Cantabile is a software that falls into the "live" category and that has specialized features for performance management.
For those looking for solutions to be adopted in a live music context, where there is often a need for live electronics, auxiliary tracks, midi management of keyboards, Virtual Instruments sound modules, this product could be of great help in the organization and management of the entire live schedule.
It doesn't have MIDI track editing, but it probably won't be much of a problem for someone like me who is fond of their track creation and editing tools. Cantabile was born as a VST host (someone will remember Strong Brainspawn), but then added many other functions.
It features a player Audio/Midi , synchronize tracks audio e midi among them. Let's see in detail all its features.
VST
Cantabile allows you to use VST plugins because it works as a host, in this way we will be able to use the plugins both to play with a MIDI master keyboard and as sounds for our songs. Each time a plugin is inserted, Cantabile creates “routes”, ie a connection between the MIDI ports and the audio outputs. This function is very convenient, as having defined our system configuration in the preferences (MIDI ports, sound card, etc ...), it will be very quick to insert and modify the plugins we want to use.
In fact, Cantabile works with the concept of doors "Virtual Ports“, Ie the physical ports of Audio and Midi are associated with virtual ports and the configurations refer to the latter. The connections (“routes”) can be modified with drop-down menus or even graphically and everything is well guided, which is essential as often this type of settings can immediately become very complex to manage.
media Player
Cantabile supports playback of audio and midi files (supported file types are: mp3, wave, flac e midifile). You can use one or more "media players" each with its own file type.
There is also a "timeline”Which allows us to select which part of the file to play. One of the things that struck me most are the synchronization mechanisms, which I found really well done. Each media player can be synchronized with a master control which can be another media player, the metronome or an external MIDI Clock. So each synchronized file starts or stops when its master control starts or stops. In this way we have many synchronization mechanisms between audio and midi files.
bindings
This is one of Cantabile's most powerful features. With i binding it is possible to define Cantabile's behavior when certain events occur. With an editor it is therefore possible to define how the software should behave in the case of MIDI, Audio, internal events (Song loaded, player events, etc.).
A function of self-learning, which allows you to create a binding on the fly on the MIDI event incoming to Cantabile.
With the bindings you can control practically any Audio / Midi function, launch events external to the Cantabile software, receive incoming events and adjust plugins accordingly.
Rack
A “Rack” allows you to group VST plugins and effects, link them together and view them externally as a single block. The racks can be used in the Songs as sound units already connected and configured.
Once a rack has been defined, it will no longer be necessary to repeat the operation for each Song but we can recall a specific Rack already used in another Song. Also for racks it is possible to work with the Routing functions described above, there is also a special rack called "Background Racks”In which it is possible to load plugins and effects, which will always be present in all the Songs of our performance.
So in the case of plugins that require long loading times, a rack allows you to reset these times. You can visually see and edit the connections in a song or rack. On the left we find the Input ports, on the right the outputs, while in the middle the objects to be connected (rack, plugin and media player)
Recording
This function allows you to record both audio and MIDI, even automatically, while you are playing. You can specify which sources to record, be they physical or virtual, so for example: an external synth, audio from a certain microphone. Several tools are available for managing the live performance. Let's see them!
Status of Song and Rack
States provide a way of saving the state of a Song or a rack and recalling it later. A state therefore allows you to change the routing, presets and parameters of a plugin and much more. Its main purpose is to provide a mechanism for quickly switching between settings between songs or parts of them. So it can be used to change patches in a song (for example those to switch between Intro and Verse).
Set Lists
A Set List is a list of songs that we can recall at any time. This is where we list the songs of a live performance. Each song can also be recalled with a MIDI program change. There is a Set List verification function, which allows you to check that everything is in place and not have surprises during the live performance (Set list verification).
live mode
There are two distinct layouts: one for editing song and rack and the other during one live performance. Live mode is just a matter of layout, here you can choose what to display and create buttons with associated actions. The time line and metronome are not visible.
Conclusions
Cantabile is a valid tool for managing the complexity of a live. Among the things I would have liked to have found, a more flexible live mode screen editor, which at the moment is too little customizable on a graphical level. The ability to define many types of "binding" makes this software truly versatile.
Cantabile is supplied in three versions: Small (Free!), Only ($ 69) e Performer ($ 199) only for PC Windows For a detailed comparison of the versions, I refer you to the link on the site: Cantabile
Cantabile is a software which belongs to the “live” category and which has specialized features for it.
