Using jBridge to Load 32-bit Windows VST Plugins in 64-bit Ableton Live: The Ultimate Guide

It's no secret that the third-party tool jBridge is a popular way to load 32-bit VST plugins in the 64-bit Windows version of Ableton Live- but all of the tutorials I've seen so far (including the one Ableton published) leave out some important steps when describing how to set things up. What follows is what I like to consider the ultimate guide to getting jBridge working with Ableton Live.

Please note that while this post is specifically about Windows, there is a Mac OS version of jBridge, called jBridgeM. (There's also a Mac OS bridging solution for 32-bit AU plugins, called 32 Lives.)

These steps should work the same for both version 8 and 9 of Ableton Live Intro, Standard, and Suite. But before we get started, let's have a quick talk about plugins.

YOU GOTTA KEEP 'EM SEPARATED

Most music folks running 64-bit Windows keep their 32-bit and 64-bit plugins in separate folders, and for good reason: Not only are 64-bit and 32-bit binaries not compatible with one another without special bridging logic, but even in the case of DAWs that have built-in bridging support (like Cubase), if your DAW detects two plugin files with the same plugin ID (even if they have different filenames- for example, ValhallaRoom.dll and ValhallaRoom_x64.dll), that can confuse your DAW and result in unexpected behavior. In general it's best to keep the different types of plugins in different directories, and to make sure your 64-bit DAWs and plugin hosts don't search in your 32-bit plugin directories, and vice versa.

What we're going to do with jBridge is create 64-bit "wrappers" for each of the 32-bit plugins we wish to use in 64-bit Live, and the easiest way to do this is to start with a single directory that only contains the plugins we're planning to bridge.

I keep all of my VST 2.x plugins in these two directories on my DAW PC:

• g:\vstplugins32
• g:\vstplugins64

 And I created a subfolder where I keep all of the 32-bit plugins that I want to wrap with jBridge:

• g:\vstplugins32\plugins_to_bridge

Likewise, I have another subfolder where I keep the 64-bit jBridge wrappers for those plugins:

• g:\vstplugins64\bridged_plugins

You will minimize confusion and potential problems by following a similar scheme.

ONE-TIME SETUP STEPS

Before you can successfully bridge and use your 32-bit plugins in 64-bit Live, you need to perform some one-time configuration steps for both jBridge and Live. This is generally covered at the official How to use jBridge walkthrough, but I've customized these instructions for Live.

1. If you haven't done so already, install jBridge on your PC. While you will need a licensed version in order to get the most from your bridged plugins, the free demo version will work fine for the purposes of this tutorial.
2. Locate the folder where you installed jBridge, and perform the following step for auxhost.exe, auxhost64.exe, and jBridger.exe: Right-click the program and click Properties. On the Compatibility tab, check Run this program as an administrator, and then click OK.
   
3. Locate the folder where your copy of 64-bit Ableteton Live is installed. I installed Live under g:\programs64\Ableton, but if you didn't pick a custom location when you installed Live, it's probably somewhere inside your hidden ProgramData folder. Once you find it, right-click your Ableton Live executable and click Properties. On the Compatibility tab, check Run this program as an administrator, and then click OK.
   

BRIDGING YOUR 32-BIT PLUGINS

Before you continue, I strongly advise making sure that you have the 32-bit plugins you wish to bridge in their own subdirectory under your 32-bit VstPlugins folder, and that you create a new subdirectory inside your main 64-bit VstPlugins folder for the jBridge wrappers. Please see the "Keep 'em Separated" section of this post for an example.

Also, make sure you've completed the "One-time Setup Steps" mentioned above.

1. Launch jBridger.exe. If you see a User Account Control dialog, just click Yes.
   
   
   
2. On the first jBridger screen, click I'll be using a x64 (64-bit) host.
   
3. On the next screen make sure that the following options are checked:
   
   
   • Thorough file analysis
   • Create bridging files for 32 bit plugins
   • Don't add .32./.64. in filenames in destination folder (This one's important!) 
   • Optional: If the 32-bit plugin directory you're going to specify in the next step contains plugins that you don't want to bridge, check Confirm each file individually. This will display a Yes/No dialog for each plugin jBridger detects, letting you choose which plugins to create wrappers for. If you don't do this, you'll have to manually delete any unwanted plugin wrappers that jBridger creates after bridging is complete.
      
   Next, make sure that the following option is unchecked:
   
   
   • Create bridging files for 64 bit plugins
      
   Once you confirm that the correct options are checked, click Create bridging files inside a directory I'll specify.
   
4. First, jBridger prompts you to locate the directory containing the 32-bit plugins you want to bridge.
   
5. Next, jBridger prompts you to select the directory where you want the 64-bit wrappers to go (again, a subfolder under your main 64-bit VstPlugins directory is ideal).
   
6. When jBridger finishes creating wrappers for your plugins, you'll see this message.
   
7. Now locate the destination folder that you specified in step 5 and confirm that it only contains wrappers for the 32-bit plugins you wanted to bridge. There should be a TXT file and a DLL file for each plugin.
   
   
   
   Important: Make sure that the files don't have ".32." or ".64." in their filenames. In my experience Ableton Live 9 won't display these files in its plugin browser. This is what the "Don't add .32./.64. in filenames in destination folder" is intended to avoid.
   
   Also, remember that it's only possible to specify a single VST Plug-in Custom Folder in the File Folder Preferences of Ableton Live, so the directory where your plugin wrappers are stored must be inside that folder.
    
