Hello.
Is there a way to have the same VST instrument Layer on multiple song’s parts?
I know you can copy/paste them, but I mean absolute-“the same”.
If your song has 10 parts, and in each of them you copy a layer, what happens, when you decide to change VST preset? You have to manually change it in all of the 10 layer copies.
What I suggest: there should be a “master” layer and a “slave” layer, that is just a reference to the master one. So if you make changes to the master, everything is mirrored to all the slave layers.
Probably this should go also for zones and stacks…
a) menu Parts/Global Part. The Global Part is always there. You can add Layers, Stacks, and Modules there (Zones are part of Layers).
b) you may use “Shared” Instruments when you choose a Layer Instrument. Changing plugin sound or audio volume, pan etc (essentially, the Instruments’ audio channel) applies to all Layers sharing that Instrument, but Layer MIDI controls (Audio/MIDI switch) can be different for each Layer. In conjunction with MIDI channels, you may address multitimral plugins that way. As any changes to a shared Instrument apply to all Layers using them, it should fit your request. A benefit of Shared Instruments is that you can use different Layer MIDI parameters (transpose, velocity, Layer Controller Map etc) while still beeing able to change all sounds at once.
Thank you musicullum! That is exactly I was looking for.
Maybe, as a suggestion: It would be useful to have the word “Shared with…” in the Instrument window, so you could see which Layers are connected. Maybe even color coding, naming, or some kind of icon…
Layers using shared instruments switch to MIDI controls (orange), and also have a shared icon in the title bar. Global Layers and Stacks have a distinct visual appearance.
True, haven’t noticed the icon. Forgive me, I’m a newbie on VST Live and I’m just starting to dig in.
The “Shared with …” idea is something very much needed. If you have a very large project which you need to update after a month, it is impossible to find back and remember the original part where the Shared instrument is coming from. A button next that brings you to the part where this layer resides, would be a next step.
If you click on any Layer Instrument item, you get a menu, and you can see which one is currently activated. If shared, it shows the name of the Song and Part where the shared Instrument resides.
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Damn, I did not notice that until now. Thanks!
I did find some strange behavior (only showing part name, not song name) but I cannot reproduce it anymore. Will keep an eye on it.