Products covered: Synfire Pro, HN2 Advanced, HN2 LE.
Synfire Pro and Harmony Navigator focus on rendering MIDI content and do not yet provide built-in support for hosting VTSi or AU plug-ins directly. In order to use plug-ins, these need to be hosted by a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), sequencer, sound rack, or be run as a standalone program alongside the Cognitone Software.
1. Loopback Driver
Synfire and Harmony Navigator send MIDI data to a Loopback Driver, which in turn sends the MIDI back to the DAW or sequencer respectively. It acts like a virtual MIDI cable.
| Mac | Windows |
|---|---|
MacOS X comes with the IAC Driver already built-in. Find the Audio-MIDI-Setup control panel with Spotlight and simply enable the driver. Create 8 MIDI ports, or more as needed. |
Synfire Pro and HN2 Advanced Edition include a copy of the LoopBe30 driver. If you didn't install it yet, run the SETUP program again and select the driver as the only option. Create 8 MIDI ports, or more as needed. Enable shortcut detection for best robustness. You might need to reboot your machine for the changes to take effect. Users of HN2 LE may want to download a loopback driver from third parties. Internet resources for loopback drivers are listed here. |
Videos covering this topic:
Setting Up Loopback Driver (Windows)
Setting Up Loopback Driver (Mac)
2. The Host
Example hosts that work with Synfire and HN are Ableton Live, Apple Logic, ProTools, Cubase/Nuendo, Sonar, Plogue Bidule, Reaper, Reason and Rax. Basically any hosting software can be used, provided it supports the routing of live MIDI input to individual instruments (tracks).
In order to get started, we recommend you first build a general purpose rack of sounds that you prefer to use for general songwriting and composition drafting. The use of a sound rack simplifies the selection of sounds, as it offers all of them in one big menu inside Synfire or HN2.
- Create an empty project in your favorite DAW and populate a number of tracks with the desired synthesizer or sampler plug-ins you most likely want to work with. The more choice the better.
- Configure each track to listen for input on one of the MIDI loopback ports you created (see above). Assign each sound or patch inside the plug-in to a unique midi channel. Multi-timbral instruments require an entire loopback port (16 channels) reserved for themselves.
- Hint: In most DAWs you must activate an "Armed" or "Monitor" switch per track, in order for the audio output to be audible even when the transport is stopped.
- If you can, also include a 16-channel GM sound bank that can serve as a default fallback for sounds not found in any of your plugins. See: "Why You Should Always Keep a GM Device Around" below.
Depending on your musical style, a rack may look similar to these two examples:
| Jazz/Pop Rack | ||
|---|---|---|
| Loopback Port | Channel | Sound/Patch |
| Internal Midi 1 | 1 | Drumkit |
| 2 | Percussion | |
| 3 | Bass | |
| 4 | Piano | |
| 5 | Rhythm Guitar | |
| 6 | Lead Guitar | |
| 7 | Synth Pad | |
| 8 | Synth Lead | |
| Internal Midi 2 | 1 | Chamber Strings |
| 2 | Trumpet | |
| Internal Midi 3 | 1-16 | General MIDI Sound Bank |
| Film Scoring Rack | ||
|---|---|---|
| Loopback Port | Channel | Sound/Patch |
| Internal Midi 1 | 1-16 | Orchestral Strings, 16 different sounds |
| Internal Midi 2 | 1-16 | Orchestral Brass (ditto) |
| Internal Midi 3 | 1-16 | Orchestral Woodwinds (ditto) |
| Internal Midi 4 | 1 | Concert Grand |
| 2 | Harp | |
| 3 | Percussion | |
| Internal Midi 5 | 1-16 | General MIDI Sound Bank |
Save the DAW project when done. Keep it open while you continue with the next step.
3. The Device Description
Open the Audio & MIDI Setup window found under the Playback menu. You will now create a device description of your rack. A single description can cover up to 4 midi ports (A, B, C, D). Therefore, if your rack uses no more than 4 loopback ports, you may put the entire rack into a single device description. Otherwise create a separate description for each plug-in you use.
- Create a new description with Device >> New and connect it to its respective ports.
- Create at least one sound bank to which you can add all sounds. If you have a large number of sounds, you may create multiple banks that reflect the internal organization of your plug-in or synthesizer. Note that you do not necessarily need multiple banks unless individual sounds can be selected by bank switching messages through MIDI (please refer to the user manual for details).
- Add each sound of your rack to a bank. Assign it the same ports and channels as you did in your rack. You can test a sound immediately using its Play button.
- Hint: Check if a template device is available for your sound library or synth. Some templates are shipping with the software, others may be available as a download from our site. Using a template saves you the tedious manual entry of names, playing ranges and custom controllers of a sound. Simply duplicate the template device, rename it to your purpose and remove all unused sounds after you have configured the sounds of your rack. It is also possible to copy and paste individual sounds from other descriptions.
Video covering this topic:
Setting Up Sound Racks And Global Instruments
4. Save Your Setup
Besides saving all new descriptions to disk (File >> Save All Devices), you should also save the current routing (File >> Save Routing As...) and name it after your rack. This way you can easily restore the assignment of descriptions to ports later on, in case you don't remember.
Working With Your Rack
Your rack is now ready for use. All sounds are listed in the instrument dialog, where you can browse them and pick one for a new instrument in your arrangement or song. Whenever you want to quickly capture a new idea or just play around and experiment, you simply proceed as follows:
- Load the rack into your DAW
- Start Synfire or HN
- Open the routing you saved for that rack
- Open a window (song or arrangement) and start working!
As your project evolves, you can modify the device description of your rack and replace individual sounds as needed. Just make sure the instrument category and playing ranges always match the physical instrument. This can be done on the Instrument tab in the arrange or song window directly. Save a copy of the descriptions and the DAW project along in a folder with your Cognitone project files.
For more information on creating device descriptions and using direct sound addressing as an ad-hoc alternative, please refer to the user manual, pages 117 ff.
Why You Should Always Keep a GM Device Around
The factory preset accompaniment patterns and example projects that come with HN2 and Synfire Pro were built for various types of instruments (pianos, basses, pads and guitars). When you use these patterns, e.g. for palette playing, it is unlikely that Synfire Pro or HN will find a suitable replacement for sounds that it can't find in your custom AU/VSTi setup (even more so, if you didn't carefully categorize them). In the best case, the patterns will not sound as intended. Chances are, however, they will sound awfully "off".
IMPORTANT: Always keep one General MIDI (GM) capable device enabled and connected, so Synfire Pro or HN is able to find an appropriate replacement for sounds that you do not have in your own custom setup.
Note that having a GM device around does not mean its sounds have to be used. As a default GM device is built-in with both MacOS X and Windows, you can simply leave that enabled while you add your own sound devices.