Old 03-30-2015, 04:39 PM   #1
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Default Modifying the MIDI modulation??

Hi,


This is probably an easy fix...that's my hope.

I've got this long horn note that I'm trying to add some vibrato to, and rather than drawing in some kind of "hill/valley" expression curve, I hoped that some modulation might be better.
Trouble is: even at maximum strength, the modulation effect is minimal.

Can I change some parameter that will allow for a more pronounced modulation effect?

I assume the modulation speed is based on bpm, but is there any way to change the speed?



Thanks,
Keith
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Old 03-30-2015, 07:13 PM   #2
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It all depends on the VSTi, what one is it?

Absolutely all CC interpretation is handled by the VSTi, Reaper just supplies the CC.
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Old 03-30-2015, 09:25 PM   #3
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Kontakt, actually.
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Old 03-30-2015, 09:44 PM   #4
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And within Kontakt, what instrument? Have you read its manual regarding CC parameters?
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Old 03-31-2015, 05:29 AM   #5
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No.
I was hoping it was a Reaper question, not a Kontakt question so that I could make one parameter tweak, and it would affect all my modulations, in that song.
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Old 03-31-2015, 07:34 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K8ch View Post
No.
I was hoping it was a Reaper question, not a Kontakt question so that I could make one parameter tweak, and it would affect all my modulations, in that song.
Hi again Keith, I'm not in my studio right now but will be latter and I'll see if I can't put something together for you, regarding how you can do it in Kontakt.

Can you tell me which instrument you're doing this with?

It takes two controllers, one to vary the frequency of an oscillator for speed and the other for depth or amount.

It might be able to be done in Reaper but I've never done it that way. I'm actually surprised there isn't a script for this.
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Old 03-31-2015, 08:21 AM   #7
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Hi Tod,

I'm not near my studio, so I can't answer that, at the moment.

You know, it seems to me that I should be able to "draw" the vibrato into a MIDI lane (as pitch or expression), so maybe I'm just missing something.
It seems to work...sometimes, so, perhaps the solution is for me to read up on the CC stuff, as was suggested.
This drawing in a MIDI CC lane rather hit-or-miss for me...and maybe I just need to read more about it.

I know nothing about scripts...sorry.


I'm pretty new at this, but it seems to me that I most frequently draw three kinds of MIDI CC's: 1) Vibrato, when needed on the tails of longer notes 2)bending up/down to a note -including periodically going a slightly flat when coming off the last note of a phrase 3)To emphasize the initial attack of the note, after which the note volume goes down and slowly rises again (called "szforzando"?)

All these are fairly easy to draw...but the vibrato is harder because it's difficult to draw the "hills/valleys" relatively uniformly while increasing/decreasing their depth/height, so that the vibrato eases in/out.

There should be a small "library" of pre-drawn curves that I can cut/paste from, rather than to draw them each time?
Okay...guess I'm dreaming...



I'll check which instrument, the next time I go into the studio...and maybe I'll even check the MIDI CC notes in the manual(s). S


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Old 03-31-2015, 09:09 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K8ch View Post
You know, it seems to me that I should be able to "draw" the vibrato into a MIDI lane (as pitch or expression), so maybe I'm just missing something.
It seems to work...sometimes, so, perhaps the solution is for me to read up on the CC stuff, as was suggested.
This drawing in a MIDI CC lane rather hit-or-miss for me...and maybe I just need to read more about it.
If you have the manual for a particular instrument, then it should explain which controllers to use for vibrato if indeed it is set up with vibrato.

Quote:
I'm pretty new at this, but it seems to me that I most frequently draw three kinds of MIDI CC's: 1) Vibrato, when needed on the tails of longer notes 2)bending up/down to a note -including periodically going a slightly flat when coming off the last note of a phrase 3)To emphasize the initial attack of the note, after which the note volume goes down and slowly rises again (called "szforzando"?)
Like I mentioned above, it takes at leat 2 controllers to make vibrato the most effective. Some vibratos are set up with some rather complicated setups, having one LFO oscillator for the frequency, another LFO to modulate that along with a CC controller or two and maybe even Velocity as a modulator.

