Aria as plugin, want to turn of panning

[Bernt]

More questions about Aria as a vst plugin of Cubase essential. I presently work with a composition for cello and flute, and have loaded two different instances of Aria, one for the cello and one for the flute, as two instrument tracks (which might not be the best solution, but I don't want to change it in the middle of the work).

Now at the mixing stage, and here are some new problems. I am trying to turn of the effect internal to Aria, and use the controls of Cubase. I know how to turn of reverb and stereo stage (whatever that is). But what about panning? I thought it would work to have the Aria setting panned in the middle, and then create an stereo image with Cubase, but here was the chock of the day: the Aria slider keeps returning to the extreme left for the flute, whatever I do (moves back by itself as the song plays along). Completely destroys the mix. Any suggestions??

[buckshead]

This works - read the earlier post - use midi tracks with the ARIA inserted. Then on the midi section open up the automation panels (the + on the left of the track name). Set Read and Write on. Show ARIA panel, move the line of the automation up and down and and the volume slider goes with it.

There's a screen shot at http://www.box.net/shared/a9r1k95us9osimy1tnhp

This is Cubase 6, the sliders etc are controlled by the midi automation setup

Hope this helps

[rbowser-]

I believe Derek has described how it is specifically in Cubase - hope you get that going, Bernt.

The issue you're talking about is similar to Sonar users. What it gets down to is that the MIDI controls in the recording software controls things in Aria. Like right now I'm working on a Sonar project using Aria. The volume faders and pan controls in Aria are all controlled by those in the associated MIDI channel strip in Sonar. If I tried to set the volumes and pans in Aria, they would just snap to different settings once I hit play - they'd snap to however the controls are set in Sonar. And that's really as it should be - with your DAW software in control.

Randy

[Bernt]

This works - read the earlier post - use midi tracks with the ARIA inserted. Then on the midi section open up the automation panels (the + on the left of the track name). Set Read and Write on. Show ARIA panel, move the line of the automation up and down and and the volume slider goes with it.

There's a screen shot at http://www.box.net/shared/a9r1k95us9osimy1tnhp

This is Cubase 6, the sliders etc are controlled by the midi automation setup

Hope this helps

OK, thank you, slowly learning. I have now mananged to set things almost as you have in the screenshot, and also succeded in copying my already existing two instrument tracks to the two new midi tracks. I am stryggling with the manual in order to solve the rest, but it is not very clearly written. These are my most urgent problems

(1) I know have only a "volume" sector under the Midi's, how do I add a pan (this must be easy, but I seem to be getting tired, or maybe old, or something...)
(2) This automation line that is being drawn, is there any way of resetting it, once it has been done?
(3) As might be suspected, I have some difficulties in understanding all the differences between instrument tracks and midi tracks. After some experimenting, it seems to me that something has changed with the reverb. When using instruments tracks (and two instances of Aria) I was able to "separate the reverbs" for my two instruments (that is, I could set the level of dryness\wetness differently), but now I can't find any way of doing this...

I had struggled some years with these things now, but I never seem to get past even the most basic (or so it seems, to me). But, sincerely, I think much could be done at the level of manuals. Take this use of "instruments", for example. Why on earth do they want to call Aria, an VST instrument? Clearly, cellos and flutes are instruments we load into samplers, which we may use in sequencers.

[rbowser-]

OK, thank you, slowly learning. I have now mananged to set things almost as you have in the screenshot, and also succeded in copying my already existing two instrument tracks to the two new midi tracks. I am stryggling with the manual in order to solve the rest, but it is not very clearly written. These are my most urgent problems

(1) I know have only a "volume" sector under the Midi's, how do I add a pan (this must be easy, but I seem to be getting tired, or maybe old, or something...)
(2) This automation line that is being drawn, is there any way of resetting it, once it has been done?
(3) As might be suspected, I have some difficulties in understanding all the differences between instrument tracks and midi tracks. After some experimenting, it seems to me that something has changed with the reverb. When using instruments tracks (and two instances of Aria) I was able to "separate the reverbs" for my two instruments (that is, I could set the level of dryness\wetness differently), but now I can't find any way of doing this...

