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Forte 4 User Manual

1. 2014 Brainspawn Inc Introduction 13 2 2 System Requirements The following are the recommended minimum requirements for running Forte Windows XP Home Professional SP2 or higher 32 bit Windows Vista 32 or 64 bit Windows 7 32 or 64 bit Windows 8 8 1 32 or 64 bit Minimum 1 5GHz SSE2 enabled CPU Multiple cores supported 1GB Memory more recommended for large racks and sampler plugins e At least one supported DXi or VSTi soft synth At least one Windows compatible MIDI input port e At least one Windows ASIO or WDM compliant audio output device 1024x768 256 color graphics mode or higher 2 3 What s new in Forte 4 Computer Hardware Requirements e Forte 4requires SSE2 enabled CPUs The SIMD options in OPTION INI have been removed or are now ignored Rack File Format Enhancements Forte Rack File format is new and cannot be loaded into Forte 3 Specifically new features have been added but some of the many variations of tempo sync and tempo automation have been removed in place of asimpler model enabling a simpler user interface Please make sure you keep a backup copy of your rack file in Forte 3 format Details Tempo e BPMis ALWAYS per scene e MIDI Sync Enable Disable is per scene e MIDI Automation is NEVER per scene it is always global to the rack e MIDI Sync Port is GLOBAL per rack Tempo BPM is compatible with Forte 3 but sync and automation are not be sure to check and adjust when loading
2. Part XVI o 01 A OND Part XVII NO a A OQ No Part XVIII MIDE Port Re Mami A AAN 85 Control Surfaces and Automation 85 Configuring Control Surfaces for Use in Forte cccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeseeseeeeeeneees 85 Control Surface Definitions and Editor c cccceeeeeeeeeeeeee cece eeeeeeeeeeeeeeea nessa eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees 86 Mackie Control Compatible Devices ccccccceeeceeeeeee ener eens eeee essen eeeaeeeeaeeeeeeeeseaeeeeeeeeeees 88 Frontier Design TranZP ort eL Uere eror IPS 88 Behringer BCF2000 and Compatible Devices eeeeeeeeenene menn 89 Performance Features 91 PNL Lo ey M 91 LI BENI EEY 92 EHCo External MIDI Hardware Controller 92 Enabling EHCo with a Registration User Name and License Key eeeeeee 94 ECHo User Interface ii a a aa aaaea Aea re Ea ex RE SE REP RRRe MERI eNEREDRRRM DE Ra I QUE ED 95 L Ie geteilt iple 96 External Device Emulation 1 onn rere seemed eur ida iia 96 Sending MIDI On Scene Change sseeeeeeeenenenne nenne nnne nnne nennen nnne nnn 97 MIDI Closed Loop Te Stas E 99 Confidence Building Tools 100 A O 100 Diagnostics DiSPlaY oi ai add cai 101 Memory Information rrr Rote Pearl Rae re edd n
3. V Display this page when copying busses Cancel You may copy a bus to a new bus The preferences above will be used to copy or skip various attributes of the original bus module Trimming Racks Because Scenes contains snapshots of a rack at the time the scene is captured it is possible over time for scenes to build up extra data that is no longer important For instance if a plugin is removed from the rack the data for that plugin is no longer needed It will not automatically be removed Instead you may Trim the rack to remove unused data The command is in the File menu Trim simply cycles through all scenes in the rack applies each one and then recaptures it as a new up to date snapshot 2014 Brainspawn Inc Maintaining Rack Fles 83 f Trim Rack ES The trim process is now complete Please check all Scenes within the Rack for errors Save the Rack once you are confident no errors were introduced Trim started at 2011 December 12 17 14 35 Now trimming Scene 2011 December 12 16 08 43 Now trimming Scene 2011 December 12 16 08 44 Now trimming Scene 2011 December 12 16 08 45 Now trimming Scene 2011 December 12 16 08 45 Trim finished at 2011 December 12 17 14 36 If you encounter a hang or crash during rack trim you may use a troubleshooting option to see if that addresses the issue See Trim Delay Ms in OPTIONS INI 22 12 5 Adapting to Hardware Changes 12 5 1
4. Scene Tempo can be configured to listen to MIDI Sync events on a selected input port Choose the port name from the drop down list Use the slider to adjust sensitivity Left causes the tempo to be more responsive to incoming sync period changes but also causes the resulting tempo to be less stable Right causes the tempo to be less responsive but more stable Presets A set of MIDI Automation items can be saved as a named preset and recalled in other racks Type a preset name and press SAVE to save a preset Press LOAD to recall a preset and press REMOVE to remove the selected preset Accessing Large Numbers of Scenes using Bank Select and Program Change One of the available MIDI automations is to select scene by program change By default a bank of scenes consists of up to 128 scenes each selectable via program change If more than 128 scenes exist in the active setlist MIDI bank select CCO and CC32 can be used to select alternate banks of 128 scenes In order for this feature to work the controller must send bank selects starting at 0 1 2 etc Some devices use different bank numbering schemes that may not work NOTE Using alternate MIDI controllers You may change the number of scenes per bank by modifying a setting in OPTIONS INI Select Tools View INI Files and open OPTIONS INI Find the line that says ScenesPerBank 128 and change that to a different value If you change this to 4 for example you must select bank
5. 12 3 1 Copying Intruments Preferences 2 O General Options Module Copy Forte Edit Shortcuts pa Skins v Copy Audio Effects plugins Audio Options Copy Audio Effects plugin settings Plugin Options SceneView Options V Copy assigned buss Scene Options v Co i V Copy Solo setting O MIDI Input Ports E 4 MIDI Configuration Y Copy Mute setting 4 MIDI Output Ports wie ae mate opy MIDI Configuration 4 Control Surfaces CM Copy 4 Copy Scene settings Module Copy Bus Copy WARNING The following option should only be selected if you are using Copy to replace an old version of a plug in with a new version and even then only when a backup has been made Copy plug in data 4 Display this page when copying Modules You may copy an instrument to a new instrument and specify a new instrument plugin The preferences above will be used to copy or skip various attributes of the original instrument module 2014 Brainspawn Inc 5 Forte 4 User Manual 12 3 2 Copying Buses 12 4 r Preferences xs 24 General Options Bus Copy Edit Shortcuts Skins 4 Copy Audio Effects plugins Audio Options v Copy Audio Effects plugin settings Plugin Options SceneView Options _ Copy Scene settings Scene ptions 5 9 MIDI Input Ports MIDI Configuration Vi MIDI Output Ports Control Surfaces Copy Module Copy Bus Copy
6. Logging Level Configures the amount of information logged to the log file Automatic Forte Start on Logon Compatibility issues with Windows User Account Control NOTE On Windows Vista and later enhancements in UAC User Account Control may prevent Forte from starting correctly on Windows login Forte requires runlevel highest a Windows privilege option to be compatible with the widest variety of VST plugins Forte uses a Run key in the Windows registry to cause itself to be launched on login but depending upon your Windows configuration this may not work as expected The workaround for this is to create a task in the task manager that launches Forte on logon Make sure Run with highest privileges is checked A command line tool exists to create this task As an example the following could be run from an Administrator command line schtasks create tn Run Forte on Logon tr c program files brainspawn Forte 3 Producer Edition forte exe sc onlogon rl highest 2014 Brainspawn Inc 106 Forte 4 User Manual 17 1 Edit Shortcuts Preferences General Options Edit Shortcuts Forte Edit Shortcuts Skins Commands Current shortcuts Console Show Hide Plugin Options Edit Copy SceneView Options Exit Scene Options iy ca ile Save amp Mf MIDI Input Ports File Audio Engine MIDI Output Ports File New Rack XX Control Surfaces File New Scene H gt Copy File Transport Play Help MIDI Panic
7. VST 64bit C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 FX dll Absynth 5 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 Stereo dll Battery 3 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Battery 3 dll FM8 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI FM8 dll FM8 Native In VST 64bit C Plugins64 NI FM8 FX dll Guitar Rig 5 Native In VST 64bit _C Plugins64 NI Guitar Rig 5 dll Kontakt 5 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Kontakt 5 160ut dll Kontakt 5 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Kontakt 5 dll Kontakt 5 Native In VSTi 64bit _C Plugins64 NI Kontakt 5 Sout dll Massive Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Massive dll Y Automatically use jBridge if needed recommended Ignore selected Plugin DLLs Rescan selected Plugins Remove selected Plugin DLLs Full Rescan Plugins Quick Scan Add Plugins This is the list of discovered VST plugins It includes the plugin name the plugin vendor what type of plugin it is and the DLL pathname You may select one or more plugins and Remove or Ignore the DLLs that host these plugins Ignored plugins will go on the Ignored VST Files List as user ignored If jBridge is installed and the Automatically use jBridge if needed checkbox is checked Forte will automatically create jBridged versions of plugins When Forte scans for VST plugins and encounters a DLL file it cannot load using normal means it will attempt to load it using jBridge If this is successful Forte will note that
8. 0 default or 1 If 1 stretches background images to fit screen SceneView The following options alter the appearance of SceneView SceneView2 SceneViewMIDIMeterCCMin 0 minimum scaled value of MIDI meter in SceneView SceneViewMIDIMeterCCMax 127 maximum scaled value of MIDI meter SceneView If missing the defaults are 0 127 However if you set max 20 the displayed MIDI meter range will be from 0 20 Trim_Delay_Ms number of ms to delay between scenes during Trim operation default 0 VST Plugin Options The following VST plugin options are available VST CreateSeparateJBridgedVSTs 0 or 1 default 0 1 create a jBridged version of every VST plugin during scan and treat it as an alternate separate plugin This is the behavior of Forte 3 when the Use jBridge checkbox is checked in Plugin Manager Log File Forte stores a log of useful information in a text file call FORTE LOG FORTE LOG is located in the user s application data folder This folder has been located in different places in different versions of Windows As of Windows 7 it is in the C Users lt username gt AppData Roaming brainspawn forte 3 folder A handy way to access this folder is to start Forte and select the menu command Tools View INI Files and application data folder which opens the folder for easy access The Log file by default only stores warnings and errors You may select a higher level of logging in Options Preferences Ge
