FabFilter User Forum
Controlling Knobs with Cubase Note Expression
I'm starting to ask myself the same question. It is unfortunate that no company has integrated such a useful funktion yet. With cubase VST3 Expression it should have been standardized.
I use Cubase too. OMG, this idea would rock!
How difficult would it be for the team to implement it? Is it technically possible?
Great request. I mainly use pro tools but also have cubase. If this becomes reality I could go all crazy. The possibilities for sound sculpting individual notes would be endless.
I agree that this is without doubt extremely useful.
Yo, depends on the material but for working with VSTs this is gold. I constantly find myself in situations where I just want to fix the sound of 1 or 2 notes. With normal automation this would be far too slow, not to mention with fast tracks where the same notes appear over and over again.
Sorry for posting twice. My internet connection is slow. Anways, good feature request.
Never thought about it but now where Markus mentions it I could see use for it. We can control every knob through midi learn via external controllers but if it would also have an option to resopond to midi cc then it would add to a more flexible workflow. I own Cubase 7.5 and it would certainly be a fine addition as I happen to use note expression alot.
I remember Waves said last year they were going to update most of their plugins to offer what you suggested here.
Well, lets see what Fabfilter says because in the end they decide if a feature gets added or not.
I wanted this since the stone age. There is not 1 EQ or compressor out there that responds to midi cc without the use of controllers and this is frustrating. Think about it we are in 2014 and EQs still remain static but that aside for now. I think being able to manipulate gain values with VST expression would be insanely efficient, especially if you are a nerd like me. So ya, this feature is on my wish list.
This is sick. I say YES! Bring it on Fabfilter ; )
I use Surfer EQ from radix because they will be supporting note expression for their next update. However, Fabfilter Q seems to be on a different level when it comes to control and I am thinking of switching if it werent for a few midi restrictions.
Currently im looking for ways to change the tone for only a few keys using note expression but like mentioned above, it seems impossible. If I buy fabfilter Q is there any chance it will support midi cc for note expression?
Please help us cubase users to control midi cc with vst expression...it would make life much easier.
Thanks,
Dirk Bellamy
I am a sound designer and this feature would be really useful for all sort of things. I mainly use Nuendo. I love Q, Saturn and Volcano.
Having that said, Fabfilter + note expression is something I always thought about. Glad someone actually spoke it out.
If this ever becomes a standard feature then I will buy the entire bundle. Currently just own Timeless.
Fabfilter Q and note expression would be the beast!
You forgot to mention "ultimate" before beast lol.
I use Ableton and Pro Tools 9 but also Cubase 6. I couldn't agree more: this is a very smart idea to make all fabfilter plugins respond to vst expression.
Dang, this shouldnt be hard to implement. Come on developers. Gotta save our lives. I have been craving for something like this. This would make existing Pro C cooler. Oh my god, imagine compression on only the type of note you want :D
I end up with so many automation clips for eqing trumpet lines in order to induce artificial dynamics. Moreover I also have to copy and paste every time I make changes to my arrangement which is tedious. The result is a mess. It would be so much easier to do all of this with note expression. It is still mystery to me why this has no been thought of until now.
Useful indeed. There are many circumstances where this could help our workflow.
I think if it were that easy companies would have done it already. However, the spectrum of usefulness is worth mentioning and agree with the upper comments.
Cubase along with Logic is pretty much the most used DAW based on a number of polls. I find it only reasonable to let the plugin also respond to internal midi CC changes. I automate kontakts high pass filter and transient effect alot with note expression.
I say ya, nice suggestion 8/10. Im tired of re-drawing the automation and trying to align them with my notes.
Yes please...been waiting for this
+1 I too wish this was possible
Hope we get this in a minor update :D
Wow, yes PLEASE! Would love to see a minor update for all fabfilter products that allows us to automate with cubase note expression. Damn, I cant believe im saying this but id even pay for such an update.
As I understand it, Note Expression lets you control the settings of an individual note. For example, in a synth, you could change the filter cutoff or a modulation wheel setting for a single note, while the other notes that are played will be unaffected. In a limited way, you can do this already with aftertouch.
