NOTION Music Forum

Hi,

is there a way to add a new instrument which automaticaly loads a VST? I can add a new instrument to the Notion3 instrument list, but that doesn't load a VST, and I pretty much figured out the xml format of the rules files for ewqlso, I can add a new .notion setup track, but I can't figure out where the instrument list for EWQLSO is stored, so I can't add that .notion file as a new staff into a score. Can someone point me there, or is it the only thing that is hardcoded? (Running the demo yet btw, and creating new rules would be very very important, and I think it's easily doable with a little xml editing, but as of yet I can only change the instrument rules that are already there, can't add new instruments.)

And another question, is it possible to somehow control multiple instances of N3 through rewire? I can fit the lite instruments of EWQLSO into the limitations of this x32 app, but if I could run a different instance and control it through rewire I could add other instruments which I wouldn't mind scoring on a different page.

Thanks

edit from a long frustrated post: Feature request: x64 support or midi out using the same rules as for plugins (to control an external x64 vst host through -more than 4-virtual midi cables) and the ability to add new instruments with their own rules and plugins.
To elaborate a bit: I've managed to change the hall noise instrument in ewqlso to control EWQL Pianos by editing the platinum rules xml. However I can't use pedal markings, since they lenghten the notes while ewql pianos have their own sustains and I couldn't turn off this weird behavior, so I had to use x02 and x04 for softpedal (neither of those look good in a score). And I also can't create a new instrument in the ewql instrument list, because I can't find it. The N3 instruments are listed in an XML and I can easily add one there, but those don't have rules in a separate xml file, or I can't find it, and neither do they have a .notion setup file which would enable me to load play, so that doesn't work.
I'm sorry, but I just don't understand why instrument costumization isn't possible. This and midi-out while using the same rules as when working with the internal audio engine should be the most basic things. As of now it's a workable notation software with very poor midi support and very poor vst support that works fine in an x32 environment, but is unusable in an x64 one since I just hate to run out of RAM at 2GB while I know I have 6 more left. It might be ok with the supplied sounds, but why would I want to use those? Jbridge doesn't work for me, it doesn't work well with EWQLSO, it seems to eat more RAM than loading into N3 itself.

If anyone can offer a solution to these problems, because it is easily possible that I overlooked something, please do so, before the demo is expired.

Hi Erufailon,

Let me see if I can help a bit, I think there are some useful suggestions I can make.

x64 support or midi out using the same rules as for plugins (to control an external x64 vst host through -more than 4-virtual midi cables) and the ability to add new instruments with their own rules and plugins.

We do have 64bit on our list of priorities and we do plan on implementing that. For now, I wanted to let you know how you can configure your midi-out to play with the same rules as your VST presets. Note that right now this will only work for the Full patches, so you would have to first open the preset in NOTION and save the PLAY preset to a location if you want to use it in a standalone instance later. Try that with lets say the Trumpet preset, open it in NOTION3 and save the PLAY preset to a location.

Next, to configure the MIDI-out:

1. In the same folder that contains your score (lets say, for example C:\Scores), make a new folder that is called Rules (C:\Scores\Rules)
2. Copy the EWQL_Platinum.prules file into the newly created folder.
3. Open the file and substitute this tag <plugin id="1886151033"> with <midi-out id="A"> and this tag </plugin> with </midi-out>
3a. Optionally, you can delete all the Lite Rules tags, to keep things clean. You can simply select them all after <!-- Full Patches Rules End--> and hit delete. Make sure you don't accidentally remove the </midi-out>

Now, anything you send through MIDI Port A in NOTION will go through with the rules for the EWQL FULL presets. If you need to have all 4 ports simply copy paste the entire section from <midi-out id="A"> to </midi-out> and replace "A" with B, then C etc..I have not tested this with EWQL but I know it works with other libraries.

Now open PLAY and load it with the FULL preset you saved earlier. If your MIDI connections are configured correctly, this should work fine.

Also, I wanted to provide a tip:

To save on RAM, you could try unloading any patches that you don't need in PLAY. I am able to load a full EWQL orchestra in NOTION with the VST Lite presets this way (it's not a Mahler orchestra, but its still a good sized ensemble).

Hope that helps, and rest assured we are working and we will be working to further optimize this functionality even more.

