Linking 2 different MIDI keyboards?

[Whipsmack]

I have a keyboard for my feet to play drums. I'd like to be able to link my other keyboard so that it plays another instrument. Both keyboards work but they are always on the same channel so they both play the same instrument.

Any ideas how I can make the seperate keyboards be on their own seperate instrument?

Thanks a lot!

[Kanthos]

You'll have to describe your setup a bit more. Which keyboards, and what is connected to what? Are the keyboards making the audio themselves or are you using them as MIDI controllers? Are you trying to have one keyboard produce two sounds, each controlled by a different keyboard? You haven't said enough for anyone to really be able to help you.

[Whipsmack]

You'll have to describe your setup a bit more. Which keyboards, and what is connected to what? Are the keyboards making the audio themselves or are you using them as MIDI controllers? Are you trying to have one keyboard produce two sounds, each controlled by a different keyboard? You haven't said enough for anyone to really be able to help you.

They are MIDI keyboards using FL studio so they are soundfonts within the program.

My big generic MIDI keyboard is plugged into my EMU 0404 sound device. My smaller MIDI keyboard (creative prodikeys) is plugged in via USB but its able to play under my EMU 0404

I want keyboard #1 to play a different instrument soundfont than keyboard #2 currently they share the same channel so no matter what soundfont i click on they both play it.

[Kanthos]

I don't know FL Studio well (been a couple years since I've used it), but there are two options. You either need to get one of your MIDI keyboards to transmit on a different MIDI channel (and, of course, make sure that the other instance of the Fruity Soundfont Player is expecting to receive on that channel), or you might be able to have the Fruity Soundfont Player (or its track in FL Studio) receive MIDI from a specific keyboard only. If the latter, you'd set one instance of the Fruity Soundfont Player to receive from one keyboard and the other instance to receive from the keyboard.

Reading between the lines a bit though, it seems like you're expecting to have one instance of the soundfont player controlled by two different keyboards playing two different sounds. I'm not sure if that's possible, although I admittedly don't know for sure. Taking a quick look at the SoundFont Player page on FL Studio's website though, it really doesn't look like the thing supports multiple outputs or playing multiple sounds at once.

[Whipsmack]

I don't know FL Studio well (been a couple years since I've used it), but there are two options. You either need to get one of your MIDI keyboards to transmit on a different MIDI channel (and, of course, make sure that the other instance of the Fruity Soundfont Player is expecting to receive on that channel), or you might be able to have the Fruity Soundfont Player (or its track in FL Studio) receive MIDI from a specific keyboard only. If the latter, you'd set one instance of the Fruity Soundfont Player to receive from one keyboard and the other instance to receive from the keyboard.

Reading between the lines a bit though, it seems like you're expecting to have one instance of the soundfont player controlled by two different keyboards playing two different sounds. I'm not sure if that's possible, although I admittedly don't know for sure. Taking a quick look at the SoundFont Player page on FL Studio's website though, it really doesn't look like the thing supports multiple outputs or playing multiple sounds at once.

Its actually not a soundfont, but one of my many VSTi plugins. I really appreciate the reply, though this is a very confusing subject for me. Perhaps i should start learning a new program. FL studio is nice and all but seems limiting in a lot of areas.

[Kanthos]

Well, you did say soundfont instrument; if you meant a VST plugin, using the correct name would help you get the right answers

Now, you're making it sound like you want to use one VST to produce multiple sounds, which *is* possible if the VST was designed for that, and FL Studio will do that for plugins with multiple outputs. Again, I may be wrong, but you're misusing some terms in some places so it's hard to figure out what you're asking when you don't even seem to be sure.

I have to ask, why do you need to play two keyboards at once? I can only think of two possible reasons to ever want to do this: you're using your laptop for live performance and need/want to trigger multiple sounds at once, or you're trying to play dual-manual organ (clearly not the case since you're using your feet for one keyboard; out of curiosity, why? Other than simple triggers or an organ pedalboard with MIDI, using your feet seems a bit gimmicky). You do know that you can record one part at a time, right?