8. Now launch Ableton Live. If everything worked, you should now see the bridged versions of your 32-bit plugins inside Live's Plug-ins browser, inside the directory where you saved them.
   

That's all there is to it! If you don't see any of the plugins that you were expecting to find, make sure to go back through the above steps to make sure you haven't missed anything. If you find yourself having problems with specific plugins, check out the official jBridge troubleshooting page. You'll find lots of answers there.

Using the Roland FA-06 and FA-08 as DAW Controllers

After several weeks of research, I decided on one of the Roland FA series music workstations to serve as my main MIDI keyboard controller. In this post I talk about why I picked the FA-06 over other keyboard options, what accommodations I had to make in order to fit it into my rig, and how the keyboard integrates with Steinberg Cubase and Ableton Live.

IT WAS TIME FOR A CHANGE

After putting up with minimalistic 49-key and 25-key MIDI controllers for the past few years due to limited desk space in my small studio, I finally decided it was time to move on to a bigger keyboard controller with more features. Until the beginning of Summer 2015, the desk where I did all my music work looked like this:

The old, cramped setup.

My desktop monitors and clunky computer speakers left me so little room that not only could I not fit a very wide (or deep) keyboard controller on the desk to begin with, but when I actually needed to use the desk for writing, I had to disconnect my Roland A-49 controller and rest it against the wall until I needed it again. Since getting a bigger desk (or room) wasn't really an option for me, I developed a game plan for transforming my desk into a workspace that could accommodate a bigger controller and hopefully even leave me a little more surface area than I had before.

Here's what I did:

• I bought a couple of these Cheetah monitor wall mounts to float my two side monitors over my desk.
• I bought a Dell S2415H 24-inch monitor to replace my Dell S2440L 24-inch monitor, because my S2440L unfortunately wasn't wall-mountable. Another advantage of the S2415H is that it has built-in speakers, which helped me eliminate the need for desktop speakers.
• I also got a different Cheetah wall mount for the new monitor, since it was in a corner and needed to extend further than the other two. (A note on both models of Cheetah wall mounts: In order to fasten these to my three Dell monitors, I had to pick up some 20mm-long M4 machine screws and matching washers at a local hardware store. My monitors all have recessed mounting slots that required longer screws than were included with these mounts, and I used the washers as spacers to result in a tight fit.)
• I also got some mounting hardware to hang my 7-port USB hub to the wall, hidden behind my right-most monitor, leaving my desk completely empty, except for my MOTU Track 16 audio interface.
• Of course I immediately filled the new-found space on my desk with a luxurious Roland FA-06 Music Workstation.

Here's what it looks like now:

The new, spacious setup.

But, you might ask, why did I choose a full-on workstation instead of just a nice MIDI Controller with Cubase integration, like the Nektar Panorama or Roland A-800PRO? Well, that's what the rest of this post hopes to answer.

WHY I CHOSE THE FA-06

My primary reason for wanting to expand from a 49-key to a 61-key controller was to avoid the frequent octave transposing that I had to do on smaller keyboard controllers whenever I used Kontakt instruments or drum samplers that have a GM drum layout. But the more I looked into existing keyboard controllers, the more I realized there were a number of other things I was looking for as well:

• Requirement: Something that could make sounds of its own. I wanted to be able to work out melodies or chords quickly without having to fire up Cubase and open a DAW project. Straight-up MIDI controllers don't have on-board sound, so I started to look at synthesizers, stage pianos, and workstation keyboards.
• Requirement: Something that provided some level of DAW control- especially transport controls. When I recorded vocals, I used to put my Steinberg CC121 controller on a TV tray and scoot it next to my microphone stand so I could toggle cycle mode and re-record takes without knocking over the microphone or getting tangled in headphone and mic cables. Transport controls on a MIDI keyboard would put these necessary buttons within much easier reach when I'm set up for tracking vocals. Many hardware synths and stage pianos have some knobs and faders that you can map to different DAW or plugin functions when you're working with a computer, but very few bespoke synths have transport controls. This narrowed my search again to mostly workstation keyboards.
• Requirement: Something with a reasonable pitch and mod solution. Ideally I'd prefer something with good-feeling independent mod and pitch wheels, but a solid and reliable joystick solution was acceptable. The Yamaha MOXF6, Yamaha MX61, and Kurzweil PC3K6 keyboards have independent wheel controls, so they were under serious consideration. The current KORG offerings have very flimsy looking little joysticks, so I had to scratch them off the list. Also, as nice as the keybed and Komplete integration of the Komplete Kontrol S61 was, I am no fan of those weirdo ribbon controllers it has, so that was out of the running as well. Roland has their own solution, a combo pitch/mod joystick, where both pitch and mod return to the center position when you let go of the stick. While I'm not the biggest fan of the stick, the Roland sticks are much more durable than I've seen in Arturia products, or what I fear the KORG sticks are like, so Roland was still a contender.
• Nice-to-have: General MIDI support. Often when I'm laying down the initial MIDI tracks for a new project, I use General MIDI patches just because I know the GM sound set so well. It's super easy for me to dial up an acoustic piano here, fretless bass there, and just get my notes and chords down before I start trying to pick the best possible sounds for the job. All the Yamaha, Roland, and Kurzweil keyboards I was considering offered some level of GM support, in that they responded to the typical program changes with appropriate patches.
• Nice-to-have: Aftertouch support. Of all the keyboards I've owned, I think only one ever actually supported aftertouch- and it was the CME Xkey 25- something just too small and physically shallow for me to do serious work on. I was curious to get a board with aftertouch support just to see what it might add to my work- but this was far from a must-have, since I'd gotten by for so long without it. Neither the FA-06 nor the Yamahas featured aftertouch; only the Kurzweils.
• Nice-to-have: USB streaming/audio interface support. While this started out as a nice-to-have, now that I've got it, I don't know how I lived without it. Both the Yamahas and the Roland FA series have the ability to serve as an audio interface, meaning you can make them the primary audio device in your DAW. You can plug your headphones into the keyboard and hear both the internal sound and all your other instruments. This is great for me on hot summer days when I don't want to power up my entire rig, which generates a lot of heat. I can just pop a pair of headphones into the FA-06 and do everything I normally do (except record vocals), and the only things I need powered on are the keyboard and my DAW PC. This also means that I can record audio from the keyboard directly into the DAW without any audio cables. Everything can go over USB. The Kurzweil workstations have varying levels of USB connectivity, but they lack anything as sophisticated as the Roland and Yamaha offerings, so Kurzweil was kind of out by this point.
• Nice-to-have: I'd like to have some actual "desk space" on my desk. Even though I'd freed up a lot of room, my actual working area was still kind of tight. The Yamaha MOXF6 (40.5"x14"x5") was basically the largest possible keyboard I could fit on my desk, so anything smaller with a comparable feature set was desirable. This tipped the scale in favor of the slightly shorter, slightly shallower FA-06 (40"x12"x4").

