Make an Arranger out of Komplete Kontrol (Keyboards)

UdoBehm

Good day,

I suggested this to Ableton some times before - they don't seem to be interested about this.

Maybe you can imagine implementing that functionality that I deeply missing from my old Yamaha keyboard in Windows software like Ableton Live or Komplete: I would very much like using your keyboards and Komplete Kontrol sort of as an arranger. There are so many (free) Yamaha Styles out there on the net in the Yamaha Style File Format and it would be so nice if I could use your keyboard to load these styles into and perform them live as I could when I used my old PSR2000 Yamaha keyboard.

Besides this funcionality I would totally like being able to quickly switch between instruments. On my Yamaha Keyboard I was able to set about 8 instrument setups and quickly recall them by pressing one of the 8 buttons that were used for registration memory.

To me it was extremely handy and useful if you might implement this functionality - maybe to a next generation keyboard series - too and allow users to use your keyboards as an arranger and registration memory tool too.

There's one software out (https://www.1manband.nl/) that does have that functionality on Windows systems. However that software is using integrating sound fonts that do not sound as nice as your instruments would do.

To me I would conside it super practical if you were about to implement these functionalities and if your keyboards and your software could be used as an arranger - best if it was possible importing Yamaha style files that are still free over the internet and having all of them mapped with your instruments that you provide in the Komplete universe.

Being able to quickly switch instruments, adding a left hand, being able to play accompaniment pads and bass as I could on my PSR2000 keyboard would be so lovely and extremely useful...

Hope you will consider this idea and implement it in your next gen keyboards and Komplete Kontrol Software...

d0stenning

Although personally I don't think the hardware arranger direction is one that really would work for NI - market wise - even in just a controller mode - I DO think that it would really be cool if NI produced a standalone stage keyboard of some form - similar in layout and approach that NORD DO. Imagine something that looks pretty much like a NORD button and display wise - but internally you'd have the KONTAKT engine and be able to install any KONTAKT libraries of your choice to a limited extent based on SSD and RAM size.

And the keyboard would have special "fast load" or instant load facility for say the 8 common instruments you mention like one finds in NORD stage. But everything would come from the NI sound universe.

But back to arrangers - it might be of interest to you speaking of hardware and software arrangers - something I've had over a decade of personal involvement with on a self funded coding project basis:

I actually spent several years coding in C++ and JUCE on a Kind of plugin-server that worked in effect as a General MIDI, XG and even Tyros/Korg PA MIDI program change compatible sound module.

The project has been shelved though as a key market I intended my plugin server idea for was media composers who use orchestral libraries- and unfortunately another company has wrapped up that market via the widely used VIENNA ENSEMBLE PRO. And such media composers really seem to work fine with a different workflow modus operandi that instead of PC and bank change messages to select instruments - relies instead on huge templates often into over a thousand tracks. Cubase combined with VEP seems to work fine for these users unfortunately ( for me potential market wise).

The idea with my project was to be able to host any of the plugins and sample libraries out there and have them mapped to the various PC and bank change maps used by hardware arrangers - and also the few software arrangers out there that use Yamaha and KORG styles. ( they're similar file wise internally )/

I even wrote some translator utilities to read and convert the style files where needed. My prior project was actually a plugin that acted as an arranger - very similar to what Band In a Box does - or has only very recently released in plugin form. However the BIAB plugin is still very buggy and the time to get a style generated is unacceptably long - specially when compared to hardware arrangers like Tyros/PA ETC.

I actually went to MUSIKMESSE and met up with some of the NI dev and product manager team back in the noughties to propose a collaboration with NI on this. They ended up asking me if I'd be interested in joining THEIR team on a secret project they were working on at the time ! - which they hinted had some similarities to my idea ( it didn't really ) and I found out later that this project was MASCHINE :) . Not of course an arranger in your and our sense at all... And I didn't take up their offer to join NI as I wanted to continue on my own arranger plugin idea.

Given both of those two of my own C++/JUCE projects got shelved years back it would be cool if VIENNA added a MIDI program change mode to VIENNA ENSEMBLE PRO - so that that widely used plugin server could in effect optionally operate like a MIDI PC/bank change "sound module" instead of the kind of fixed template mapping that VEP uses at the moment.