9. C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 Stereo dll VSTi 64bit C Plugins64WI Battery 3 dll VSTi 64 bit C Plugins64 NI FM8 dll VST 64bit C Plugins64 NI FM8 FX dll VST 64bit C Plugins64 NI Guitar Rig 5 dll VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Kontakt 5 160ut dll VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Kontakt 5 dll VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Kontakt 5 8out dll VSTi 64 bit C Plugins64 NI Massive dll V Automatically use jBridge if needed recommended Ignore selected Plugin DLLs Rescan selected Plugins 2014 Brainspawn Inc Using Plugins 35 7 1 1 VST Scan Folders P Forte Plugin Manager c IEJ VST Scan Folders VST Plugins Ignored Files Crash Log In order to use VST plugins Forte must know what folders on your computer they are installed in Add or remove folders here and then press Find to search for your VST plugins The VST Scan Folders tab enables you to add folders to scan for VST plugins You may add or remove folders from the list and may start scanning 2014 Brainspawn Inc 36 Forte 4 User Manual 7 1 2 VST Plugins List Forte Plugin Manager EN VST Scan Folders VST Plugins Ignored Files Crash Log Name Vendor Type Path Absynth 5 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 dll Absynth 5 Native In VST 64bit C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 FX Surround dll Absynth 5 Native In
10. SceneView Options e Full Scene List Left A list of the entire set organized by song Click on any item to switch to that scene e Performance Control Buttons Bottom o Panic stop all MIDI o Dynamic Transpose Press to transpose down a half step to transpose up a half step and the tranpose value to reset to 0 o Tempo Tap repeatedly to set a new tempo o Play press to play or stop the transport o Undo Scene Change Previous Scene Next Scene change scenes o Rack Power press to stop restart audio streaming e Upcoming Scenes Middle Displays a list of the next few upcoming scenes in large font e Meter Bridge Bottom Displays the audio levels of each bus and faders to adjust the bus mix MIDI Meter Right Displays the current value of the assigned MIDI Controller Click the combo box indicator to assign a controller to meter e Quick Access Scene Buttons Right Press one of these 8 buttons to quickly insert one of the predefined Quick Access Scenes into the current set and switch to it See Scene and Set Manager for help on defining Quick Access Scenes Title Top Displays the Set name if using songs and sets or displays the rack name otherwise 2014 Brainspawn Inc e Forte 4 User Manual e MIX Button Top Hide Show the Meter Bridge e GOTO Button Top show the Set Browser to select a scene to change to e Next Scene Hint Bottom Displays the name of the next scene in the set Selecting
11. See Setlist and Scenes Editor for details on how to manage scenes songs and setlists 9 1 Basic Scene Operations Create Update Rename Use Delete lay a wm m nee ume Creating Scenes NEW SCENE Scenes can be created by clicking the NEW SCENE button to the left of the scene list on the Control Module The new scene will be given a name that represents the time and date the scene was created Scenes can also be created from within the Scene and Set Manager 79 Updating Scenes UPDATE SCENE 2014 Brainspawn Ine so Forte 4 User Manual 9 2 Scenes are snapshots in time of the rack file Later changes to the rack do not automatically update a scene In order to update a scene you must update the scene which is the same as taking a new snapshot To do this press the UPDATE SCENE button Renaming Scenes You may rename a scene on the Control Module by right clicking on the scene and selecting Rename Scene fromthe menu You may also rename scenes from within the Scene and Set Manager Switching Scenes Once multiple scenes are created you may switch between them in several ways From the Console you may press the Up or Down arrow buttons to the right of the scene list You may also e Press the space bar to advance to the next scene e Move to a specific scene by pressing a shortcut key you have assigned to that scene e Pressing control buttons on configured Control Surfaces 15 e From MIDI automation d
12. Select No Audio Input from the input selection box to turn off audio input Although some instruments will process audio input most will not For this reason there is a special module you can create from the add module menus called brainspawn Audio Input This module is a module without an instrument In the Audio Input module the audio is sent directly from the input to the module s insert effects WARNING Be very careful when using audio inputs that you do not accidentally enable an audio feedback loop This may damage your audio equipment if volume is too high Insert Effects Adding and Removing Effects O 2014 Brainspawn Inc Using Plugins 49 Alt Bus Out NSA 4 Delay 2 5 Analog 3 4 3 4 ini O OSW M Out al minimoog V WY at 1 Pluggo Resosw v Main Bus ov VST and DirectX audio effects may be inserted into either modules or output buses To insert an effect right click on an audio effects patch point shown above and select the DirectX effect from the pop up menu To delete an effect right click on the effect you wish to remove and select Remove Audio Effect on the pop up menu You can use the up down arrows on the right to view different effects in the chain By right clicking and opening the insert menu you may right click on an effect and add it to your favorites rename it or hide it Bypassing Effects Effects may be bypassed either by clicking the bypass button in the instrument
13. You will be prompted to save your work A in 30 minutes and Forte will exit OK 3 3 First Time Setup If Forte has never been configured on your computer a series of one time setup dialog boxes will appear Configuration Audio Options ist you will be asked to select the audio I O device s you wish to use See Audio Options 19 for details This decision is changeable later by selecting Program Settings 10 2014 Brainspawn Inc Installation and First Time Setup 21 First Time Setup Configure Audio Options Audio Options Audio Options Forte Audio Driver Model asio O WDM KS Sample Rate 44100 v ASIO Control Panel Highlight an ASIO driver to enable this button Device Buffer S Estimated MIDI Latency ASIO4ALL v2 64 31 93 ms pu the default ASIO driver to use when automatically creating the first us Custom Buffer Settings O Use preferred ASIO buffer size instead of minimum size Buffer Size Auto Number ot Bulles eae v WDM KS Multiple Driver Buffering Buffer Size Cancel Number of Buffers Buffer Switch Lateng Global Volume 0 dB y Find Plugins 2nd you will be notified that Forte has not found any plugins Press OK to start the Plugin Manager to configuration the location of your plugins and scan them into Forte for use See Plugin Manager 3 for more details For now you will be presented with the VST Scan Folders 5 tab Add the location s of you
14. 9 4 A scene can be set up to either rewind the transport on play or stop or leave the play position where it is stopped On Rewind the transport returns to the Start Bar Beat position By default a scene has Rewind enabled Time Signature and Start Bar Beat A Scene contains a configurable time signature and a start bar beat The start bar beat is set when the scene is switched to and if rewind is enabled start bar beat is returned to on Play or Stop By default a scene has a 4 4 time signature and a start bar beat of 0 0 Current Tempo and MIDI Sync Follow Each scene can contain a tempo instruments and effects can sync to In addition you may optionally choose to have Forte adjust the tempo dynamically from incoming MIDI Clock messages from a chosen MIDI input port Select the MIDI input port and responsiveness in the Global MIDI Automation display Transpose Amount Forte includes several ways to transpose a performance up or down by scene song or set See Scene and Set Manager and Transpose 9 for more details Image Cue An image cue 2 can be attached to a scene SceneView will display this image when the scene is used Plugin State For each plugin in the rack e Plugin configuration e MIDI Routing 5 e Scene Commands 6 e Audio Mix Different Ways to Use Scenes Songs and Sets The Scene Song Set system is flexible enough to use in many different ways Here are some common ways musicians use them Sce
15. Access the scene manager by pressing the RACK EDITOR button on the Console amd selecting the Setlist and Scenes tab 2014 Brainspawn Inc Forte 4 User Manual HIDE SET POOL HIDE SONG POOL SCENE POOL DETAIL CLONE DELETE DELETE CLONE SONGS NEW DELETE CLONE IMAGE CUE ADD REMOVE Transpose SCENES INSERT UP 0 IMAGE CUE D 001 scene 3 HIDE SCENES EXPORT HE QUICK SCENES ng 3 002 scene 3 or 003 scene 1 004 scene 2 4 song 005 scene 4 end of set gt Scene and Set Manager Set Pool The top left is the Set Pool Two predefined sets exist e all scenes consists of all scenes in the Scene Pool This is an easy way to advance through all scenes in order without imposing Song management e checked scenes is the similar but only includes and advances through scenes checked in the Inc include column You can double click on a custom set s name to rename it You may also double click on the number to the right of a set to transpose the entire set up or down the number of halfsteps This is done by altering incoming MIDI note data The Set Organizer may be shown or hidden with the Hide Sets button Current Set The current set area shows the song and scene order of the currently chosen set You may Drag songs up and down in the set to reorder them e Add songs to the set by dragging them from the song pool or by highlighting them and