THE ROLAND FA WORKSTATIONS IN PRACTICE

There are plenty of good reviews already that cover the sounds and the sequencing/sampling capabilities of the FA-06 and FA-08, but I haven't seen anyone talk in much depth about what it's really like to use them as DAW controllers, or how well they integrate with specific DAWs like Cubase or Ableton Live- so that's what I'm going to focus on here.

There are some basic instructions for configuring the FA-06 and FA-08 for DAW control in both the Reference Manual and the Application Guide (available here), but they omit some important steps (and they don't cover Ableton Live setup at all), so first let's go over the steps required for Cubase and Live. From here on out, I'm just going to say "FA-0X" since the steps are the same for both the 06 and 08 models.

SETTING UP DAW CONTROL IN CUBASE

The following steps assume you've already installed the FA-0X driver for your operating system.

1. Exit Cubase if it is already running.
2. From the STUDIO SET PLAY screen of your FA-0X, press MENU, then select System and press ENTER.
3. On the General tab of System Setup, make sure that the USB Driver option is set to VENDOR (MIDI+AUDIO).
   
   Note
   If you have to change it, you will be prompted to restart your keyboard after you select WRITE. (Please do that before continuing to the next step.)
    
4. Press the DAW CONTROL button to bring up the DAW Control screen.
5. On the DAW tab of DAW Control, navigate to the CONTROL MAP line and use the wheel to select CUBASE.
   
   Important
   Press WRITE and then select OK to store your selection. If you don't do this, the FA-0X will forget its DAW Control settings the next time you power up.
    
6. If you want to use the FA-0X like a true MIDI controller, select the Controller tab in DAW CONTROL mode, navigate to the Local Switch option and set it to OFF. Now when you play notes on the keyboard, you will only hear the FA-06's internal synth engine in DAW Control mode if it is selected as an output device in your DAW.
   
   Note
   Don't forget to press WRITE to save your settings.
    
7. Launch Cubase and go to Devices > Device Setup.
8. Click the + button and select Mackie Control from the list. This adds a "Mackie Control" entry to the Remote Devices list.
   
9. Select the new Mackie Control entry under Remote Devices and set both MIDI Input and MIDI Output to FA-06 08 DAW CTRL.
   
10. In the User Commands section of the dialog, you can set custom commands for pads 1-8 of the FA-0X's Sampler section (F1-F8). I do not believe there's a way to make the FA-0X use the "Shift+F1-8" or "User A/B" user commands, so I just leave those blank.
    
    There are many dozens of commands to choose from.
    
    Note
    To customize what your FA-0X's knobs and S1/S2 buttons do, go to the Controller tab of the FA-0X while it's in DAW CONTROL mode, and specify which CC value each physical control should use. The S1/S2 buttons can work in Momentary or Latch mode. In Momentary mode, the button fires a single event of the selected CC with a value of 127 when you first press it, and then fires another event of the same CC with a value of 0 when you release the button. In Latch mode, the button toggles between sending a 127-value or 0-value CC event each time you press it, and only fires the event upon pressing the button- not when releasing.
    
    
11. Super Important: Select MIDI Port Setup in the Device Setup dialog and uncheck the "In 'All MIDI'" boxes for FA-06 08 DAW CTRL and FA-06 08.
    
    
    
    
    None of the documentation I've seen so far explains the difference between the three kinds of ports the FA-0X keyboards present, but unchecking In 'All MIDI' for the DAW CTRL port prevents the assignable sampler pads from transmitting MIDI notes when you're trying to use the pads to issue DAW control commands, and unchecking the box for FA-06 08 prevents Cubase from recording duplicate notes, as described below.
    
    When your MIDI ports aren't set up right, Cubase will record duplicate notes for anything you play. This has different results depending on which synths or plugins you're using as a sound source, so you may not even realize it's a problem right away. Some plugins will cut notes short when this happens, others will actually leave notes stuck on, just like keys on an old fashioned typewriter get stuck when you press a bunch of them at once.
    
    
    If you record a MIDI clip without disabling the extra In 'All MIDI' ports and then open that clip in Cubase's List Editor, you'll see the extra notes quite clearly.