Quote:
All these are fairly easy to draw...but the vibrato is harder because it's difficult to draw the "hills/valleys" relatively uniformly while increasing/decreasing their depth/height, so that the vibrato eases in/out.
Are you talking about drawing it in with Reapers pitch in a CC-lane?

If so, that's a lot of unnecessary work, although you might have the most absolute control that way.

I'll try to put some pictures together.
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Old 03-31-2015, 10:37 AM   #9
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Tod,

Yes...that's exactly what I mean.
Drawing them in -is- tedious, but I'm trying to make things sound authentic (in this case, horns), so having slightly different vibrato on various notes, is one way to do that...I think.
At least, that's the theory.
Like I said, I'm new at this.



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Old 03-31-2015, 11:18 AM   #10
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Okay, I put a little pdf together showing the primary vibrato for Kontakts Alto Saxophone.

Hopefully the pdf will show you how to open the Alto Saxophone and get to the vibrato so you can study it and check it out. This is actually more complicated then what you need if you want to create vibrato yourself.

If you have an instrument that you don't know whether it has vibrato, you can use these directions to check it out and see if it does or not.

You should be able to click on this link and download the pdf.

https://stash.reaper.fm/23755/Kontakt%20Vibrato%201.pdf

I also attached it.

I think once you see how this is working you'll have a better idea how to set it up if you need to. Also if you need further help let me know which instrument(s) you're using. If they are commercial instruments, I would think they would already have vibrato.

Last edited by Tod; 07-08-2022 at 02:28 PM.
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Old 04-01-2015, 07:01 AM   #11
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Tod,

Still not in my studio, but I took a good look at your pdf, and it pretty much makes sense to me.
This is great! Thanks!1


So, the LFO is set for 3 hertz? That's interesting (again, veering into unfamiliar territory, for me)


Okay...I see there's a 304ms delay before the effect takes affect.
If this CC was automated using the mod wheel, wouldn't you want to set the delay to -0-, so the vibrato effect started immediately when the mod wheel is moved?
Is this a default setting so that the sax automatically starts a vibrato after 304ms on all the instrument's notes?
If so, I think that would need to be automated, too...for realism sake.

Number "4" in your diagram: IT says that CC1 is controlling both the intensity and the frequency. Yep, that seems clear. In this particular instance, wouldn't the frequency be unaffected because the "slider" is down?


What about the "velocity" controlling the frequency/speed of the vibrato? The slider is slightly up, so would that mean that the harder I struck the note, the faster the vibrato ??
(Granted only slightly faster, by the degree to which the slider is up)



Last question: At the top of the Mod panel are the curve/adsr parameters.
If this instrument had only an articulation for a hard attack, are these the parameters I would change ("attack" anyway), to make that instrument "swell" into a note?
Not sure if "swell" is the correct word, but when a note starts softly...
You know what I mean...



Anyway, I hope to check this pdf out while actually in Reaper.
Thank you very much, Tod! This is a big help!!



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Old 04-01-2015, 09:35 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K8ch View Post
So, the LFO is set for 3 hertz? That's interesting (again, veering into unfamiliar territory, for me)
Yes, it has to a very low frequency and you raise and lower the freq to adjust the speed. The higher the freq the faster the speed.

Quote:
Okay...I see there's a 304ms delay before the effect takes affect.
If this CC was automated using the mod wheel, wouldn't you want to set the delay to -0-, so the vibrato effect started immediately when the mod wheel is moved?
Is this a default setting so that the sax automatically starts a vibrato after 304ms on all the instrument's notes?
If so, I think that would need to be automated, too...for realism sake.
You must be talking about the Fade in, I honestly didn't realize or notice it was there, I didn't look that close. I think that's more for shaping the LFO, not sure, it might also affect fading in.

When I use the LFOs I prefer not to draw in curves but use single CC events, placing them strategically to get the sound I want.

Here's a picture of what I'm talking about. I didn't do this to get anything special, just to kind of demonstrate.



