Standalone mode for live usage

hi there, first time poster.

i played around with vital the last couple of days, awesome synth, great capabilities!!! i would just love to use this live to complement my analog gear.

a couple of things i noticed on osx:

-the standalone version works absolutely the best performance wise, lowest latency, somehow better midi performance (no hanging notes)

there are a couple of things missing from the standalone version/generally:

-program change message implementation! is this planned for the standalone version? i really need to change my patches live via program change.

-midi channel selection, so not all channels are vitalized :slight_smile: a way to choose an input channel would be fantastic. (kind of collides with MPE, but it will be optional anyways)

-channel aftertouch and polyphonic aftertouch are on the same “modulator” they are not really the same thing though. i have a controller that sends both and it really f*cks up modulation from pressure :slight_smile: (since i get two concurrent readings) golden way would be to have both available.

of the above things i guess program change would be the most wanted feature to me, i need to change patches on stage with this! (when there will be gigs again after covid)

as soon as i bring in vital into an auhost of some sorts, the latency and midi handling are inferior to the standalone version, so i would really like to use that, if at all possible.

1 Like

It is not possible for a controller to send poly-AT and channel-AT independently. Whenever you touch a single note you will by definition also have touched the keyboard channel. If your controller allows for that, you’ll have to either turn off the one or the other

well, my controller discerns the two, but it is not keyboard based. it is rather a midi-bass controller, the strings send poly-at, while fsr’s that trigger sounds send channel-at. but of course this is an edge case. i can also reprogram it to send a cc instead of aftertouch…

I fully support this request. A.t.m. I can’t use Vital without the Bank Select, Program Change and Channel selection (filter) features.

For musicians who want to use Vital as an instrument in a performance context, I’ve developed a temporary solution for the Program Change feature. It’s based on graphical interface manipulation automation, a clickstream. Please, if you want to use it, read the requirements carefully before you try it.

For the Channel filter I’ve used VSTHost to load the Vital plugin. The Channel filter can be found in Plugin -> Window -> Midi Settings -> Fiilter Settings.

Note that this script has only been tested for Vital in standalone mode and for its plugin in VSTHost.

Any comments or questions are welcome.

/* -------------------------------------------------------

Goal : 
Change Program ('preset') in Vital VST using graphical interface automation and without using the standard MIDI protocol ; both Vital in standalone mode and Vital used as a plugin in VSTHost (with Channel filter) are supported. The main code of this script has at least 2 potential use cases : 
1) embedded function call (where you can use different hotkeys for different presets or replace PC MIDI events for Vital) or 
2) (compiled) script call

Author : Bart M

Requirements (testing context) : 
- Windows 10
- AutoHotkey version 1.1.
- A running instance of Vital (standalone) or if VSTHost is used, 
1) open Vital's plugin window (Plugin Edit mode)
2) make sure that all necessary preset browser controls are visible in VSTHost's pane when it's selected
- Vital's window size at 70%

About Vital presets :
1) All preset names can be obtained with a regular expression match statement like ""(?P<Author>[a-zA-Z0-9_'\-+=. ]+)\/Presets\/((?P<Bank>[a-zA-Z0-9_'\-+=. ]+)\/)?(?P<Sound>[a-zA-Z0-9_'\-+=. ]+)\.vital"" on the FactoryContent.vitalbank binary file ; it depends on the special chars that can be found in the current preset names
2) Styles are binary encoded tags; any info about how they are encoded is welcome.
3) VSTHost can't export Vital's sound banks; it can only export individual presets.

Note that exception handling is minimal. If one of the clicks is wrong, anything might happen.
Use this script at your own risk. No warranty is provided.
*/


#SingleInstance Force   ; allow only one instance of this script

; usage example : initiate a soundbank object with some preset names (requirement : each (sub)string must refer to a unique preset name) 
SoundBank := {1: "Abbysun"
, 2: "Big Stomp"
, 3: "Cinema Bells"
, 4: "Disrupt"
, 5: "Jupiter Bass"}
Random, RandomNumber, 1, % SoundBank.Length()   ; select random sound
SoundName := SoundBank[RandomNumber]

; main code
ActiveHwnd := WinExist("A") ; memorise active window
CoordMode, Mouse, Screen
MouseGetPos, MouseX, MouseY ; memorise current mouse position
CoordMode, Mouse, Relative

; setup clicks data
Clicks := {1: {"x": 805, "y": 50}   ; open menu
, 2: {"x": 810, "y": 70}    ; select Browse Presets
, 3: {"x": 140, "y": 530}   ; select All
, 4: {"x": 120, "y": 380, "text": SoundName}  ; click on Search field and fill in preset name
, 5: {"x": 480, "y": 120}}  ; select first row

If WinExist("ahk_exe Vital.exe")  ; verify if Vital is running
{
   WinActivate, ahk_exe Vital.exe
   If ErrorLevel 
      MsgBox, Error
   
   WinGetPos, , , Width, , ahk_exe Vital.exe
   If Width not between 1177 and 1197   ; exact width is 1187, but better be safe
   {
      MsgBox, Vital's window size is not set at 70`%
      Exit
   }
   
   For Step, Descr in Clicks    ; send all clicks and preset name
   {
      X := Descr.x
      Y := Descr.y
      SendInput {Click %X%, %Y%, 1}
      
      If Descr.text
         SendInput % Descr.text
   }
   
}

Else If WinExist("ahk_exe vsthost.exe")  ; verify if VSTHost is running
{
   WinActivate, ahk_exe vsthost.exe
   If ErrorLevel 
      MsgBox, Error
   
   SendInput {Click 23, 83, 1}    ; click on MIDI client canvas
   
   ControlGetPos, ControlX, ControlY, Width, , AfxFrameOrView90s1    ; where is the Vital Plugin's window?
   If Width not between 1181 and 2001   ; exact width is 1191, but better be safe
   {
      MsgBox, Vital's plugin window size is not set at 70`%
      Exit
   }
   
   SendInput {Click %ControlX%, %ControlY%, 1}    ; click on plugin window
   
   ControlGetText, ControlText, AfxFrameOrView90s1
   If ErrorLevel 
      MsgBox, Error
   If InStr(ControlText, "Vital Program")   ; verify whether Vital plugin window is open
   {
      
      For Step, Descr in Clicks
      {
         X := Descr.x + ControlX
         Y := Descr.y + ControlY
         SendInput {Click %X%, %Y%, 1}
         
         If Descr.text
            SendInput % Descr.text
      }
      
   }
   Else
      MsgBox, Vital isn't running in VSTHost or isn't in "Plugin Edit" mode.
}
Else
   MsgBox, Vital (optionally in VSTHost) isn't running.

WinActivate, ahk_id %ActiveHwnd%   ; restore active window
CoordMode, Mouse, Screen
MouseMove, MouseX, MouseY ; restore mouse cursor position

Exit

I am using vital quite often in a live context now, but I switched to Element as a plugin live host, excellent program and has program change support built in, so it will load plugin states on PC messages. Works great!!