Using Midi Bass polyphonically

General
1

Hi Everyone,

I am a bassist using the Roland GK-3B with a Gi-20.
I have been trying to find an alternative way to use Midi Bass polyphonically and I seem to found a way if you have a Roland GK-3B pickup.

I hooked up the GI-20 via midi to my Presonus audio/midi interface and opened my DAW (Studio One 5) on a windows pc.

I then setup an audio track with an instance of MIDI BASS and set midi input within MIDI BASS to ANY / Omni.

I have the GI-20 listed as an external midi controller in the midi options of Studio One 5, set to receive from the audio/midi interface with the audio/midi interface set to MIDI ALL and Split Channels ticked.

I then added 4 midi instrument tracks with no actual instrument on them and set each one to receive from MIDI BASS, and set each tracks midi channel to 1, 2, 3, and 4 to correspond to the the bass strings and to the pickups of the Roland GK3B. I then muted the output on the audio instance of MIDI BASS and left the instrument tracks active and BINGO !! polyphonic MIDI BASS :blush: Please note this only works in a DAW.

Sorry for the long winded explication, but I’ve been trying to work out how to do this for a while.

3 Likes
2

Good job! This is a good tip for bass players.

And for those who play live, it works even better with a plugin host :wink:

1 Like
3

Thanx :slightly_smiling_face:I needed to figure it out as I have a live show coming up.
Would you have my idea of a good plugin host I could use, as I don’t really want to go through my DAW?

4

Without hesitation I recommend Gig Performer that I’ve been using on stage for a few years.
Many users are switching from other software to this one. It has been thought, designed and developed by and for musicians (also former developer at IBM).
See Trey Gunn (King Crimson musician)

2 Likes
5

Brilliant will check that out🙂
Thanx

6

+1 for Gig Performer. I was going to mention it myself, but @Herold beat me to it. Studio One is my DAW. Gig Performer (GP) is my real time VST host. I have never even tried the new Live page in Studio One. Forte is no longer being developed and GP is light years better and easier to use than Cantabile, which I dropped right after finding GP v2 (now at v4.5.8).

1 Like
7

Haven’t tried the Midi Bass trick in the Studio One Song Page yet, just got a trial of Gig Performer to see if I can set it up in that. Got to work out the GP program first.

8

I love Cantabile as a host. It’s really powerful.

9

I did, too, until I found Gig Performer. Why not give their trial version a go? In trial mode, Gig Performer will be fully functional for 14 days except for occasional intentionally induced audio drop-outs during which moments the screen will briefly flash red.

Gig Performer

10

Am liking Gig Performer it’s easy to work out.
One thing I’m starting to notice is MIDI BASS will max out my CPU every so often no matter how I use it on my laptop.
Even if I use the VSTI’s that come with it, I’ve changed my buffer settings and memory settings a few times to see if that’s the problem, but it still happens and only with Midi Bass.

1 Like
11

Yes, Gig Performer is a great VST host. Let’s hope that:

  1. we see polyphonic MIDI Bass 2 sooner rather than later or never, and

  2. they optimize its CPU usage and implement it for multi-threading.

12

why do you use MIDI bass in your setup? you are using the gi-20 midi convertor.
All the polyphonic bassnotes come from there!

13

It tracks better and I can setup patches on different vst synths then save as a patches in Midi Bass, and switch on the fly without having to mess about. I’d rather midi bass was poly then I wouldn’t need the GI-20.