This is how it sounds.

https://db.tt/Wm98K7gu

Quote:
Number "4" in your diagram: IT says that CC1 is controlling both the intensity and the frequency. Yep, that seems clear. In this particular instance, wouldn't the frequency be unaffected because the "slider" is down?

What about the "velocity" controlling the frequency/speed of the vibrato? The slider is slightly up, so would that mean that the harder I struck the note, the faster the vibrato ??
(Granted only slightly faster, by the degree to which the slider is up)
Yes, the higher the velocity the faster the LFO.

The sliders are intensity sliders, not in regards to the actual intensity of the vibrato, but it's the strength of the controller from 0% to 100%. When you get a chance to make your own vibrato or maybe just fooling around and testing, you'll notice they can be important. Sometimes they have to be set low because when set high, they might have too much strength and sound a little wierd, it takes some experimenting.

Quote:
Last question: At the top of the Mod panel are the curve/adsr parameters.
If this instrument had only an articulation for a hard attack, are these the parameters I would change ("attack" anyway), to make that instrument "swell" into a note?
Not sure if "swell" is the correct word, but when a note starts softly...
You know what I mean...
Yes, the ahdsr envelope is a great and important tool, I use it a lot, not just for the attack, but other things as well. For instance, I use it to add attack, not with the attack knob but by adjusting the Hold, Decay, and Sustain along with the amplifier volume. It works great on a Steel Guitar I made and also on Ride cymbals.

You can also modulate the Attack, or any part of the envelope, with velocity and/or a CC controller.
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Old 04-01-2015, 11:30 AM   #13
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Hey Tod,

Okay...the example you'd made, was very helpful.
Thanks so much for taking the time to help a guy out!
I really appreciate it.

Matter of fact, I enjoyed the example so much, I was wondering if there were any websites I could go to, where I could see the CC lanes, and hear what the instrument sounds like (just as I was able to do with -your- example)??
I'd love to see more of them.



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Old 04-01-2015, 12:57 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K8ch View Post
Okay...the example you'd made, was very helpful.
Thanks so much for taking the time to help a guy out!
I really appreciate it.

Matter of fact, I enjoyed the example so much, I was wondering if there were any websites I could go to, where I could see the CC lanes, and hear what the instrument sounds like (just as I was able to do with -your- example)??
I'd love to see more of them.
Hi Keith, no, I'm sorry, I don't know anything specific. There used to be threads over at VI-Control where people were Collaborating but I haven't looked for them for a long time. If your getting into orchestra stuff, VI-Control is probably the best there is, at least it's pretty good.

http://www.vi-control.net/forum/inde...718b4d9117664a

I did put a little tutorial together quite a while back showing how to make Keyswitches in Kontakt that does show the midi and then also has an audio example of what it sounds like. It's just a short little string section.

http://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php...6&postcount=18

This shows Kontakt.
http://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php...1&postcount=16
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Old 04-01-2015, 02:06 PM   #15
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Hi again Keith, I was just over on VI and came across a great video by Mike Verta that is really good.

He's doing all of this on a keyboard but everything he plays on the keyboard will eventually end up in the Midi Editor (ME). If you pay attention it will give you some ideas on how to program them manually in the ME.

One thing he emphasizes is the crossfading between velocity layers. In orchestra the types of velocity layers you will encounter are: pp, p, mf, f, ff, and fff, although good fff is rather rare except for the more expensive libraries.

In my little keyswitch tutorial I linked above, I'm also using crossfades. I don't think many of the Kontakt libraries come with crossfades. Maybe there are a few, you'd have to check, but I can show you how to create them if need be.

Here's the link to Mike's video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OktpoOztRvQ
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Old 04-02-2015, 02:58 PM   #16
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Tod,

Yes, I'm familiar with VI-Control, but they're not as helpful as you are, Tod.

I will check these out. The video looks like it's worth repeated viewing.

Thank you for pointing to your Kontakt instructions...looking forward to getting a leg up on this learning curve.


