VSTs and inconsistent MIDI parameters

I have several (free) VSTs that are kind of hit and miss. The one I care about most is the Rhodes so I will speak about that one.

When I load that VST, it plays just fine. That's not the issue. The issue is that the volume controller 7 is not responsive. I can move that slider on my controller all day long and the volume never changes. I can move the track volume and it doesn't change (though I understand that one because this is data I am recording rather than audio). What I DON'T know is if the issue is with DAW, the midi keyboard controller, or the VST itself. I looked everywhere to see if Real Band has a place to turn on controller #7 but did not find one. The trim on the effects/VST control panel just started working today, but strangely yesterday it did not.

Of the three options, which would most likely be the culprit? Something makes me want to say it's the VST itself. Maybe I need to stop being cheap and spring for Lounge Lizard.

Eddie,

Try using CC 11 (expression) instead of CC 7 (velocity). MIDI definitions are ambiguous enough that some VSTs use 11 while others use 7 and both are considered correct.

One way to envision it is to think of CC 7 as an over all volume control or main out. CC 7 is a maximum volume level, similar to the output volume control on an amplifier. In this example CC 11 is comparable to the instrument channel gain.

Hope that helps.

Is there some place in Real Band I can assign those? The VST config panel has no place to do that. In the SysEx, in the MIDI monitor? NO idea where I'd tweak that parameter.

Eddie, kind of / sort of.

In RealBand look at Edit > MIDI > Replace ...

Per RealBand Help:

Quote:

This command will search for any type of event you specify and replace the events that RealBand finds with new ones. As with other commands, the replace command affects only the marked area of all selected tracks.

RealBand will prompt you for the type of event to search for followed by the search ranges. Next, you will be prompted for: 1) the type of event with which to replace the found events, and 2) the replacement ranges.

Pressing Esc at any time will take you back to the previous step. RealBand will change the events that match the search criteria to the kind of event you specified as the replacement event type (assuming you didn't select the same replacement type as the search type). In addition, RealBand will re-map the values of these events from the search ranges to fall within the replacement ranges. Note: This command is for MIDI tracks only. This command has no effect on audio tracks.

Description: Edit > MIDI > Replace