16. Cue Notes help you organize your sets descriptive text and visual images and are displayed in SceneView Image Cues Image Cues can be attached to scenes entire songs as well as individual set list elements scenes with a song This means that you can use the same image cues across all scenes in a song or use different images for each scene in a song and reuse scenes in other songs with different images Image Cues are managed in the Setlist and Scenes Editor When the setlist is advanced there is a priority for determining which image is shown in SceneView 1 Thesongitem image cue 2 Thescene image cue the image that was supported in prior versions of Forte 3 Thesongimage cue The purpose of image cue is to enable you to display customized content in SceneView such as graphics scanned sheet music or lyrics NOTE that when combined with the cue note feature the ability to use a custom name for a scene within a song this feature enables full customization of the set list with full reuse of scenes Scenes can be named after sounds or rig configurations while the cue notes and images can define portions of a song Cue Notes Cue notes are customized text that apply only to a scene within a particular song Once a scene is added to a song you may add a cue note to it by double clicking on the scene in the song list This doesn t change the scene s name but assigns a cue note to the scene that only applies to the scene
17. Inc s Forte 4 User Manual 13 2 P Preferences xs 4 General Options Control Surfaces Edit Shortcuts Skins Control Surfaces Audio Options Plugin Options Davics Input Output SceneView Options Scene Options 0 4 MIDI Input Ports 4 MIDI Output Ports te Control Surfaf 4 dd Control Surface x Copy Device Frontier Design TranzPort z MIDI Input Port dedicated MIDI Output Port dedicated Add E dit Delete Some control surfaces have dedicated MIDI inputs and outputs like the Frontier TranzPort In this case you do not need to choose ports as they are already known Control Surface Definitions and Editor A control surface definition tells forte how to react to MIDI events and how to update the control surface when changes happen In order to be useful a control surface must be configured in Program Settings 5 By configuring a control surface you apply a definition to a specific set of MIDI inputs and outputs Upon startup Forte reads three XML files containing control surface definitions e FactoryControlSurfaceDefinitions xml located in the forte install directory this file contains control surface definitions supplied by Brainspawn e SampleControlSurfaceDefinitions xml located in the forte install directory this 2014 Brainspawn Inc Control Surfaces and Automation file contains tutorial definitions to aid you in creating yo
18. Module Add Audio Effect Module Add Bus Module Add Synth Module Delete Module Next Module Previous Module Select Bottom Module Select Top Module Show Hide Bus Reload Rack Scene 01 v Reset Reset All Assign Remove Description Press new shortcut key None Selected Cancel Currently assigned to _ Disable shortcuts when Consoles are open This page configures hot key assignments To assign a new hot key e Select the function you wish to assign a key to e Set the cursor in the Press new shortcut key box and press the key you wish to assign to the function e Press the Assign button Check Disable shortcuts when Consoles are open to disable hot key assignments when plugin consoles are open This can solve problems where hot key assignments conflict with plugin keystrokes 2014 Brainspawn Inc Configuring Options and Preferences 107 17 2 Skins Preferences General Options Skins Forse Edit Shortcuts Skins Audio Options Default v Preview Plugin Options Description SceneView Options Scene Options H N MIDI Input Ports MIDI Output Ports 4 Control Surfaces H N Copy Forte 2 0 Producer Edition Default Skin Cancel Select an installed SynthSkin from the ListBox above Pressing the Preview button will load and display the selected skin Select OK to store the selected skin as your new default or press Cancel to revert back to your
19. Nr oa arent ena Ereta bedasna nena 17 4 Where to go for Help r in heir pi 18 Part Ill Installation and First Time Setup 18 hrci lg LEER 18 Enabling Forte with a Registration User Name and License Key eee 19 EIESE TIME SOU eem 20 Part IV Tutorials 23 1 Tutorial 1 Adding a Plugin and Creating Scenes seeeeene en 23 2 Tutorial 2 Audio Routing and Mixing cessere nn 25 3 Tutorial 3 MIDI Routing and Filtering on a Plugin eere 26 4 Tutorial 4 Global MIDI Automation eeeeeeeeeenenennennnnnennnne nene nnne nn 28 5 Tutorial 5 Preparing a Rack for Performance eeeeeeeneeeeen enne 29 Part V MIDI and Audio Signal Flow 30 Part VI User Interface Overview 31 1 Control Module coso oniar Eeter ani iar A ANTEA EEEN EAEra AAA EEn pE ARAKERE aranan 31 2 Qutput Bus Modules ts 31 3 Instrument Modules entire meom eim IER 32 4 Plugin Consoles eiie a 33 AA a E E ti 33 Cre dz IEEE a da 33 Part VII Using Plugins 33 1 Plugin Manager eeeeeeeeesseseeeeennen nennen enne nennen nnne nnne nnn nn nn nnns nenas nennen nne n nenne nennen 33 EXARSIT eaii E 35 AA A CL 36 Using JBridge s certe AA nere rere OB
20. Songs and Scenes in SceneView There are several ways to select scenes in SceneView Press the space bar or assigned shortcut key 1 Use Global MIDI Automation 3 or a Control Surface to change scenes remotely from a MIDI controller e Click a scene in the Full Scene List on the left side Click Next or Previous Performance Control Buttons on the bottom Click Undo Scene Change Performance Control Button to return to the previously used scene e Click a Quick Access Scene Button to select one of up to 8 scenes defined in the Setlist and Scenes editor 75 Right click anywhere in SceneView to get a menu of songs in the setlist Select any set item to jump to that location in the set Using Image Cues in SceneView Scenes and Songs can have image cues attached to them An image cue displays an image in the SceneView background for use as a prompt It is often used for lyrics or even sheet music scans See Image Cues 2 for details Dynamic Transpose in SceneView New and buttons on the bottom of SceneView enable you to dynamically transpose the entire set up or down in half steps This transpose setting is not saved Instead itis intended to be a quick way to change keys Click the transpose value button quickly to reset transpose to O Dynamic Transpose can also be automated with Global MIDI Automation 8 Adding Scenes into the Current Set in SceneView Right click on the SceneView to show a menu Select Insert Sce
21. This is a trial version of EHCo After 30 minutes in trial mode EHCo will transform all MIDI NOTEs to NOTE OFF and will set all CCs to zero OK After 30 minutes EHCo will manipulate all outgoing MIDI data to turn notes off and reset MIDI controller values to 0 2014 Brainspawn Inc EHCo External MIDI Hardware Controller 95 15 2 ECHo User Interface Device E MU Proteus MPS Sysex Prefix Output Port MIDISPORT 4x4 Out A v Channel Add Remove Edit Send Send MIDI Sync Enabled Name Description Controller Change Ch1CC2 0 B 0 AO a EO O MIDI In s Send All Test JN J MIDI Out User Interface Element Reference e Device Load INS files to learn bank patch and controller names INS files are the format used to import instrument information into Cakewalk products and are available via a web search e Sysex Prefix System exclusive data can be modified as it is transmitted to adjust for different MIDI device IDs The prefix here replaces the first bytes of the stored system exclusive data e Output Port Determines which output port MIDI will be transmitted on e Channel Alters the channel of transmitted MIDI data Using this you can force all channelized MIDI to be transmitted on a single channel Send MIDI Sync Send MIDI Sync to the selected output port e Scene Command List This is a list of MIDI data that is transmitted when the current scene is switched to e MIDI Data A list of MIDI
22. a Forte 3 rack Transport e Play state is ALWAYS per scene e MIDI Automation is NEVER per scene it is always global to the rack e NEW Starting Bar Beat per scene e NEW Rewind to starting Bar Beat on transport change On or Off e NEW Time Signature per scene 2014 Brainspawn Inc a Forte 4 User Manual e VST plugins now honor start time and rewind settings e g EnergyXT Play state is compatible with F3 but automation is not check be sure to check and adjust when loading a Forte 3 rack Forte 3 racks and new racks default to e starting bar beat 0 0 e rewind On e Time Signature 4 4 2014 Brainspawn Inc Introduction 15 User Interface Enhancements SceneView The original SceneView in Forte 2 has been removed What was called SceneView2 in Forte 3 is now just SceneView Bus Adjustment Mixer A new Mix button is at the top right corner which quickly shows and hides the bus mixer In Forte 3 the meter section in SceneView2 was only metering In Forte 4 this is now a bus mixer with a fader The mix levels here are global apply to all scenes in the rack and are saved with the rack file The levels are adjustment levels applied in addition to the bus scene volume applied on scene change These adjustment volumes are also MIDI automatable see MIDI automation Dynamic Transpose New and buttons on the bottom of SceneView enable you to dynamically transpose the entire set up or do
23. called Program Change that enables you to enter the bank and program number manually In the Enter Bank Program dialog box a button called BankCalc enables you to enter the bank number in MSB LSB format for your convenience Held Notes over Scene Changes With specific settings on the Scene Commands tab it is possible to hold notes over scene changes This can only happen however if the MIDI filtering for the plugin is the same in the new scene as in the old scene If the new MIDI filter is more restrictive passes fewer notes or has a different transpose setting the playing notes are forced off to avoid hanging notes Using Samplers with Scene Changes Some plugins require a significant amount of time to process setting configuration data Many of these are samplers which must load new sample sets into memory when configuration data is applied Therefore to properly use plugins like this you should configure them to Set configuration data only if this is the first scene used and use a combination of MIDI channel filtering and program changes when changing scenes to alter their sounds 7 3 Audio Input and Mix Audio inputs enables you to run audio from external sources through modules and buses Audio inputs are available on any instrument module in the Audio Mix tab of the console 2014 Brainspawn Inc as Forte 4 User Manual 7 4 You may select the mono or stereo audio input source and monitor the input levels
