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I am fairly new to software synths and to DP, though I'm an old veteran with MIDI recording and hardware synths.

What I used to enjoy doing was to load a bank of patches into a synth and then roam through the bank, improvising with each new sound to "feel it out", and often really good ideas would emerge while doing so that would later become pieces. (Sometimes finished pieces!) The synth would send a patch change to the MIDI recorder, and I'd be certain to include a full Sysex dump along with the folder of files done with that bank so I could restore the relevant patches.

How do I enjoy that same ease and freedom in DP with a VSTi?

I have learned about the keyboard shortcuts for moving up and down patch numbers (Win-up/down for Windows, Cmd-up/down on Mac), but that does not record a bank & patch change entry into the track. None of the "clickable" entries seem to. I know I can send a patch change from my keyboard, but that only serves me up to patch 128. Many VSTi's have thousands of patches!

It seems one needs to make a new instrument track, assign the patch, and then record - a long-winded process that somewhat stifles the creative flow with a lot of left-brain doings.

Is what I am after even possible? Am I misunderstanding how VSTi's store the patch info per MIDI track?

I know I can record the audio, or freeze the track, but the thing that I'm trying to do is to stay in my right-brain for an extended time while capturing editable MIDI. (I actually have some trouble switching hemispheres smoothly - always have.)

I just want to hit "next patch" and have that recorded into the MIDI file somehow while remaining in the act of recording that single track.

Any help or links to existing articles or posts I will be very thankful for!

Terry

Do your soft synths respond to bank change messages? If you can send those from your keyboard, that should give you access to more than 128 options. DP should record and play those back like any other MIDI data, I believe (though I can't test that now).

I recently got an Akai MPK249, and it does have the ability to send bank changes.

I had tried sending them from Cantabile 3 to my Linplug Spectral plugin, and it did respond to bank change messages. Interestingly, once it was in a bank, I could just send regular program messages after that and it would stay in that bank. But for recording, I'd naturally want to always send both bank and program change messages each time.

So, I'll give this a try! Thanks - I did not think to look up whether this was possible - you made me RTFM!

Program Change with Bank Change

MIDI Channel: This setting determines over which MIDI channel the messages are sent. The available settings are Common, USB A1–A16, and USB B1–B16.

Program Number: This determines the Program number that will be sent. The available range is 000–127. Please refer to your external MIDI device's documentation for information on its available programs.

MSB / LSB: These determine the MSB (Most Significant Bit) and LSB (Least Significant Bit). The available range is 000–127.

Hopefully, this will work with several of my plugins.

Terry

Good news! The Akai MPK249 does have the ability to send banked program change messages, and I tested with Linplug's Spectral and it responded perfectly.

Generally, MSB sent was always zero, with the LSB being the number that determined the bank.

Thanks for getting me to take a look at that. My other older controllers did not have this capability.

Terry

Great! Glad you found a solution.

Those pesky manuals...