SWAM Violin - Reaper won't connect

[Marantz]

When I load the 64 bit SWAM Violin in Reaper I cannot get Reaper to connect to the Instrument. What I mean is this, writing midi notes will not 'play' the instrument. The SWAM instrument has it's own keyboard, when I hit some keys, I can hear the audio, but can also see it is not sending midi messages.

This seems to be a midi CC issue. I've tried what others have recommended, like going to SWAMs Options, then Midi Mapping, and changing the Expression to 11, but it still doesn't work.

Can anyone help out here?

Thanks.

[mschnell]

You need to assign some CC to expression in SWAM and create the appropriate Midi events in the Midi track to have SWAM do any sound.

-Michael

[chip mcdonald]

It won't do anything apparently until it receives something on CC11 (or whatever you've got the expression set to).

So you have to make a midi track and select the expression channel (bottom left in the Reaper midi editor, pull down/scroll menu) and draw at least 1 midi event for expression on the midi track.

Hit play once.

Now it will work at that one setting. This is super duper annoying and probably explains why they don't have a downloadable demo. I presume there must be a logical reason for it to operate this way, but they really need to have a pop up when you first run it to indicate this, or actually have the "no expression" warning tell you to take the above step.

The first VSTi I've had with this situation, I sat here and wasted over an hour yesterday trying to make it work in Reaper with Midi Guitar 2. I'm saving a track template with a midi snippet recorded with the expression CC set so I can at least hear something when it first loads.

They really, really need to address that as an issue, there is scant info on their site regarding it and for those of us that aren't keyboard players - we might not automatically reach for a midi keyboard when introduced to the VSTi! Ahrgh.

[mschnell]

That is not an "issue" but clearly described in the documentation.

-Michael

[chip mcdonald]

Originally Posted by mschnell

That is not an "issue" but clearly described in the documentation.

-Michael

It absolutely is an issue when it causes a problem that you typically don't get with any other VSTi. Saying "it does this" in the docs doesn't change anything.

[Jae.Thomas]

it really is annoying and stupid that it does this. Bug.

[mschnell]

Originally Posted by chip mcdonald

Saying "it does this" in the docs doesn't change anything.

Virtual modeling solo instruments are not "normal VSTs".
It definitively does make sense to consider what you want to do with a thing before spending any money ...

-Michael

[chip mcdonald]

Originally Posted by mschnell

Virtual modeling solo instruments are not "normal VSTs".
It definitively does make sense to consider what you want to do with a thing before spending any money ...

-Michael

Pretense is cheap, Michael. It's not a standalone product, and it definitely does make sense to consider what the majority of people that use VSTis need them to do when you make a product. Particularly when all you have to do is enable a default CC value.

Instead of me writing about how useful and realistic their product is - which it can be - I'm remorseful about it because of it's finickiness. They don't want to sell just to a niche market Michael, they want to sell as many copies as they can. They'll need to make it less clunky for the 98% of people needing strings in virtual arrangements.

[Fergler]

Its a performance instrument designed to be used with either a touch sensitive keyboard like the Seaboard, or an expression pedal / breath controller with a regular keyboard, or a EWI.

It can't use velocity as that is per-note, not per-tick (once a velocity is declared it is applied to any following notes until a new velocity is applied).

Therefor they use expression CC 11 to control the sound.

You can experiment with using another track to send audio levels to CC 11 using an audio to MIDI tool, then you can express the instrument with your voice.

[mschnell]

Realistic sound of solo wind, brass or string instruments can't be achieved just via the sound engine, it needs very dedicated playing or programming to get the "multi-dimensional" articulation i.e. multiple CC movements working together. This can't be done by handling such plugins in the same ways as virtual keyboard-type instruments.

-Michael

[chip mcdonald]

..you guys are completely missing what I'm talking about.

[Jae.Thomas]

indeed.

[Marantz]

AH HA! THANK YOU CHIP MACDONALD!

What a complete pain in the ass this was.

What I did was the following.

Load the Vsti

Then create 4 bars of midi

Go to 'very' bottom left hand corner and choose cc 11, there was an expression above the very bottom called 'expression', and this threw me off.

Draw in 4 midi notes per bar

I played from here and ..... nothing.

Then on a whim drew in some crude, random up and down type 'expression' in the formerly empty expression pane.

That did the trick.

[Judders]

I don't know about the violin, but the SWAM instruments I have (saxophones) come up with a big warning about CC11 not being received if you open the GUI without incoming expression cc's.

...bit of a hint.