24. can define transpose at any of the above layers and the effective transpose will be the sum of all This also means you can use the same scene multiple times in different songs and have different transposition in each Managing Scenes Scenes can be edited and organized in the Rack Editor 5 Import Scenes and Songs Select Import Songs or Scenes from the File menu to move songs or scenes from another rack file into the current one You can choose which rack file and which songs or scenes to import 2014 Brainspawn Inc Scenes Songs and Setists 65 Imports Scenes and Songs ES Import Scenes OK December 0 Forte will import the scenes using the following rules e If forte can adapt an existing bus for use with the new scene it will by adding insert plugins These plugins are bypassed by default in the other existing scenes e If forte can adapt an existing instrument module the imported scene has the same instrument it will add insert plugins as necessary Forte will attempt to match existing buses scenes and insert plugin chains as much as possible There is no user interface to guide this process so make sure you are working 2014 Brainspawn Inc Forte 4 User Manual 9 8 10 with a backed up file in case you do not like the results You may prefix the imported songs or scenes with text if you prefer Rehearsal Mode Because scenes are Snapshots of the rack at a moment
25. changes are always slow 2014 Brainspawn Inc 30 Forte 4 User Manual because of individual plugins reloading sound data o Is your setlist ordered correctly for smooth advance through the set Hint see Scenes Songs and Setlists 58 o Do you keep backups of your important rack files To help with these things Forte includes several important tools you should be using to build confidence in your rig See Confidence Building Tools for more information 5 MIDI and Audio Signal Flow This is the signal flow in Forte Bus Module EHCo MIDI Out Plugin Physical MIDI Out Port MIDI Input Output Ports MIDI messages from external sources enter Forte from MIDI input ports MIDI Input ports may be virtual input ports created by virtual MIDI output See MIDI Input and Output Ports for details on how to configure ports Only the EHCo plugin 5 can output MIDI messages to physical MIDI output ports MIDI Filters Each plugin has a separate MIDI filter for each MIDI input port See Plugin MIDI Filtering and Automation for details on how to set up MIDI filters Audio Input Each instrument module can have a selected audio input mono or stereo channel feeding the instrument plugin 1 Audio Output Each bus module can be assigned to a selected audio output mono or stereo channel Bus Select Each instrument module can be assigned to a selected bus for audio output More than one instrumen
26. current default skin Forte supports skins which can be selected from this screen For alternate skins please visit www brainspawn com For information on creating your own please contact technical support 2014 Brainspawn Inc 108 Forte 4 User Manual 17 3 Audio Options Preferences General Options Audio Options Edit Shortcuts Skins Audio Driver Model Audio Options ASIO O WDM KS Sample Rate 44100 v Plugin Options SceneView Options ASIO Control Panel Highlight an ASIO driver to enable this button Scene Options E A MIDI Input Ports Device Buffer S Estimated MIDI Latency 4 MIDI Output Ports An Control Surfaces v ASIO4ALL v2 512 57 32 ms 4 4 Copy Check the default ASIO driver to use when automatically creating the first bus Custom Buffer Settings y Use preferred ASIO buffer size instead of minimum size Buffer Size Auto Number of Buffers Auto Y WDM KS Multiple Driver Buffering Cancel Global Volume 0dB v e Audio Driver Mode WDM KS or ASIO This selection determines the audio driver mode In ASIO mode only one driver may be used at a time and the selection is made when the 1st bus in the rack is created In WDM KS mode multiple drivers may be used simultaneously e Audio Sample Rate Select the sample rate Forte will use to access your sound cards e ASIO Control Panel Open the ASIO control panel e Device List ASIO mode Shows all installed ASIO
27. device The instrument module must not be muted and the rack power must be on for training to succeed Press Reset to enable the entire keyboard IMPORTANT Key Range and Transpose are channel routing specific You will have as many ranges and transpose settings as you have channel mappings Be sure to select the desired channel mapping on the left before altering the key range and transpose 8 2 MIDI Controller Mapping Incoming MIDI continuous controller data may be remapped to a different controller number layered to multiple controllers or disabled 2014 Brainspawn Inc s Forte 4 User Manual Shown settings apply to current map In B USB MIDISPORT 4x4 2 to 2 Each MIDI controller can be enabled disabled remapped layered toggled or rescaled In the above picture e CC 0 is mapped straight through to CC 0 e CC 1 is layered to CC 9 and CC 62 o The CC62 mapping snaps to 20 and 60 and will generate no values in between e CC 2 is configured to toggle between 40 and 80 starting at 80 whenever CC2 128 Right click a row in the To column to make changes to this mapping Click the triangle icon to expand or collapse portions of the channel display Right click the Mode colume to change Toggle modes Click in the O and 127 columns to set linear rescaling values Training is a convenient way to automatically set the from field without having to consult your MIDI controller configuration Select a from field pre
28. drivers The check box indicates which ASIO driver will be used when you automatically create a bus when adding the first instrument e Device List WDM mode Shows all WDM devices available to Forte Each output may be enabled or disabled for use within Forte using the check box next to its name A 2014 Brainspawn Inc Configuring Options and Preferences 109 disabled output will not be available to assign to a bus and is not used when determining audio buffer sizes on start up Custom Buffer Settings Configures the minimum size and number of buffers used When both are set to Auto the configuration is automatically computed based upon enabled audio outputs If you experience audio dropouts try different settings here e WDM KS Multiple Driver Buffering Displays the current buffer size and number of buffers in WDM mode Forte automatically computes the minimum buffer size when it starts based upon the enabled audio outputs and the Custom Buffer Settings described above The Current Latency is the estimation of software latency based upon the current buffer configuration Global Volume Trim This gain adjustment is applied to each bus after all effects but before audio is sent to the sound card It is applied at the same point the bus volume fader is applied 2014 Brainspawn Inc mo Forte 4 User Manual 17 4 Plugin Options Preferences 1 4 General Options Plugin Options Forte Audio Options Plugin Op
29. empty rack You will be prompted to save R the current rack if changes have been made to it Ctrl Saves the current rack If the rack has not been saved S before you will be prompted to name the new rack ra T Updates the current Scene Ctrl W Show hide the console window of the selected module Exits Forte F4 Advances to the next Scene Moves to previous Scene e Adds a new Instrument Module to the rack Alt Adds a new insert effect to the current Module Insert cuba Adds a new Output Bus to the rack Insert E Deletes the selected Instrument Module or Deletes the selected Instrument Module or Output Bus Bus Home Scrolls the Control Module into view Scrolls to the bottom of the rack Advances the Selection Caret to the next Instrument Module or Output Bus When the Selection Caret reaches the 2014 Brainspawn Inc Keyboard Shortcuts 129 Keys troke last Module in the rack it wraps around to the first Arrow Opens Forte Help NUMP AD Presses the MIDI Panic button 1 9 Use Scene numbers 1 through 10 Use Scene numbers 21 through 30 Use Scene numbers 31 through 40 Moves the Selection Caret to the previous Instrument Module ot Output Bus When the first Output Bus is reached it wraps around to the last Module in the rack Note These shortcut keys are reassignable using Edit Shortcuts in Program Settings 196 21 Technology Acknowledgements m 51 ASIO technol
30. for user selection then automatically use the first compatible profile v Click OK to use or create a profile Click Use Offline to use an existing profile offline Cancel j When you load a rack file you are given an opportunity to choose between compatible profiles or create a new profile By default the opportunity lasts for 5 seconds before the first compatible profile is automatically loaded This behavior can be changed in the profile selection dialog box Note that incompatible profiles are also shown with the reason they are deemed incompatible This can help you remember to plug in hardware if necessary You may choose to use an incompatible profile in offline mode by selecting it and pressing the Use Offline button In this mode the real audio and MIDI hardware is ignored and simulated devices with the expected names are created and used instead No MIDI input or audio streaming is possible when using a profile offline but this is useful for rack editing New Profile Creation Wizard The new profile creation wizard has three stages 1 Select the name of the profile and choose an existing profile upon which to base the new one PRODUCER only 2 Map MIDI Ports Here you may swap MIDI port assignments or remove them 3 Choose ASIO driver ASIO mode only This enables you to adapt a rack to a different ASIO setup 2014 Brainspawn Inc Maintaining Rack Fles 35 Upon completion the new profile is acti
31. in that song The cue notes is displayed before the scene name in SceneView For example a Scene named Rich Piano may be added to a song called Long Distance and a cue note Section A added The resulting set item looks like 2014 Brainspawn Inc Forte 4 User Manual 10 2 this in SceneView Friday Night Set Long Distance 001 Rich Piano 002 Dirty Organ Hotel California 003 Dirty Organ 004 Rich Piano The purpose of cue notes is to enable you to tag a scene changes to something in the set like Measure 24 or Section B It can also hold reminder prompts like reset transpose Set Browser The Set Browser is a display for selecting a portion of the set to move directly to GOTO Button in SceneView The GOTO button in SceneView opens the Set Browser with a list of the entire setlist Select a scene and and Forte will advance or go back to that set item The display is optimized for touch and swipe scrolling The display will automatically cancel and close after 10 seconds without a selection made MOVE TO SCENE IN SET 001 Close to the Edge Total Mass Retain nd You And 005 And You And 006 And You And I Thi her The Teacher 007 And You And I Apocalypse 008 Siberian Khatru Siberian Khatru 2014 Brainspawn Inc SceneView MIDI Automation MIDI Automation can also cause the Set Browser to be displayed The forms this supports are e Browse to a scene in the set e Browse to a song in the
