Here's my situation:

I'm trying to run multiple instances of Reaktor VST in Cubase SX 1.0. When I have just one instance of Reaktor playing in one MIDI track everything is fine. However when I add another MIDI track and try to use another instance of Reaktor, the second track doesn't produce any sound; yet I can see the levels rising and falling for MIDI track 2 where they are supposed to, they just don't make any sound. When I change the output of track 2 to channel 1 instead of channel 2, it plays the first Reaktor instrument. However when I switch the output back to channel 2 there is silence, even though I can see the levels changing and the light in the second Reaktor instance is blinking like it is receiving a signal. I've even tried making the two MIDI tracks the exact same setup, the only difference is that they use different instances of Reaktor and output to different channels. Anyone know what my problem might be?

Hmm, I think you are referring to midi channels. When you create new midi tracks in cubase, it automatically increases the channel number (the third track you create will send info on midi channel 3, the 4th one on channel 4 etc).

The problem is, when you create a new instance of Reaktor, each new instance "listens" to midi channel 1. It receives data on channel two, but it got orders to only play stuff when receiving on channel one.

The solution is quite easy. Either you make the second instance of Reaktor respond to midi channel 2 (or whatever channel the midi track is sending too), I haven't used Reaktor quite thoroughly yet, so I can't really tell you where to look for it, but it sure can be done.
The other method is to simply let the next track send it's data to midi channel 1.


That's the power of softsynths. With "normal" midi hardware you are limited to 16 midi channels per midi port. Basically you can connect 16 different synths/samplers on one midiport (less if you're dealing with multitimbral). The problem is you need to configure each device to listen to a midichannel. If you happen to have three devices that listen to the same midi channel, all three will start playing when you address that channel. If you want more than 16 channels, you'll have to add midi ports, simple as that.

With softsynths you don't really have that kind of limitations because of the internal communication. You don't need midi physically to play a softsynth. In simple terms, each softsynth instance can handle 16 midi channels on it's own (unless programmed different of course). Let's take Kontakt as example. You can program one sound to play on midi channel 1, and another sound on midi channel 2, and so on. You can create two midi tracks in your sequencer that use the same instance of Kontakt. One track sends info on midi channel 1, the other on channel 2. The first midi track will play the first sound, the second will play the second sound. You'd get the same result if you created two Kontakt instances with each one sound, but that would be more cpu intensive. Basically you can use one instance of Kontakt for 16 different sounds (i'm not taking key mapping in account here, but you get the idea). A second instance could answer to another 16 channels, and so on...

Thanks a lot Thy! Changing the channel in Reaktor did the trick. Now what if I want to use more than 16 channels in one song? The channel list only goes up to 16 and I haven't been able to find how to open up another set of 16 in Cubase... Thanks again for your help and to everyone else who has been kind enough to answer my questions.

Well, read my reply again carefully, and you'll find the answer

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Thy Well, read my reply again carefully, and you'll find the answer

I assume you're referring to the part where you said if I wanted to add more devices I need to add another midi port? Well I wasn't exactly sure how to do that so I was fooling around and discovered that when I set the second Reaktor instance back on channel 1, it played just fine, even though this was the same setup that was causing me problems in the first place!

Now, regarding your advice, is adding another midi port the equivalent of adding another Reaktor instance? Because in my current setup both instances are capable of playing independent melodies even though they both listen to the same channel (channel 1). I guess I'm glad everything is working, I just wish I knew why .

If you are working with hardware, yes.
If you have only one midi port, you can address 16 channels on it. For each port you add, 16 new channels can be addressed.

Let's give a simple example. Imagine you have three synths. I'll take multitimbral synths to make things easier (they can listen to several channels at the same time, yes that's possible). We'll keep it simple ok. Let's assume the two first synths "need" 8 channels each. You can connect them both the the first midi port. The third synth will connect to the second midi port, and let's say it only listens to channel 1. For the sake of clarity we'll add a softsynth.

If your hardware is installed right, you should see several options in the midi output routing of the midi track (I assume you know cubase well enough to know what I'm talking about), in our case : midi port A, midi port B and the softsynth.
Lets just see what happens when we only use midi channel 1.
If in the midi out, midi port 1 is selected, the synth that is connected to port A and uses the first 8 channels (remember, we configured it that way) will play. If you select midi port B, the synth connected to port B will play. If you select the softsynth instance, only the softsynth will play.

Let's assume you use midi channel 10. When selecting port A, the second synth will play (because it's connected to port a and listens to channels 9-16). If you select port B, nothing will play because there is no device that listens to channel 9 on port B. If you select the softsynth, it will play, if you set it up right.

I hope this clears things up. Adding a midi port, will add extra channels (input or output, depending on the interface). But you won't always see it as an increase in channel numbers (like midi channel 24 or something like that), that depends on how your sequencer handles that. Most of the time you'll still have 16 channels, but you have to choose which channel, on which midi out.

As for the softsynth part, you can picture it this way. Each instance you create can be seen as a complete synth that comes with it's own midi port.
Working with softsynths is quite simple. Once you start working with a decent amount of midi hardware it starts to get harder (especially if using one master keyboard, but you still want some of the synths to control parameters in your sequencer).