How to write a preset or template for VSTi?

[pcartwright]

In Finale, there’s a user interface for setting up custom rules which is straight forward and easy to use. It allows you to select rules based simply on staff name.

Which version of Finale has this feature and where is it located? I used Finale years ago and I don't remember custom rules files (nor do I remember this feature ever getting a lot of press). Would you please elaborate; I'd like to compare Finale's rules functionality with Notion's.

[wcreed51]

I'm using Fin2010. Clicking on the HP Preferences button in the Playback Setting dialog.

[pcartwright]

Interesting... thanks.

[Dewdman42]

The BIG problem is that if you use Kontakt as a VSTi, you can only address on instance of it.

Is that really true? I just created a test little score, with two instances of kontakt. Instance 1 has all my KH strings and instance 2 has my KH brasses. I was able to then create basic staves that play to those two kontakt instances with all the right midi channels being used to send to the various instruments.

So far so good.

Now the question about prules is how to cross reference each of them. Isn't that what instrument-id is for? what is the "ref" number referred to in Notion? Is that the instrument id? It seems to be unique for every staff in Notion. After doing the above, I see the following in Notion:

instruments.jpg (42.82 KiB) Viewed 6589 times

So can't I just create some XML for the 2nd Violins like this:

Code: Select all

<plugin id="1315531572">
      <rule name="staccatto 2nd violins">
         <if articulation = "staccato"/>
         <if instrument-id = "10006"/>
         <key-switch type="note-on-prefix" midi-pitch="1" velocity="1" />
         <key-switch type="note-on-prefix" midi-pitch="20" velocity="1" />
      </rule>   
</plugin>


Or is instrument id something else?

The main problem I see is that this does not translate well across different scores. Some other suggestions have been made earlier this year about how this feature could be improved. I hope they will listen. I don't see this as particularly a problem with kontakt, in general. Its more about it being a general re-use problem when trying to mix and match different sample libraries as different scores dictate.

You could theoretically setup a template score that has a bunch of ref id's and a prules file that matches it by instrument id and you'd be good to go with KH, even using multiple instances (if I am understanding right). But the problem is that if you ever need to use some different score setup, then you have to rebuild an entirely new prule file with whatever ref id's Notion gives you for that particular score. Yuck.

Yea like others, I appreciate a bit how Overture works in so much that you can create an XML that corresponds to a particular Kontakt instrument. Regardless of what channel I load that into kontakt, on which instance or which staff is pointing to it, I am pretty much always gonna want the same set of prules when using that particular kontakt instrument. So what I would need is a way of defining a prule that way and then selecting it for a staff(and be able to change it midscore) in Notion. it should be part of the instrument assignment. Someone else already suggested this I think and I concur. Right now the prules are bound too tightly to the actual staff,channel or plugin id, etc.. of a score and not re-usable on other scores, except for very simple prules where the plugin is not as generic as say kontakt is.

I'd like to suggest that it be possible to take this even further and allow the possibility of having a staff play out to more than one vsti instrument channel at a time, with different prules for each one.

[pcartwright]

I'd like to suggest that it be possible to take this even further and allow the possibility of having a staff play out to more than one vsti instrument channel at a time, with different prules for each one.

That would be pretty cool, but I'd like the ability to add custom instrument IDs (to facilitate more robust custom rules) first.

[davidmesiha]

Hey guys,

so did this ever work? did that number correspond to instrument id?

thanks

David