For those looking for solutions to be adopted in a context of live music, where there is often a need for live electronics, auxiliary tracks, midi management of keyboards, Virtual Instruments and sound modules, this product could be of great help in the organization and management of the entire show.
It does not have MIDI track editing, but it probably will not be a big problem for each of us who are fond of their own tools for creating and editing tracks. Cantabile was born as a VST host (someone will remember Strong Brainspawn), but then added many other functions.
It is equipped with an Audio/Midi player that allows you to synchronize audio and midi tracks between them. Let's see all its features in detail.
VST
Cantabileallows you to use VST plugins because it works as a host, in this way we can use the plugins both to play with a MIDI master keyboard and as sounds for our songs. Whenever a plugin is inserted, Cantabile creates “routes”, i.e. a connection between the MIDI ports and the audio outputs. This function is very convenient, as having defined our system configuration (MIDI ports, sound card, etc …) in the preferences, it will be very quick to insert and modify the plugins we want to use. In fact, Cantabile works with the concept of Virtual Ports ports, ie the physical ports of Audio and Midi are associated with virtual ports and the configurations refer to the latter. The connections (“routes”) can be modified with drop-down menus or even graphically and everything is well guided, which is essential as often this type of settings can immediately become very complex to manage. Media Player Cantabile supports the playback of audio and midi files (the type of supported files are: mp3, Wav, flac and midifile). You can use one or more “media players” each with its type of file, there is also a timeline that allows us to select which part of the file to play. One of the things that struck me most are the synchronization mechanisms, which I found really well done. Each media player can be synchronized with a master control which can be another media player, the metronome or an external MIDI Clock. Then each synchronized file starts or stops when its master control starts or stops. In this way we have many synchronization mechanisms between audio and midi files. Bindings This is one of the most powerful features of Cantabile. With bindings it is possible to define Cantabile's behavior when certain events occur. With an editor it is therefore possible to define how the software should behave in the case of MIDI, Audio, internal events (Song loaded, player events, etc.). A self-learning function is also very useful, which allows you to create a binding on the fly on the MIDI event entering Cantabile. With the bindings it is possible to control practically any Audio / Midi function, launch events external to the Cantabile software, receive input events and adjust the plugins accordingly. Rack A “Rack” allows you to group VST plugins and effects, connect them together and view them externally as a single block. Racks can be used in Songs as already connected and configured sound units. Once a rack has been defined, it will no longer be necessary to repeat the operation for each Song but we will be able to recall a specific Rack already used in another Song. Even for the racks it is possible to work with the Routing functions described above, in addition there is a special rack called “Background Rack” in which you can load plugins and effects, which will always be present in all the Songs of our performance. So in case of plugins that need long loading times, a rack allows you to reset these times. In a visual way it is possible to see and edit the connections in a song or a rack. On the left we find the entrance doors, on the right the outputs, while in the middle the objects to be connected (rack, plugin and media player) Recording This function allows you to record both audio and MIDI, even automatically, while you are playing. It is possible to specify which sources to record, whether physical or virtual, therefore for example: an external synth, audio from a certain microphone. Various tools are available for managing live performances, let's see them Song and Rack status States provide a way to save the state of a Song or rack and recall it later. A state therefore allows you to change the routing, the presets and parameters of a plugin and much more. Its main purpose is to provide a mechanism to quickly switch from one setting to another between the songs or between parts of them. So it can be used to change the patches in a song (for example those to switch from an Intro to a Verse) Set Lists A Set List is a list of songs that we can recall at any time. This is where we list the songs of a live performance. Each song can also be called up with a MIDI program change. There is a Set List verification function, which allows you to check that everything is in place and not have surprises during the live performance (Set list verification). Live Mode Two distinct layouts are available: one for editing songs and racks and the other during a live performance. Live mode is only a matter of layout, here you can choose what to display and create buttons with associated actions. The time line and metronome are not visible. Conclusions Cantabile is a valid tool for managing the complexity of a live Among the things that I would have liked to find, a more flexible live mode screen editor, which at the moment is too little customizable on a graphic level. The ability to define many types of bindings makes this software truly versatile. Cantabile comes in three versions: Lite (Free!), Solo ($69) and Performer ($199) for Windows PC only For a detailed comparison of the versions, I refer you to the link on the site https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/compare
