Kontakt 5 in Cubase

I don't think it is possible if the samples are separate... Let me explain better. To have different articulations means that the sound was sampled in the various articulations, precisely... Each sample corresponds to a different library unless it was already considered during programming to include all articulations within a VST. At that point, there could be MIDI control signals to perform real-time switching of the samples to be read. The fact remains, however, that the samples must be loaded into RAM. Let's not forget that normally a single sample has a certain weight and thinking about rendering them using the hard disk is unthinkable. Therefore, samples are loaded into RAM. I don't think it is feasible, then. My advice to overcome this problem is as follows... Since, as I understand it, you need to create a composition, you could for example use a synthesizer that has a small footprint and offers you the possibility to listen to what you are doing, and then once the project is finished, replace the synth with the samples you need. Obviously not all at once, otherwise you would have the same problem, but by consolidating track by track. This way, once consolidated, you have a simple audio track that puts no strain on the system, and you proceed in the same way with the next track. At the end of the day, you have all the audio tracks on which you can work with various effect plug-ins (reverbs, compressors, etc., etc.), obtaining a finished product without the need to send everything into saturation. The problem when designing with DAWs is that considerable hardware performance is required. To overcome these and other latency problems, I had to upgrade my Mac to 16GB of RAM (obviously I work with 64-bit Plugins and DAWs) and install a large SSD hard disk (500 GB). I no longer suffer from all these problems, but I had to spend quite a bit of money.

PS. Obviously, once a track is consolidated, don't throw away the MIDI, but simply make it inactive so that it doesn't weigh on system resources. In audio files, you will no longer have the possibility to modify notes, velocity, or articulations. So always keep the MIDI... If you notice any problems, you can always delete the audio file, go back to the MIDI, make the changes, and re-consolidate it.

I understand, so I wonder why a single Kontakt has the ability to load 16 instruments if I can only use one at a time in DAWs. It's a very strange thing; in Finale, I manage to stay within 4 GB (even though I have the possibility to expand up to all my 8 GB of RAM because I can use jBridge, which however brings inconveniences in other aspects and regarding general software stability) because I use the memory for the samples and not for Kontakt, but if I have to load 40 Kontaks (and even those are few considering the various articulations of all orchestral instruments), 4 GB of RAM goes just for the Kontaks without the loaded instruments.

In Finale, for a complete orchestral score, I load 5 Kontaks using all 16 available MIDI channels for the various articulations: one for woodwinds, one for brass, one for percussion, and two for strings, and I load high-quality samples: Berlin Woodwinds, East West, LA Scoring Strings, Orchestral Tools.

In the end, my desire to use Cubase was for greater ease in editing, but under these conditions, I think I am forced to stay with Finale, on which I can also load Ozone 5, among other things, to do some mastering. The idea of bypassing the problem by resorting to a track-by-track system is not feasible.

I imagine another possibility is to have as many keyswitch samples as possible, so I minimize the number of players to load, but I will still have to load at least one for each instrument; I might be able to compose a string quartet, but not something for an entire orchestra.

Frankly, I am a bit disappointed; I thought Cubase was more "intelligent" software....

Look, I'll tell you the honest truth: I know very well how to bypass this problem in Logic and Pro Tools, but in Cubase no, in the sense that I have never used Cubase. Besides, the standards are Logic for the American market and Pro Tools for the European market. I can tell you how to solve the problem in Logic...

In Logic, you create a new MIDI track and select the "Multi timbral" checkbox. At this point, the tracks will be linked to each other by increasing MIDI channels. By loading Kontakt as an input source on any of the multi-timbral tracks, it automatically loads as a phantom in all the other linked tracks. Since I have increasing MIDI channels, I can load all the samples I want within the same instance of Kontakt and address them to different tracks simply by switching the sample using the MIDI channel of the relative track to which I want to direct it. Ergo, you load a single instance of Kontakt into RAM, but you have every sample loaded inside Kontakt with routing on separate multi-timbral tracks... This should be what you are looking for...

Exactly, that is precisely what I am looking for, thank you. In that case, I will head towards Logic or ProTools; I only regret having tinkered so damn much to understand Cubase, only to end up disappointed by what is ultimately a software limitation.

Anyway, just for the record, in Finale with hyperscribe and setting the quantization to 16 EDU, I record in real time with sounds loaded in Kontakt like on a sequencer; the only precaution is to create a metronome track on another staff.

Obviously, the notes in the score are all squared off—semi-diminished with 3 points of value and so on—but the integrity of the live recording is preserved, and Finale also acquires various controllers in real time, such as cc1, cc7, etc.; the only downside is that these parameters cannot be edited graphically by drawing curves with the mouse, but instead must be modified numerically when necessary; I'm almost tempted to stay with Finale, even though everyone advises against it....

Migrate to Logic... Listen to me!

I should change everything though, because I don't use Mac and it seems to me that Logic is only for Mac.

Anyway, what I am asking can be done in Cubase: you create a MIDI track with Kontakt associated to it that receives on all channels, you record a part, then in the key editor you select the notes whose MIDI channel you want to change.......this in theory; in practice, I'm missing the last step: once the notes are selected, where on earth do I click to enter the new MIDI channel value? Where is this function located on the key editor toolbar? I can't find it and nothing is written about it in the various manuals....

