808 Virtual Instrument

[Argelia Long]

The problem I am facing is: When I pick any virtual instrument like SI - Drumkit or Bass, I cannot hear any sound while playing the instrument. But strangely, I can hear keyboard sound though and that is the only sound I can hear. How to resolve this issue? How do I start hearing the drums and other instruments that I play on Cakewalk?

I have also just downloaded and installed Cakewalk, and have the same problem. I went through every page of previous posts about this issue and watched every video and tried every setting, but I still am not getting any sound. As a total beginner I find it frustrating that tutorials for "beginners" start off assume we beginners know stuff we clearly don't know.

if so, then it means your output assignment is OK. With virtual instruments there is a bit more to understand but I would be surprised if you can't learn from the tutorials available. Mike from Creative Sauce has just released one on SI drums which I think is easy to understand. Not having a midi controller keyboard makes things a bit difficult but using the piano roll view you can still get sounds out of these VI's

Thanks. OK, I loaded an existing MIDI file and played it. It worked perfectly. I don't see the TTS-1 in the synth rack view, and I don't seem to be able to change any of the instruments. When I loaded an old Cakewalk WRK file I had from 14 years ago (the last time I played with any audio) I got no sound.

So, I did resolve the problem eventually! The problem was that when was choosing the settings for my virtual instruments, I had selected 'MIDI Output' checkbox which is wrong. I unchecked it and I started to hear sounds when I play drums, bass etc.

I have a few questions that might sound dumb but I searched forum a bit and and just got confused. I'm really new to C++ and Juce but I'm trying very hard to understand the fundamentals to achieve what I want.

I'd like to create a VST plug-in that is not an effect plug-in but an instrument plug-in (Image-Line puts that terminology, at any rate). In demo examples, they create either an *.exe app (great thing for stand-alone kind of instruments) or a *.dll app that can be used as an 'effect plug-in'. However I want to create a sampler with a keyboard and integrate my *.wav files to each notes and get them played on mousedown. In 'JuceDemo' at Synthesisers, MIDI i/o section, I see you already provided a keyboard playing samples but it only deals with one *.wav file (cello) and adjusts the pitch accordingly for the rest of the keys. So my questions are:

- Regarding the first question: look at the way the method setUsingSampledSound is implemented in the demo. In short, you create SynthesiserSound and more specifically in this case SamplerSound which is a subclass of it.

Have a look at the documentation: when creating these you specify the source you will be using (in this case an object handling your file). Then you specify the range of MIDI notes this sound will be used for - in your case only one MIDI note for each one instead of the big "allNotes" aggregate in the demo.

- For the second part, the Introjucer takes care of all this - you only have to specify that your plugin is an instrument, the number of audio inputs (probably 0) and outputs, and that's it. It will also create the Visual studio files you need, e.g. .vcproj and .sln.

Can you see incoming MIDI data over the Transport Panel? Have you added an Instrument track? Which instrument did you choose? Did you load a sound in the instrument? Can you see incoming MIDI data to the instrument? Can you see the meters on the output of the instrument? Can you see meters on the track? Can you see meters on the Stereo Out? What audio device do you use? Is it setup correctly in the Studio > Audio Connections > Outputs?

Load an instance of Kontact in the VST Instrument rack. Cubase would ask if you want to create a track to go with the instrument. If you opt out of this, then you can later create tracks and connect them to the Kontact instance in the track inspector.

It is possible to make multi-timbral instrument tracks by setting the output channel to ANY and using special embedded lanes and stuff, but it can get finicky to manage and edit. The inital workflow will usually be simpler for such tasks if opting for MIDI tracks for working with a multi-timbral plugin (You can always condense it down later into a single instrument track if you want to make some MIDI Loops of it).

Thanks for the info! I e-mailed Rinus and he said the update will be out on November 1st, so I'll wait till then. I tried out the strip preset macro listed in the main thread but it still doesn't work - at first I was getting this message from KM: "Move or Click Mouse no unique image found..." and then when I tried it again a few times later my mouse cursor would just get stuck or glitch out and I'd have to restart my computer... so not sure where I'm going wrong. Please let me know if there's something obvious I'm missing/doing incorrectly, if not - I'll make sure I invest some time getting more familiar with KM and try to build similar patches from scratch and see if they work on my system specifically. Thanks!

