Hi all,
I've only been working with AM for a few days, but I can't seem to get around this issue.
I read the Help section regarding saving VST presets, and that not all VSTs are compatible with the saving feature, but I haven't found one that is. I've also tried saving and loading the VST Program Bank in many different VSTs, but when I load them, my presets never show up anywhere. I've even saved the presets, then tried doing a search in for the name anywhere in my computer to see if it's being saved somewhere, but nothing ever shows up. (It was a longshot...)
Also, on a similar issue, I've gone through and set up each knob on my MIDI controller to control the knobs on a few VST synths, which works great, but even when I've tried saving the Program Bank for the synth, it never retains any of the MIDI info when I tried to load it again.
Is this normal?
Thanks for the help!
Hi there,
I'm having a little trouble decyphering your message. Could you clarify please: when you say " I've also tried saving and loading the VST Program Bank in many different VSTs, but when I load them, my presets never show up anywhere" do you mean that when you try to load them you can't find the .fxb file? Perhaps try saving in a different location, such as your documents folder, or on the desktop (works here anyway).
With regard to MIDI mappings, if you're talking about AudioMulch's MIDI mappings -- these are only ever saved in the AudioMulch document. The fxb only stores plugin-specific settings (basically the program settings), never AudioMulch-specific things such as MIDI mappings. On the other hand, if you're using plugins that have their own MIDI features, these should be saved in the fxb (but that's plugin-specific).
Does that answer your questions?
Ross.
I've had very little luck with presets working with free VSTis. There's one or two that I can remember working fine, but I went to look them up and found they're no longer freeware.
A painful workaround is to automate every parameter that you want to stick.
On the other hand, almost zero problems with VST effects. Are you talking about instruments or effects? Maybe try one of these free plugins and say if they work for you? http://mda.smartelectronix.com/
I map controllers to various VSTi parameters and Mulch always remembers them. I never use Program Banks / FXB files.
Also, OSX or Windows?
Hope this helps...
I have never encountered a VST (instrument or effect) that has problems with AM presets when editing parameters from the GUI. If you have found such a problem then please report it as a bug and I will investigate. Let me know which plugin you are talking about.
Note that in the past there have been problems in some cases with synchronising AM's view of plugin parameters with the plugin if you recall a VST program and then try to store it in an AM preset. This type of problem should be largely resolved in AM 2.2. (similarly for Metasurface)
In any case I'm still not clear whether this has anything to do with vegannoise's issue.
Thanks,
Ross.
Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the help!
I'm sorry I just realized anyone responded.
I did get a few to work. I only have a minute to write, so I'll go in more depth later.
I can find and load the .fxb files, and since I wrote the original post I have found some of the VSTs and VSTis that are able to load my customized presets back by using them. So I'm guessing it may just be an incompatibility with a few of the freebies. However, even with the ones that work, if I create more than one preset on a VST and save each with a different name, and then save the preset as an .fxb file, when I reload the .fxb it will only have the first preset in the list saved and all the rest will be gone. Is that normal?
I'm using Windows 7, if that helps.
As for the MIDI issue, for instance, I have a Moog VSTi and I painstakingly went through and assigned each knob on my E-MU Command Station to one of the virtual knobs on the Moog synth. It all worked great, I saved the AM file, saved an .fxb file on the Moog and the next time I opened loaded everything, all of the MIDI assignments were lost. I tried this with a number of different VSTis and they all had the same issue. Is this normal?
If it helps in any way, I can figure out which free VSTs I'm having the problems with. (I've really loaded up my computer with them since getting AM, and other than this, they've generally been working amazingly well. I've had one or two that cause massive crashes or instant CPU overloads so I ditched them, but for the most part they've been great.)
Thanks again for the help!
Also, Jet Jaguar: Thanks, those VSTs were some of the first that I added to my rather excessive list of plugins! So to clarify, you can map the MIDI parameters in Mulch and it will retain them even for third-party VSTis? So it will recall all of your MIDI mapping every time you open the Mulch file?
Thanks again!
And while I'm writing, this is slightly off-topic, but maybe one of you can help me with this. I'm running Mulch on two different computers. I've saved a file on one that isn't on the other, and I'd like to transfer it. When in Mulch I go to "open", all my files are there plain as day. When I open the actual folder location where it says the files are, however, the Mulch files are nowhere to be found. I've even done searches throughout the harddrive to find words in the file names, and it comes up with nothing. Can someone tell me how the Mulch files are saved and where and if it's possible to do a simple copy and paste deal?
Thanks again!
Hi :-)
> I'm sorry I just realized anyone responded.
Sorry, there have been problems with email notifications on the site. They should be fixed now. We're still testing.
>>>However, even with the ones that work, if I create more than one preset on a VST and save each with a different name, and then save the preset as an .fxb file, when I reload the .fxb it will only have the first preset in the list saved and all the rest will be gone. Is that normal?<<<
There are really three things:
1. The "current state" of the plugin. This is usually the first VST program. This is what AudioMulch loads up when you open the document. It should be saved in the AM .amh document.
2. AudioMulch presets. These are stored in the AudioMulch .amh document. These are managed in the popup window in AM. See: http://www.audiomulch.com/help/contraptions-presets
3. VST programs. These appear in a list when you right-click in the title bar of the plugin. These are managed by the plugin. This is what gets stored in the fxb. These are *not* saved in the AudioMulch .amh document. When you load an fxb then all the VST programs should load. If you can give a complete example of when this isn't working I can look into it.