    

    The problem with duplicate MIDI notes is most obvious in the MIDI List Editor.

12. Even in DAW Control mode with Local Switch disabled, your FA-0X keyboard still functions as a 16-part multi-timbral synth when it receives incoming MIDI messages from your DAW. You can choose a default studio set to use for whenever you enter DAW Control mode on the Studio Set tab of the DAW CONTROL screen of the FA-0X. On the same screen you can pick which presets to use on each channel of the studio set. Again, remember to press WRITE to save any changes you make here.

SETTING UP DAW CONTROL IN ABLETON LIVE

The following steps assume you've already installed the FA-0X driver for your operating system.

1. Exit Live if it is already running.
2. From the STUDIO SET PLAY screen of your FA-0X, press MENU, then select System and press ENTER.
3. On the General tab of System Setup, make sure that the USB Driver option is set to VENDOR (MIDI+AUDIO).
   
   Note
   If you have to change it, you will be prompted to restart your keyboard after you select WRITE. (Please do that before continuing to the next step.)
    
4. Press the DAW CONTROL button to bring up the DAW Control screen.
5. On the DAW tab of DAW Control, navigate to the CONTROL MAP line and use the wheel to select USER.
   
   Important
   Press WRITE and then select OK to store your selection. If you don't do this, the FA-0X will forget its DAW Control settings the next time you power up.
    
6. If you want to use the FA-0X like a true MIDI controller, select the Controller tab in DAW CONTROL mode, navigate to the Local Switch option and set it to OFF. Now when you play notes on the keyboard, you will only hear the FA-06's internal synth engine in DAW Control mode if it is selected as an output device in your DAW.
   
   Note
   Don't forget to press WRITE to save your settings.
    
7. Launch Live and go to Options > Preferences.
8. On the MIDI Sync tab of Preferences, choose MackieControl as one of the options under Control Surface, and then pick FA-06 08 DAW CTRL for both Input and Output on the same row. You might notice that when you do this, the "DAW CTRL" ports disappear from the MIDI Ports list in the lower part of this dialog.
   
   
9. In the MIDI Ports section of the MIDI Sync tab, Make sure that the Input port labeled only FA-06 08 is turned Off, but all the other FA-06 ports are turned On.
   
   
   If you don't disable the FA-06 08 Input port, you will encounter a problem where Live accidentally records duplicate notes when you play parts on the FA-0X keyboard. This can result in strange behavior, such as musical notes "sticking" on the FA-0X (or in virtual instruments you're triggering from MIDI parts you recorded with the FA), or notes being cut short unexpectedly. Unfortunately, Live doesn't provide any way for you to actually see evidence of the problem in the user interface. However, if you export MIDI clips recorded in Live to another DAW or MIDI editor, you can see the duplicated notes that happen as a result of leaving the FA-06 08 Input port enabled. In the below screenshot you can see that Live occasionally created extremely short duplicate notes in two parts of this simple sequence.

   

   Duplicate notes in MIDI recorded inside Ableton Live when the "FA-06 08" Input port was left enabled.

10. To customize what your FA-0X's knobs and S1/S2 buttons do, go to the Controller tab of the FA-0X while it's in DAW CONTROL mode, and specify which CC value each physical control should use. The S1/S2 buttons can work in Momentary or Latch mode. In Momentary mode, the button fires a single event of the selected CC with a value of 127 when you first press it, and then fires another event of the same CC with a value of 0 when you release the button. In Latch mode, the button toggles between sending a 127-value or 0-value CC event each time you press it, and only fires the event upon pressing the button- not when releasing.
11. To customize what the Sampler pads do, go to the DAW tab of DAW Control mode and choose CC values and button modes for the User Pad 1-8 settings. These options only appear in the USER DAW profile of the FA-0X. (In Logic, Sonar, and Cubase, you configure the pad functions inside the respective DAW.) Unlike the Logic, Sonar, and Cubase profiles, where you can actually assign DAW-specific commands to the pads, in the USER profile you are limited to only assigning CCs. You also have the option to configure individual pads to operate in Momentary or Latch mode, like the S1/S2 buttons. And as always, don't forget to WRITE.

THE FA-06/08 AS AN AUDIO INTERFACE

If you put the USB Driver setting of the FA-0X into VENDOR (MIDI+AUDIO) mode, the keyboard will appear to your DAW as a 2-in/2-out audio interface.

But the FA-0X is no ordinary audio interface! Here are some things you should know about the interface functionality:

