. Plug-ins: virtual instruments

  1. How do I use virtual instruments?
  2. How do I play multiple softsynths simultaneously?
  3. How do I set up a multi-timbral VSTi?
  4. How do I use Multi-channel outputs with softsynths that support them?
  5. How can I inc/dec patch numbers on VSTi's that don't have inc/dec switches?
  6. How do I insert a Program Change for a virtual instrument?
  7. How do I set up a virtual instrument with a MIDI arpeggiator/delay ?
  8. Mac: How do I use the Reaktor VSTi in Logic?

.1 How do I use virtual instruments?

Virtual instruments (VSTi's for short) should be installed inside the VstPlugIns folder which resides in the Logic application folder.

Then in the Audio Mixer, locate a channel strip whose name is something like "Instrument xx". If you don't have such an object, you can create one yourself:

The Audio Object will now be able to hold a VSTi. In LA4: the 1st insert slot will let you insert a VSTi. In LA5+: the VSTi slot has moved to right above the Output slot (i.e. the second slot from below). Select a VSTi, and assign an Arrange track to this object. Done.

Also see the chapter "Audio Objects - The Basics" of this FAQ.

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.2 How do I play multiple softsynths simultaneously?

I. With Logic 5.x and up (having the I/O plug-in):

For those of you who have wanted to be able to play/layer multiple softsynths live, this is the procedure:

Macintosh:

  1. Create a neutral object, like a Monitor, in the Environment, and cable it to all the Audio Instruments you want to play simultaneously. Select the Monitor, and check its Icon checkbox in the parameter pane (left side of window).
  2. Insert the I/O Plugin on each Audio Instrument except the one to which you cabled first. Set an Input and Output on each I/O Plugin (i.e. don't leave I/O at the default "---" settings), and finally bypass the plugin.
  3. Assign the Monitor to an Arrange track, and hit Play or Record and play your multiple softsynths in realtime. Note: Logic has to be playing for this to work -- in Stop mode, nothing happens.

Windows:
The same instructions as above, except for #2 above: you need to place the I/O Plugin on all Audio Instruments, including the first one.

This procedure also allows you to change AI tracks while playing without any audio glitches or cutouts. If you want to get deeper into the environment, you can create splits, layers, etc. with transformers and channel splitters.

There are a couple of catches:

Note: There has been some controversy on the LUG regarding #2 above. Some people claim that on Macs the 1st Instrument should also have the I/O plug-in inserted, while others claim that it doesn't make a difference whether you give the 1st Instrument an I/O plug-in or not. Then yet others said that the Windows and Mac instructions should be swapped. Somehow the thread died out before the controversy was resolved. You should try this out for yourself: if you notice that the 1st instrument doesn't play "in sync" with the others, simply try to insert or remove the I/O plug-in from the first instrument.

II. For Logic versions without the I/O plug-in:

Live layering of software instruments is not possible, unfortunately. Upon playback you can however layer multiple instruments. This means you could e.g. record with a single instrument, and then use layers upon playback. Here's a small tip to get something like "emulated individual outs" for an EXS drumset (only works on playback though):

  1. Insert the EXS on multiple channel strips in the Audio Mixer (like one for kick, one for snare, one for hats), all using the same drumset (set up one EXS and then use the Audio Configuration window, hand tool, and then Option-drag [Ctrl-drag] to quickly copy the EXS with all its settings to another channel strip).
  2. Create a Mapped Instrument from the Audio Mixer's New menu and cable it to the individual instances (note: you won't be able to hear anything after you've chosen another than cable no.1 due to the fact that live-layering is impossible). In the Mapped Instrument's editor, assign e.g. the kick-note to cable 1, the snare to cable 2 and the hats to cable 3.
  3. In your Arrange window, use the EXS which has the least "distorting" effects inserted (let's say that could be the kick-EXS) to record your drums.
  4. When done recording, assign the Mapped Instrument to the Arrange track, instead of the EXS. I would just do that for mixing as you won't be able to edit your drums properly in let's say Matrix.

Obviously this same (or a similar) setup can also be used with other virtual instruments.

To do real layering (i.e. simultaneous playing) of instruments, you basically use the same approach. Instead of using a Mapped Instrument however, you use a neutral environment object, such as a Monitor. Cable the Monitor into the channel strips you want to layer, and check its icon in its parameter pane (select the Monitor, and click the Icon checkbox on the left side of the Environment window). Now assign the Monitor object to an Arrange track.

For multi-timbral use (when you have a track containing data on up to 16 MIDI channels, meant to be played by different instruments), again use the same approach, but use a Channel Splitter instead of a Mapped Instrument or Monitor. Cable the 16 outlets of the Channel Splitter into 16 EXS instances. Now assign an Arrange track to the Channel Splitter. If the sequence on the track contains data on different channels, everything will be directed to the proper EXS instance through the Channel Splitter. Of course in cases like this you'd better use the Functions > Split/Demix > Demix by Event Channel command from the Arrange window's Functions menu to create up to 16 individual tracks, and assign those to the 16 EXS instances directly.

For multi-timbral use with a real multi-timbral capable VSTi (as opposed to using 16 different VSTi's to emulate a multi-timbral synth), please see the next question.

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.3 How do I set up a multi-timbral VSTi?

Question: I use a multi-timbral virtual instrument (i.e. one that's able to produce different sounds on different MIDI channels). How do I set this up so that I can easily access the various patches on the various channels?