However, this is only useful in an instrument such as Kontact or Massive (or any synth). An EQ only gets the mixed stereo signals containing all voices, so it can't possibly apply different equalization to the different voices. It only has access to the summed signal.
Cheers,
Hi frederic, this is still extremely useful for monophonic material because the automation is linked to the note. Also even if it is a chord it doesnt matter as one might want to affect it anyways through different methods, not just eq.
I dont think he gets the point. Its NOT about isolating each voice in a chord when applying an affect. What we cubase users care about is the fact that all automation done MOVES WITH THE NOTE. So no matter if you copy, paste or cut a single note, even a 16th note, the automation moves with it. Depending on what you do it also speeds up work considerable which cant be done with conventional automation.
Note expression or not, I think as an alternative to midi learn with external controllers fabfilter just needs to respond to internal Midi CC changes. Alot of instruments already do that why not effects too? It would give us far greater control.
Frederic, do you own Cubase? I think you dont know what we mean. Note expression is far more than just tweaking each voice in a chord independently. The problem is that your plugins dont respond to MIDI CC like the many synths or kontakt does.
You can use fabfilter with note expression if the VSTs would react to the sequencers automations system for controlling parameters. I believe this is a nice concept.
As things are we cant even use the controller lane for automating fabfilter lol
The guys behind Surfer EQ will be adding such functionality.
When reading the posts, i think what most people here want (and is the last point left on my wishlist) is simply the option to control the frequency-knob with incoming midi-notes (an incoming midi-note-signal shifts the frequency to this exact note). That is extremly useful and painful to realize with standard-automation.
But i don't get the call for "Note-Expression" in this context ... am i missing something? :-)
Actually in order to use Cubase "Note Expression" or the "Automation Lane" all fabfilter plugins have to respond to Midi CC changes made from within the host itself. So the signal comes internally and not from an external controller. Users draw the automation curve on the lanes or note with the mouse and not with a controller.
I admit chris is right, this is extremely useful.
Guys, you make it sound all too complicated. What Fabfilter needs to do is to update their "MIDI LEARN" so that it "ACCEPTS INCOMING SIGNALS FROM WITHIN THE DAW".
Easy to realize and everyone would be happy ;)
Oh and I certainly see the advantages.
Well.... hope they decide to update their midi learn then because hell, it refuses to respond to any of the automations in the controller lane or note which I manually have to draw with my mouse.
Alot of instruments do why the heck not effects? Seriously this is a big blow in the leg.
Ok so someone here mentioned about SoundRadix going to make their plugins respond to the controller lane. No way im using their stuff.
play.macprovideo.com/cubase-6104-steinberg-working-with-midi/13
Guys make your plugins respond to the controller lane!!!!
The words of Klaus are gold LOL
Thats why im following this topic. I think the guys above explained the reason why the plugins wont midi learn when drawing curves with note expression or the controller lane. This has been frustrating me ever since. We need a fix or update.
Got here by Google. Testing out the demos and agree with everyone. To show my support :-) +1
Ya right now midi learn is just limited to external controllers
Fabfilter is known for having the best mixing and mastering suite out there. The GUI is clean, support is great and im amazed by the quality of their plugins. However I gotta say that what everyones saying is true: midi learn needs to be updated otherwise we cubase users will stay empty handed when it comes to using the controller lane etcetera.
As for myself I use VSL and would love midi learn to work in this regard as I find myself in a constant position where I only want to use a compressor on a certain pitch (note).
yep true. Never thought about it eventhough I have Cubase, but now where you guys mention it, I think it speeds up work.
Klaus said the following:
What Fabfilter needs to do is to update their "MIDI LEARN" so that it "ACCEPTS INCOMING SIGNALS FROM WITHIN THE DAW".
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Dirk Said:
...wont midi learn when drawing curves with note expression or the controller lane
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Maybe I expressed myself wrong but this is what I actually meant when I created this topic. Im sure we all feel this way.
I have to agree with the others that this is not about applying an effect on the different voices but more about the fact that:
Main Reason) """No matter how many automation curves they all move with the respective note""".