• By default, audio from internal FA-0X instruments and effects, as well as incoming audio from the analog inputs and the USB audio connection all go to the FA-0X's MAIN outputs, and this output signal goes both to the keyboard's physical MAIN OUTPUT jacks as well as the input channels of your DAW. So, unless you change the default input and output routings, any sound your FA-06 generates, or any sound coming into its inputs can be monitored and recorded inside your DAW without anything connected to the analog outputs of the FA-06. To record the FA-06's output over USB, you simply create a stereo audio track in your DAW and set it to record the FA-06 08 IN and IN(R) I/O ports as a stereo pair.
• The FA-06 has two kinds of analog inputs: The LINE jack is a 1/8" stereo constant-level input, and the GUITAR/MIC jack is a 1/4" mono input with adjustable gain. (All inputs are unbalanced.) There's also a GUITAR/MIC switch that boosts the GUITAR/MIC signal by an additional 25-30db when placed in the MIC position (this doesn't affect the LINE input). The signals from these two inputs are automatically mixed, and by default these input signals are further mixed with the FA-06's internal sounds, so despite only appearing as a 2-channel interface to your DAW, you can actually record three different sound sources simultaneously into those two channels, similar to recording the output of a small outboard analog mixer.
• You can change how the various inputs and outputs are routed in various tabs of the System Effects settings.
• You can avoid experiencing phasing effects in Cubase when working with audio tracks that have track monitoring enabled by enabling the Direct Monitoring feature in Device Setup > VST Audio System > FA-06 08.
• On Windows, audio applications generally only let you select one audio device (interface) at a time, so if you're using the FA-0X as your audio interface, you won't have access to any of your other audio interfaces while inside your DAW. If you prefer to use a separate audio interface, just use the FA-0X's analog outputs and use it like a regular hardware synth; there is no native way to route its USB audio to another interface. 
• Also, while the FA-0X keyboards are 16-part multi-timbral, they only have two analog output buses (MAIN and SUB), and only one of those buses is available to the audio interface mode at a time, which means that you can't use the USB mode to record separately mixable parts from the FA-06 into your DAW. (If you had a 4-input external interface, you could record two different stereo parts out of the FA-0X's MAIN and SUB outputs if you assigned them appropriately in your performance settings.) The Roland Integra-7 has twice as many analog outs (and even a digital output connector), so that's where to look if you need lots of separate output channels.
• When I'm finished using my computer for the day, I turn off my FA-06 and put the computer to sleep. The only times I ever fully shut down or reboot my PC are when I'm making hardware changes or when I install software or updates that require a restart. I have found that sometimes my FA-06 stops functioning as an interface (Cubase and Live can't access it when I select it as an audio device), and the only way to make it work again is to reboot the PC. (Cycling power on the FA-06 doesn't fix it, and attempting to disable/re-enable the driver in Device Manager causes Device Manager to lock up... it appears to be a driver problem rather than a hardware one.) I don't have this issue with any of my other interfaces (including other Roland units), so I really hope Roland fixes this in a future driver update.

In my day-to-day work, I'm finding myself turning on only my FA-06 and using it as my interface while I compose or do audio editing. I usually only power up the rest of the rig if I need to record vocals or hardware instruments (my RME Fireface UFX has balanced mic and line inputs), and my poor MOTU Track 16 has hardly been getting any use at all. (I might retire it at some point, but am still hanging onto it for its digital I/O, which I sometimes use when sampling virtual instruments.)

Also, the way I have my patch bays wired, the FA-06 analog outs default to going into the UFX's analog inputs 1 & 2, and the UFX's main outs default to going to my studio monitors. So I can actually turn everything on and hear the FA-06 through my studio monitors without switching which interface my DAW is using or plugging in any additional cables.

Input from the FA-06 passes directly through the Fireface UFX's main outs, leading to the studio monitors.

I now only have to power up the minimum amount of gear in order to get a given job done, with a minimum of cord patching and audio device switching.

FA-0X INTERFACE LOW LATENCY PERFORMANCE

In terms of low-latency performance, the FA-06 interface is average. It's much better than the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 or the interface mode of the Access Virus TI2 (both of which I used to own), but not as good as my MOTU and RME interfaces. Like all Roland interfaces I've used, the FA-06's drivers don't use the powers-of-two method for selecting buffer sizes, so in my tests I had to use the closest buffer size I could get: 288 samples.

I tested four different interfaces on my new DAW PC, running 64-bit Windows 7 at 44.1kHz and 256 samples (or 288 samples in the case of the Rolands). Here are the round-trip latency results, as reported by the Oblique Audio RTL Utility (lower numbers are better):

• RME Fireface UFX (USB mode): 14.386 ms
• MOTU Track 16 (USB mode): 20.984 ms
• Roland FA-06: 22.611 ms
• Roland DUO-CAPTURE EX: 24.059 ms

SOUND BANKS AND EXPANSION LIBRARIES

The FA-0X keyboards are much more than simple ROMplers. They support a variety of synthesis methods, and are, in some ways, deeply programmable. But with this power comes a fair amount of complexity. It actually took several weeks of actively using my FA-06 before I fully understood the different classes of sounds it supports, and how those sounds are managed.

There are five top-level categories of "tones" (patches) on the FA-0X keyboards, most of which come from the libraries of other Roland instruments, including the Integra and Fantom lines:

• SuperNATURAL acoustic tones (SN-A): These are realistic, expressive acoustic instruments that can be customized in the Tone Edit menu.
• SuperNATURAL synth tones (SN-S): These are more more traditional synthesizer patches that can also be deeply customized in the Tone Edit screen. These tones can comprise up to three oscillators, which can be either PCMs (samples) or traditional synthesizer waveforms.
• SuperNATURAL drum kits (SN-A): These are high-quality, multi-sampled drum kits with a GM layout. These are fully customizable as well.
• PCM Synth Tones (PCMS): This bank contains PCM/sample-based sounds. These tones comprise up to 4 layers of PCM sounds. There are several subcategories of PCM Synth Tones:
  
  1. Presets (PRST): Built-in PCM tones, apparently imported from the Roland XV series of synthesizers. These are user-editable.
  2. General MIDI (GM2): This is a full bank of small-footprint General MIDI patches. To my understanding, this is different from the Integra-7's HQ GM sound set. The FA-series GM2 set sounds very similar to that of my Roland SC-88 Sound Canvas. None of these tones are editable.
  3. Expansion slots 1 & 2 (SLOT1, SLOT2): These are virtual expansion slots where you can install special expansion sets made specifically for the FA-06 and FA-08, which are available at the Axial site. These patches are also freely editable.
• PCM Drum Kits (PCMD): Drum kits from any of the aforementioned PCM subcategories show up here, and conform to the General MIDI drum layout. Any kits specifically associated with the FA-0X GM2 set are not editable, but non-GM2 presets and downloaded PCMD kits are editable.