I had struggled some years with these things now, but I never seem to get past even the most basic (or so it seems, to me). But, sincerely, I think much could be done at the level of manuals. Take this use of "instruments", for example. Why on earth do they want to call Aria, an VST instrument? Clearly, cellos and flutes are instruments we load into samplers, which we may use in sequencers.

Some hopefully uncomplicated answers:

1 - There's a pan slider that moves sideways in the same area as the volume slider.

2 - Those automation lines have appeared because you were moving knobs while the project played back. Make fader changes you want when the project isn't being played. If you have automation in the tracks you don't want to use, select that automation "envelope" and delete it.

3 - Aria is called a VST because that's what it is. All "soft synths" that can be used as plug-ins with recording software are created under the "Virtual Studio Technology" spec developed by Steinberg.

Randy

[Bernt]

Some hopefully uncomplicated answers:

1 - There's a pan slider that moves sideways in the same area as the volume slider.

2 - Those automation lines have appeared because you were moving knobs while the project played back. Make fader changes you want when the project isn't being played. If you have automation in the tracks you don't want to use, select that automation "envelope" and delete it.

3 - Aria is called a VST because that's what it is. All "soft synths" that can be used as plug-ins with recording software are created under the "Virtual Studio Technology" spec developed by Steinberg.

Randy

Thank you, Randy.


I found the pan slider, what I can't figure out is how you add the "pan track" on the screen, I only see a "volume track" (under the two Midi-tracks I now have).

About the termonology. I am sure there are good reasons to use the terminology the way its is used, and I am sorry if I seem annoyed. The problems I am referring to are sentencen like the following in the manual of Cubase Essential: ""In the Preference dialog ... you can specify what should happen when loading a VST instrument in an instrument slot". Now, does this refer to slots in Cubase, or slots in Aria? I understand it is the former, but it does not feel very intuitive.

[buckshead]

Just a quick reply this morning - Each additional automation track shows below the last one. There should be another + to the left of the volume track which gives another drop down.

If you want separate reverbs, then you must use separate instances of aria although the sends are separate in each channel. Or don't use aria reverb but two separate reverbs as plug ins

[Bernt]

Just a quick reply this morning - Each additional automation track shows below the last one. There should be another + to the left of the volume track which gives another drop down.

If you want separate reverbs, then you must use separate instances of aria although the sends are separate in each channel. Or don't use aria reverb but two separate reverbs as plug ins

Hi,

and thank you for your patience with me. Concerning the reverb their may be an ambiquity here. I am quite happy with using the same reverb, and same basic settings of it (options like "Concert hall" or "Piano hall")), but what I want to do is to adjust the degree of wetness of the signal separately for each sound (or instrument, as I would like to say, in this case the cello and the flute), since this should be one of the things that gives depth to the mix. That is, what is easily done in the standalone Aria, for instance. I thought this would be easy with Cubase, too.

[Bernt]

I have done some experimenting now, and it doesn't look promising. No way that I can get my present tracks to obey the Cubase controls, when it comes to panning. What happens is that, with Aria open, I can see how the Aria pan knob(s) jumps back and forth during playback, tossing the sound around with it. Automation does nothing to prevent this.

Could it be that I, for some reason, cannot continue to use the track I started from? Or is there something wrong with the way I tried to work. What I did was to compose directly into the key editor, with a lot of cutting and moving parts around.

I would be quite alright with setting the panning only within Aria, but as I said I cannot keep the knob steady, it simply doesn't stay in one position.

[buckshead]

Can you check that you have got no data in the pan controls in midi, that is CC 10.
Open key editor and check the details in the controller lanes at the bottom, you might need to open pan to get to this. You must have recorded something. OR open List Editor and check for CC10 in that. This is another set of automation that are available in Cubase. I didn't realise until I just checked that this also altered the pan in ARIA.

I think that you might be able to "pick up" the notes only and put them down in another track without the controls, but this would lose all the CC commands.

You're using a different version of Cibase to me and I'm not sure how much you can do, but try the above and see.