2) We can apply any effect we want on a note of our choice. Even on fast passages. We can have a compressor, eq or some tube satuation on the notes of our choices. Of course notes in a chord will all be affected. Its still better than normal automation for alot of cubase users... but with monophonic material that only needs editing on specific notes its even better.
3) It allows for really creative effect automation optimized to the exact length of a note.
4) Regardless of being able to use note expression it also lets us use the controller lanes for drawing automation.
I'm confused, is there a difference between controller lanes and automation lanes in Cubase? In Sonar I can automate FF plugs quite easily using automation lanes. We must be talking about something else, can someone explain?
As for the note expression, I can see it would be really useful but only in a REALLY limited set of circumstances. You have to be using Cubase, it has to be a track using midi notes, and you have to need per note automation. I agree it would be quite cool in some unique situations but I can understand why they updated other features instead.
Seems to me if any plugin company would be the frontrunner with this, it would be Fabfilter, though.
I dont have Sonar but I think it is the same thing.
I have to agree that making midi learn respond to midi cc from within the sequencer as well will alot of users to use note expression and the controller lane. It also comes in handy in case some people dont have an external midi controller due to certain circumstances. At the other side this is only useful to cubase users, although cubase and logics market share is the highest.
I have to defend everyone here by saying:
We want to be able to record "mouse moves" as this would solve everything!!
Thanks for all the input! Apparently I didn't understand 100% what is going on with Note Expression. Of course we're using Cubase and we're going to investigate this for future plug-in updates.
Cheers,
Wow, thats good to hear Frederik (Fabfilter).
It is really unfortunate that no effects currently on the market respond to mouse moves or midi cc automation. I hope you wont have any technical difficulties when trying to update your midi learn functionality.
Please add support for the planned Fabfilter Q 2 bug-fix update!
We need more time to properly look into Note Expression, and we want the update to be released ASAP! So it won't be in the 2.01 version.
Cheers,
I dont think they should rush it. They need to concentrate on fixing these bugs first. Anyways, it is nice to read Frederics reply that it is being considered for a future update...interesting. I think fabfilter would be the only plugin that supports automating with the controller lane / note expression. Right now it doesnt seem possible with any effect plugins currently on the market.
@HarryFrotta Maybe there is a reason it's not possible?
Holy crap that would be cool. As a sound designer Im waiting for effects that I can control by drawing midi cc curves. Currently I can only do this in kontakt but the effects there are far too basic and only limited to kontakt itself.
There might be technical problems but there are always way to achieve things. Some sort of bridge could be possible so that fabfilter effects respond to "controller automation" and therefore also note expression.
I ain't gettin no proper sleep until I see yo guys adding that feature on all plugins. This is sick man.
Note expression or controller lane, those terms dont matter! What you all really want is that the plugins respond to your daws midi cc automation.
+1 for updating midi learn to support the beforementioned.
@Ryan I think so too but there are always ways to deal with problems (hope so). I wonder if the Fabfilter team has some info on whether it can be done. I think Will got it right too, we are talking about drawing midi cc automation in cubase here.
Ehm, yes we do if it saves us time! Any news from fabfilter regarding the implementation of the beforementioned request?
I think the new Pro-Q 2 is amazing but it would be even better if you would enable the user to also control the plugin through Note Expression.
If you have Kontakt 5 you know that there are 2 types of automation, Host and MIDI CC, the latter lets you automate any midi cc via note expression. Even Massive lets you do this.
The benefits are huge:
1) Surgical equalizing on a note by note basis.
2) Creating additional attack and dynamics in a more flexible way. For example for the first note on C5 I reduce 1-10khz and gradually increase it to create extra dynamics on a violin.
3) It is really helpful because the eq values move with the notes.
4) It is much more precise for fast tracks where I quickly need to make adjustments.
5) Great for sound design. Especially if all fabfilter plugins allow controlling the knobs through cubase midi cc. This allows for some creative effects on a note by note basis.
This is something alot of users in the Steinberg and VSL community asked for but there is stil no EQ that allows it. I also want to mention that even fl studio will have vst expression with the upcoming version 12 so creating an eq compatible with it would be a good great.
Would like to hear your opinion.