As for FL Studio being limiting, I think you're jumping to conclusions. A lot of people here do a lot of good things with it, and have even made money by selling albums written entirely using FL Studio. Also, what you're trying to do isn't hard, in general, but it isn't straightforward if you're a complete beginner or have an aversion to reading the manual. I could be wrong, but when I hear you saying FL Studio is limiting, what that says to me is, "FL Studio doesn't do exactly what I want right out of the box, and it has a learning curve; I should try something easier". If this is true, I guarantee you that you'll find *every* DAW to be "limiting", and you might want to consider doing something else with your time than making music with your computer. There will be a learning curve and it will take work!

[Zephyr]

Sorry dude,

3. Multiple controllers: While it is possible to use two keyboard controllers simultaneously, it is not possible to control two separate plugins from two keyboards. Only the currently focused channel can receive keyboard input. In this case both keyboards will play the same channel.

Right outta the manual, not possible You could however use a range split to have half transmitting to one plugin and half to the other using a layer and limiting the range.

Good luck, I'm surprised that FL can't actually do this, but unless this alone is a dealbreaker, what other problems did you find limiting you?

[Kanthos]

Wow, that's pretty poor design. Still, like I said, other than live playing or dual-manual organ (incidentally, using MIDI channels properly, you *could* do this in FL Studio with, say, Native Instruments B4-II), I can't think of any good reason why you'd *need* to play two keyboards at once, and I'm curious to know why you want to.

[Whipsmack]

Wow, that's pretty poor design. Still, like I said, other than live playing or dual-manual organ (incidentally, using MIDI channels properly, you *could* do this in FL Studio with, say, Native Instruments B4-II), I can't think of any good reason why you'd *need* to play two keyboards at once, and I'm curious to know why you want to.

I told you why i want to, playing drums with my feet. I don't care if you dont think its not a good reason im having fun. I enjoy doing stuff live

Also i'd be satisfied with splitting my keyboard in half so that the left side plays one instrument and the right side plays another instrument. Any details on this? (I think this would be very useful)

Thanks

[Kanthos]

And I stand by my statement. You said you wanted to do drums *live* in your last post (something you didn't mention previously), and you'll notice I said live playing was a good reason for using multiple simultaneous keyboards, where you want to trigger anything at once. I was trying to really get down to what you needed this for, since a lot of people tend to ask a question about why using X to do Y doesn't work the way they expect, when really using X is not a good way to do it. If you were trying to *record* music at home and do drums and something else at the same time, playing with two keyboards might be *fun* but would not be the *best* way to do it.

As for splitting, you can do that, but you'll have to do that inside a plugin (i.e. have a plugin that can play multiple simultaneous sounds, and that can map different key ranges to different sounds). Ideally this plugin would also have multiple outputs so you could add different effects to each sound.

Incidentally, using key ranges is also a way that you could use both keyboards. Obviously, FL Studio will limit you to one plugin at a time, but you could assign your lower keyboard to a different range from your upper keyboard.

[Zephyr]

As for splitting, you can do that, but you'll have to do that inside a plugin (i.e. have a plugin that can play multiple simultaneous sounds, and that can map different key ranges to different sounds). Ideally this plugin would also have multiple outputs so you could add different effects to each sound.

Incidentally, using key ranges is also a way that you could use both keyboards. Obviously, FL Studio will limit you to one plugin at a time, but you could assign your lower keyboard to a different range from your upper keyboard.

Pssst! Don't listen to him, in FL you can use something called a Layer to make this step very simple. Just make a new layer with each of the instruments you want to use as children of the layer, then just limit the keyranges of each instrument so they don't overlap and send midi to the layer. After it's set up you're effectively sending midi to 2 instruments, it'll just only play if it's on the corresponding half of the keyboard.

[Kanthos]

Fair enough (did I say I'm not an FL user anymore?). My way will work too, but if you want to stay with FL long-term, the layer method generalizes with any plugins you like, while using layers inside a plugin is obviously plugin-specific.

[Whipsmack]

I really appreciate the help guys. Thanks

[Zephyr]

Good news, Multi-keyboard support is being included in the next version of FL. Check out this: http://forum.image-line.com/viewtopic.php?t=32285

You can try it out in the beta.