Xlutop chainer

[tim]

I've got kontakt 3, so I decided to give xlutop a try, so I could use it with modplug (thank you Mr. bvanoudtshoorn for pointing out this possibility).
I've been learning how to use this tool for the past few hours, and I'm on the brink of having it all worked out, but there's a few things that don't make sense to me. I'll try to make this as clear as possible.

I've got Kontakt loaded into the xlutop slot #1, and I've got two instruments loaded into Kontakt, instrument 1 (piano) receiving from channel 1, and instrument 2 (viola ens) receiving from channel two. I've got Xlutop (in FX1) set to two instruments in OMPT, instrument 1 sending to midi/vsti channel 1, and instrument 2 sending to channel 2.
In Xlutop, slot 1 (Kontakt) midi transmit channel is set to "all." So far so good. I select instrument 1 on OMPT and press keys, I hear piano. I select instrument 2 and press keys, I hear strings. Yay.

Just to test things, I laid out a simple piano roll in channel 1, and added some smooth viola accompaniment in channel 2. That's where I ran into problems. The strings cut out at random points (different each time the track is played). if I set the channel (in Xlutop) to "Chn 2" they play smoothly, but obviously then there is no piano (since those are set to channel 1).  

I tried adding a new channel, so I can have one piano set to "Chn 1" and the strings set to "Chn 2," rather than having one channel set to "all," but Xlutop doesn't seem to operate that way.

I also tried loading Kontakt into slot 2 as well (one slot for each instrument), but that didn't seem to be the right solution, and then it caused a crash, so I'm guessing that's not what I should do.

I hope it's possible to decipher from this info what I'm doing wrong. I'll try to clarify if/where needed.

specs:
Dell XPS 720
Windows XP MCE SP3
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4 GHz
3 GB Ram
M-audio Audiophile 192

[LPChip]

I've had similar problems when I used 2 battery instances inside chainer.

Basically it seems that it hits a software CPU limit that actually doesn't exist.

The only remedy I could find, is simply use many instances of Xlutop Chainer. One for each instrument. The advantage of having Xlutop Chainer and your instrument on it, is so you can have a chain for an instrument available by pressing the edit button from the pattern menu, and you can save this chain so you can insert this chain into your song quickly.

[tim]

I should be able, hypothetically, to use one instance of Kontakt in Xlutop, and just route the different instruments in Kontakt to different channels, right? That's what I tried, initially, and I got what I expected to get, except with the unfortunate addition of cut-outs.

One thing about Xlutop has me a bit stumped, and it occurred to me that it might be related to my problem, because I might just be using the program incorrectly. It seems from the UI that it's set up to assign multiple plugins for each channel. That seems backwards to me. I would think you would want to assign multiple channels to each plugin, so as to milk each plugin for as many sounds as possible without having to bring up multiple instances and gobble CPU. That was, I thought, one of the main points the program.

I googled for a Xlutop tutorial, but I only found a couple of things that were a little beyond the stage where I'm at now. Probably because it's relatively simple, and it's just not getting through to me for some reason. Anyway, does anyone know of any "getting started" guides for Xlutop that i might have missed? Thanks!

-Tim

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Hi tim,

OK, because I use exactly the same setup, it might just be simplest if I explain the setup that I use.

1. Xlutop chainer is a loaded as a VST instrument in OpenMPT.
2. Kontakt 3 is loaded -- if it's the only plug I'm using, it's in 1/1, otherwise it can be anywhere.
3. The Kontakt Chainer block has "Midi transmit channel" set to "all".
4. In Kontakt itself, different instruments listen on different MIDI channels (or sometimes on the same one, for layering/splitting). Note that only channels 1-16 are available if you're using Kontakt this way.
5. In OpenMPT, each instrument that uses Kontakt has no samples, has the plugin set to Chainer, and has the appropriate channel set. I don't use Channel plugin settings.

That should do it.

And I also seem to recall having your exact problem, and I have the solution! Here's how to fix the glitchiness:
In the Kontakt options, under "Engine", make sure that you set "CPU overload protection" to "disabled". It doesn't work under OpenMPT, and voices just get killed. What this means, though, is that you have to be aware of just how much processor you're using -- if you max out your processor for too long, you can end up with noise or lock up your computer while it angrily shouts the last few milliseconds of sound at you repeatedly. :/

Edit: Hmm, seems that this isn't actually true now that I've upgraded to a much gruntier system than I initially ran Kontakt on. Still, it's worth a shot.

If this still doesn't fix your problem, I'll send you the source files for one or two of my tracks. They all play perfectly on my system, so if they don't play on your system, we might be able to figure out why not using them.

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Oh, and on the topic of CPU usage, Tim, remember that some effects (especially convolution, cabinet, and skreamer) can really chew through your CPU. If possible, abstract them out to aux or output channels (note that they're treated as sends there) -- most of the instruments each have their own convolution effect for reverb by default, and using just one instead of sixteen can be the difference between a playable track and an unplayable one.

[LPChip]

Or use my suggestion, put kontakt in one instance of chainer with optional effects after it. Ensure that for each instrument, you use a new xlutop chainer. That somehow seems to work good.

Bug in Xlutop?

[bvanoudtshoorn]

The problem with that way, LP, is that you end up burning a *lot* of memory and processor.

[tim]

In the Kontakt options, under "Engine", make sure that you set "CPU overload protection" to "disabled".

Worked great!  Thanks!

Tim

[bvanoudtshoorn]

Glad I could help.