way to get more midi sends on tracks?

Cubase
#1

Hi. I have LASS 2 violins 1 loaded in kontakt on the instruments rack, and a midi track routed to that instance of kontakt. I’m using expression maps to route my articulations to different patches loaded in that instance of kontakt. I want to use the one volume slider on the violins 1 midi track to control all CC7 data on the patches (basically controlling all the volume sliders in that instance of kontakt). I can do this with midi sends in the midi track and send the midi control data to the different patches.

BUT, I only have 4 midi sends per track, and some of my instances of kontakt have 6 midi channels worth of patches loaded in. So at this point, I can only send that midi controller info to 4 of the remaining 5 patches.

Is there any way to get more midi sends for that violins track? or is there a more efficient way to control all the kontakt volume sliders with the fader on the midi track?

Thanks for your time.

#2

I don’t have LASS (so I could be way off the mark here), but how have you loaded the articulations into Kontakt?..
Is each loaded into a different Kontakt Instrument slot, each on its own MIDI channel, and changing articulations by, effectively, using VST Expression to change MIDI channels, or are you using a Kontakt Instrument Bank, and changing articulations by sending Program Changes (in which case, the one MIDI fader should work, because all the instruments in the Bank are on the same MIDI channel :wink: ).

#3

I have all my articulations for violins 1 loaded into 1 instance of kontakt (such as legato, staccato, etc). Each of these articulations is given a different midi channel (legato = 1, staccato = 2, etc), and I have my expression map set to change the midi channel used in that instance based on what articulation I want to use. I am completely unfamiliar with Kontakt Instrument Banks and will look them up. Is there a way to use a Kontakt Instrument Bank and still be able to switch articulations with the expression maps?

#4

Yes indeed :slight_smile:
In the top-right section of the VST Expression Setup dialog, do Program Changes instead of MIDI Channel Changes.

#5

Alright, so I’ve got the articulations loaded in to an instrument bank, and the expression maps are working and changing the articulation as needed. However, when I change the fader on the midi track, the volume slider on only one articulation seems to be affected, or neither of them. Anything I’m overlooking?

#6

You mean, the horizontal slider, when you have double-clicked on the instrument in one of the bank slots?
This may well be the limitation of using the Bank System… only affecting the instrument (bank slot) that is currently chosen. (I can’t really remember, but possibly each bank slot retains (and holds) its most recent CC# data when you change to another slot?). If you are just wanting to use it as a “global” fader, maybe you want to automate the Kontakt Channel fader in the Cubase mixer instead?
(there might be some other way of achieving that, but it’s bedtime here now :wink: )

#7

I’ve found a (sort of) work around to this. I go to Instrument Options in each articulation and uncheck “Accept Standard Controllers for Volume and Pan”, and set those articulations volume sliders to 0 db. Then I Midi Learn the Instrument Bank volume slider to the fader for the Midi Track in Cubase’s mixer. However, when the midi track fader is set to 100 (unity), the Instrument bank volume slider defaults to 6.0 db. I’d like it to stay at 0 db (unity) when the track fader is set to 100. I know how to do this for individual articulations in Instrument Options, but I can’t find a way to change it for the Instrument Bank volume slider. Any way to fix this?

#8

(good morning :wink: )
Honestly, I was going to suggest exactly what you have done! :slight_smile:

O.K… (btw, which version of Kontakt do you have? I am presuming Kontakt 5?)
So, once you have done the MIDI Learn, with the Browser open on the left, select the “Auto” pane, then “MIDI Automation”.
Somewhere in the list that appears, you’ll find the MIDI assignment you just made (it probably has the name of the first preset in the Bank).
Select it, then, at the bottom-left of the pane, you should see “from 0.0 to 100”. Simply lower the 100…

With the Cubase MIDI fader all the way up, If you change it to 50, that will set the max level at -6, and for “0”, it seems to require a setting of 63 here :slight_smile:.
With the Cubase fader at Unity gain (100), setting “max” to 63.5 gives -6db, and setting “max” to 80 gives 0db here, but then the Cubase fader can only take Kontakt up to +6db instead of its maximum 12db.
So you’ll have to decide where you need to compromise (although, for me; +12 db in Kontakt is usually way to high anyways :wink: )

#9

I’ll definitely give that a try. Thanks for your help.