I’m an idiot - need help!

[BakaGaijin]

Ok I’m a total beginner and something that probably should be easy is giving me fits. Think anyone can help a noob out?

I am trying to use a guitar strumming plugin (NI Sunburst) where you basically choose a stunning patter ln with your right hand on the midi keyboard and you play a chord with your left hand. The plug in plays that pattern and chord and I am able to record that into a clip in Ableton. No problem.

Now I would like to create another clip with a different strum pattern using the same instance of the plug in. However whenever I change it up, the original clip I recorded also now adopts the new strumming pattern.

It doesn’t seem right that I would have to create a new instance of the plugin for every single variation I want in my song.

What am I missing?

[VAPstudio]

When you change the pattern within the same track then it will be changed for all track. I do not have the NI Sunburst but check if you could use automation to change patterns within time. If you cannot then a quick idea came to mind is to create a new track to insert the plugin and record the new pattern. Afterwards you could resample the two different tracks to record to one audio track. In this case try to have similar levels in both tracks. Also check for possible delay or reverb tails in the end of each midi clip so you could adust them according to your needs.

[BakaGaijin]

When you change the pattern within the same track then it will be changed for all track. I do not have the NI Sunburst but check if you could use automation to change patterns within time. If you cannot then a quick idea came to mind is to create a new track to insert the plugin and record the new pattern. Afterwards you could resample the two different tracks to record to one audio track. In this case try to have similar levels in both tracks. Also check for possible delay or reverb tails in the end of each midi clip so you could adjust them according to your needs.

Thanks VAPstudio! That is helpful actually. So I guess I can also resample each "variation" as an audio clip and then create the next midi clip for the next variation. I tried that and it does work pretty well. Cant go back and edit the midi but once i have decided on the variation, i don't have a problem locking it in as audio. Still seems weird to me that i'd have to create multiple instances (tracks) of the plug in to do this all in midi but that probably because i don't really understand what is going on under the covers.

Appreciate the help!

[VAPstudio]

When you change the pattern within the same track then it will be changed for all track. I do not have the NI Sunburst but check if you could use automation to change patterns within time. If you cannot then a quick idea came to mind is to create a new track to insert the plugin and record the new pattern. Afterwards you could resample the two different tracks to record to one audio track. In this case try to have similar levels in both tracks. Also check for possible delay or reverb tails in the end of each midi clip so you could adjust them according to your needs.

Thanks VAPstudio! That is helpful actually. So I guess I can also resample each "variation" as an audio clip and then create the next midi clip for the next variation. I tried that and it does work pretty well. Cant go back and edit the midi but once i have decided on the variation, i don't have a problem locking it in as audio. Still seems weird to me that i'd have to create multiple instances (tracks) of the plug in to do this all in midi but that probably because i don't really understand what is going on under the covers.

Appreciate the help!

If you have enough cpu power to run the plugin more than once per time then you could create multiple midi tracks each one with the variation you like. With this way you could move from track to track and variation to variation so you could experiment with the variations. When you finish you solo the tracks that includes the NI Sunburst, so you could resample all of them in one track. If you do not have enough cpu power then the best way is maybe freeze previous tracks and if you want to change them afterwards unfreeze them and experiment with other variations.

[oratowsky]

if I understand well the scenario you describe,

if you want to only use one instance of the plugin,

you could put the note that selects the correct strumming pattern in each midi clip and this would change the strumming pattern when the midi clip is launched. no?

[BakaGaijin]

if I understand well the scenario you describe,

if you want to only use one instance of the plugin,

you could put the note that selects the correct strumming pattern in each midi clip and this would change the strumming pattern when the midi clip is launched. no?

Hmmm interesting! I will try that. it might just work. Great idea.

[BakaGaijin]

When you change the pattern within the same track then it will be changed for all track. I do not have the NI Sunburst but check if you could use automation to change patterns within time. If you cannot then a quick idea came to mind is to create a new track to insert the plugin and record the new pattern. Afterwards you could resample the two different tracks to record to one audio track. In this case try to have similar levels in both tracks. Also check for possible delay or reverb tails in the end of each midi clip so you could adjust them according to your needs.

Thanks VAPstudio! That is helpful actually. So I guess I can also resample each "variation" as an audio clip and then create the next midi clip for the next variation. I tried that and it does work pretty well. Cant go back and edit the midi but once i have decided on the variation, i don't have a problem locking it in as audio. Still seems weird to me that i'd have to create multiple instances (tracks) of the plug in to do this all in midi but that probably because i don't really understand what is going on under the covers.

Appreciate the help!

If you have enough cpu power to run the plugin more than once per time then you could create multiple midi tracks each one with the variation you like. With this way you could move from track to track and variation to variation so you could experiment with the variations. When you finish you solo the tracks that includes the NI Sunburst, so you could resample all of them in one track. If you do not have enough cpu power then the best way is maybe freeze previous tracks and if you want to change them afterwards unfreeze them and experiment with other variations.

Yes, I do have plenty of CPU power. I was just trying to avoid having so many "redundant" tracks.. But I could definitely do it.

[VAPstudio]

if I understand well the scenario you describe,

if you want to only use one instance of the plugin,

you could put the note that selects the correct strumming pattern in each midi clip and this would change the strumming pattern when the midi clip is launched. no?

+1000