Waffly amblesome idea
Today I tried an experiment with 2 instances of Yoshimi each fully
populated with 16 different voice patches. These were then linked to 2
instances of the new Rosegarden 'Thorn' each with 16 tracks designated
to the appropriate Yoshimi channels. These instances were in turn linked
via MIDI to separate hardware keyboards.
Now, with Rosegarden, whichever track is highlighted that is the one
that plays through from MIDI input to output. This selection can be
quickly changed using the cursor keys or the mouse. When playing live,
this is not like a normal program change because there is no cutoff of
existing notes. This has a number of interesting possibilities.
The first is that by using two keyboards you can get a fantastic range
of instruments without breaking your performance.
The second one is that your can set up drones! Using a voice with a
slow attack behaviour, if you hold down a note, then switch away to a
different track Rosegarden will carry on playing that note (because it
didn't get a note off). You now play against that drone with a
different instrument (different track), and when you want to cancel it,
simply switch back to the original track and briefly tap the same key.
Finally, with a carefully placed computer keyboard and some fast button
pushing you can get the effect of two different instruments playing
together whilst apparently maintaining a third one with (say) a simple
chord progression.
Now, without in any way detracting from Rosegarden :) what would be
interesting would be some form of program/script that could be set up
so that multiple incoming MIDI streams could be redirected to different
channels of different synths, each with a single (user definable)
dedicated key press.
--
Will J Godfrey
http://www.musically.me.uk
Say you have a poem and I have a tune.
Exchange them and we can both have a poem, a tune, and a song.