Posted
Step 1!
I've created 4 device descriptions in Synfire. One is "Core", one is "Electronic", and one is "Special". Each of these use one MIDI port. I also created a device to control 64 GPO instruments, which uses 4 ports.
"Core" contains the most important instruments to the vast majority of genres, and the instruments on the rack side will rarely change.
"Electronic", on the other hand, is a generic interface to different synth types that will probably be tweaked often on the rack, depending on the arrangement.
"Special" contains instruments with a more specialized purpose.
It is my intent to have one big monolithic rack in REAPER that serves all four of these device descriptions, all the time. For now, it should cover every style and genre I can think of. In other words, it should meet all my Synfire needs. (knock on wood)
Of course I am going to let it evolve... I might even "fork" it for different arrangements, but that is something I am trying to minimize.
To be continued...
(Rack-Core.png)
(Rack-Electronic.png)
(Rack-Special.png)
Di., 08.12.2009 - 05:06 Permalink
Next, I made one group of tracks for each device description I created in Synfire. Each track is merely a MIDI relay, one for each MIDI channel. The input for each is always set to a constant channel, but the destination of the relay may change from time to time or from arrangement to arrangement, especially in the Electronic group.
Note that I did not do this for the GPO device. This because GPO is always going to serve the GPO ports, and my configuration of it will never change, so there is no need for an intermediate layer for relaying. GPO will receive the MIDI data straight from Synfire.
(Core-Rack-In.png)
(Core-Rack-In-Expanded.png)
(Electronic-Rack-In.png)
Di., 08.12.2009 - 05:24 Permalink
Then it was time to add some synths and samplers to "implement" the sounds. I created a track group called "Synth Tracks" to contain the actual instruments. (In my case I've found that I could use EastWest Goliath for almost everything!)
Note that I created a separate group for GPO, because as I mentioned before, GPO will remain constant and will always be addressed directly, while the other instruments in the rack may be routed differently using the input relay tracks.
(Synth-Tracks.png)
Mi., 09.12.2009 - 04:24 Permalink
Wow! Great set up and thanks for posting pictures as I'm hoping this will help me in the next week as I attempt to do the same thing.
I also have GPO, and will use Reaper, although I also have Propellerheads REASON/RECORD duo, but I think Reaper is my best choice as I'll be primarily be working in Synfire, utilizing instruments from GPO and REASON.
I don't know if you're famiiar with REASON, and even though it doesn't host VST, it is an incredibly robust application with really unlimited synth pads/variations through it's primary synths (Malstrom/Thor/Subtractor). I don't know if anyone else using Synfire has REASON, but I'm hoping I don't have a problem linking up instruments within REASON to Synfire/Reaper.
Any additional advice on what I must accomplish here with your experience is greatly appreciated, and I'll let you know how it goes.
John
Mi., 09.12.2009 - 04:39 Permalink
Cool. I've gone through a lot of trial and error in the last year with setting up a rack to use with Synfire. I only discovered Reaper a couple of weeks ago, and so far I really like it. I am still pretty new to it; I'm not really using it as my DAW (I use Sonar generally), I am only using it for a rack (something I previously used Bidule for).
Anyway, I'd be happy to help out if you've got questions.
By the way, are you using GPO3 or GPO4?
I've never used Reason but I've heard of it. In fact, I've never really used anything from Propellerheads, including Rewire. So I don't know much about that. However, I am pretty sure that Reaper supports Rewire, so it is probably pretty easy to get it to talk to Reason.
Do., 10.12.2009 - 23:27 Permalink
The discussion about setting up GPO, Omnisphere and PC hardware was moved to an extra thread here: (https://users.cognitone.com/node/1641) . I hope this is ok with everyone.
IMO this great tutorial deserves its own thread. Feel free to reply here with everything related to the tutorial.