do either of these work well for patch changes using dim pro and rapture?

Hi Swamptooth -

Yes, Forte can do all of what you're talking about...but...for your gig, I'd suggest Abelton Live.

Forte is designed to be primarily a VST/VSTi host, so you can load up a rack of samplers, trigger cues, use Scenes to re-map controllers, etc. You can even use things like EnergyXT within Forte to trigger backing tracks and sequencer patterns. But, from the way you describe your performance needs, I think Live would be a better solution. Sonar's Matrix is sort of a weak emulation of Live's capabilities, so you're already working in that manner.

As for whether Forte will do patch changes for Dim Pro and Rapture, absolutely yes. Each scene can be a separate patch, or you can load 1400 different instances of whatever synth you like and trigger each one as needed.

vanblah


Although I use Sonar for recording and I can't reccomend it enough, I use Cantabile (http://www.cantabilesoftware.com/) for live.  I have four keyboards connected to the computer.  There was a small learning curve for routing (and it still confuses me a little bit when I create new sessions) but I can switch between song set ups very quickly.  Once you figure it out it's so much easier.  I have a "set list" that includes every song I'm going to play and then I can just switch around song-by-song.  Since the synths are already loaded the only thing it's doing is changing patches so there is no waiting for a synth to load when I change songs.

+1 for Cantabile!
 
Does all you asked for, and then some!!
 
You can take the "lite" version for a free test spin, but keep in mind that the "pro" version has a VERY full feature list...

i tried live for a while. didn't really like it. routing especially. i guess i never really see whole "ease of use" thing like most people because when i was in school a couple of friends and i put together a power tool ensemble that did everything from contact mics on drills to using sawsalls and such to provide control voltages to a moog modular - 30 foot tape loops and having to set and reset patch cables - so a little routing doesn't really drive me bonkers. lol. 

 i'll take a look at forte and cantible though i must say that i have never had a problem with sonar live, and by keeping the performance midi and audio captures all in one place it makes editing for mixdown or remixing after shows pretty easy.  

Great info here! Thanks to all for the suggestions and sharing the challenges -- terrific to know what the problems may be with what I'm trying to do before I have to experience them first hand!

Kev-

+1000 on Forte, worth every penny.

the thought occurred to me to use CW X1 (expanded)

The program is called Sonar X1, not Cakewalk X1. 

daveny5

the thought occurred to me to use CW X1 (expanded)

The program is called Sonar X1, not Cakewalk X1. 

That is correct. My bad. :)

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  

To be blunt about it, several people have posted that there are better suited tools for performing live.

Please go back and actually read the posts made by myself and others.  You are trying to get Sonar to do something it is clearly not designed to do.

You can either accept it or not - you asked us for thoughts on this and we provided multiple confirmations that other products will do this better for you.

I again urge you to try either Forte or the other one posted above, they have free demo versions of their software.  Or, keep asking here for some miracle button for Sonar to do what they didn't build it to do.  Your choice....

Bob Bone