I used a poor choice of words)
I was referring to the bottom, middle and top areas of a single keyboard, not to three separate keyboards.
But you’re right….you should define a Top, Middle and Bottom in Rig Manager to refer to the physical layout of your keyboards. Then you could have multiple instances of each of those to manage individual splits or layers
Your words were fine (I understood what you were saying)! I probably won’t split that much but I like the idea of defining the 3 boards as reusable parts that can be used when connecting to the destination.
I turned off local mode and tested routing via GP and it works fine without any discernible latency either. Another side benefit for live gigs is that if I have a default template where they go nowhere then I really don’t have to mess with my audio master and some random person comes up to my rig and tries to play something.
I’m changing my approach a little. Instead of using the 4th Soleman pedal button to trigger the organ speed, I’m going to plug in a simple sustain switch pedal and wire it.
So - this leaves a button free. What do people typically trigger in GP? I have song down, song up and panic already, and use a CV into the Soleman for master volume.
