i dont hear those articulations

hi,

i’ve been trying to learn expression maps . i created a legato, mute, stacatto articulation and asssigned each of them in 3 different bars. when i play the track i hear the notes but with no articulation.

i saw the videos on youtube, referred the manual, still i’m missing something. fyi i am not using any midi controller just laptop and cubase built in vst’s.

i have attached a screenshot.

i tried different things for example i opened one instance of halion sonic se 2 and created 3 midi tracks and enabled 3 outputs. then assigned expression maps to the 3 tracks , changed channel( 1, 2, 3 or 1, 1 ,1 ) on the maps for each articulation. i play the track i hear the notes but with no articulation.

i understand with key switches we assign each articulation a key and we need to press the key on the keyboard to get that particular articulation played.

since i have no keyboard and i’m not pressing the key assigned is that the reason i dont hear those articulations.

some help would be nice, i am stuck with this past 2 weeks.

thanks.


Hi Rita,

Saw your message. It looks like you’re almost there. All you need to do now is to go to Halion and set the MIDI channel for each articulation in sequential order, as you had it the first time (1, 2 and 3), then match those MIDI channels to the articulations found in the Expression map setup window shown on image 2. If you look towards the right, under the “Output Mapping” pane, you will see the “Channel” setting. I would remove that “Note On” mapping, btw.

Give it shot. It should work now.

hi

thanks for the reply
i assigned channel 1 to 3 in halion and midi tracks.
i also removed note on for the 3 articulations in out put mapping.
still the same.

attached the pic



You only have one articulation written in the Articulations lane of the Key Editor shown on Image 4. You need to assign notes with different articulations in order to hear a difference, like you had on the bottom image of your first post.

tried with 3 tracks assigned a different articulation.

also tried on the same track with those still same,

i m going wrong some where i cant see that.


Ah, I overlooked something. I usually have one track per instrument loaded with all the articulations I need for that particular instrument. Basically, I would open my sample library engine (Halion SE in this case), as an Instrument Track (no multi-out) load all the articulations I need and assign them their own MIDI channel. Then I would load the Expression Map into that track and then draw the articulations in the Key Editor as you did on that bottom image on your first post.

The way you have it set up, with multi-outs, would be more beneficial if you plan on using different instruments rather than different articulations of the same instrument (in this case, a Piano). Or if you’re using drums, which is a collection of instruments itself. But for a single instrument, such as a Piano, I would load it up the way I described above.

Try that and let me know if it works that way.

Hmm, it should work. Try doing it from scratch, as I described above (in a new project).

You know what, lol. It’s because I almost never use the multiout way unless as I mentioned earlier, but I think you need to assign each track with the corresponding MIDI channel. There should be a parameter to change this in the Track Inspector. This has got to be what’s missing.

tried doing again on a instrument track
load Expression Map into that track and then draw the articulations in the Key Editor

still same thing

Here’s a test project. Check it out and see what I did here:

https://www.wetransfer.com/downloads/3588d8672361b6439acec1ec87a0757b20141210100839/ba1cec

I would assist you more, but I need to go to sleep. Hope this helps :slight_smile:

#1) If that violin performance is of a single line (e.g; 1st violins), then you only need one MIDI track… the VST Expression will take care of the changes.
#2) It now depends on the actual content that you load into the HALion Sonic SE. There are basically two methods (i.e. two possibilities)…
a) You load a VST Expression-enabled preset (i.e. one that contains keyswitches… they will probably have the word “Combi” in the preset’s name), such as “Violins | A Combi” from the HALion Symphonic Orchestra soundset, in which case all you have to do in the VST Expression map is make sure that the transmitted trigger notes in the top-right section correspond with the keyswitches that the preset is expecting to receive (they will be colored beige in HSSE’s virtual keyoard), or, if you have only the basic HSSE content…
b) Load a preset for each articulation into a slot in HSSE, each on its own MIDI channel, and, like jose7822 said, all you do in the VST Expression map, for each slot is set the appropriate MIDI channel (in the appropriate field of the top-right section, without adding anything in the “status” field… something like the attached screenshot…


When you send a VST Expression, it will change the outgoing MIDI channel accordingly, so you don’t need multiple MIDI tracks :wink:.

Hey Rita,

As you see, there are more than one way you can work with Expression Maps due to their flexibility. How you end up using them will depend on workflow/preference/choice and/or desired outcome in a performance. A couple of tips though:

  1. I personally like using Directions for longer notes and Attributes for shorter notes, mostly because I feel that Legato and Arco articulations aren’t triggered correctly, or I should say effectively, if I use Attributes.

  2. Due to the above, I place Direction articulation messages a hair, like a 64th or a 128th note, before the MIDI note that it belongs to. This makes triggering more reliable (at least with the sample libraries I use).

Once you understand how to create Expression Maps, it becomes pretty easy. Unfortunately, the manual doesn’t go through practical ways of using most of Cubase’s features, such as this one.

Start a new project.
Load Halion, then load a preset that contains articulations.
In the inspector, click the “Expression Map” tab.
Then click where is says “No Expression Map”
Choose “Import Key Switches”

Create a midi part. Double click it.
In the controllers area, bottom, select Articulations from the drop down menu.
(It usually says velocity as default.)
You should see the various articulations laid out now.
You can enter them before playing the part or afterwards.