Assigning Instruments - CAKEWALK PRO AUDIO User Manual

Assigning Instruments

Pro Audio lets you assign a MIDI instrument deÞnition to each available
MIDI port and channel. The assignments you make determine the MIDI
bank names, patch names, note names, and controller names that you
see during your Pro Audio session.
Suppose that you have a Roland GS-compatible synthesizer attached to
MIDI port 1. By assigning all 16 channels of MIDI port 1 to the Roland
GS instrument deÞnition, you ensure that the bank, patch, note, and
controller name lists you see displayed in Pro Audio are the ones that
match your synthesizer.
Often, you want to assign a different instrument to channel 10, which is
usually used for percussion. For example, you might assign the Roland
GS instrument deÞnition to channels 1 through 9 and 11 through 16, but
you would most likely want to assign the Roland GS Drumsets
instrument deÞnition to channel 10. If you have several MIDI ports,
with a different instrument attached to each one, you would normally
assign a different instrument to each MIDI port.
For convenience, you can assign a block of channels to one instrument
and then change the assignment of one or more of those channels
without changing the others. For example, you can highlight all 16
channels of the Þrst MIDI port and assign them to the Roland GS
instrument deÞnition. Then, you can highlight channel 10 of the Þrst
MIDI port and assign it to the Roland GS Drumset instrument
deÞnition. Channels 1 through 9 and 11 through 16 on the Þrst MIDI
port will stay assigned to Roland GS.
You might also want to split channels to different instruments if you
have several instruments attached to a single MIDI port. For example,
you might have a Roland synth receiving on MIDI channels 1 through 9,
a Roland drum machine receiving on channel 10, and a basic GM-
compatible synth receiving on channels 11 through 16. In this case, youÕd
use three different instrument deÞnitions for your one and only MIDI
port.
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