Controlling volume on free synths

Dear Anyone.

I've got a bunch of free synths (high budget operator, me!) and I'm happy with the sounds for what I want to use them for, but they've all got the same problem. No CC controls, so how the heck are you supposed to control volume/velocity/panning etc?

Is there any kind of plug-in that ENFORCES CC controls, so you can change sound/panning etc. and automate things? Something I could insert on the channel, just so I can turn these nice-sounds-but-no-control synths up and down?

Yours hopefully

Chris.
 
These are plugins, right? You didn't mention which DAW you are using, but can't you just insert them in a track and then use the pan and level control of that track?
 
Yes, you can set the sound level ONCE like that. But because, on everything I've seen, automation is based around CC controls (7 for volume, 10 for panning etc.) if the darned things aren't obeying CC changes, you're stuck with static everything, you can't turn the sounds up or down during the piece, you can't do automation, you're stuck with them on their initial sound level. Which just seems a shame because they've got nice sounds, it's just you can't control them during the piece, they're stuck on one level AFAIK because they're not obeying CC numbers.

Just wish their designers would've thought of that. I mean how do they think you're going to control sound levels/anything else levels with no CC numbers?

Yours puzzledly

Chris.
 
My thoughts, too.

Because as far as I can work out from logic and guesswork and trying other VSTs, if the VST has CC controls built in you're home free. Everything works, volume, velocity, all A-OK. If it DOESN'T have CC controls built in you're more stuffed than a Thanksgiving turkey, you can wiggle lines and levers all you want and the sound will remain blithely unaffected by it all! As far as I can see the controls have to be built into the VST to accept the changes and not all VSTs seem to have the controls built in.

Suppose I'll have to look for different VSTs, which is annoying cos they're nice sounds. Wonder how the designers thought people would be controlling them?

Chris.
 
No, you can always change volume and panning, EQ etc via track automation - but maybe not until you have rendered the track to audio?
 
" Wonder how the designers thought people would be controlling them"?

I wouldn't expect a fully developed product for free
 
Because as far as I can work out from logic and guesswork and trying other VSTs, if the VST has CC controls built in you're home free. Everything works, volume, velocity, all A-OK. If it DOESN'T have CC controls built in you're more stuffed than a Thanksgiving turkey, you can wiggle lines and levers all you want and the sound will remain blithely unaffected by it all! As far as I can see the controls have to be built into the VST to accept the changes and not all VSTs seem to have the controls built in.

Suppose I'll have to look for different VSTs, which is annoying cos they're nice sounds. Wonder how the designers thought people would be controlling them?

Chris.

No way. If the VST is making noise, then there is an audio signal traveling from the output of the VST to your master bus. That signal can be panned, leveled, automated LIKE ANY OTHER AUDIO SIGNAL. None of that requires CC messages or getting into the guts of the VST. Once it leaves the VST, it is just an audio signal, no different from a guitar, vocal, or any other.

You don't seem to be listening, and you still haven't told us basic information like what DAW you are using.
 
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I wouldn't expect a fully developed product for free

The nice thing about the soft synths I linked to is that-- as I understand it-- they were originally for sale, which means they're much more fully-developed than some of the other freebies I've seen. But the man who created them released them for free when he found out he was dying (he passed away a few years ago).

Another good free soft synth is the Minimogue-- perhaps not as sleek as the one from Arturia, but good enough to be included with the Acoustica Mixcraft DAW. The download link for it has disappeared from the developers webpage-- although links to sound banks are still there-- but the download for it can still be found on certain "free VST" websites. The same people that programmed the Minimogue also created a free soft synth of the ARP 2600 that's also good.
 
I'm just saying that the hardest part of independent VST/i is the graphic : )

Screen shot of Synth1, Synthmaster, and z3. I like the new download, too, but get something with some meat. Synthmaster on sale is a good offering for something like $70 on sale
 

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Your DAW should let you automate the basics, like EQ, level, or panning, but synth-specific functions, like their built-in distortion or sine changes, those things would have to be supported by the developers. I have a lot of free plugins whose extra functions aren't supported by automation. The DAW can do the basics on those, but if the programmers didn't make those plugs support automation for all parameters, you're out of luck.
 
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