32. in time they cannot be edited live If you alter something and then re apply the scene those changes will be lost unless you enable Rehearsal Mode in the Options menu Rehearsal Mode prevents inadvertent scene changes by prompting you to confirm your intent to change scenes Forte 4 Rehearsal Mode is enabled to protect you against losing changes in a scene You may avoid this prompt by turning off Rehearsal Mode in the options menu Do you wish to change scenes Options Rehearsal Mode is a special mode that helps you avoid losing changes to a scene before updating it If this option is enabled any scene change will result in this prompt You have the opportunity here to cancel the scene change then you can update the scene to save changes SceneView SceneView is a full screen touch enabled display that shows critical performance information Show SceneView by pressing the SCENE VIEW button on the Control Module or by selecting View SceneView in the menu Exit SceneView by pressing the HIDE button in the upper right corner Tip SceneView is optimized to be the primary performance time display 2014 Brainspawn Inc SceneView CTTE Set GOTO HIDE E The Solid Time of Change Close to the Edge 001 The Solid Time of Change Total Mass Retain Apocalypse Siberian Khatru B NEXT 002 Total Mass Retain SceneView Display Reference SceneView has a number of displayable elements that can be shown or hidden in
33. messages to be transmitted e Scene Command List Editing Buttons Buttons to manage items in the scene command list Add Remove Edit Send Send All Send either the current selected item or all items immediately e Test Set up and run the Closed Loop MIDI Test MIDI In Out Meters These display activity when MIDI is detected The strength of each event is Note velocity or CC value 2014 Brainspawn Inc 96 Forte 4 User Manual 15 3 15 4 MIDI Configuration Using Forte MIDI Filtering Forte has sophisticated MIDI filtering that changes MIDI input in various ways including transpose key range limiting controller rescaling re channelizing and masking Refer to the the section on MIDI Filtering 5 for a full description of these capabilities MIDI output in real time by EHCo is processed through Forte s internal MIDI filters and can be altered in all the ways supported by Forte meaning that you can use EHCo with Forte as a powerful MIDI data processor For instance if you have a MIDI con trolled tube preamp with a built in reverb effect you could use Forte and EHCo to control this device without having to reconfigure either the MIDI input or the preamp Configuring MIDI Output Ports MIDI Output ports are configured within Forte s Program Settings 3 pages If EHCo is installed Forte will add a new preference page called MIDI Output Ports 3 This page functions identically to the existing MIDI Input Ports page A
34. module or bus or by unchecking the Active column in the Insert Manager Effects are bypassed independently for each scene so you may use scene changes to switch effects in and out of an instrument module or bus Using Effect Presets Accessing an Audio Effect Preset is identical to accessing instrument Presets MIDI Routing to Effects MIDI input is sent to both instrument and bus insert effects The filtering is identical to instruments However by default all MIDI Input ports to inserts are disabled This is to avoid confusion It is assumed that most MIDI input is to be directed at the instrument plugin not the effects plugins You may enable MIDI by opening the plugin console and editing the MIDI configuration Also if you have Forte configured to automatically reload the last used MIDI configuration with the plugin it may be inserted 2014 Brainspawn Inc so Forte 4 User Manual 7 4 1 with whatever previous configuration you used Also note that MIDI Program Change messages are never sent to insert plugins This is to reduce cases where multiple effects plugins are inadvertently changing sounds when the user intents to change only the instrument You can automate audio effects with MIDI the same way you automate instruments Please refer to MIDI Filtering and Automation 5 for how to do this Scene Change Commands In the Scene Commands tab each scene can be configured to affect each insert effect plugin in a va
35. pressing the Insert button e Remove songs from the set by highlighting them and pressing the Remove button Use the Up or Down buttons to move songs up or down in the set Hold CTRL while clicking up or down to move 10 positions at a time hold SHIFT to move to top or bottom 2014 Brainspawn Inc Rack Editor e Show or hide the individual scenes in the song list by pressing the Show Hide Scenes button e Export a set list to the clipboard by pressing the Export button You may then paste the results into another application for printing The end of set item is in the set list to mark the end of the set and to enable you to drop songs at the end of the set Song Pool The Song Pool is a collection of all defined songs You may e Create new songs with the New button Delete songs by clicking on them and pressing the Delete button e Clone a song by clicking on it and pressing the Clone button e Add scenes to songs by dragging them from the scene pool or by highlighting them and pressing the Insert button e Remove scenes from songs by clicking on the scenes and pressing the Remove button Double click a Song name to rename it Click in the Trn column to transpose 9 the entire song up or down e Move scenes up or down in a song by pressing the Up or Down buttons hold CTRL while clicking up or down to move 10 positions at a time hold SHIFT to move to top or bottom Press Image Cue 62 Add or Remove to a
36. set select 1st scene e Insert new scene into set from scene pool list e Insert new song into set from song pool list Touch Mode If Touch Mode is enabled in Program Settings General Options the list can be navigated using touch gestures swipe scrolling Otherwise it uses scrollbar gestures 10 3 Styling Scene View 2 with Stylesheets SceneView is built using Qt4 user interface technology and is stylable using a variant of CSS for Qt This topic lists the names and types of the various stylable elements Two default style sheets css files are included in the Forte installation folder These can be used for reference For a full discussion of Qt4 Stylesheets please search the Internet for Qt4 Stylesheets In short each element is independently addressable by name or widgets can be styled by control type Children of controls inherit styling of the parent unless specifically overridden Knowing the control names enables customization of each including hiding specific things not hidable in options by coloring it with transparent color rgba 0 0 0 0 Note that future versions of Forte may change significantly 2014 Brainspawn Inc Forte 4 User Manual CTTE Set The Solid Time of Change Total Mass Retain Close to the Edge Get Up Get Down Seasons of Man Cord of Life Th her The Teacher Apocalypse Siberian Khatru B NEXT 002 Total Mass Retain Control Name verticalLayout nextSceneHi
37. through it without modification which can be a handy way to do guitar processing with a single instrument module In this case the audio input is the guitar which passes through EHCo into other VST processors and to the output while the MIDI output is used to control external gear like guitar processors Adding EHCo to a FORTE Rack To add EHCo click the add button on FORTE s header module In the pop up menu of plug in choices select the brainspawn sub menu and select EHCo EHCo will be added to the rack You may then open the EHCo console by clicking the arrow button next to the brainspawn EHCo name in the instrument module 2014 Brainspawn Inc o Forte 4 User Manual 15 1 Enabling EHCo with a Registration User Name and License Key EHCo is installed with Forte or with a separate installer It can either run in Trial mode with an EHCo license or with Forte Producer license If EHCo is running in Trial mode you will see the following dialog box when you add it to a rack or load a rack containing EHCo EHCo User Registration Enter your user registration information for EHCo User License Key Remove OK Cancel If you have received user registration information enter it here and press OK This will activate ECHo in standalone mode If you register Forte with a Producer license EHCo will automatically be licensed as well If you choose to run ECHo in Trial mode you will see the following message EHCo
38. time by clicking on the bus assignment display On each module you can e Adjust volume of the instrument output post effects e View MIDI input activity e Display or hide the console for the instrument e Mute or Solo the module 2014 Brainspawn Inc User Interface Overview 33 e Add remove bypass or reorder audio effects e Display the console for audio effects e Select an output bus 6 4 Plugin Consoles See Plugin Console 3 6 5 SceneView See SceneView 8 6 6 Rack Editor cote IP m E gm Press the RACK EDITOR button to open the rack editor The rack editor has three tabs Rack Setlist and Scenes Global MIDI Automation e Rack e Setlist and Scenes 75 e Global MIDI Automation 8 7 Using Plugins 7 1 Plugin Manager The plugin manager is a utility integrated into Forte that scans for VST plugins and enables you to manage them Access the plugin manager either from the program start menu Manage VST Plugins or from Forte s Tools Manage VST Plugins menu item When exiting the plugin manager Forte will immediately rebuild its plugin list to reflect changes made in the plugin manager 2014 Brainspawn Inc 34 Forte 4 User Manual s Forte Plugin Manager DES VST sean ders ST Pts ignored Fies crash tog Type Path VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 dll VST 64bit C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 FX Surround dll VST 64bit C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 FX dll VSTi 64bit