I know this is confusing. For added comfusion: keep in mind that there are AudioMulch presets (in .amh file) and VST programs (in fxb) and they are almost completely separate, except that there is *always* a currently selected VST program, so selecting an AM preset loads it into the current program (usually the first program). If you ignore VST programs and just use AudioMulch presets it should all just work.
>>>As for the MIDI issue, for instance, I have a Moog VSTi and I painstakingly went through and assigned each knob on my E-MU Command Station to one of the virtual knobs on the Moog synth. It all worked great, I saved the AM file, saved an .fxb file on the Moog and the next time I opened loaded everything, all of the MIDI assignments were lost. I tried this with a number of different VSTis and they all had the same issue. Is this normal? <<<
How did you make the MIDI assignments? Using AudioMulch's parameter control window? If so, they would be saved in the .amh file. If you made some mapping internal to the VST using the VST's interface then that's something you'll need to talk to Moog about, I don't have any idea how their plugins store MIDI mappings internally.
>>>If it helps in any way, I can figure out which free VSTs I'm having the problems with.<<<
Yes it would help. To go step by step through a complete example of what you do, and what isn't working. It's still not exactly clear to me what you're describing.
>And while I'm writing, this is slightly off-topic, but maybe one of you can help me with this
I've created a new thread for your question:
http://www.audiomulch.com/forums/support-help-and-ideas/mulch-files-are-nowhere-be-found
Thanks again, Ross. I'll put together a quick non-functioning example and get back to you.
(Oh, and for the MIDI, I was setting up everything using Mulch's paramater control window. I only used the Moog as an example because it happened with every VSTi synth I tried it with. Let me mess around with it some more and I'll let you know what I find. Thanks!)
Hi again Ross,
Well, I feel like a complete idiot becauese for whatever reason, everything seems to be working as it should. I guess I must have been doing something wrong before but for the life of me, I can't figure out what I was doing differently. Rookie mistakes, I suppose. I tried three different VSTi synths, and a handful of VST effects, and all were able to retain the MIDI assignments and more than one preset. I'm baffled, but happy. You know, the only thing different is that I just set all the assignments to my MIDI keyboard, whereas when I was having the issues I was assigning them to knobs on my E-MU. The only reason I didn't try the E-MU again is because I've stored it away figuring I wasn't going to be able to use it, so it's not currently at hand. I wonder if there's some weird incompatibility with that unit... Or it could have been user error.
Thanks for your time, and I'll be sure to let you know if I encounter the old issues again.
Sorry for the confusion!
Hi Vegannoise,
Glad to hear that it's working. Please do let us know if you encounter the problem again.
Thanks,
Ross.
Hi Ross,
Just wanted to follow up on this.
This time I hooked up my Korg MS2000 as a MIDI controller. Trying it with two different VSTi synths at different times, I got the same results.
I assigned the Korg knobs to the VST synth using the parameter control feature. I then saved and named the preset, and then saved it to an fxb. file.
I closed the AM program, reloaded it and just as they should be, all of the MIDI settings and everything loaded. Perfect.
When I ran into a problem was when I either deleted the VSTi contraption and loaded a new instance of it, or when I opened a new AM file and loaded the VSTi synth and its fxb. file. The fxb. loads all the basic settings except all of my MIDI choices.
This might be an issue with the VSTs, but I thought I'd follow up with some more info.
Thanks again.
Thanks for getting back with more info.
AudioMulch's MIDI parameter control is an AudioMulch specific feature. These MIDI settings are stored in the .amh document, never in the .fxb.
.fxb files are a universal format that work with most (all?) VST hosts. The .fxb stores VST parameter settings, but an .fxb file knows nothing about AudioMulch's MIDI parameter control system -- it doesn't store anything AudioMulch specific.
From what you say, everything is working as expected with regard to the MIDI mappings.
Does that make sense?
There have been requests to provide some way of cutting and pasting MIDI mappings, which might help in your situation. If you could outline the kind of things that you'd like to be able to do then I can try to take that into account since I'm working out what AudioMulch 2.3 is going to include at the moment -- and improved MIDI mapping is high on the list.
Thanks.
Hi Ross,
Thanks. (I'm still not getting any email notifications when people respond, so sorry I'm so late getting back to you.)
That's basically what I figured. I'm not looking to do anything too crazy, but copy and pasting, or saving a MIDI mapping for a particular VSTi would be great. Basically if I assign all of he parameters for one VSTi synth, for instance, I would love to be able to create multiple AM files with the same synth with the same MIDI mappings without having to do it every single time I create a new file. Likewise, for live situations since I do exclusively improvisation, it would be very handy to be able to open a new VSTi or VST effect on the fly and just load up a pre-set MIDI mapping for it. That would be incredible.
Thanks again!
> (I'm still not getting any email notifications when people respond, so sorry I'm so late getting back to you.)
If you go to your account settings ("My Account") then click Subscriptions, then navigate to Settings > Autosubscribe you should check those options so that you'll be automatically subscribed to the posts you create. Otherwise you need to manually check "Send subscriptions notifications" on each post you create (or have you dont that already?).
As for the feature request.. yes I agree that there needs to be a solution for these kind of use-cases. One idea that has been around for a while is to have a permenant area where you can store multiple clippings (like cut-paste) that you can then use in any document. Of course this would need to save MIDI settings to work correctly.