MPE Instrument rack concept

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Manhippo
Posts: 7
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 12:52 am

MPE Instrument rack concept

Post by Manhippo » Sat Jun 05, 2021 12:04 pm

Ok. I have a concept that I'm not seeing on the market just now that I think would be an excellent complement to Ableton 11's new MPE features.

Could we have an MPE instrument rack, Ie a rack type plugin where you can put multiple different synths/samplers onto the different midi channels that mpe maps to so that you get polyphonic expression using any VSTi?

There would have to be some way to map the parameters you wanted to the slide, pressure etc controls in the mpe setup. That could be open (Ie you drop copies of your instrument onto channels, much like the audio channels in an existing instrument rack, and then specify which parameter on each instance relates to each control) or it could be more closed (ie You drop a vsti into the rack and specify which parameters you want controlled by slide, pressure etc, and the rack then extrapolates that to as many voices as you want in your patch).

While the first option would be cool in terms of flexibility and sound design, I can't help but feel that maybe the second, more streamlined option would be a better specific MPE tool. You only have one version of the plugin interface to look at, tweaks you make to the sound are matched accross all instances/voices, but the paramaters you've linked to MPE expression are variable voice by voice according to pressure and slide etc. You would just need an option box to define the number of distinct voices/instances, for cpu management etc. No point running 16 instances of a vst when four will do.

A further very cool feature would be an lfo stage ahead of the mpe send to the instrument, allowing the various mpe controls to manipulate depth and speed of modulation of a paramter on the plugin. it's a behaviour on the classic CS80 and it's super expressive.

jlgrimes
Posts: 1770
Joined: Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:55 am
Location: Atlanta, Ga

Re: MPE Instrument rack concept

Post by jlgrimes » Wed Jun 30, 2021 12:45 am

Wouldn't the VST itself need to be reprogrammed to accept MPE?

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