On Thu, Feb 10, 2011 at 1:25 PM, Ken Restivo <ken@restivo.org> wrote:

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.

I do this with channels. I run a B3 on Bristol on channels 1-2, then use fluidsynth on channels 3-9 for various soundfonts (set the regular piano to channel 3, the D6 to channel 4, the Rhodes to channel 5, the distorted D6 to channel 6, etc.)

This has worked fine with only a few small annoyances (e.g. changing the channel with a note depressed doesn't release the key and if I do this on the organ I have to change the channel back down to kill outstanding signals; gain issues between patches, etc).

At my last show I decided to experiment a bit and use a Rock Band 3 keytar via a MidAir wireless midi adapter. The RB3 controller is midi-compliant but completely undocumented, and while I have figured out how to do most useful things on it such as octaves, pitch bend, and modulation, I cannot figure out how to use any channel except channel 1 (and splitting to channel 10 on the lower half of the keyboard by pressing one of the buttons -- I forget which). So I ended up playing the B3 with my keytar, but had to sit back down at my controller to play anything else, which is a bummer.

I otherwise would've had to shut down Bristol and manually assign a new patch to Channel 1 in fluidsynth.

The RB3 keytar DOES allow for program changes. So I'm looking for a few hours to figure out how to change from channel control to program change control. The problem with that is program change has a specific meaning in Bristol, so I may have to switch over to Beatrix for my organ if I can't figure out how to de-assign program change from changing programs in Bristol. OR I may simply choose a more keytar-y synth to put on Channel 1 and just shift everything else up to 2-10. Somehow the idea of jumping around on stage with a DX-7 voice is not as much fun as (but maybe more appropriate than) delivering the enormous B3 sound through a tiny keytar and a netbook plugged in via DI while making drawbar adjustments with my controller.