I'm updating you (assuming anyone cares...): I tried to manually change the MIDI channel in real time while recording with a keyboard that transmits on all 16 MIDI channels, and Cubase received the MIDI message and changed the channel (and the sound loaded in Kontakt, obviously); the problem is the same as before, i.e., figuring out where this MIDI message is placed in the editor, so that it can be further edited after recording....

...to interest, interests

... it's just that I am only at an elementary level, so I am noting down a couple of little things

I don't know if this might be useful to you, but have you tried creating a new instrument in Kontakt that has all the articulations you need on a single channel but associated with different keyswitches?

Yes Bianca, I had tried this system too, but actually it only works starting from a certain type of samples, both in .wav and .nki format, however the libraries I use have complex sounds in which every single patch has various dynamics settings and more inside it, and going in there is an immense job that I wouldn't even know how to do, this system can be a solution for very simple samples....

geppino12575 wrote:

Yes Bianca, I had also tried this system, but in reality it only works starting from a certain type of samples, both in .wav and .nki format, however the libraries I use have complex sounds in which every single patch has within it various dynamics settings and more, and going inside there is an immense job that I wouldn't even know how to do; this system can be a solution for very simple samples....

in effect, I had done it on VSL libraries, which are very linear. For example, each articulation has no more than a few layers that you can adjust with dynamics and modulation....

Gep, I really can't help you with Cubase, but why don't you try migrating to the standards? If you don't have a Mac to run Logic, use ProTools...

If you are trying to learn a DAW, if I were in your place, I would start studying the ones that are the standards found in any recording studio which, as I repeat to you, are ProTools and Logic.

TheSimon, you're right, the fact is that ProTools scares me a little and I think that with Cubase I am close to finding a solution.... anyway in the meantime I'll get myself ProTools....

Finally I found it, damn it, it's in the event list editor, it's just that by default the drop-down menu was covering it; you had to widen the drop-down. The thing is, there is no standalone channel change command, it only exists if accompanied by another event, whether it be a note or a controller.

Thank goodness. Anyway, I recommend you try ProTools. All DAWs are somewhat similar, but if you have to start from scratch, it's better to use professional standards. As far as I know, Cubase is not used in any recording studio, or at least I have never seen it in any studio I have been to.

But ProTools 10 for windows is still a 32-bit application.....?? But does a 64-bit DAW for windows exist...?

The discussion must be sought within the idea of design. ProTools is software aimed at audio editing, despite allowing you to load Virtual Instruments, Plug-ins, etc., etc. Logic is a product oriented towards the musician and, knowing this, it was designed for both x86 and x64 platforms.

Now, one cannot argue about which of them is better than the other... Is ProTools better? Is Logic better? Is Cubase better? Is Nuendo better? That is not the question. As I was saying before, these two software are the standards used in recording studios. One can work with whatever they want if the projects remain confined within their own home walls. However, if these projects must then be passed on for editing, mixing, or mastering to a recording studio, they will 100% certainly ask you for the ProTools project. Alternatively, you can always make stems of the tracks and then they will assemble them into a ProTools project; obviously, this still requires a bit more time, and time in recording studios unfortunately comes at a high cost, especially if the DAW does not record tempo information on the stem's wave file (song tempo, entry point of that stem within the timeline). In that case, it would involve entirely resynchronizing the project. In short, you understand that the simplest way to rely on a studio is to use the standard DAW used by recording studios. Logic is an excellent alternative because, in addition to being aimed at the musician at a software level, with 64-bit support it allows you to export stems with tempo information in wave or aiff format so that even if the stems are imported into ProTools, they position themselves automatically on the timeline and the project tempo is automatically accommodated. Therefore, I will tell you my personal thought. If you plan to work on Mac, I highly recommend Logic because it automates all signal routing in a very easy and intuitive way (which does not happen in ProTools). It has a very fast and reliable editing and rendering engine (it never crashes) and is aimed at the musician (if you have lots of RAM, you can load an infinite amount and have very low latency -> a typical characteristic of the Mac). Alternatively, on Mac, you can always use ProTools. If instead you do not want to go to Mac but prefer to stay on Windows, dive into ProTools and lose some time with it. It is a little more cumbersome than Logic for some things, but once understood, you will be like a sword there too.

A small problem with ProTools: many audio cards are not supported, so find out before wasting time. Logic, on the contrary, eats up everything without any problem. In any case, I assure you that I have never seen anyone working with music or graphics (vector, raster, 3D) who did not use a Mac.

For the sake of correct information and because it might be useful to someone else, I am saying that what I was initially asking about can be done, and even in a very simple way: when assigning a VST instrument to a MIDI track, you also specify which MIDI channel should be used for signal transmission: well, it is possible to direct multiple tracks to the same VST (in my case Kontakt 5) by being careful to specify from which MIDI channel that track receives, i.e., in exactly the same way I used to do in Finale....you only learn these software programs if you bang your head against them...........