Aside from the five types of tones, you can also record or import samples for use on the FA-0X Sampler pads. These samples are stored in a different part of memory from the PCM waveforms used in the various tone categories, and are thus ONLY available for use when triggered by the pads or the built-in sequencer. (As a disappointing side note, the pads do not transmit MIDI note data, so they can't be used to trigger external synths or drum samplers.)

The FA-0X keyboards offer a number of ways to import samples and patches:

• For samples to use as loops or one-shots on the FA-0X pads, you can either record your own samples or import them from an SD card. 
• You can download sounds for the Roland Integra-7 from the Roland Axial site, and import them as user presets via a complicated process that uses the included SD card. Sounds you import from downloaded Integra-7 libraries are imported as user presets in the SuperNATURAL synth tones (SN-S) bank.
• You can download third-party sample packs for the Roland FA series at the FA-06 / FA-08 section of the Axial site. Importing these is an unusually complicated procedure which involves the SD card.
• Also available at the Axial site are expansion sets designed explicitly for the FA-06 and FA-08 workstations. Instead of installing these via SD Card, you actually import these via USB thumb drive (using the special "FOR UPDATE" USB slot on the back of the unit). In order to import these sounds, you boot the FA-0X into a special mode, and then indicate which expansions to install in which of the two of the keyboard's virtual expansion slots. Sounds imported this way will appear in the PCMS category of sounds, grouped by expansion.

  

  FA-series libraries labeled "EXP-xx" are real expansion sets that go into the virtual expansion slots.
  The others are just mini sample packs.

  The process for importing expansion packs is very similar to the steps for applying system updates for the FA-0X keyboards.

FINAL THOUGHTS

After a couple of months of using my FA-06 on a pretty regular basis, I am still happy with my decision. The only other keyboard I know of that's really in the same league as the FA-06 in terms of features I was looking for is the Yamaha MOXF6, and while I'm sure it's a fine workstation, I doubt I would be more pleased with it than I am with the Roland. I'll wrap this up with a quick list of pros and cons.

WHAT I LIKE

• Large and broad selection of high-quality usable sounds.
• Much more programmable and customizable than I expected. This is no simple ROMpler.
• Nice-feeling keybed.
• Lovely, informative display.
• Good set of physical controls.
• DAW integration gives me quick access to transport controls and up to eight frequently-used Cubase features at a time.
• Built-in audio interface enables me to compose and mix without having to power on my whole rig.
• Axial library provides me access to a surprisingly large number of free new sounds.
• General MIDI support. (I actually use GM when sketching out ideas!)

WHAT I DON'T CARE FOR

• Keyboard doesn't support aftertouch (but neither did the competing Yamaha models). 
• Disappointing implementation of the sampler/pads. I don't care too much about not being able to use my own samples in patches, but I wish I could at least assign MIDI note values to the pads so I could trigger an external drum sampler.
• Need to use USB thumb drives and SD cards to import different kinds of material, when the keyboard has a USB connection to your PC already. Why not use the connection we already have?
• Interface mode performs well when it works, but does not seem stable across multiple sleep/wake cycles. Sometimes have to reboot PC in order for DAWs to use the interface again.
• I wish it had the Integra-7's "HQ GM2" General MIDI bank!

Setting Up Vocoders in Cubase Part 8: Waves Morphoder

This is part 8 of a multi-part tutorial on setting up vocoder plugins in Cubase. See part 1 if you missed the introduction.

The Waves plugin called Morphoder is a flexible vocoder that offers many programming options, and similar to Image-Line Vocodex, it can be configured a number of ways when running inside Cubase. The screenshots below use the Vocoder Tutorial Projects that you can download at the Ultimate Outsider Downloads page.

USING MORPHODER'S INTERNAL CARRIER

In this configuration we'll use Morphoder's built-in synthesizer as the carrier. This means we need an audio track or group channel to serve as the modulator (voice), and a MIDI track to play the carrier signal on the plugin's synth. The Vocoder Internal Carrier demo project in the tutorial projects download is already set up for this.

1. In the Vocoder Internal Carrier demo project (or your own Cubase project), add Morphoder as an insert on the audio track or group channel you wish to use as your modulator. (If you are using a group channel in a Cubase project of your own, make sure that your modulator source's output is not routed to Cubase's "Stereo Out," because if it is, then you will always hear the raw modulator audio mixed in with Morphoder's outputs.)
   
   I chose the "Morphoder Stereo" flavor of the plugin:
   
   
   
   
   
2. Inside Morphoder, load the Major Tom preset.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Note: By default, Morphoder doesn't respond to MIDI messages, and its carrier is in Sustain mode, meaning any MIDI notes sent to it are "held down" permanently. This enables Morphoder to make monotone robot-type voices, but we want to be able to control the MIDI pitches. To do that we need to enable MIDI mode and disable Sustain mode.
   
   
   
4. On your MIDI track's inspector, route the track's MIDI output to your Morphoder instance, as shown here:
   
5. Begin playback on a section of your project that loops your modulator and carrier tracks. You should now hear a vocoded harmony line. This plugin gives you visual feedback to indicate levels and incoming MIDI. If you don't hear anything, make sure you've got a known-good preset selected (like Major Tom), and check your audio and MIDI routing.
   