39. working the way you want it to select the new Tools menu item Create Installation Configuration Manifest Answer Yes when asked to embed the manifest in your rack file The next time you save your rack file the manifest will be contained within it e A manifest is a snapshot of your configuration containing e A record of every DLL module VST plugins ASIO drivers Windows components 3rd party components and its version e Key configuration settings from OPTION INI When you have a problem select the new Tools menu item Validate Against Manifest to create a difference report in your Windows clipboard This can then be pasted into Notepad or other text editor to view The difference report contains e A list of manifest items missing from the current configuration e g DLLs e A list of manifest items in your current configuration that are not in the manifest e Any manifest items that are different e g DLL versions are different e Matching items You may also copy the embedded manifest to the clipboard for examination with Tools Copy Manifest to Clipboard and delete the current manifest with Tools Clear Manifest 16 6 Automatic Backup Whenever you save a rack Forte can automatically copy the existing file to a backup copy The backup copy file name is appended with a sequence number e g 1 and the file extension is changed from rcf to rcf bk See Configuring Options and Preferences to change how many backups
40. would be rescaled to 30 60 If Max is less than Min the scaling works in reverse For instance if Max 30 and Min 60 thenincoming values of 0 127 would be rescaled to 60 30 Toggle Mode Toggle Mode configures a controller mapping to toggle the between two values each time a controller transmits a value of 127 This feature enables you to assign MIDI foot switches to features on the instrument like an organ s rotary speed Step on the pedal once to slow the rotors down and step again to speed them up Toggle mode is configured with a maximum and minimum value to toggle between When the MIDI configuration is applied on scene change the maximum value of the toggle is sent to the instrument Further incoming trigger values of 127 cause the toggle to toggle between the minimum and maximum values Snap Mode Snap mode configures a controller mapping to snap between the minimum and maximum value 0 and 127 by default based upon the input CC value 0 63 snaps to the minimum and 64 127 snaps to the maximum value 8 3 Merging MIDI Input Filters You may merge the attributes of a MIDI input port filter into another port by right clicking on a port name in the MIDI Routing tab of a plugin The dialog box enables you to configure various attributes to copy or skip 2014 Brainspawn Inc s Forte 4 User Manual 8 4 This allows you to merge the selected MIDI port s filter settings into another Merge From In A USB M
41. 00 E MU Proteus 2000 ZR E MU Proteus FX E MU Proteus FX Gen MIDI E MU Proteus MPS E MU Proteus MPS MIDIIn MIDI Out Once loaded the device s patch names appear in the Forte preset manager and scene commands sections Controller names may be edited by name in the Forte MIDI Routing screens In order to proxy an external MIDI device EHCo must know which MIDI output port the device is connected to and what if any MIDI channels it will need to transmit on Select the connected port name and channel If the device receives on all 16 channels select OMNI MIDI Sync Out EHCo can send MIDI Sync messages on the selected MIDI Output port Be careful not to enable MIDI Sync on more than one instance of EHCo using the same MIDI output port This will confuse an external device Refer to a MIDI reference to understand how MIDI Sync works The important point is that it does not send time line information but only sends pulses 24 times per quarter note This defines tempo but not location time signature or absolute time 15 5 Sending MIDI On Scene Change EHCo can store and transmit multiple MIDI messages when Forte changes scenes In the example below four MIDI messages are defined each of a different type When the current scene is switched to each is sent in order Only those message marked Enabled are sent You may transmit each manually with the send button or transmit all manually with the send all button 20
42. 1 program 0 2014 Brainspawn Inc Forte 4 User Manual 12 12 1 12 2 to access the 4th scene in the setlist Likewise bank 2 program 2 would select the 10th scene The ability to alter the number of scenes per bank can be useful when using some MIDI controllers like guitar footboards that select programs using separate pedals Maintaining Rack Flles Creating New Racks Select File menu New Rack to create a new empty rack file You may then add buses and instrument plugins For each instrument you may wish to alter the plugin s sound and the MIDI configuration Then snapshot one or more scenes to organize the rack into a set list See Plugin Console 2 to edit plugins See Scene and Set Manager 7 in the Rack Editor 99 to organize scenes into a performance setlist Loading and Saving Racks File View Set Options Tools Help cote oso Ali pus pu pm To load a rack file press the LOAD button or use the File Open command to select a rack file to load Rack files use the extention rcf To save a rack file press the SAVE button or use the File Save or Save As comand to save a rack file Automatic Backup When you save a rack file Forte can save a backup of the current file See Configuring Options and Preferences 1 to configure backup The backup files have the extension rcf bk 2014 Brainspawn Inc Maintaining Rack Files 81 12 3 Copying and Replacing Instruments and Buses
43. 1 O 0 0 120 Y 1 1 4 4 0 O My Scene funky clav sounds Most scene attributes are adjustable in the Setlist and Scenes Editor 79 Plugin data is adjustable by altering the plugin s user interface and updating the scene Name and Description The Name is the primary name of the scene The Description is intended to be a user defined area to describe the scene Check Lock e Scenes can be checked or unchecked A special setlist includes only checked scenes e The lock check protects a scene against accidental update Transport Play Stop Rewind State Even though Forte is not a sequencer many virtual instruments and effects depend upon host transport control to control drum machine patterns and arpeggiators For this reason Forte features a transport like functions per scene as well as a PLAY STOP button Play Stop Each Scene may have the transport in either the Play state or the Stop state This means you can stop and start drum machines on scene change When play starts Forte reports a start position determined in the scene If you stop and restart the play button the position will either continue or be reset to the start time depending upon how the scene is set up e Press the PLAY button on the Control Model to Play Stop the transport e Press the PANIC button on the Control Model send all notes off to all plugins and reset the MIDI input ports Rewind on Play Stop 2014 Brainspawn Inc 62 Forte 4 User Manual
44. 14 Brainspawn Inc os Forte 4 User Manual maces Device E MU Proteus h e Sysex Prefix m v Output Port MIDISPORT 4x4 Out A v Channel 1 n a Add Remove Edit Send Send MIDI Sync lm A R I a i s A Enabled Name Description Type Info Controller Change Control Ch1CC2 0 T am Ch Bank Program Ch 1 Bnk 0 A MmTTTTTTTTITII Send All Test NS 1 JN J MIDI Out Press add to create a new MIDI message A menu appears giving you a choice of which type of message to create e Controller value enables you to send specific CC values to devices on scene change e Generic MIDI message this enables you to enter a MIDI message using a hexadecimal editor If this message is a CC or program message it will open in the appropriate editor when you press edit e Bank Program Change this enables you to select a preset using the instrument definitions imported from INF files e System Exclusive One or more blocks of system exclusive data be ginning with OxFO and ending with OxF7 e Wait Pauses a specified number of milliseconds between messages Removing MIDI Messages Highlight a message and click remove to delete it Sysex Prefix For your convenience and to avoid having to edit system exclusive data manually the Sysex Prefix window enables you to quickly replace the first few bytes of any system exclusive data in the l
45. Actions is overridden to set configuration data only once when the instrument is loaded This preserves the behavior of previous versions of Forte O 2014 Brainspawn Inc Configuring Options and Preferences 113 17 7 MIDI Input and Output Ports Preferences E t General Options MIDI Input Ports Edit Shortcuts Skins MIDI Input Ports Uncheck to disable port Click custom name to rename Audio Options Plugin Options Port Name Custom Name MIDISPORT 4x4 In A MIDISPORT 4x4 In A e Sene Optime MIDISPORT 4x4 In B MIDISPORT 4x4 In B Sky MIDI Input Ports MIDISPORT 4x4 In C MIDISPORT 4x4 In C Fr MIDI Output Ports MIDISPORT 4x4 In D MIDISPORT 4x4 In D 4 Control Surfaces H Copy OK Cancel Leave MIDI ports open e Enable Disable MIDI Input Ports Use this list to enable or disable MIDI input ports for use in Forte If an input port is not checked in this list it will not be opened for input and it will not be included in the MIDI Configurations list Custom Name You may assign each port a custom name by clicking in the custom name area This is useful to rename ports according to what MIDI device is connected to them It can also be used if you are moving racks between Forte installations If port friendly names are the same no MIDI port remapping is required See MIDI Port Renaming for details Leave MIDI ports open If checked Forte will open MIDI input ports when started but will not
46. C3C85 Auto Out 1 v 4 Plugin Pentagon Y BB1C3C85 Auto v BB1C3C85 Auto Global settings for selected plugin ooo USE SEPARATE PLUGIN SETTING DATA FOR EACH SCENE REORDER INSTRUMENT AND BUS MODULES DISCONNECT PLUGIN WHEN LOADING NEW PLUGIN SETTING DATA The structure of the rack file is displayed in a tree on the left side of the screen When you highlight a rack component the right side updates with a line of information for every scene in the rack Using this display it is easy to see in which scenes a plugin has a different configuration from other scenes The columns are e Scene Name Scene name e Bypass for insert effects only All Notes Off Configures whether all notes off is sent when the scene is activated All Sounds Off Configures whether all sounds off is sent when the scene is activated Reset All Controllers Configures whether a reset all controllers is sent when the scene is activated Plugin Data This is a signature for the plugin s configuration data If the signatures are the same on different lines it means two scenes are using the same configuration data You may select from any used set of configuration data by clicking in this cell e Set Plugin Data This determines how plugin configuration data is sent when a scene is activated It is exactly equivalent to the options on the Scene Commands tab of an instrument or insert effect The three o
