ba_mbino@hotmail.com


I am using Sonar 8.3 as a VST/VSTi host (I know I need to upgrade :)). In the past I did not run many VSTs, so switching presets was not an issue. Now I am using many more VSTi's and need to create setups for different songs and I want to be able to switch quickly from one preset to another. An added bonus would be to have easy setlist management. My band typical setlist is typically 40/45 songs per night and although the songs do not change that often, the order might change.  My current setup is: 1) triton 88 keys (both internal sound engine and controller for VSTi's) 2) CX3 (controller only) 3) pcr-800 (controller only).  I do not need to run sequences. Just generate/process sounds. I run a lot of VSTi's (more than 70 for all the songs)
I briefly tried the songlist feature in Sonar and it did not work well for me, too much time loading some projects, especially if they had large sample sets.  The current way that I am implementing this to quickly switch from one song to another is to create a marker for one particular song, add the VSTi's and tracks that I need and mute (using envelopes) all tracks except the ones that I need for the song. Once I have this, I can go through markers (or the go to time option) from one setup to another.  As far as switching and setlist management, I am writing a simple program that creates and manages the setlist and sends keystrokes ("F5" + the time) to Sonar, so that I can go from one marker to another with a single click or key press.  Is there any easier/more intuitive way to achieve what I need?   Thanks  -Marco  PS: CPU power, so far, has not been an issue, I have a rackmounted 2600k  

that's wayyyyy too complex and resource heavy.  what i do is have a project file for each song, open them all before the show starts, then switch between them.  have vsts with unique channel number inputs and then switch the channel on your triton to trigger a different synth.  midi echo will need to be enabled on all of the tracks to do this.  i'm thinking what you could do is have a few master files with different instrument combinations and then for vsts that support it midi clips with patch and bank change information that you could trigger using the matrix view.