   

If you followed along using the tutorial project, the result should sound like this:

USING AN EXTERNAL CARRIER: DUAL MONO METHOD

In this configuration, we'll pass mono audio signals for both modulator and carrier on a single stereo group channel. The Vocoder External Carrier demo project includes an audio clip to use for the carrier, but the carrier could be a VST instrument as well if you have programmed MIDI that matches your audio material.

1. In the Vocoder External Carrier demo project (or your own Cubase project), select Project > Add Track > Group Channel and create a Stereo group named Morphoder.
   
2. Add Morphoder as an insert on the newly-created group channel. I use the Stereo version.
   
3. Select the Major Tom preset in Morphoder.
   
   
   
   
   
4. In Morphoder, set Modulator to Left and Carrier to Right.
   
5. Pan your Modulator Audio channel all the way to the left and route the track's audio output to the Morphoder group.
   
6. If you're using an audio track or group channel as your carrier signal, select that track in Cubase. In the Carrier track's inspector, pan it all the way to the right and route its output to the Morphoder group.
   
   
   
   Otherwise, if you are using a VST plugin as your carrier, open the MixConsole, and on the channel strip where your plugin resides, pan the track to the left and change the output routing to the Morphoder group channel.
   
7. Some of the Morphoder presets can be pretty loud. Dial back the volume of your Morphoder group track to at least -6db before continuing.
   
   
8. Begin playback on a section of your project that loops your modulator and carrier tracks.  If you hear distortion, you might have to check the levels of your group channel, the modulator, or the carrier. If you don't hear anything, make sure the Stereo interlacing preset is selected and check the routing on your mod and carrier sources.

If you followed along using the tutorial project, the result should sound like this:

USING AN EXTERNAL CARRIER: STEREO SIDECHAIN METHOD

In this configuration, we'll pass stereo audio signals for both modulator and carrier, potentially delivering a wider sound than the dual mono method described above. The Vocoder External Carrier demo project includes an audio clip to use for the carrier, but the carrier could be a VST instrument as well if you have programmed MIDI that matches your audio material.

1. Insert Morphoder Stereo as an audio effect on your Modulator Audio track. Important: This method requires the VST 3 version of Morphoder. If Waves is properly installed, you should only see the VST 3 version in your plugin selector (it has a "III" icon in the plugin list).
   
2. Select the Major Tom preset in Morphoder.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Toggle on the Activate Side-Chain button so that it lights up in orange, and then make sure that Modulator is set to Left+Right, and Carrier is set to SideChain.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. If you're using an audio track or group channel as your carrier signal, select that track in Cubase. In the Carrier track's inspector, route its output to the Side-chain input of your Modulator Audio track.
   
   
   
   Otherwise, if you are using a VST plugin as your carrier, open the Cubase MixConsole, and on the channel strip where your plugin resides, change the output routing to the Carrier In bus of the Morphoder group channel.
   
5. Begin playback on a section of your project that loops your modulator and carrier tracks.  If you hear distortion, you might have to check the levels of your group channel, the modulator, or the carrier. If you don't hear anything, make sure the Sidechain carrier preset is selected and check the routing on your mod and carrier sources.

If you followed along using the tutorial project, the result should sound like this:

Conclusion

If you were successful in following the above use cases, you should now be able to jump in and explore Morphoder's various features.

Well, this is the last post in the vocoder tutorial series. Part one has an index of all other vocoders covered in case you missed anything. Enjoy!

Setting Up Vocoders in Cubase Part 7: mda Vocoder and the Steinberg Vocoder

This is part 7 of a multi-part tutorial on setting up vocoder plugins in Cubase. See part 1 if you missed the introduction.

mda Vocoder is by far the oldest plugin I've ever used. (The copy I have is dated May 17, 2001.) It's 32-bit only, and it has no user interface to speak of- but it's free and lots of people use it. This is a VST 1.0 plugin, so no VST 3 side-chaining support. The vocoder also lacks an internal carrier, so we only have an external-carrier configuration to worry about. Setting this plugin up is similar to what we did for the TAL-Vocoder external carrier setup.

I have updated this post with information about the old Steinberg vocoder, which was developed by Maxim Digital Audio (mda), and works similarly. Details about the Steinberg plugin are at the bottom of this post.

The screenshots below use the Vocoder Tutorial Projects that you can download at the Ultimate Outsider Downloads page.

USING AN EXTERNAL CARRIER

In this configuration, we'll pass mono audio signals for both modulator and carrier. The Vocoder External Carrier demo project includes an audio clip to use for the carrier, but the carrier could be a VST instrument as well if you have programmed MIDI that matches your audio material. Instead of using a sidechain input for carrier audio like we're able to do with Waldorf Lector and XILS V+, in this method, mda Vocoder has to sit on a single stereo group that uses the left and right channels to carry the modulator and carrier audio separately.

1. Even though the plugin is 32-bit only, 64-bit Cubase will automatically bridge it for you. If you're running 64-bit Cubase you just need to make sure that mda Vocoder.dll is in your VST 2 Plug-in Paths in Cubase. If you have a whole 32-bit VstPlugins folder on your computer, I do NOT recommend including that in your 64-bit Cubase paths. Instead maybe put the mda plugins in a separate location and only add that one folder to your Cubase VST 2 Plug-in Paths.
2. In the Vocoder External Carrier demo project (or your own Cubase project), select Project > Add Track > Group Channel and create a Stereo group named Vocoder.
   