Lubo Astinov

Thank you. Though I won't use this for orchestra as 4 midi outs mean 4 instruments this way, I managed to write my own rules for EW pianos to be controlled through midi-out, so I'm happy, and I suppose I could do the same for other instruments.
Isn't there a condition like <if midi-channel="2">? I tried to quess it, but nothing worked, yet this could allow for using KS instruments through midi-out, and then I'd have 64 instruments to work with by my own rules in an x64 host, so I'd be completely satisfied (I am already quite satisfied, this info gave way to new possibilities). For some reason Notion inspire me, and musical ideas come out, that I never thought I had in me when I work with it. I hope I didn't sound too harsh before, but this was the reason, I really wanted it to work.
Or as an alternate solution, can you set a flag in the score? For example, I'd set Trumpets at the beginning of the trumpet staff to which the <if flag="Trumpets> would return True.
O, and isn't there a list of the conditions somewhere, because I couldn't for example find out the one for pedal down and pdeal up, I thought pddn and pdup would work, but they don't. I'm not asking to make a list, but if it can be found somewhere already, I'd be happy to see it.

Thanks.

Erufailon,

Without getting into too much detail we'll be working quite soon on optimizing this functionality even further.

Now, I just wanted to comment on this:

Isn't there a condition like <if midi-channel="2">? I tried to quess it, but nothing worked, yet this could allow for using KS instruments through midi-out, and then I'd have 64 instruments to work with by my own rules in an x64 host, so I'd be completely satisfied (I am already quite satisfied, this info gave way to new possibilities).

Yes, and your guess is almost correct you forgot the '/' so its <if midi-channel="2"/>.

You are obviously tech savvy, so here we go - You can use this to make the Lite presets work too. What you would need to do is copy the Lite instrument rules and replace the <if instrument-id tags with <if midi-channel tags. Then simply add the appropriate instrument with the appropriate channel and it should work (in theory).

Let me know if you need additional help.

Lubo Astinov

Ok, it works. I don't quite understand, because I remember trying it already with the correct syntax, and it didn't work then, but it works now. Thank you very very much! Ordering tomorrow.

Nevermind this post, found a way,
just leaving it here, so others may use it, if in the same shoes.
So I solved this by setting the default channel to channel 2 and adding a rule that changes to channel 1 every time the technique is not dxf. I also had to write a different dynamics table for dxf, as it seems to behave differently than velocity (the same value is not the same force). I just hope this way of doing things don't get changed in a future update, as I can now set up all my instrument to behave exactly as I want them to, and I can have hairpins affect dxf patches right inside the score without making it look ugly, so I'll just need a bit of humanizing, and I'm ready to render and print. Amazing!:)

(Original post: Should you have the time. I managed to set up my own rules for Violins1, added a few new expressions for spiccato, expressivo, etc to the expressionlist, everything works fine, I can use the right slurs with expressivo and the lyrical stuff, but I also set up hairpin to the modwheel, and added a DXF Expression which changes to channel 2, where the DXF patch is, but it seems that when it changes it sends the first mod-wheel data to channel 2, but the hairpin sends it's data to channel 1, any way to do something about that, so hairpin data gets sent to the channel where the instrument changed to?)

Erufailon,

Just a reminder: make sure you backup your changes so that when you update they don't get lost.

Lubo Astinov

Erufalion,
it's not completely clear to me how you managed to work with dxf patches. Would you mind to post an extract of your "rule" code and play multi screenshot ? This sounds to be very useful.....

Lubo,
any chance to get the rule/vst tutorial you promised a couple of months ago or (better) a rule programming/user manual in order to progam our own rules for different libraries ? I'm struggling to build some LASS rules (at the moment I've adopted the default Notion rules, but this is quite limiting).

Thanks
GF

I created a new expression in the expressionlist.tkp which I can use with the ' key, it reads DXF and it's a note expression 'dxf1'. Then I added a rule at the beginning of every instrument rulelist:
<rule name="notdxf">
<if midi-channel="2" />
<if not-technique="dxf1" />
<channel-change channel="1" />
</rule>
This changes to midi-channel 1 if the note is not a DXF note (DXF patches are on even and KS patches on odd channels). O, and of course the default output-channel in N3 is the DXF channel.
That's all, but I ran into a problem. It seems EWQLSO is not increasing the volume, only the timbre is changing with certain DXF patches (or I'm going crazy, which is possible), and since I also changed the hairpin-cc value to 1, it's not increasing in volume (tho this seems to be a problem with only a few instruments, like the 6 French Horns). Astinov, is there any way to output the hairpin cc on both cc1 and cc11, it would be very helpful anyway, it would create a cc11 base for further tuning. Thanks.