I am setting up a comprehensive gig file for use with a cover band. I have a Nord Stage 3 and I will use its internal sounds as well as some additional VSTs hosted in GP.
I set up a rackspace for each song (this is how I prefer to work) and assigned a permanent Program Change and Bank number to each rackspace’s first (and only) variation. When I now change programs on the Nord GP follows. But when I change rackspaces in GP no MIDI PC message gets send out (I used to know this from MainStage where setting a PC would work both directions).
I read the blog articles pertaining to Program Change Messages and from what I getter, I need to put a MIDI Out Block in each rackspace specifying the PC message. As I felt this was kind of redundant since it requires me to set the PC twice, once in the rackspace or variation properties inspector and once in the MIDI Out block, I tried to find a solution with a script let that could be the same for all my rackspaces, i.e. “Get the assigned PC and Bank number and send it out via MIDI”, but these functions don’t seem to exist. Furthermore I cannot find an option like "Send PC on Activating Rackspace“ or so in the Global MIDI Settings.
Is there a way to do this without having to insert a MIDI Out block into each rackspace and manually putting in the PC number? I feel this is error prone as I would have to set the PC in the variation properties and then again in the MIDI Out Block and they always need to match, making shifting stuff around cumbersome.
So… if you are sending PC from the Nord, why do you also want to send the same PC back to the Nord?
Do you just want the relationoship to be bi-directional? Why not stick with one point of truth as it were and just slave the other?
You can set them up using the midi out block this way, I’d caution against this but…
you can do this from Setlist mode by sending a PC message on song part activation. It’s the same idea as midi outblock in the rackspace but it firewalls this behavior to just when you are in setlist mode. This can save you from some unwanted Nord patch jumping when you are just editing the sounds/rackspaces and don’t want to commit PC changes then and there. But it’s a manual setup per song kind of thing.
If you want to use GP in more of a headless type way and make all your performative PC decisions from the Nord then I wouldn’t think you’d need to set up the reverse PC setup.
I use a small midi-controller to send my song prev/next, rackspace prev/next commands and I send PC changes from my songpart commands for a few things to my hammond xk-5 which I use as my organ sound source, but not every song as I mostly just use the A#/B preset mode. All my splits and vsts and wether or not the XK is recieving it’s own midi (midi note on blocking in GP… using the XK with local mode off) all is rackspace controlled.
Actually I want the following: I will most of the time change programs on the Nord, but sometimes (the setlist is comprehensive and towards the end of the night we tend to jump around a lot depending on the crowd) use GP to more quickly locate a song, etc. - so that’s why I would like to be able to switch programs from the Nord as well as from GP.
I realize now that with MIDI Out on Activation when sending the PC from the Nord to GP, it will also send it back again immediately. This doesn’t really seem to cause trouble, but is of course very inelegant.
So what I need is:
A) When changing Patches on the Nord, i.e. sending a PC from the Nord to GP it should switch rackspaces - which is does perfectl.
B) When selecting a rackspace or variation in GP it should send a PC out to the Nord.
Which you can do using the MIDI out block. I don’t know of a way to automate this with scripting. Someone on here might be able to figure this out for you.
Do you use Setlist mode? If so then that is the fast way to actually find songs (ctrl-F) that might not be in your setlist in the middle of a gig and you can set PC changes in a couple of ways without having to set a midi-out block by using the song/parts PC change parameters (just double click the name).
You can alphabatize both rackspaces and songs in setlist too and manually search that way but you can’t ctrl-F a rackspace name, only a song in setlist mode.