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Old 04-03-2015, 07:54 AM   #17
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Tod,

I was looking at your midi CC lane image and I had a question:

I noticed you had several keyswitches in succession,
on the very same note/keyswitch.
Why would you need multiple keyswitches?
Wouldn't just one of them suffice?

I was under the impression that one needed to add a keyswitch every time the instrument perform a different articulation...and that the instrument would continue playing that articulation until a new key switch made the instrument play the new articulation.
However, in your image, you have multiple keyswitches in a row.

Why is this?


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Old 04-03-2015, 10:06 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K8ch View Post
I noticed you had several keyswitches in succession,
on the very same note/keyswitch.
Why would you need multiple keyswitches?
Wouldn't just one of them suffice?

I was under the impression that one needed to add a keyswitch every time the instrument perform a different articulation...and that the instrument would continue playing that articulation until a new key switch made the instrument play the new articulation.
However, in your image, you have multiple keyswitches in a row.

Why is this?
Hi Keith, Keyswitches can be associated and used for many things besides selecting articulations.

In this case I'm using them to perform 3 separate continuous legato lines. For instance, in a real orchestra there will be 1st strings, 2nd strings, and maybe 3rd strings, each playing separate lines. To get more realism and have more control, it works best if you do that with midi too.

Now ordinarily you might use 3 separate instances of the same instrument, on 3 separate midi channels to do this. But using keyswitches as I have here, you can do it all with one instrument.

If you look closely at the picture you can see I've started the brown upper line slightly ahead of the lower blue line. Also notice the same is true of the keyswitches underneath. Since the next note (after the brown and blue lines have be established) is in the upper brown line I added a keyswitch just before that note so that it would have it's correct set of CC controllers, other wise it would have been controlled by the blue line controllers.

I should add each new note played will be associated with the last keyswitch played. That's why the brown line didn't need any more keyswitches before the blue line made a change.



Keep in mind each keyswitch and legato line is associated with it's own set of controllers for Crossfades and Expression. For instance, one keyswitch is for CC1 (Crossfades) & CC11 (Expression), the next is for CC2 & CC12, then CC3 & CC13, and finally CC4 & CC14.

If you look at picture with the controllers in the link below, you can see the blue line uses CC1 & CC11, the brown line CC2 & CC12, and the yellow line CC3 & CC13.

https://stash.reaper.fm/11178/Reaper%...ato%29%202.png

There are a couple of advantages for doing it like this. One is that you have them all together visually and it's easier to program them. Probably the biggest advantage is that it only uses one instrument instead of 3 or 4 which was really important back in the XP days.

I know this can be confusing and it's a little difficult to explain, does what I said make any sense.
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Old 04-03-2015, 12:51 PM   #19
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Hi Tod!
I tested your settings in kontakt for vibrato that is controlled
via the chanel preasure in reaper and it worked perfectly. But now I can
not bend a string without removing the vibrato (decrease chanel preasure)
you can not bend with vibrato on.
Do you have any solution for it so I would be very grateful.
I use prominy v-metal.
Thanks in advance
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Old 04-03-2015, 05:08 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mudbath View Post
Hi Tod!
I tested your settings in kontakt for vibrato that is controlled
via the chanel preasure in reaper and it worked perfectly. But now I can
not bend a string without removing the vibrato (decrease chanel preasure)
you can not bend with vibrato on.
Do you have any solution for it so I would be very grateful.
I use prominy v-metal.
Thanks in advance
Hi mudbath, I just checked the Alto Sax that I demonstrated in the pdf and the pitch bend still works with that.

I'm not familiar with prominy v-metal, the best way to check it out is to open the original prominy v-metal instrument before you tried adding vibrato.

Click on the Mod for the Source module and make sure the pitch bend is indeed selected as a modulator for the instrument. Be sure and select various groups in the Group Editor, sometimes different groups will be different.

Also if you do have pitch bend, make sure that it's controlled by Pitch, if it isn't it can be interfered with by other controllers depending on what is selected to control it.

When you add a LFO to the Source module make sure the Pitch Bend is still there as a modulator.

