I keep finding things I want to do that don’t seem possible but would like to see if I am missing something an offer an idea. In Guitar Rig, you can add an LFO or Envelope unit to the rack and then assign the output to control any parameter in the entire rack. Let’s say I want to take an envelope generator that is triggered by a MIDI note then assign that envelope to the pan parameter of a particular channel. Or a sample and hold generator that does the same thing with the pan. Or use an LFO to control the gain of the low end of a channel to create a “pump” in the bass of a particular track (I know I could use a sine wave tool on the automation lane for this but it is very tedious!).
SOLUTION? Be able to put LFO/Envelope/Sample and Hold generators in the VST rack (or a separate “control” rack). Then you could open the units, edit the parameters, etc. It would have MIDI and audio inputs for triggers, etc., and a control output that is assignable to just about any automatable parameter.
I know there are some LFO and envelope type tools already but they seem mostly confined to a channel. Some side-chaining allows some communication between channels but seems limited to me. The idea I am getting at allows a “global” rack that can receive controls and send control data anywhere in the project.
For starters, let’s say I want every key press on a piano track to randomly change the pan of ANOTHER track. Or, how about triggering an envelope the controls the pan or volume of another track. Any ideas how to do this?
yeah, you can do this using some free midi plugins. for instance an audio > midi cc plugin converting the key signal into cc data, then using something like midiyoke to receive that data, and in turn using the generic remote with midiyoke as input to define what those received cc’s will control. so yeah, extremely tedious and not really worth it. you can then filter that cc data, like invert it, limit its range and so forth. another drawback is that cc’s have a very low resolution. so a 32fp signal’s dynamic range is getting quantized into some 128-value precision of the midi cc info, resulting in a jittery performance (and this gets progressively worse as you increase you audio interface buffer).
i suppose it’s clear by now it’s better to either do this stuff in another daw (fl studio is really great with its peak controller and formula controllers assignable to anything inside the daw; ableton is very good as well); or to use some proprietary vst fx chainer system like bidule. or indeed to wait if steinberg implements it (not recommended; i mean-- you still cannot map one knob to multiple vst parameters using standard cubase functions, let alone execute something like you’ve described).