I’ve been using reaosn a bit laterly on an unrelated topic and I really like how they provi9de the ability to wrap a whole bunch of stuff into one device, they call it a combinator. It might consist of something to generate some midi, then go here, there, amps, effects, reverb, send out both auto and midi. Whats our closest alternative to that? Make one of the old ‘midi devices’ and map macros to buttons? I really want to use Halion for this but with no MIDI out and and no ability to host outside plugins i don;t think i can do what i’d like to. Is scripts in halion the answer?
What you’re looking for is often called a “plugin chainer”. If you want audio and midi input and output, two of the contenders in this space are Blue Cat’s Patchwork and Plogue Bidule. The former has an easier GUI and the latter is more feature rich.
There are others, but I’m not as familiar with those.
If you don’t need audio in or midi out, PluginGuru Unify is an alternative way to build a super multi-synth (but not so much a standalone super fx).
Reasonably simple fx chaining is of course builtin with Cubase, but more sophisticated fx chains can be achieved via using group tracks in addition to audio tracks. But those setups generally are not as easily saved and recalled as when using a plugin chainer.
Buidling a super synth can in principle also be done just in Cubase, by using a single midi track to drive multiple rack devices" or instruments tracks. But these kind of setups also aren’t quite as easily saved and recalled as using a plugin chainer.
So while it’s possible to create very intricate audio and midi routings in Cubase, the use of plugin chainers (which effectively are VST plugins and VST hosts at the same time) is conceptually the closest to Reason’s Combinator.
I sometimes wonder, why Steinberg hasn’t created and included such a plugin into Cubase (Pro) and Nuendo. It’s not that Steinberg is shy about competing with other plugins.
Thanks Nico,
I thought as much. I have been using a plugin called Element for this kind of thing but whenever I get to that as a solution I start thinking, it’s too hard and there must be a simpler way. The problem is I’d like to stay in Halion 7 now that i see the macro panel has a designer section, here i can make knobs and stuff tyo control the things i want and then map them to my MK3 controller and we;ve got a little device. But that would mean going into Halion->out to other 3rd VST and then ->BACK into Halion which i feel just isn’t going to be possible. I’d love to be able to route one of the AUX in Halion to an external device, thats really what im after i think. What if I made another instance of Halion as an external FX? would that do anything? Im not sure it would