Also what I mentioned about groups is important, if you have several groups, you need to understand what each group is for, some groups may not work with Pitch Bend or LFOs for that matter.

Let me know what you come up with and we can go from there.

PS. IF you have a manual for prominy v-metal, check it out, there might be some info in there concerning Pitch Bend and/or Vibrato.
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Old 04-04-2015, 05:12 AM   #21
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thnx for the reply.
I will check it out and come back to you.
I could have messed something up.
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Old 04-04-2015, 05:37 AM   #22
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I made everything from scratch and now it works perfectly. Thanks for all your help and have a nice day.
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Old 04-05-2015, 06:45 AM   #23
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Tod,

What you've said probably makes a lot of sense...but I'm not quite getting it.
Not yet, anyway. Once I spend some time wrapping my head around this, it will probably all come together.

Your first sentence: "Keyswitches can be associated and used for many things besides selecting articulations", this was news to me.
I had no idea that was the case!


When you say, "Now ordinarily you might use 3 separate instances of the same instrument, on 3 separate midi channels to do this. But using key-switches as I have here, you can do it all with one instrument.".

Wouldn't you use a different violin (for example) sample for the 2nd violin, and a 3rd/different sample for the 3rd violin? Wouldn't it be best not to use the same instrument for each, so that their timbres are different -as they would be in a real orchestra?
Clearly, I'm missing something here...but the more I look at this, the more I understand.



Thanks, Tod!!
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Old 04-05-2015, 08:39 AM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K8ch View Post
Your first sentence: "Keyswitches can be associated and used for many things besides selecting articulations", this was news to me.
I had no idea that was the case!
Hi Keith, yes, I use them for many different things. I have a Steel Guitar that I created in Kontakt that I can have up to 5 steel guitar strings playing at the same time, all with different pitch bends. This is all controlled with keyswitchs. Also the velocity of the keyswitch determines the amount that the string(s) associated with it will be able to bend.

Quote:
When you say, "Now ordinarily you might use 3 separate instances of the same instrument, on 3 separate midi channels to do this. But using key-switches as I have here, you can do it all with one instrument.".

Wouldn't you use a different violin (for example) sample for the 2nd violin, and a 3rd/different sample for the 3rd violin? Wouldn't it be best not to use the same instrument for each, so that their timbres are different -as they would be in a real orchestra?
Well, maybe but not necessarily. Two different string sections in the same room at the same time will probably sound quite similar, although the 2nd section may be smaller than the 1st. The main difference might be their location or placement which can be somewhat accommodated by giving the 2 or 3 sections different outputs if you thought it was necessary.

Also a lot depends on how diverse your libraries are, if you have a large set(s) of libraries at your fingertips it might make a difference. All in all, I haven't had a problem doing this.
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Old 04-06-2015, 01:02 PM   #25
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Tod,

So, as I understand it, the greater the velocity of the key-switch, the more of an effect of the articulation.
Is that what you're saying here?
Or, is that just the way YOU programmed the keyswitches for your steel guitar?

I couldn't find anything in the Kontakt manual that said that...so maybe it's just the way -you- had set up the key-switches.



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Old 04-06-2015, 02:15 PM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by K8ch View Post
So, as I understand it, the greater the velocity of the key-switch, the more of an effect of the articulation.
Is that what you're saying here?
Or, is that just the way YOU programmed the keyswitches for your steel guitar?

I couldn't find anything in the Kontakt manual that said that...so maybe it's just the way -you- had set up the key-switches.
Hi Keith, no the manual won't explain how this all works. Basically the keyswitchs work with the Groups. The Groups are important and might be the most important thing to understand about Kontakt, they can be and often are the basis of everything.

Sometimes there is just one group for everything which would be a very simple instrument. There wouldn't be any reason to use a keyswitch on one group.

But two or more groups, depending on what they are might have a use for keyswitchs.

Take for example the Instrument I used in my keyswitch demonstration. The instrument basically had 3 groups, group-1 (p), group-2 (mf), and group-3 (f). I don't have it in front of me right now but I think that's what it was.

