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rncbc / qtractor

Qtractor - An Audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer
https://qtractor.org
GNU General Public License v2.0
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Please add "Instrument track" type to Qtractor #453

Open kamkamkamkamkamkamkamkam opened 4 months ago

kamkamkamkamkamkamkamkam commented 4 months ago

The current system of loading instrument plugins to MIDI tracks is pretty much unusable for me because of the volume slider that is assigned to CC#7 does not change the volume of any modern plugin I've tried. The only plugins I've tried that the MIDI track volume slider actually works with are the v1 plugins. I think Qtractor could take a cue from Pro Tools with their instrument track type, which seems to function like an audio track except it works with MIDI data and hosts instruments. This way we wouldn't have to rely on a plugin's implementation of CC#7 to be compatible with Qtractor's MIDI track slider. This would be a very quality feature for Qtractor imo.

rncbc commented 4 months ago

not going to happen, sorry.

MIDI tracks become "Instrument tracks" once you insert an instrument plugin, and that's the rule for a decade and a half (maybe even predating PT ;)).

kamkamkamkamkamkamkamkam commented 4 months ago

not going to happen, sorry.

MIDI tracks become "Instrument tracks" once you insert an instrument plugin, and that's the rule for a decade and a half (maybe even predating PT ;)).

The rule only seems to benefit your own plugins though because of the volume slider actually controlling CC#7 which doesn't seem to work with the majority of modern plugins, it could be worth bending a little so the software remains functional with the plugins people actually use.

rncbc commented 4 months ago

not only my plugins: all instruments that respond to GM1 standard (CC#7 for volume and CC#10 for panning) will do, whether in plugin form or external/outboard...

nb. as with most modern plugins, they should have some form of "MIDI Learn", so you may well assign those CCs appropriately, if not on default.

kamkamkamkamkamkamkamkam commented 4 months ago

This isn't the most intuitive thing to do in Qtractor at least for me but I've found a workaround, loading the instrument in Carla or any Carla derivative (such as Ildaeil) make the volume slider work as expected.

windowsrefund commented 3 months ago

The current system of loading instrument plugins to MIDI tracks is pretty much unusable for me because of the volume slider that is assigned to CC#7 does not change the volume of any modern plugin I've tried. The only plugins I've tried that the MIDI track volume slider actually works with are the v1 plugins. I think Qtractor could take a cue from Pro Tools with their instrument track type, which seems to function like an audio track except it works with MIDI data and hosts instruments. This way we wouldn't have to rely on a plugin's implementation of CC#7 to be compatible with Qtractor's MIDI track slider. This would be a very quality feature for Qtractor imo.

I've struggled with this exact issue for some time after noticing the same thing. My take-aways from the "investigation" I did are that using a controller (CC#7) to handle volume is not really a good thing anyway since the controller is stepped from 0-127. In other words, the steps aren't granular enough to map cleanly to dB. Am I correct? I have no clue. That said, I've settled on adding the Audio Gain (Stereo) plugin which I believe Carla provides after the instrument.

audio-gain

Now, I can even use automation on that plugin when needed.