Several tracks using one VST

  • Thread starter Thread starter famous beagle
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famous beagle

famous beagle

Well-known member
Ok, so, up until now, I've not used too many VSTi's, but lately I'm doing more and more full-scale demos and am therefore relying on them much more.

It used to be that, if I wanted to add a violin to a tune, for instance, I'd add a track in Reaper, add an orchestral plug to that track, pull up a violin sound, and I'd be good to go.

However, now I find that I'm needing to add many more than just one orchestral instrument. And I imagine there has to be an easier way than opening a track for each one, adding that same orchestral plug to each track, and pulling up a different sound.

For example, if I'm using something like Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra
Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra

And I'm using this free SFZ player to play them
Cakewalk - SFZ Player

Do I have to open one track for the violins, add the SFZ player plug and select the violin sound ... then open another track for the oboe, add the SFZ player plug, and select the oboe sound ... then open another track for the bassoon, add the SFZ player plug, and select the bassoon sound, etc., etc. for each different instrument?

Surely there's an easier way? I mean, that's not difficult, but surely there's a way that doesn't require adding so many plugs? I know you can freeze or render tracks to save CPU power, but that's still kind of a pain.


Thanks for any help
 
If you want a number of tracks to use the same sound, e.g. you want two violin tracks, you can create two tracks, one for each violin part, then make these a subgroup of a third track, into which you load the VSTi.

If you want several tracks, each having a different sound, but each using the same VST, it gets more complicated. It may be possible to do something like the method above, but somehow also embed a program change into each track. I don't know whether that will work, because it depends on whether the VST is multi-timbral, i.e. it can play several sounds simultaneously.

I find it easy (though CPU expensive) to just load up several instances of the VST.
 
Hmmm ... ok, well maybe I just have to keep doing it the way I'm doing it. It just seems kind of cumbersome, but it's not that big of a deal. I just figured in a world with 16 MIDI channels, surely I'm not being as clever as I could be in my solution.

Thanks for the response. :)
 
In Cubase, you can route as many midi channels into one VSTi as you want (whether or not that VSTi can handle that many voices is dependent on the VSTi, however). It's as simple as clicking the output button on each midi track and choosing which VSTi you want it to send it's data to. Surely there's similar functionality in Reaper. Maybe ask in the Reaper forum here?
 
TyphoidHippo said:
In Cubase, you can route as many midi channels into one VSTi as you want (whether or not that VSTi can handle that many voices is dependent on the VSTi, however). It's as simple as clicking the output button on each midi track and choosing which VSTi you want it to send it's data to. Surely there's similar functionality in Reaper. Maybe ask in the Reaper forum here?
Click to expand...

Yeah there definitely is a way to do that in Reaper too, and I know how. But I can't seem to figure out how to do it with regards to the orchestra plug. I can seem to only be able to pull up one sound at a time through the SFZ player. I'm searching for a manual for it, so maybe if I find it, I can figure it out.

Thanks for the response.
 
TyphoidHippo said:
In Cubase, you can route as many midi channels into one VSTi as you want (whether or not that VSTi can handle that many voices is dependent on the VSTi, however). It's as simple as clicking the output button on each midi track and choosing which VSTi you want it to send it's data to. Surely there's similar functionality in Reaper. Maybe ask in the Reaper forum here?
Click to expand...

It's the same in Reaper.

However, if the VSTi is not multi-timbral, then all the channels feeding into it will deliver the same voice.
 
Oh, I see.

@famous beagle: I assume you can't just change the channel and assign a different bank/program to channel 2 than assigned to channel 1 (then route your midi tracks in on their respective channels) for some reason? The product page for that sfz thing says it's multitimbral and that's how it looks like it works to me. Other than that, no idea, sorry... I misunderstood the original question or wouldn't have posted at all.

edit: I suppose if, for some reason, every single instrument in that sonatina soundfont package you're using is packed into a different soundfont, you'd likely have no choice but running an instance of your sfz player for each soundfont...or find a soundfont VSTi host that can handle multiple soundfonts - surely there's one out there somewhere - been like 10 years since I've messed with soundfonts...idk if I even remember how they work
 
TyphoidHippo said:
Oh, I see.

@famous beagle: I assume you can't just change the channel and assign a different bank/program to channel 2 than assigned to channel 1 (then route your midi tracks in on their respective channels) for some reason? The product page for that sfz thing says it's multitimbral and that's how it looks like it works to me. Other than that, no idea, sorry... I misunderstood the original question or wouldn't have posted at all.

edit: I suppose if, for some reason, every single instrument in that sonatina soundfont package you're using is packed into a different soundfont, you'd likely have no choice but running an instance of your sfz player for each soundfont...or find a soundfont VSTi host that can handle multiple soundfonts - surely there's one out there somewhere - been like 10 years since I've messed with soundfonts...idk if I even remember how they work
Click to expand...

Yeah I assume that's the way it is supposed to be done (changing the MIDI channels). I just haven't figured out how to do it yet. This is actually the first time I've ever worked with Sound Fonts. I wouldn't have, but the Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra sounds are far and away the best free orchestral sounds I've ever heard. I bought Mackie Tracktion a while back, and that came with Garritan Personal Orchestra. And Sonatina sounds considerably better to me on most instruments than Garritan.

Anyway, Sonatina is SFZ, so that's the only reason I'm messing with it at this point.

Thanks; I'm going to keep looking into it.
 
In Mixcraft 5 you can just duplicate the track and change the instrument on the duplicated track. It uses the same beat you have already recorded. You can duplicate as many times as you want and make adjustments in each individual track that you want. It's a piece of cake.
 
Hey guys,
I am new here and I have the same problem but looking at it now that was in dec 2010 :D but yeah I still have hope,
I have soundfonts that sonatina package, I want to record for example a violin and a cello and oboe I can record one violin track with no problem, but when I try to use the same vst for a new track with a different sound ( the cello ) it records and I can hear what I am playing, but when i playback what I recorded I only hear the violin ( the first track ).
I tried everything from the above and I tried opening a new vst for each track and I tried changing the channels, but always the same outcome.
I've been suffering for days now
any help will be hugely appreciated!
thanks :)
 
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