So I have been limping along with Forte, but finally had the time to dive into Gig Performer. I really love a lot about working with GP, but am still having issues with Program Changes and just can’t figure out what I am doing wrong.
For example, for simplicity I have a set up with one rack… a Novation SL MKII going to Omni MIDI In block, which is connected to Amplitube 4. When I send PC message from SL MKII, Amplitube does not receive them… A MIDI monitor placed after MIDI in block shows those PC messages. The option to pass unused PC messages is checked and I am definitely sending unused PC numbers… only have the one rack. Opening a standalone version of Amplitube and sending the same PC messages from SL MKII directly, Amplitube changes presets appropriately.
Alternatively with the same rack above, I inserted a "knob’ on the front panel and assigned it to Amplitube and PC and still when turning that knob Amplitube does not respond…
I fully understand that the preferred method is to use rack spaces for program changes and that there are advantages to that. However it just does not work for me… and that has nothing to do with legacy products or an outdated MIDIcentric viewpoint. I perform improvisational music,so there is absolutely nothing sequential or linear to my working method onstage. I just need access to many different configurations as easily and simply as possible. Having 100 or more different rackspaces would not work for me, because I have no simple ability to choose between them other then a rotary knob which would be way too fiddly on stage.
What works for me is a hierarchical approach… so I have 16 basic configurations that I can easily access each with the press of a button from my bottom keyboard. And then I am able to change presets in those configurations sending out PCs form my top keyboard. Kinda like the rack spaces and variations if the variations were complete variations (presets).
Anyway, hopefuly someone can help with whatever I am doing wrong with the scenario above. Thanks!
Well, it probably receives them - however it may not be responding to them. Many plugins don’t react to program change messages at all while some require you to explicitly enable that feature, for example the FM8 from Native Instruments.
As I mentioned, when eliminating GP as middleman and using Amplitube in standalone mode it receives and responds to the PC messages exactly as it should. There is nothing to enable in Amplitube other than actually just putting presets in the MIDI PC slots in MIDI editor
@EnjoyRC can you please tell me how to share my gig file with you? I’ll have a look myself in a sec
@dhj ok understood. I used Amplitude only because it has standalone mode to check, but I guess that is not a valid check. However I was and am getting the same result with plugins that I was using in Forte which responded to PC messages,correctly, Arturia V Collection and U-he Diva
ok my mistake, I hadn’t actually used Amplitube in Forte as I only got it recently along with GP…but thought it would be helpful to use as an example of GP not responding to PC because I could test also in stand alone mode. But as you point out that isn’t actually a helpful test. I’m sorry I didn’t understand that.
However, having checked the Amplitube manual, ir does say it receives CC and PC messages. If PC and or CC assignments are made in the MIDI panel, Amplitube it -will respond to them. There is no enabling or disabling otherwise. And I had those PC assignments made.
And yes I did use Diva and V Collection in Forte, and they did respond to PC messages, while I have not been able make that work in GP…
But as I said I thought I was being most helpful by using Amplitube example, so very sorry for that. But would i would still appreciate getting this figured out.
All I can say is that I did a quick google search and found the following on some other forum:
For anyone else using the VST3, tech support wrote that it is a known issue that Amplitube 4 VST3 will not respond to Program Change messages, and that it will be fixed in a future update.
Thanks! Absolutely correct!! Just tried the VST2 and it changes presets perfectly. Now I need to figure out what I could be doing wrong with Diva and V collection,
I changed V Collection to VST2 versions as well and that indeed solved the problem also.
I do understand all of that in the link for Diva and it really doesn’t apply in this case though. I do not have an option of a VST2 for Diva in GP though to see if that is what the problem is, as it would seem. Not sure why that is. Maybe need to reinstall Diva. there mus be VST2 option
ok problem solved, I guess. VST3 versions of at least IK Amplitube 4, Arturia V-Collection 6, and U-He Diva, & Repro 1-5 do not seem to respond to PC messages in GP, while the VST2 versions work as they should.
Not saying it is GP issue… and whatever it is, for me it’s resolved. I don’t need VST3. I thought it was NEWER AND BETTER and I should use it as I rebuilt my rig with GP… but apparently it just adds audio in, which I don’t make use of at the moment.
So actually despite the headline of that link, Steinberg is saying it is incumbent on the plugin manufacture to implement the proper VST3 parameter to accommodate PCs, same as it was with VST2. I think all my plugins are up to date, so it is real surprising manufacturers of the status of Arturia, U-He and IK Multimedia have not done so yet.