47. ERE AEG P RT a Ee eee quos 37 IGHOFEG VSTHEIES PIS MES OP 38 A AAA t 39 O 2014 Brainspawn Inc 6 Forte 4 User Manual 2 Part VIII 1 2 3 4 Part IX 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Part X 1 2 Part XI Part XII 2 Plugin CON SOE nr nrnrnrnr nn nn nr nr nr nr nr aeae E ea 39 A A 44 MIDI ROUTIN O cia E 45 LIN p Neerua tee 46 Audio IN put and MIX Sn 47 METAS o A oer uere vaca wan cisvanadavevevacs pix veo rads Cousesteleisadevavacendedetea EFI e EE RYE ETE Ceao 48 ICI d ELLE Dese E 50 Plugin MIDI Filtering and Automation 51 Key Range and Transpose eren eee Een beet ret Febre pedis 54 MIDBI Controller Mappirig cn err pur ea cete xo Pe rese id 55 Merging MIDI Input Filters eeeeeeeeeeeee eene nn nnne 57 Using MIDI Out from Plugins oreet ene enne nnn noe neni rna rer r uan aae nas 58 Scenes Songs and Setlists 58 Basic Scene Operations Create Update Rename Use Delete 59 Songs and SS iii A e ee ERI EE ERE K ES IE se excors iveuccvaevecashafveucevers 60 What s IN a Scene
48. Forte 4 User Manual 2014 Brainspawn Inc Brainspawn Forte 3 Forte 4 User Manual 2014 Brainspawn Inc All rights reserved No parts of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means graphic electronic or mechanical including photocopying recording taping or information storage and retrieval systems without the written permission of the publisher Products that are referred to in this document may be either trademarks and or registered trademarks of the respective owners The publisher and the author make no claim to these trademarks While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document the publisher and the author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions or for damages resulting from the use of information contained in this documentor from the use of programs and source code that may accompanyit In no event shall the publisher and the author be liable for anyloss of profitor any other commercial damage caused or alleged to have been caused directly or indirectly by this document Contents 5 Table of Contents Foreword 0 Part Brainspawn Software License Agreement 9 Part Il Introduction 11 Whatis Forte v 11 System Requirements recinto eiecti ia 13 Whats new in Forte 4 inire reiciendis dara RAD a cared xe Dae Ze 13 Rack File Com patibility with Forte 3 et aeaaea a aaar oraa ae eaae a aae da dare pida
49. Forte into 64 bit Forte Plugin Cache plugins xml and plugins64 xml Forte keeps track of discovered VST plugins in a cache file called plugins xml for 32 bit and plugins64 xml for 64 bit The Forte installer will attempt to migrate the Forte 2 plugins xml cache file if itis available and a Forte version doesn t already exist This means that in most upgrades from Forte 2 or 3 32 bit to 64 bit a 32 bit plugins xml file will be available to 64 bit Forte as well as its own plugins64 xml Forte 64 bit will load its plugins64 xml cache normally but will also scan the alternate plugins xml file for information about potential substitutions If you load a 32 bit rack file into Forte 64 and it doesn t have a particular CLSID because that CLSID was generated in 32 bit Forte it will replace the plugin with the 64 bit version of the VST plugin if it shares the same VST ID For this feature to work a 32 bit plugins xml file must be available in the same location as plugins64 xml When installing 64 bit Forte make sure you either select the option to migrate Forte 2 data which will copy the plugins xml from the Forte 2installation folder to the new Forte folder Alternately you may copy the plugins xml file into the Forte installation folder manually OPTIONS INI File NOTE This section is for advanced users only and involves editing the options file manually 2014 Brainspawn Inc Troubleshooting 123 Forte options are st
50. Hardware Profiles A hardware profile is a feature in Forte which enables greater flexibility in mapping MIDI and audio devices It is a named set of hardware driver dependencies stored within a rack file Performer Edition In Performer Edition a rack file can hold one hardware profile However Forte 2 0 includes a powerful remapping wizard enabling you to alter your rack s hardware mappings quickly even switching to alternate MIDI and audio ports Producer Edition In Producer Edition a rack file can hold multiple hardware profiles and can intelligently choose a compatible profile when you load a rack Once a rack has been loaded on a specific set of devices and the mapping wizard is complete the saved rack can then be moved back to the other hardware and return to this hardware configuration with no additional user intervention required Each hardware configuration will have an associated hardware profile that determines MIDI and audio mapping 2014 Brainspawn Inc ss Forte 4 User Manual Selecting a Profile PRODUCER Edition Profile Manager gt lt Priority Profile Name ls this profile compatible with your current hardware 1 Original No missing audio output device s NI Kore Line OUT 1 NI Kore Line OUT 2 2 create new profile Drag profiles up or down to change priority Click in the profile name area to rename a profile Click delete to delete a profile Rack Load Behavior Wait 5 seconds
51. IDISPORT 4x4 X Merge To In B USB MIDISPORT 4x4 Copy Unity Mapped Channels channels that pass MIDI without modification Always Only merge these channels Only if destination port channel is unity mapped Channel 9 9 Only if destination port channel is disabled Channel 10 Channel 11 Y Copy Disabled Channels Channel 13 Channel 14 Only if destination port channel is unity mapped Modify in all Scenes I lt Channel 15 Channel 16 amp S S S S Sj Sj S S S S 9 9 9 IS n Using MIDI Out from Plugins VMI Virtual MIDI Input configures a plugin to appear to the rest of the rack as a virtual MIDI input port This is a way to utilize MIDI events produced by plugins If you press VMI for a plugin a new MIDI port is created for all other plugins in the rack This new port is disabled by default but can be configured exactly like any other MIDI port Be careful not to enable a plugin to receive its own MIDI output if there is any chance it will simply echo that output This would set up a feedback loop of MIDI events Boo From Enable plugin as a virtual MIDI input port F in A USB MIDISPORT 4x4 44 In B USB MIDISPORT 4x4 Scenes Songs and Setlists Forte s most defining feature is the ability to organize plugins for perf
52. Stress Test 10 Diagnostics Display Shows You Audio Dropouts and MIDI Activity Tools Menu Use the Diagnostics display in the Tools menu to see a count of audio dropouts as well as total MIDI events in or out Use this during a stress test If you see the audio dropout 2014 Brainspawn Inc ne Forte 4 User Manual counter incrementing its a sign that something in the system is choking occasionally This many not always be a big deal It depends upon when the dropouts occur and your own particular usage See Diagnostics Display 01 Memory Display Shows Available Memory Tools Menu Use the Memory display on the Tools menu to see how much usable memory you have On 32 bit versions of Windows with 4GB of RAM it is normal to see usable memory of only about 1500MB or so on an empty rack The reason for this is that 32 bit Windows by default give each application only 2GB of memory It is not a problem with Forte About 500MB of that is loaded with the application and a large number of Windows DLL components It is possible using the 3GB switch in BOOT INI search the Microsoft support site for specifics to allocate 3GB to each application See Memory Information 1 DPC Latency Checker Shows Device Driver Behavior DPC Latency Checker is not a Brainspawn tool It is a free download from www thesycon de deu latency check shtml Run this tool and verify you can get green results This indicates your OS drivers are behav
53. T 4x4 In B x4 In C Unity V V V v v v v vi vivi vivi vivi vv GGGaGGaG Ga GGGGGGGGGG Disable All channel 01 DAAMOASAMAODA DBA 15 15 ui ea Enable an uS came DAAAADSOA SOD PMO BBM BB uw i EnabeAn cameo T v e 7 8 amp 9 1 9id4f1 1 i pie Enabie an Cameo T 8 7 991 PM OG BB 1 1 uim disable nae cameo T 7289 mc6 7 8934 1111 1516 unity disable a Enable An cameo T 3 8 7 991 AOD BAD unity iain Enable an chanar DADAS De DOOD OH Bae 15 16 unity Disable AN Enable an Cameo T m ve ev 1 PM OG BAE unity pie nae Channeos DDD be M 9 io 1 12 13 14 15 16 unity Disable alt Enable Al Channel10 DDB OD OA 5 d ir do 13 14 15 16 unity Disable aut Enable Al Channel 11 PP mb c Od ipf D 13 14 15 16 unity Disable all Enable All Channel12 DODD OM Bio do ne 13 14 15 16 unity Disable All Enable All came DADA e 7 899 19i BABB uw disable an Enabie an came DADA SADSOA OOD PM OG BPA BB unity a Enabie an Chane 15 DDAAAe Neo ged ea ie na 16 Unity Disable All Enable All Channels DADA 07089 DO dD GB Bd dB unity Disable an Enable an Configuring MIDI Ports Right click on a MIDI port to alter how events are filtered for this plugin e Copy Paste enables you to copy the MIDI routing for one port to another e Copy to all ports on this plugin enables you to duplicate the configuration of one port to all ports on this plugin only e Copy port to all scenes copies the port co
54. able Touch Mode scrolling in SceneView 99 and Set Browser 70 2014 Brainspawn Inc Introduction Plugin Support Forte 4contains better VST plugin scan diagnostics and also supports zero output VST plugins for use as MIDI processors using Virtual MIDI Input jBridge jBridge support has been changed significantly from Forte 3 Forte 4 has a checkbox option in Plugin Manager to Automatically use Bridge if needed If checked when Forte scans for VST plugins and encounters a DLL file it cannot load using normal means it will attempt to load it using jBridge If this is successful Forte will note that itis a bridged plugin of the alternate bit width but will treat it exactly as if it had been scanned in the normal way When a bridged plugin is loaded either during rack creation or rack load Forte will load it using jBridge Forte 3 Compatibility Note Forte 3 had a checkbox in Plugin Manager to Enable jBridge if installed which behaved differently than Forte 4 If checked the Forte 3 Plugin Manager would create jBridged versions of every VST it scanned These were considered different plugins were listed separately and you could use either one However this created some usage difficulties and that option is now hidden in Forte 4 If you wish to use this behavior with Forte 4 you must manually edit the OPTIONS INI file See OPTIONS INI for details Side by Side 32 and 64 bit VST Plugins An additional complexity ari
