Hello,
 
Is there an easy way to increment/decrement the patch/program you're using with a VST soft synth?  I'd like to cycle through the instruments when choosing one...
 
Say, "Down Arrow" or "Foot switch" goes to the previous sound, "Up Arrow" goes to the next... is there an easy way to do this in Sonar?
 
Thanks,
Dan

I have never looked for any generic way - I usually use the preset forward/backward arrows of the individually loaded instruments to try out different presets.
 
For example, if I have a synth like Kontakt loaded, and in the Library pane on the left, I have the New York Concert Grand instruments opened, I can load in one of those instruments, say the first one, New York Concert Grand.
 
Now, in the multi-rack pane, that instrument is loaded, and there are two arrows to the right of the name of the instrument, and pressing either arrow will replace the currently loaded instrument with the prior or next one, depending on which arrow you hit.
 
This way, all of your Sonar routing is preserved, and you are just loading a new instrument/sound into that slot of the multi-rack.
 
Other synths I have, like the Korg Legacy Collection M1 (GREAT synth, by the way), have a Preview button you can click on, in the browser, and you can click on any of the sounds in the menu, and it will play a 1 second preview, then a single mouse click on any other will auto-play that previewed sound. etc....  It may allow you to adjust the length of time the sounds are played during the preview, but I would have to load it up top see.
 
So - many synths have some kind of way to load up the prior or next sound for that bank, or instrument, or whatever their structure uses.
 
Sonar may have something like that, but I have just never bothered to look for that, because I just use the techniques I describe above.
 
Does that help you any?
 
Bob Bone
 

socaldan
Is there an easy way to increment/decrement the patch/program you're using with a VST soft synth?  I'd like to cycle through the instruments when choosing one...
 Say, "Down Arrow" or "Foot switch" goes to the previous sound, "Up Arrow" goes to the next... is there an easy way to do this in Sonar?

Agreed. I find myself playing with one hand, awkwardly mousing through little arrows to audition patches. 
I wish up and down arrows would universally scroll through ( like a custom binding in any given synth in focus).
Sadly, all are different and some can be quick-scrolled with key shortcuts and some can't.

This is where NI's NKS system really comes into its own. Unfortunately it needs the VSTi to be NKS compatible.

I can then just scroll through patches from the buttons on my S61 keyboard.

I think Akai has similar features on some of their keyboards.

Edit\Preferences\Key Bindings
 
Global Bindings
 
Search for "Increment Plugin Preset" and "Decrement Plugin Preset".

It all depends on the synth, Some work with the built in keybindings, some work with program change if you have a keyboard that can switch program changes.  If you have a computer keyboard that can assign buttons such as mouse clicks, you can position the cursor over the arrows that moves to the next patch, and then you can push that button instead of mouse clicking, as long as you don't play to hard and move the mouse.  

Thanks for the input guys.
 
It IS kind of weird that VST doesn't have this as an easy feature.. you'd think all keyboards could do that.  I can't even get a keyboard shortcut to do this easily.
 
I guess I"ll take an old mouse and put tape over the bottom, and click on that.

Unfortunately many VSTs support mouse preset choosing ONLY. Defining some common way to do this (including cascading browsing) could do the trick, but VST does not have it and NKS is proprietary.
10 lines of code (yes, just an interface and yes, it is just a matter of several lines) is required to solve the problem. Not defined yet 

I have noticed that some soft synths allow you to scroll through the preset list with the up/down arrows on the keyboard, then hit enter to select the preset.  But many do not.
 
I would be in favor of a standard that worked. 

Well, I emailed ... maybe you guys should all do the same.
 
Here's a copy:
 

Dear Steinberg,
 
It's unfortunate that VST instruments do not have an easy "one key press" method to go through the different sounds (often known as patches, programs, or instruments).  I'd like to highly recommend that you put in a way to hit one key to increment/decrement the patch number you are on.
 
To illustrate - say you're writing a song in Cubase or another DAW (like cakewalk sonar), and you want to try the different piano sounds one by one.  Say your VST instrument has 20 different piano sounds.  There's no good way to hit one button on the computer or synthesizer keyboard to go to the next or previous piano sound.  Such a feature would greatly enhance the composition process!
 
Thanks,
Dan Lyons
Artists worked with:  Destiny's Child, Beyonce, Enya, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bone Thugs'n'Harmony, Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dog, Shakira, Wheezer, Lady Gaga and more.