[LAU] live performance, midi program change from the keyboard

[Ken Restivo]

On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 05:56:46PM +0100, Alessandro Preziosi wrote:
> i need to do something relatively simple, but i cant figure out how to do
> it, or what software i need...
> basically i have to play a certain song where i need to switch between
> different sounds (say, a piano at the beginning using qsyinth and then a
> synth created with zynaddsubfx). I want to be able to switch between one
> setup to the other quickly, possibly using the program change from my
> keyboard. How do i do that???
> 
> On my keyboard i can create different programs, each using different sounds
> (patches) and switch between them with the click of a button. I want to use
> that, but I want to generate the sounds with my computer.
> I think I need a way to 'map' midi channels to different programs or midi
> patches to specific programs (like, when i select piano on the keyboard
> (patch0, bank0) it uses qsynth, and when i select a synth it uses
> zynaddusbfx).
> Any ideas?
> 

I had to set up my system to do exactly this thing, and did so almost 4 years ago, and have been using it ever since for many dozens of gigs and sessions.

I had to write a custom C daemon and some scripts to do it. It's not terribly well-documented, but it is here:
http://www.restivo.org/blog/archives/midi-splitter

There are some other, more user-friendly tools available to do this though.

I used a CC not program change, but I guess I could just as easly have done it with program changes, yes.


-ken