Thanks for all your input here, very useful. I don't suppose you have any experience with using Metagrid Pro? I'm trying to create a button on Metagrid Pro on my iPad which just creates a new Kontakt instrument in Logic Pro. I own both PluginSearch and Keyboard Maestro (obviously). Thanks for any insight you might be able to offer.

CC: 110 (by default)
Value: the number Kontakt appears in the PlugSearch Instrument favourites list, in my case 1.
Channel: 2 (Correct me if I'm wrong, Neil, but I imagine the channel number corresponds with the three Favourites categories in Plugsearch, no? So Audio FX is Channel 1, Instruments is Channel 2, and MIDI FX is Channel 3? If this isn't right, perhaps you could explain why you suggested using Channel 2?
This macro inserts Kontakt (or whatever is in Instrument favourite slot 1of Plugsearch) into the empty instrument channel.

I wonder what would be the ideal way to set this up from FMOD side.
On Unity i have a button per note, and a button to change to the sharp note. You chose the instrument before playing it oc, and notes need to be able to play all at once.
I want the same set up for all instruments in FMOD so its flexible.
So how should i group and bind the sounds and select which to play so its tidy organized and performant? I could just have them as individual events but there should be a more organized way.
FMOD is so extense and i dont know which way to go.

However, for ease of setup, you may want to use a discrete parameter instead of a labeled one. Functionally, a discrete and labelled parameter accomplish the same thing, but if your note range is quite large, for example the standard 0-127 MIDI range, then a discrete parameter avoids you having to manually set labels for all values.

I just set it up and it works perfectly!! Thank you all.
I would need to learn how to ease out better in between triggering notes, so the cut is not so heavy nor so slow.
I wonder, how can i add vibrato? I think set pitch could work, may i use sine mathematics from Unity side or is there anything built in for this?

Glad to hear that you found a way to implement vibrato! Another way to do this, if you wanted to offload some of the math to Studio, would be to modulate the pitch with an LFO, and automate the depth (amplitude) and rate (frequency) properties of the LFO with two parameters, which you can then set to match your stick values from Unity.

You need to put an AHDSR modulator on each note instrument volume. You can easily copy and paste the properties from one note to another, or multi-select all the instruments before applying the modulation.
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Thanks for letting me know about this. I liked the tremolo option, especially with the mod wheel and it seems I can control the tremolo speed which is a nice addition.
But the sound quality is not close to the actual instrument like Native Instruments.

Note comes in and is forwarded and the Note and Velocity are saved in variables.
additional notes are send at some evenly timed rate and some lower velocity percentage of the original note
Knobs for rate and velocity percentage exposed.

I would add a screen based PAD in the Mosaic GUI labeled "Roll" to turn on the above behavior.
Later pressing this PAD could be linked to an input CC (selectable by knob). CC=1 is the standard "Mod Wheel" input and it could vary repeat rate since is sends 0-127 values. Any slider control could implement this rate variation but then we'd have to "standardize" on a MIDI controller, I suspect.

Similar to trills but just a 1/2 step or scale step slide up to the incoming notes. On a keyboard this
is typically a black note to white note "slide" to create bluesy/jazzy affectations not usually present in the
classical style where two fingers are used for all grace notes conventionally. Even a poor keyboardist can
learn to slide into notes to sound cool.

Velvet is a virtual electronic piano that combines five legendary electric pianos from the 60s and 70s into one versatile instrument. Based on the Fender Rhodes Suitcase, Fender Rhodes MK I and MK II Stage Pianos, Wurlitzer 200A and Hohner Pianet-T, Velvet accurately emulates the sound quality, response, and nuances of each original instrument to bring your piano tracks to life. Additionally, Velvet features a pallet of onboard effects and allows you to control every aspect of the sound for unparalleled realism: turn up the tube drive controls in the preamp section to warm up your tone; adjust the timbre, dynamic response, and velocity curve to customize the playing feel; and mix in the sound of pedal and other keyboard mechanical noises to recreate an authentic electric piano track.

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