Answer: First of all, select the Audio Mixer's channel strip on which the VSTi is inserted. Then in the parameter pane (left side of the window) set the Cha parameter to "All". If it's set to e.g. "1", Logic will "channelize" all incoming MIDI to channel 1, so that you'll only hear the patch on channel 1 playing, and can't access those on channels 2-16. Now there are 2 ways to access the various patches on different channels:

  1. If you assign various Arrange tracks to the same Audio-Instrument (VSTi) (whose channel parameter is set to "All"), the actual data in the sequences determines the channel on which it'll play. Since the instrument is set to "All", it doesn't channelize the data... So open an Event List for a sequence, select all events and set the channel to e.g. 7 to have it play on channel 7. For live use or recording: make sure your controller sends on the appropriate channel.
     
  2. The above is however rather cumbersome. A far easier solution is this: create a new Multi-Instrument in the environment (in the layer that contains the Audio Mixer), and cable it into the channel strip containing the VSTi. Again make sure the channel strip's Cha is set to All. Now assign the Multi-Instrument's sub-instruments to the various Arrange Tracks (instead of assigning the VSTi itself to the tracks). Since these sub-instruments do have a specific Cha setting, the data on the tracks will now be channelized, and the channel of the actual data in the sequences (or the channel your controller uses) is no longer relevant.

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.4 How do I use Multi-channel outputs with softsynths that support them?

In the softsynth's prefs, choose how many stereo and mono outs you'd like to have available. [You may need to reboot Logic afterwards if this hasn't been done yet.] Instanciate the softsynth from the Multi-Channel submenu - not stereo. Choose the [virtual] outputs you want in the synth [Kontakt, EXS and Battery support it]. These are "virtual" outputs!

Note - In Kontakt or EXS, Groups as well as Instruments can be sent to particular outputs, when in Multi-Channel mode.

The channel strip which has the VSTi inserted will now output Outputs 1-2. For the other outputs, use Aux objects. In the Aux's input popup, you'll see the Multi-Channel Instrument's individual Outs available, as inputs to the Aux. Now you can have each voice on it's own Aux in Logic. These can be sent to any physical output you like form here. The advantage is also that you can process these separate outputs from the synth with their own plug-ins, as they are now on separate Aux channels...

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.5 How can I inc/dec patch numbers on VSTi's that don't have inc/dec switches?

Question: I want to be able to increment/decrement patch numbers using program changes on vstis which respond to prg changes but don´t have switches for inc/dec patches, such as Virsyn Tera. I know I can change patches using an environment fader cabled to the sequencer input. It would be cool if I would be able to do this with some +/- buttons in the environment but I cannot figure out how to do this.

Answer: Create a button-style fader (Environment window's New menu). Select the fader and in its parameter pane (left side of window) set its Out definition to "Meta", -1- to 99, and range to 123-123. Copy/paste this fader, and set its range to 121-121. Cable both into a PrgChange fader (which is cabled into the VSTi's channel strip of the Audio Mixer). The 1st fader will increment and the second will decrement, both with rollover (incrementing 127 will roll over to 0, and the other way around). If you don't want rollover, replace 123 and 121 by 127 and 125 respectively.

See the 4.0 manual, page 5-84 at the bottom (meta event 99).

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.6 How do I insert a Program Change for a virtual instrument?

Not all VSTi's support MIDI program changes, but if yours does, you can simply insert a standard program change message in a sequence, by opening the Event List for that sequence and then Command-clicking [rightclicking] on the button with the "88" icon. You can either do that with the SPL at the location you want the change to take effect or change its location after the fact.

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.7 How do I set up a virtual instrument with a MIDI arpeggiator/delay ?

Create an arpeggiator (or delay) in the environment. Cable it into the channel strip containing the VSTi. Assign a track to the arpeggiator. Select the track, hit "play" and play your controller/keyboard: voila, arpeggio's. Recording will now record the chords you play and not the arp's.

If you want to record the actual arpeggio's: first record the chords (as above) on the Arpeggiator track. Then cable the Arpeggiator object into the To Sequencer object (in the Clicks & Ports layer of the environment) instead of into the VSTi's channel strip. In the Arrange window, assign an empty track to the VSTi. Hit record: the MIDI chords will be sent to the arp, which will send the arpeggiated notes into the sequencer, which in turn will play & record those notes on the VSTi track.

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.8 Mac: How do I use the Reaktor VSTi in Logic?

Get both downloads, the Reaktor 2.3 application and the VST compatibility stuff from the NI site. Unpack them. Put the Reaktor 2.3 application in your Reaktor folder. Put the 2 plug-ins in your VstPlugIns folder (inside the Logic application folder). Open your Extensions folder (in the System folder) and create a new folder called "Native Instruments" (without the quotes). Put the "Reaktor 2.3 Shared Lib" into that new folder.

Thats it! Start Logic. You now have a Reaktor instrument (available in the Instruments) and a Reaktor FX that works like a standard FX Plug-in.

But take care. There are still some nasty bugs. Do not create a screenset with an open Reaktor plug-in, since Logic will crash after a while using it. When you then open the song again and go to this particular screenset, your Mac will freeze immediately.

There is also a nasty screenbug in the VST mode (running Logic): while turning some knobs in the Reaktor VST interface the screen picture breaks more and more until it is unusuable. I have found a partly workaround for this: create a screenset which contains only the Audio Instruments part of your Audio Mixer. Make the visible part of this window as small as possible - just large enough that you can see the inserts of the Instrument plug-ins. In the background you only see the Finder. Save your screenset and open the Reaktor plug-in. Now the Reaktor screen will still show some parts of the Emagic interface in the middle of the screen after changing parameters, but the parameters are still in reach (the most time).

I haven´t got the Reaktor FX plug-in to work but I didn't try for very long. I´m quite sure Emagic and NI will get these bugs fixed soon.

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