The first thing I did what add modulators to these groups, CC1 for crossfades and CC11 for expression (they may have already had CC11 assigned to them). Since the 3 groups were set up as individual velocity layers, I had to change all the groups so that the velocity layers went from 1 to 127. Then I added CC1 to each of them and set up their CC1 envelopes so that the crossfades went from p into mf, then from mf to f. Three envelopes in all. I can post the envelopes if you want them.

Once I got all three groups set up, I simply copied/pasted them 4 times. Then I simply set the 2nd 3 groups up so that they were modulated by CC2 (crossfades) and CC12 (expression), the 3rd 3 groups to CC3 & CC13, and the 4th 3 groups to CC4 & CC14.

Then in the Group editor I set the 4 different sets of groups up with their corresponding keyswitchs.

It's actually very simple but it's hard to explain and I'm not sure how to properly explain it.

Regarding my Steel Guitar, yes the greater the velocity the more the the pitch bend of the strings. I used CC1, CC2, CC3, and CC4 for my pitch bends, one of the keyswitchs was for no bend.

So my velocities were set up so that with a keyswitch velocity of 10, the velocities of 64 to 127 would go a half step up while 64 to 0 would go a half step down.

With a keyswitch velocities of 20, the velocities of 64 to 127 would go a whole step up while 64 to 0 would go a whole step down.

With a keyswitch velocities of 30, the velocities of 64 to 127 would go a minor 3rd up while 64 to 0 would go a minor 3rd down.

So on and so forth, this works very well.

Like I said Keith, I wish I was better at explaining it, it's really quite simple. Once you get the drift, the light bulbs will go on.
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Old 05-09-2016, 12:16 PM   #27
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FYI...

The issue has been resolved.
I bought a "hot hands" midi controller, and it's absolutely perfect.
Easier and so much more realistic than a mod wheel.
Thank you, for all the great insights. They've certainly helped me understand all of this, more deeply.

Thanks!




Peace,

K
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Old 05-13-2016, 09:31 AM   #28
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I bought a "hot hands" midi controller, and it's absolutely perfect.
Easier and so much more realistic than a mod wheel.
Hi Keith, glad to see you've got it sorted.

Could you explain a little about the "hot hands" midi controller.

Also, if you can provide a link or two, to check it out, would be great.
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Old 05-13-2016, 10:25 AM   #29
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Sure... I'd be glad to!


Here are links to the product, and a link to a YouTube demonstration.

http://www.sourceaudio.net/products/...othand_usb.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_WaIkXZ_V8


Basically, I use it for recording MIDI CC, and most of that, has been for creating realistic vibrato, and volume changes, in real-time.
I find I can create a more authentic vibrato, with a simple hand movement, than I can if I try to draw one in, or try to use a Mod wheel (I hate mod wheels anyway).

There's no latency, set-up is really fast and it's simple to tweak the sensitivity and other values as well.

I'd been using a Korg NanoKontrol to try to control the various parameters of Kontakt, and have had some limited (and unpredictable) success.
The "Hot Hand" controller immediately enabled me to control several Kontakt parameters, in seconds, so that they responded to my various hand movements, and there wasn't anything I couldn't control, within Kontakt.

This is exactly what i hoped to find.

I hope this is helpful.




Peace,

K8ch

Hear some of my music at: www.reverbnation.com/keithhaydon
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Old 05-13-2016, 02:00 PM   #30
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I hope this is helpful.
Yes, very. A couple of questions.

I notice that the guy had it set up on his laptop, and the USB device was right there in line with the hand. Does it have to be that way? I guess a guy could just get an extension if that's the case.

May I ask what it cost? The links they had didn't go anywhere for me.

Heh heh, I'm so used to using my keyboards, but the way you're explaining this, and the fact it's working well for you, I'm totally intrigued.
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Old 05-14-2016, 01:04 PM   #31
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Hi Tod,

No, you don't really need to be anywhere near it.
Next time I'm in my music room, I'll double check...but I'm pretty sure have 30 or 40 feet distance, and I'm also pretty sure it doesn't requires line-of-sight.
Come to think of it, people are using it for triggering things during stage shows, so it may be more like 60 ft.

