MIDI Expression Plugin in Mainstage

[cchimi]

I'm trying to use the plugin version of the software with my Quattro in Mainstage. The goal is to have four foot pedals that trigger drums. I can get it to do that by using the standalone version, but then it will only send the same four MIDI note numbers, and therefore only trigger the same four parts of a drum kit, i.e. kick, snare, sidestick, crash.

I guess I don't fully understand what the plugin version does, or how it works. I assume it is like every other plugin I've ever used, meaning, in this case, that every song (preset) in Mainstage can call up its own instance of the plugin with its own settings. So, in one song pedal 3 could be sidestick, in another cowbell, and in another a ride cymbal. When I try setting up the plugin for one song, I can get it to override the settings from the standalone app. But when I try setting the plugin up for a second song, it tells me the plugin is already in use. Worse, the plugin settings override settings even in songs where I'm not using the plugin (and therefore want the standalone settings to prevail).

Please help me to understand what I am doing, or understanding, wrong.

Thanks,

Carl

[Rob]

Your understand of how its intended to work is corrrect, but it looks like there's a bug in there. I'm just finishing up development for version 2.8.2 of the Control Application and I'm currently looking for bug in AU / VST version of the control application so your timing couldn't be better.

If I understand you correctly, you are not seeing this issue when you are loading a new 'concert', but when you are loading a Mainstage preset. I'll look into this over the weekend. I would expect to have a public BETA ready in about two weeks. I'll keep you posted.

[cchimi]

I see the problem whenever I try to use a second instance of the plugin, whether the first instance is at the Concert or Song (Preset) level.

Thank you for responding. I'd sure like to be part of fixing this problem.

Carl

[Rob]

That's the issue you're having. The plugin version is only designed to used as a single instance. So by song you mean 'scene' I'll see if I can't change the implementation to allow multiple instances that can swap out control based on which scene is active.

[cchimi]

Well, Mainstage has three levels at which the user can create channel strips.

Concert level is global to the entire project. Any channel strip created at the concert level will show up in all sets and patches below.

Set level is global to all the patches within it, but not to patches within other sets.

Patch level is for a single song, or a state within that song, maybe such as verse, chorus, bridge, etc. I've been using the term "Song (Preset)" above when I guess it's more appropriate to use "Patch". But I generally use one Patch per song.

I thought I could use a different instance of your Plugin per Patch to change the note numbers sent by the pedals, and therefore change which drum sounds they trigger. I don't expect to do a lot of that in a concert, but it would be helpful for some songs.

I also thought that if I had the Plugin in one patch to change note numbers from the standalone setting, if I then went to a patch that did not use the Plugin the note numbers would revert to the standalone settings. But, when I tried it today, if the plugin appeared at ANY level within the concert, the plugin settings always overrode the standalone settings, no matter which patch I called up. I hope that makes sense.

Maybe I'm just asking the plugin version to do something it's not meant to do, but the description of it in the manual sure seems to imply that I ought to be able to do something like what I envision.

Carl

[Rob]

Thanks for the information. I checked the feasibility of making this work, and my initial tests look promising.

[Rob]

I was trying to debug the issue where adding a second instance of the plugin version would overwrite settings on the device and I couldn't reproduce the issue. What version of the MIDI Expression are you using?

[Rob]

I've traced your issue to a problem with the macOS installer. After installing an update, macOS wasn't seeing the updated AU. I've fixed the issue in the BETA version of 2.8.2, which is available in the downloads section. It's already been well tested and is stable, so you might want to give that a try. Unfortunately It's still only going to let you use a single instance of the plugin, but I'm working allowing multiple instances for version 2.8.3.

[ChrisManuel]

Will it be possible to implement the multiple instance solution for the VST plug-in? I had hopes of using the Transformer feature in Cubase with different settings on multiple tracks. It's not a deal breaker as I can always use the snapshot function to load different setups.