Help me DP, you're my only hope...No, there is another

[Douglas Romayne]

I’m not having an issue with DP per se but hoping DP might have a solution for my problem:

First, I’m running DP 8.07 on a 2008 Mac Pro 8-core, OS 10.9.4. I’m linked to a couple satellite PCs (Windows 7 64-bit) running sample libs in Kontakt 5.5 (full version) hosted in VEPro 5 (the latest MAS version).

What I want to be able to do is mute and un-mute Kontakt instruments on the fly via MIDI CCs sent from my MPK49 keyboard controller. For example, MPK button #1 assigned to CC32 turns Kontakt instrument #1 on/off, button #2 assigned to CC33 controls instrument #2, and so on. Unfortunately, the Mute button in the Kontakt instrument panel can’t be controlled via MIDI. A couple forums suggested a script could be written that would allow for that but so far I’ve not come across any. And writing scripts is a bit beyond me at the moment.

I’ve read that an instrument’s volume can be automated via MIDI by editing the groups inside the Edit mode. Sadly, the library I’m trying to do this with doesn’t allow the user access to the edit mode (Sample Modeling’s Horns). The Mute function in VEPRo’s mixer doesn’t allow for MIDI assignments either.

I’ve sent my request to Sample Modeling but while I wait to hear from them I thought I’d explore options in DP. Specifically, I want to be able to mute and un-mute the individual Horn patches so I can create any number of combinations while composing/sequencing/mocking up unison horn lines. These are the Unison for Ensemble patches, for those familiar with the library, so they all live on the same MIDI channel. For instance, I may want to play a line using Hn 1 and 3/mute 2 and 4, or play Hn 2 and 3/mute 1 and 4, or play Hn 1,2,3/mute Hn 4, etc. The goal is to have the ability to change the size of the section (as well as the tonal color) from solo to a4, and everything in between, with a simple button push or two. The same function would also be handy in LASS for creating any possible combination of its A/B/C/FC patches.

I’ve considered sending each horn to its own aux channel in DP and recording automation in the sequence that turns the channels on and off but that doesn’t give me the flexibility of MIDI CCs. What other options do I have in DP or, better yet, does anyone have a lead on the Kontakt script idea?

[Shooshie]

Can you use MIDI track mutes? Does it have to be Kontakt that gets muted, or could it be the MIDI source?

[FMiguelez]

VE Pro does respond to MIDI CCs. I automate its pan and stereo aperture all the time with my Novation keyboard from DP.
Can you mute VE Pro's channels instead of Kontakt?

[Douglas Romayne]

I like the simplicity of muting the instrument in Kontakt but no, it could happen anywhere along the line. All four instruments are on the same MIDI channel so if I mute the MIDI channel would it not mute them all?

I'm happy to hear that VEPro can be controlled via CC. Would love to know how you're setting that up. I haven't looked under the hood other than checking to see if the mute button had a MIDI learn function. I have each horn going to its own output in Kontakt and into its own channel in VEPro so if I could mute those VEP channels from my MPK that would work.

[Douglas Romayne]

Apologies for the stream of SW references but we are only a few days away...

FMiguelez: your reply led me to find the Automation Mapping in VEPro and sure enough, I can assign a CC to mute the channels. Woo-hoo! Thanks for that.

I'll have to add some additional audio channels in Kontakt and VEP to give me the complete power I crave but that's easy enough.

[FMiguelez]

I´m glad you found it helpful, Douglas!

I have all that automation preassigned in most of my MIDI tracks, so they are always ready to be automated.

However, I´m considering deleting all that VE Pro automation now, since I prefer to be able to adjust the pan and stereo width in real time from DP´s mixer (as opposed to printing the tracks this way). Also, I suspect that having all my MIDI tracks preassigned with these parameters, make my V-Racks (with VE Pro) unnecessarily large.