It cost $99.


Let's see, what else... It's wireless, of course...and one computer can track the movement of up to 4 of these rings...there's a battery in the ring that charges by USB, and holds a charge for 6 hours...you can create/save presets...

Be glad to answer any other questions...if I can.



Peace,

K
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Old 05-14-2016, 02:00 PM   #32
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Let's see, what else... It's wireless, of course...and one computer can track the movement of up to 4 of these rings...there's a battery in the ring that charges by USB, and holds a charge for 6 hours...you can create/save presets...
Okay, thanks Keith, that pretty much explains it.

The only question I might have would be the USB hookup for the ring. Evidently, it must have it's own USB hookup, can you have it hooked up to the USB while you're using it so that it retains it's charge. I realize the cord could get in the way, but just wondering.
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Old 05-14-2016, 06:45 PM   #33
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Not sure I'm understanding...

There's a "dongle" of sorts, that plugs into the USB port.
That "dongle" communicates, wirelessly, with the ring.
No cords, cables or anything connecting the two.

Once you charge the ring, it's good for 6 hours.
Does that help at all?

K
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Old 05-14-2016, 08:05 PM   #34
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Not sure I'm understanding...

There's a "dongle" of sorts, that plugs into the USB port.
That "dongle" communicates, wirelessly, with the ring.
No cords, cables or anything connecting the two.

Once you charge the ring, it's good for 6 hours.
Does that help at all?

K
Okay, yeah, I thought you would have to have the ring connected with a wire, but I guess you don't.

When you get something done using it, maybe you could post it.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, I love your song "Can't understand It".
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Old 05-15-2016, 12:28 AM   #35
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If this gadget works as well as it seems to, I for one am in - if nothing else, for expressive brass parts it could be the answer for those of us who are crap with breath controllers.
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Old 05-15-2016, 06:36 AM   #36
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Tod,

Thank you for your kind words about my song.
I really appreciate it.



Ivansc...Tod....

Although I've had a very limited experience with MIDI controllers, I knew right away, that I'd be able to move my hand in a motion that would duplicate what I was hearing in my head. It just seemed easier and more natural than using a knob or fader.

While I imagine (but could be wrong) that a realistic vibrato might involve tweaking a mod wheel, an "intensity" knob...a "speed" knob...and whatever else might be involved to create the desired effect, it all seems a bit laborious. Also seems it might require listening to a particular passage a dozen times or more, making tiny tweaks, before it's correct.
At least, that's how I imagine it.
I've never done it because I had not been able to get the "midi learn" thing happening, in Kontakt. Sometimes I could control a parameter or two, but it took some effort.
I'm positive it was due to the fact that Kontakt is new to me and I really don't know my way around it very well. But "Hot Hands" really just totally eliminated that. It controls anything and everything in Kontakt, really easily so it's great for a newbie like me.

Oh...I forgot to mention, the Hot Hands controller had 4 different movements, so you can control up to 4 parameters at once.
Very cool, but probably will take some time to master that...so, I just usually do one parameter/MIDI CC at a time.



Really hope this is helpful.



Peace,

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Old 05-15-2016, 08:24 AM   #37
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The GB Pound is somewhat in the toilet vs the US Dollar right now, but this IS tempting....

How much of a pain is it to set up so it actually does what you want it to?

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Old 05-15-2016, 09:25 AM   #38
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Ivansc...

It was very easy to setup and the device was truly "plug-and-play" -as much as any device I've ever installed.
Seriously, once I'd charged the ring it took me a few minutes to get it working, and a couple more minutes to get comfortable with it. The GUI is logical and uncomplicated so it took a couple of minutes to get the hang of it. Maybe less.

I'd like to talk to some orchestration professionals, to see what they think.
In my mind, it would be THESE people who'd be spending the most time, trying to tweak MIDI CC curves. If that's true, the manufacturer of the Hot Hands should be marketing to those folks...but I don't see them doing that.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Keep the change.


Anyway, I hope it helps.
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