AndyCopeman Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 Hi, I have recently become the proud owner of a Helix, and also of a TC Helicon VoiceLive 3X. These are replacing some of the functions of a mac-based Ableton system I used to use but found to be too unreliable. The problem is that I now have too many devices to select presets on ... I use the Helix for my instruments, the VL3X for vocals and still use Ableton for backings, beats, loops and synths. This means that I have to select presets on 3 different devices for each song. That's a bit messy and prone to mistakes. It would be really great if I could set preset (including preset tempo in some cases) and tap tempo from one device and have everything else come into step quickly and easily. I have looked at the manuals for everything ... and to be honest the documentation for the Helix is pretty lacking. The VL3X is also pretty lacking. Can anyone suggest a simple way to do this? I don't mind having to do a bit of setting up in the rehearsal space, but at gigs I would like it to flow easily. I have never used midi for program changes... so I'm totally new in this area. Any help is most appreciated! cheers Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd2rk Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 Pretty easy with an FCB1010, not so much with the L6 stuff. There's a program called Cantabile that's made for "one man band" type performers. It can do all sorts of things with MIDI and VSTs - play loops, send, receive and filter MIDI messages - filters, triggers, tempo syncing, changing presets on VSTs and external synths etc., - and organize all that stuff into songs, sets, pretty much anything you want. It doesn't record loops per se, but it'll record stereo Wave files and MIDI files, and if you have those in Ableton, you can export as Wave or MIDI files to use in Cantabile. There's a large and very knowledgeable support forum, and the author is very active and responsive there. I've only ever used it as an "ultimate VST loader", but some of the stuff that the people on the forum talk about sounds truly amazing - way over my head. You'd have to look into it to see if it'll do all that you need, but as far as I can tell, all you have to do to set a "Song" running is send it a CC - easy enough to do from a Helix (or POD for that matter). The program is surprisingly inexpensive and very stable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyCopeman Posted December 4, 2016 Author Share Posted December 4, 2016 Thanks for this ... I've not heard of Cantabile. I'll investigate. I didn't mention that my system uses a Keith McMillen Softstep controlling clip launch and scene/tempo setting in Ableton ... and that I use a Fishman Triple play midi pickup on my guitar, routed through Ableton rewired into Reason for synth sounds ... mainly ethereal pads and some bass sounds. If I could get the Softstep routed correctly I figure that I could control the whole setup from that ... allowing it to select presets in the Helix and the VL3X, as well as setting tempo and launching clips in Ableton (or Cantabile). The problem is that I cannot find info on how to do this. For example, the presets in the VL3X are number 001 to 500(or thereabouts), but the program change option in the Softstep only has 2 fields ... some it only specifies from 00 to 99. I have never used midi for this kind of work before, so it's totally new for me and very challenging! cheers and thanks Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyCopeman Posted December 4, 2016 Author Share Posted December 4, 2016 Oh ... what a pity ... it's only a Windows program. Any other suggestions? thanks Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rd2rk Posted December 4, 2016 Share Posted December 4, 2016 He's working on the MAC version, but no telling when it'll happen. Unfortunately, there's not a lot out there for MACs in this context. There's something called Mainstage that might be helpful. You might also look into the BOME MIDI Translator (has OSX version). A while back someone gave me a MAC and I looked into trying to get it to do all the things I could do on a PC. Big PITA and ultimately just not possible. There, I've said it. That should motivate all the MAC kiddies out there to prove me wrong by suggesting possible solutions for ya! :) As far as routing for the Softstep, I had a quick look at the manual. I didn't see any way to set output Channels for controlling separate devices, which is what you'd need to be able to do. Apparently you'd also need to get the MIDI Expander Hardware to link to other hardware devices. As I said, it was only a quick look, so I could be wrong. If there's a forum for the softstep you might have better luck there than here. Good Luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundog Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 Use the Softstep forum ... its very helpful for this sort of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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