Hi,
I have a Kontakt library that requires loading 5 separate Kontakt nki instruments into a project in order to have all the possible articulations available for a flute part. I’m having trouble coming up with a workable way to deal with programming the MIDI flute part in this situation.  I need to:

1. Be able to access each instrument and its various keyswitched articulations
2. Easily be able to easily see which notes go to which instrument

Initially I thought to have the MIDI all on one track, and select notes or groups of notes, and using MIDI properties to send those selected notes (and associated keyswitches) to the MIDI channel corresponding to the desired nki flute instrument.  Good so far.  But … that leaves me unable to tell in the PRV which notes go to which MIDI channels/instruments.
 
My second thought was perhaps I could just select notes (initially all residing on one MIDI track) and re-route them to one of 5 MIDI tracks (each track assigned to one of the 5 nki instruments).  Then, because of track colors, I can easily see which note belongs to which track/instrument in PRV.  But … the hitch there is that I can’t just cut and paste notes between channels in the PRV without setting the Now Time at the start of each cut and paste operation.  (Paste only inserts at the Now Time, right?)  Since I strive to humanize my MIDI tracks, barely anything will land right on an easily targeted snap subdivision, so each cut and paste becomes a tedious process of zooming in and setting the Now Time accurately to the start of the note(s) selection without snap active.
 
I find either of these options less than ideal (you're either working "blind" with respect to where each note goes, or you're spending a lot of irritating time positioning the Now Time without a grid).  Has anyone found a better (quick, efficient) way to deal with this situation while meeting the two goals above?
 
(I sure hope so!)

Thanks for your help!
Pete

Check out http://tencrazy.com/gadgets/mfx/.  There is a MIDI fx plugin called Channel Switch that uses CC values to specify channel that seems like it would satisfy your needs.  It is available in 32 and 64 bit versions.  I have not tried this specific plugin, but I have used the CC Map 64-bit plugin with no problems.  The plugins are Free to download and if you find them useful, you can Donate.  The developer is a forum member: http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3057137.
 
Hope this helps,
-- Ron

To move midi data from one track to another without changing the position, use the track view. There, you can drag selected midi events with the mouse and prevent position changes by holding the shift key.

SquireBum
Check out http://tencrazy.com/gadgets/mfx/.  There is a MIDI fx plugin called Channel Switch that uses CC values to specify channel that seems like it would satisfy your needs.  It is available in 32 and 64 bit versions.  I have not tried this specific plugin, but I have used the CC Map 64-bit plugin with no problems.  The plugins are Free to download and if you find them useful, you can Donate.  The developer is a forum member: http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3057137.
 
Hope this helps,
-- Ron

Thanks for the info SquireBum!  I took a look at it, and it seems like it will easily channelize MIDI information.  He has some other interesting plugins there too.
 
But, it still doesn't really help my second requirement greatly, to be able to quickly and easily see where the notes are being sent.  I'd have to have the controller lane for the plugin open, and with 5 regions within the controller data, it may not be instantly evident exactly which region (track/MIDI channel in my case) is selected especially if the controller lane is narrow due to others being displayed.  It could be made to work, though, so thank you for pointing that plugin out to me.
 
Hopefully someone out there is doing this an even better way.  If they would only tell me ...

 
Pete

ralf
To move midi data from one track to another without changing the position, use the track view. There, you can drag selected midi events with the mouse and prevent position changes by holding the shift key.

Yes, in the Track View you can easily constrain the horizontal movement when dragging notes.  But I can only seem to drag the notes within the source track, not from the source track into a different track.  Is there a method to do that I'm not aware of?
 
[Edit: forgot to proofread, so fixed some typos.]

What happens when you try to Shift+drag between tracks? Should not be a problem.
 
Alternatively, you can use a keybinding for 'Go to From' to set the Now time to the beginning of a selection to be Copy/Cut-Pasted. I have this bound to the original Pre-X1 assignment of F7, and use it frequently.

brundlefly
What happens when you try to Shift+drag between tracks? Should not be a problem.
 

 
The notes drag downward until they're at the bottom of the source track, and go no further, without ever crossing into the track below.  If I let go of the mouse the dragged notes end up somewhere near the bottom of the source track.  By the way, I'm setting the edit filter to "Notes" on all tracks involved in order to access the individual notes.
 

brundlefly
Alternatively, you can use a keybinding for 'Go to From' to set the Now time to the beginning of a selection to be Copy/Cut-Pasted. I have this bound to the original Pre-X1 assignment of F7, and use it frequently.

Now that is an awesome idea!  It saves all the time of zooming in and manually fiddling the Now Time to the start of the note(s).
 
Pete

Create a separate MIDI track for each articulation. Assign each of the .nki's to a separate MIDI channel and set the MIDI tracks accordingly. Select the portions of the main track that you want to have a particular articulation and drag them into the appropriate track. If you hold the SHIFT and CTL keys down while dragging, their vertical and horizontal positions will not change. Do this with grid snap disabled.
 
This is the standard way it's been done for ages when using a library that has separate instruments for each articulation. There are other ways to do it, but they are all more complicated. Oh, and make sure you are not trying to do this with an instrument track.

Hi Bit, I hadn't thought of doing it that way. Actually it's very similar to what my second thought was in my original post, except that instead of individual articulations on each track, I'd have individual instruments with about 6 keyswitchable unique articulations within each instrument. Doing it EXACTLY as you suggest would result in about 30 individual articulation tracks, equating to 30 nki's loaded into Kontakt instead of just 5 with 6 keyswitches each. I dunno ... that sounds a little less manageable than I hoped. Or maybe not. ???

Do you have a feel for the CPU/Memory impact of 30 nki's loaded vs. 5 with keyswitches?

bitflipper
Select the portions of the main track that you want to have a particular articulation and drag them into the appropriate track. If you hold the SHIFT and CTL keys down while dragging, their vertical and horizontal positions will not change. Do this with grid snap disabled.
 

Do you mean in the Track view with edit filters set to "Notes"? I can't seem to do that (see a few posts above). It seems like SONAR won't let my notes cross track boundaries. Any ideas on how to make that work? Others have mentioned doing that too.

Pete

Check out NoteMapper, happens in real time, not after the fact like an MFX.
http://www.codefn42.com/notemapper/index.html