Virus TI Multi mode: layering Virus patches AND external MIDI signals

[Alakhai]

Hello everyone
I'm setting my Virus TI keyboard for an EBM live-band
I'd really like to use it as the main synthesizer, but having two other assets (a MicroKorg XL and a Novation XS rack) I'd really like to use it as controller for the other two.
Specifically: for a single song, I have a single Multi patch, using 3 parts for 3 different sounds on 3 octaves (there's no need for extention, I have to play robotic melodies on and on ) so I still have 2 "free" octaves. is it possible to use some external MIDI device (with standard MIDI cables) ONLY on the remaining two octaves? I mean: a split like this:
oct 1: part 1 - Virus program 1
oct 2: part 2 - Virus program 2
oct 3: part 3 - Virus Program 3
oct 4-5: part 4 - external synth - program 1

I already tried to disable "keyboard to MIDI" on part 1-2-3 and enabling only part 4, but no use - the external synth kepps on playing from octave 1 to 5!

I'd like to use MIDI channel 1 with all the parts, to avoid the need to "switch" channel while playing live. is there a way to do it?

I hope you'll understand my question, sorry for my bad english XD

Cheers and beers
Alakhai

[TweakHead]

There's no way to do that from the Virus. You can, however, do it quite easily granted you have access to a computer when you're playing live. In which case, you'd need to set up different midi channels for each part of the multi (no problems using midi for such porposes, no latency!). On your host program setting up keyboard range limits for each midi channel should be piece of cake! I hardly doubt you can change from that kind of setup to midi controler on the fly, in time to control your XS rack, but certainly not the right person to ask, as I never tried such a thing myself...

Another thing to take into consideration is: there's a limit to your Virus's voices and you need to be aware that poly patches with unisson and this and that can eat up many voices from the engine, so I advise you to experiment with the setup before going live, even if the patches sound wonderful on their own, most specially if you're planning to play more then one patch at once. And of course, there's no independant fx per program to.

If by any chance there's a pretty much steady patch going there, I'd sample it and costumize the sampler to respond to a certain key range, leaving the other keys for more demanding patches from the Virus where you might want some modulation going that you perform live or something.

This things take some time to figure out but there's always a solution, but almost always one has to compromise a bit somewhere! Good luck with your setup!

[Alakhai]

Thank you so much ^_^ I'll stick to different midi channels for different patches (internal or external) I'm already rehearsing it live and it's holding it fine, no vocie-stealing problems

[Mystic38]

I don't see why you cannot do this on a multi..

you can set a key range for each part so oct1>pt1, oct2>pt2 and oct3>pt3 are no problem.
For the 2 octave external, make a silent patch, set key range and set send keyboard to midi..