How does VST works

[skakaka]

I wanna know how Sonar or Cubase "save" your sound. What I mean is if I play something on a VSTi and know tweek it, will it show some kind of staff like MIDI files ? or like some wave file ?

 

What if you play on a real synth ?? Does it save the knob changes ?

 

I have used Fruity Loops for some time but it´s really pissing me off (sound quality compared to other progs like Reason, Sonar, Cubase, it´s very poor). In FL it´s all stored in a staff and you can save some knob tweeks on synths that comes with it. I couldn´t save the VSTi s ...

 

Did someone get what I´m trying to say ???

[Aeros]

I use FL too and its not all that hard to come up with some quality sounds.

 

See for yourself

 

You just need time, patience, and good knowledge of how to use the mixer fx plugins that come with FL. Some FX plugins like Spektral Delay and others can help you out too.

[Guest djnemo]

Hi there skakaka.

 

When you want to record something in VST on a MIDI track then you need to set it WRITE enable on the MIDI track.

 

look at screenshot :

 

You see the little RED W? Thats this is by default not RED, Press on it and it will become red. Once it is RED, you will be able to record any kind of automations on it.

 

If you want that the automation playes back, you need to enable the button next to it R. R means Read, and when enabled, it Reads your automation.

 

Hope that helped

 

Nemo

[Guest djnemo]

Never mind, this is only for VSTi's and the tracks themself within Cubase (Its very early here hehe).

 

If it is a midi device, you have to chose your midi in device that is going to record the automation with. So if you have a Virus for instance, you have to chose the midi in device of the virus and then press record.

 

Nemo

[skakaka]

Tnx for the answers...

I just got Sonar 4, is it more complex than Cubase ??

 

I have just a controler and no rela synths. Using some VSTi, and I needed to tweek them "live".

[Guest djnemo]

Tnx for the answers...

I just got Sonar 4, is it more complex than Cubase ??

 

I have just a controler and no rela synths. Using some VSTi, and I needed to tweek them "live".

255241[/snapback]

Sorry mate, I dont know so much about Sonar. All I know is, that I had a look at it, and then I went back to Cubase after a week (Cant get used to Sonar hehe).

 

Nemo

[MoonMan]

I just got Sonar 4, is it more complex than Cubase ??

 

 

Nope, just different !

 

Lets see if I have this correct. You've got something like this set up:

So midi 1 is controling the VSTi Reaktor Session. You've got a controller keyboard attached on a midi port which has some knobs on it ? You want to turn a knob and contol a button on the Reaktor ?

 

OK, Open the VSTi and find out how it's midi learn works. Use that to learn the midi knob you are ontrolling. In my case here (with a PCR 30 keyboard) I open the Reaktor interface and right click on a knob and select learn. I then twist a knob and it should learn it.

 

Now you want to record the knob twists realtime ? In Sonar press the R button on the MIDI track so it goes red. Once ready start recording and twisting the controller knob. The display will look something like this:

 

Is that what you are after ? If your VSTi doesn't have a midi learn, let me know and I'll work out what to do.

 

Andy

[MoonMan]

Actually I've remembered what to do now (I've been using Project 5 V2 a lot, it's a bit easier in that I think).

 

In the picture below I've got a TAU vsti. I've made sure the track inspector is showing by pressing I (it's on the left here) Make sure the FX is showing by pressing the FX button on the bottom (circled in red) until it goes blue. Note that now we have the synths settings showing in the track inspector (circled in green)

 

 

Right click on the setting you want to control and pick "remote control". You should get this dialog box:

 

 

Now turn a knob on the controller and once you stop turning it (an before you press anything else) press the learn button. You should see the dialog box to show what midi message you've just programmed. You can now go on to record the midi control as before (previous message).

 

I'll post another message about recording the changes as automation instead next.

 

Andy

[MoonMan]

OK,

 

recording automation. I'm assuming you've got your synth i place and the midi automation is working right (as per the previous message). We need to arm a parameter for automation. In the Track Inspector pick the remote controlled setting and pick arm for automation. It should now have a red surround like the Q parameter below:

 

 

Now when you are ready to record the automation press the record automation button on the transport bar (circled in red below)

 

 

The transport should start and twidling the knob should give you a automation recording as below:

 

 

You now have a automation graph you can edit and move around if you wish (you can do that with midi automations as well but you need to use the paino roll view to do that).

 

Hope this all helps in some way.

 

Andy

[skakaka]

Thanks Andy and Nemo.

You guys really helped me out.

 

I liked this forum, you guys are really friendly and has a good knowledge !!

 

I´ll try to work on my Sonar now.

 

See ya

[skakaka]

I use FL too and its not all that hard to come up with some quality sounds.

 

See for yourself

 

You just need time, patience, and good knowledge of how to use the mixer fx plugins that come with FL. Some FX plugins like Spektral Delay and others can help you out too.

255054[/snapback]

 

I must disagree with you. I know that it´s not lack of knowledge and patience. Of course a good song will sound good in any VST, but reeeally better on Cubase than on FL. I read something about FL being 16bits or something.

 

That´s why pros don´t use FL. If you need quality you gotta get some other VST.

 

I like my songs, but it feels dull and some kind of compressed when compared to other productions on Reason, Sonar ...

[qa2pir]

Really good music can be made in Fruityloops, you just have to practice.

I know several people that make great songs (concerning soundquality) in fruityloops.

Switching to Cubase would make your productions sound worse the first few weeks and then, when you got the hang of it, they would sound the same like before.

[MoonMan]

Of course a good song will sound good in any VST, but reeeally better on Cubase than on FL. I read something about FL being 16bits or something.

 

I think here I have to disagree as well. I've not used FL much but I reckon their audio engine is as good as any other, perhaps a little different, but not radically.

 

To be honest all developers now understand the process of sound creation in software very well and I doubt any of them (excpet perhaps some freeware ones) are doing much different inside from the others. All internal engines will be floating point double precission (sorry about the spelling) and only at the final stage will it be rendered down to whatever your hardware sound card can handle. This final rendering will make a slight difference but I doubt you can hear it without specialised equipment.

 

Hosts only differ (for me) in the way they ask you to use them (the GUI) and the features they offer. Pick a host and love it !

 

Andy

[Aeros]

I think the idea that FL creates lower quality sound from other sequencers just comes from early exposer to the main synths that come with FL - which are pretty low quality IMO in their raw form. Early producers don't have much experiance with the program or its mixer FX and thus their work sounds lower quality. But its definately possible to get good sounds out of 3xosc and TS404 and theres many ways to go about it. It just takes some time. Now with the introduction of Sytrus to the whole package, you can make many more interesting sounds - though again yo uneed time and alot of knowledge of how the VSTi works. Only problem with Sytrus in my opinion is that it makes alot of "cheese" sounds. Like taking a sound and then putting too many effects and LFOs and "musical ketchup" over it to maybe make it sound like it has integrity. But again, a little tweaking and creativity and you can make some good sounds. I find that layering synths with multiple channels of the same VSTi but with different tones or waveforms works very well for me.