3. Add Vocoder as an insert on the newly-created group channel. If you're running 64-bit Cubase, you'll see the oft-confusing "II" icon, which indicates it is a 32-bit plugin. Do not confuse it for meaning VST 2 (mda Vocoder is actually a VST 1.0 plugin), or the very similar-looking "III" icon to indicate VST 3 plugins.
   
   
   
4. Select the 16 Band Vocoder preset in Vocoder.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Pan your Modulator Audio channel all the way to the left (this is not a typo, will explain later) and route the track's audio output to the Vocoder group.
   
6. If you're using an audio track or group channel as your carrier signal, select that track in Cubase. In the Carrier track's inspector, pan it all the way to the right and route its output to the Vocoder group.
   
   
   
   Otherwise, if you are using a VST plugin as your carrier, open the MixConsole, and on the channel strip where your plugin resides, pan the track to the left and change the output routing to the Vocoder group channel.
   
7. This plugin can get pretty loud, so I recommend dialing the volume on the Vocoder group channel back to around -6db.
   
   
   
   
8. Begin playback on a section of your project that loops your modulator and carrier tracks.  If you hear distortion, you might have to check the levels of your group channel, the modulator, or the carrier. If you've been paying attention, you might have noticed that the plugin UI says "RIGHT" for the Mod In parameter, even though we currently have our modulator track panned to the left. This appears to be a typo inside the plugin; LEFT and RIGHT are reversed in the plugin UI.
   
   If you don't hear any playback at all, make sure you routed your carrier and modulator sources properly. If the voice doesn't sound very vocoded at all (more like just a lo-fi version of the original vocals), make sure you've selected RIGHT for Mod In instead of LEFT.

If you followed along using the tutorial project, the result should sound like this:

THE STEINBERG VOCODER

Previous versions of Cubase used to include a vocoder plugin that was originally developed by Maxim Digital Audio (mda). While it hasn't been bundled with Cubase since at least Cubase 5 and it is no longer supported, you can still download the plugin for free from Steinberg's FTP site. Unlike the original mda Vocoder from 2001, the Steinberg version also includes MIDI support and an internal carrier that actually doesn't sound that bad.

It's a 32-bit VST 2.3 plugin, so follow the same steps mentioned earlier for getting Cubase to recognize it.

INTERNAL CARRIER CONFIGURATION

To set the Steinberg Vocoder up in internal carrier mode, just follow the same basic steps under "Using TAL-Vocoder's Internal Carrier" section on the TAL-Vocoder post, with the exception that inside the Steinberg vocoder, just select the Default preset and make sure that MIDI is selected under MODE.
If you did it correctly, it should sound like this:

EXTERNAL CARRIER CONFIGURATION

External carrier configuration for the Steinberg vocoder is just the same as the mda Vocoder steps listed above. The routing is the same (modulator left, carrier right). The Default preset works just fine- just make sure to select Ext. under MODE in order to process the incoming channels correctly.
If you did it correctly, it should sound like this:

Conclusion

That's all there is to say about this plugin. In the next post, we take a look at Waves Morphoder...

Setting Up Vocoders in Cubase Part 6: Native Instruments Razor

This is part 6 of a multi-part tutorial on setting up vocoder plugins in Cubase. See part 1 if you missed the introduction.

Razor is a powerful and unique synth produced by Native Instruments, that also has vocoder capability. Unlike all other vocoders we've looked at so far, Razor only supports an internal carrier configuration, using its own synth engine as the carrier. Razor is also not a standalone plugin; it's a Reaktor ensemble, meaning you need either Reaktor, Reaktor Player, or Komplete Kontrol in order to use it.

The screenshots below use the Vocoder Tutorial Projects that you can download at the Ultimate Outsider Downloads page.

USING RAZOR'S INTERNAL CARRIER

This configuration requires an audio track or group channel to serve as the modulator (voice), and a MIDI track to play the carrier signal on the plugin's synth. The Vocoder Internal Carrier demo project in the tutorial projects download is already set up for this.

1. In the Vocoder Internal Carrier demo project (or your own Cubase project), add Reaktor5 FX or the FX version of Reaktor Player as an insert on the audio track or group channel you wish to use as your modulator. (If you are using a group channel in a Cubase project of your own, make sure that your modulator source's output is not routed to Cubase's "Stereo Out," because if it is, then you will always hear the raw modulator audio mixed in with Razor's outputs.)
   
   
   
   
2. Inside Reaktor, open the Player tab and expand the Razor folder, then drag the Razor.rkplr ensemble to where it says, "Drag a file from the browser here." Razor will appear shortly after.
   
   
3. Only some of Razor's presets use the vocoder capability. For just starting out, I recommend the Green Hornet Razorcoder preset.
   
   
   
4. On your MIDI track's inspector, route the track's MIDI output to your Razor instance, as shown here:
   
5. Begin playback on a section of your project that loops your modulator and carrier tracks. You should now hear a vocoded harmony line and see activity in the spectrogram portion of the instrument. If you don't hear anything, make sure you've got a known-good preset selected (like Green Hornet Razorcoder), and check your audio and MIDI routing.
   
   

If you followed along using the tutorial project, the result should sound like this:

Conclusion

If you were successful in following the above use cases, you should now be able to jump in and explore Razor's various features.

In the next part of this tutorial, we'll set up mda Vocoder and the Steinberg Vocoder...