How do I send MIDI program changes?

Fellow Kontakters,

I am a veteran of Kontakt 1, 2 and 3 but I am just now exploring "banks".

After I set up an instrument bank in Kontakt 3, how do I send MIDI program changes to switch between the instruments in the bank? There is nothing in the manual that covers this step. I would appreciate step-by-step instructions please. My sequencer is Sonar 8.

Thanks in advance for your time.

Regards,

Larry Alexander

 

Hi Larry, you would send your program changes from Sonar as you would send program changes to any other synth or soft-synth. However this does not work in my Sonar 5.2 and I have read that it also doesn’t work in Sonar 6 and 7. If this works for you please let me know. I’m not going to upgrade Sonar until I know this works with Kontakt.

Good luck.

 

My question is, how do I do it...send program changes from within Sonar 8 that is?
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How do I send program changes from within Sonar 8 to be able to switch between instruments in a bank?

 

In Sonar 6 you click the track at the spot, where you want to insert the program change, thus positioning the Now Time. Then select Insert menu | Bank/Patch Change. I imagine it's the same in S8.

A problem with Program Change in Kontakt used to be, that Controller values don't per se carry over to the new program. To solve this problem I developed the Continuity Program Changer multiscript. You'll find a link to the file plus a description of its use at VI-control about 2/3 down on page 2.

In case dynamic program changes to VSTs still don't work in S8 (they don't work in S6.21), the CPC multiscript can convert a CC to Program Change as a workaround.

 

I am at Insert Bank/Patch Change but I don't understand the choices that are presented. I am certainly not a beginner, but the procedure is puzzling. I have tried several settings, none of which worked.

Thanks for the link to your script and thank you for your help.

Regards,

Larry Alexander

 

The "Normal" option is the one that works with Sonar 6.21/Kontakt 2 DXi and the one that should work with K2/3 VSTi as well, but doesn't do so in S6.21. If this long standing bug hasn't been fixed in S8, you will have to use the CC workaround my CPC script provides, if you want to use banks. Don't try to use the CC#0 or CC#32 options in Bank/Patch change though, as they don't work either. Just send a normal CC message from the Piano Roll/Events List.

 

There are drop-down menus in the MIDI Program Change section in Sonar 8 and I don't know which choices to select. The process is about as clear as mud.

 

Choose "Normal" as the "Bank Select Method". That's the one that should work - if it works at all. Forget about "Bank" - there's only one per MIDI channel in Kontakt, whereas other synths can have many banks (up to 128), each one made up of up to 128 patches (=programs). "Patch" is the drop down menu where you choose a program from your bank.

 

I can't get the Sonar 8/Kontakt 3/Program Change combination to work after many frustrating hours of trying.

Thanks very much, Mr. Nickie.

Regards,

Larry Alexander

 

So it appears that this is still a problem. Dam, I was hoping sonar 8 would fix this.

Have you raised this question on the Cakewalk forums?

 

I have not, but I will.

Larry

 

Was thinking of upgrading from Sonar 5. If this is still a problem with the VST Kontakt (I won't use DXI due to the hanging notes issue) then I won't bother. How can a piece of software have such an obvious bug from versions 5 through to 8?

 

How do you know that it's not a Kontakt "obvious" bug? :|

My Sonar 8 and Kontakt 3 don't exactly "play well together".

Larry Alexander