55. ad a checkbox in Plugin Manager to Enable jBridge if installed which behaved differently than Forte 4 If checked the Forte 3 Plugin Manager would create jBridged versions of every VST it scanned These were considered different plugins were listed separately and you could use either one However this created some usage difficulties and that option is now hidden in Forte 4 If you wish to use this behavior with Forte 4 you must manually edit the OPTIONS INI file See OPTIONS INI 2 for details Side by Side 32 and 64 bit VST Plugins An additional complexity arises when both 32 and 64 bit versions of the same plugin are in the Forte 4 scan path Since they both are identified as the same plugin which becomes the official plugin Forte removes conflicts by marking one or the other as Ignored The policy has two stages of priority 1 The newer version of a plugin is the official plugin and the older one is marked as an older revision and ignored regardless of 32 or 64 bit compatibility 2 If the plugins are of the same version the one matching the bit width of Forte e g 64 bit plugins on 64 bit Forte is made the official plugin and the other is marked ignored with an explanatory note O 2014 Brainspawn Inc 3 Forte 4 User Manual 7 1 3 Ignored VST Files List Forte Plugin Manager VST Scan Folders VST Plugins Ignored Files Crash Log Path Ignored because C Plugins64 NI FM8 FX dll User Ig
56. al File View Set Options Tools Help cote MARA Bus 1 Note the Audio button on the right side of the Control Module is glowing red This indicates that audio is now streaming to your audio output device Press the Audio button to stop or restart audio streaming Tip You can also add a VST effect plugin and Forte will prompt you to select and audio input channel to feed it Edit the Plugin s Settings Press the down arrow next to the plugin s name highlighted in green above to open the plugin UI 2 Adjust the plugin settings as you desire and play a MIDI controller until the plugin sounds like you want it to Now you are ready to preserve the plugin s setup in a Scene Snapshot the 1st Scene Press the NEW SCENE 5 button to snapshot a new scene preserving the plugin s configuration as you last adjusted it A new scene with a name reflecting the current date and time will appear in the scene list This scene can be renamed later Snapshot a 2nd Scene Adjust the plugin for a different sound and then press NEW SCENE again to preserve another scene with the new plugin settings Switch between Scenes Now you can use the arrow buttons to move back and forth between the two scenes and the plugin sound will switch between the two Important point A scene is a snapshot of the configuration at the point in time when the scene was created or updated Further changes to the plugin will not be preserved in the curr
57. and audio cables and when you turn it on it will boot automatically and be 2014 Brainspawn Inc 12 Forte 4 User Manual ready to play your first song Herding VST Plugins Scenes One of the key features of Forte is called a Scene Because Forte can host many VST plugins at once it becomes a complex task to get them all configured the way you want them Scenes make it easy to take a snapshot of your entire rack of VST plugins in their current state and store it for recall Be creating several scenes you can the switch through different configurations of plugins very quickly Scenes can be organized into Songs and Setlists making it easy to use scenes as building blocks for performance sets For example a song might require a grand piano and an organ for the first half and an electric piano and a clavinet for the second half Add two plugins and configure them for the piano organ create a scene to preserve that setting and then create another scene with the plugins reconfigured for the second half Name them appropriately and then you can easily switch in the middle of the song In fact you can even get Forte to listen to a specific MIDI event and advance to the correct scene automatically Imagine playing the 1st half of the song stepping on a pedal to advance to the next scene and continuing to play through the second half Now imagine that with about one hundred scenes It works Professional musicians have built big rigs
58. and is easier to find and select the next time The number of presets in the recently used list is configurable in Program Settings 0 Favorite Presets You can designate a preset a favorite with easy access via the Favorites submenu by right clicking on the preset and selecting Add to Favorites You can remove a favorite by right clicking the preset in the Favorites submenu and selecting Remove from Favorites 2014 Brainspawn Inc 42 Forte 4 User Manual Presets 1 Preview Presets Load FXP FXB Save FXP FXB wf Bank 0 Program 0 J 2 mf J B Percussion AT House Preview Presets Forte will automatically cycle through an instrument s presets pausing for 10 seconds on each while you audition them Press Continue to advance to the next preset before the 10 seconds is finished or Abort to stop previewing Creating a new User Preset If you change the sound of an instrument preset you may save this new version by clicking the Save User Preset button and providing a name in the preset name field 2014 Brainspawn Inc Using Plugins 43 a El Alt Bus Out INT PERCUSSION gage Ml ramet ret od eo This preset is now available in the Presets submenus in alphabetical order and with user icon next to it User presets may be added to the Favorites list just like any other preset Deleting a User Preset You can delete a user preset by right clic
59. are maintained 17 Configuring Options and Preferences You can change Forte s Program Settings by selecting Options Program Settings from the menu bar or by right clicking on the Control Module and selecting Settings Settings 2014 Brainspawn Inc 104 Forte 4 User Manual are divided into pages selectable on the left side of the window The first page of Preferences is General Options which affect miscellaneous configuration items Program Settings la Yi General Options General Options 2 Edit Shortcuts Skins Launch Forte when Windows starts Audio Options Plugin Options Hide splash screen at start Open SceneView at launch SceneView Options Enable Touch Mode Scene Options Autoload Rack when Forte starts H A MIDI Input Ports 4 MIDI Output Ports s Control Surfaces H N Copy Check to load default rack Uncheck to load last used rack Default Rack Save location Default Backup Rack Save location MRU Sizes Rack Instruments Inserts 4 v 8 v 8 v Disable Screen Saver while playing Minimize to System Tray Use all available CPUs SIS Cancel Logging Level 4 w Number of Auto Backups to keep Errors v e Launch Forte when Windows starts Select if you want to start Forte automatically when you log into Windows For this to be useful Windows should be configured to log in automatically e Hide splash screen a
60. art Forte before viewing the log The log will contain detailed information about what Forte did during startup Using 3GB with 32 bit Windows 2014 Brainspawn Inc 120 Forte 4 User Manual 18 1 It is possible to increase the amount of virtual memory Windows allocates to user programs such as Forte By default Windows allocates up to 2GB of virtual memory for each running application If you are running Windows XP use the 3GB switch in BOOT INI search the Microsoft support site for specifics to allocate 3GB to each application For Windows Vista or later run cmd exe as an administrator and enter bcdedit set IncreaseUserVa 3072 and restart the computer To disable the switch enter bcdedit deletevalue IncreaseUserVa Autostart Forte on Windows Logon NOTE On Windows Vista and later enhancements in UAC User Account Control may prevent Forte from starting correctly on Windows login Forte requires runlevel highest a Windows privilege option to be compatible with the widest variety of VST plugins Forte uses a Run key in the Windows registry to cause itself to be launched on login but depending upon your Windows configuration this may not work as expected The workaround for this is to create a task in the task manager that launches Forte on logon Make sure Run with highest privileges is checked A command line tool exists to create this task As an example the following could be run from an Administrator
61. ation changes in 32 bit will also affect the 64 bit installation they share the same OPTIONS INI file However the plugin cache for each is separate Forte 32 bit uses a cache file called PLUGINS XML and the 64 bit version uses PLUGINS64 XML What Configuration is Shared between Forte 4 and Forte 3 2 Nothing in the configuration directory is shared Forte 4 uses a Forte 4 folder in the application data directory to store options and plugin cache 3 2 Enabling Forte with a Registration User Name and License Key The first time you run Forte after installation or if you have not yet provided a user name and license key Forte will run in Trial mode In Trial mode Forte will prompt you for license information and exit after 30 minutes if you choose to not supply it The prompt to enter user registration information looks like this User Registration Enter user registration information User License Key Remove OK Cancel If you have received user registration information enter it here and press OK This will activate Forte in either Performer or Producer mode You may access this screen again from the Tools menu by choosing Tools Update or Enter 2014 Brainspawn Inc z Forte 4 User Manual User Registration Information You may press Remove to remove any current registration information If you choose to run Forte in Trial mode you will see the following message Forte 4 This is a trial version of Forte
62. ation item that is created choose the source port channel kind etc 5 Press OK to close the Rack Editor 2014 Brainspawn Inc Tutorials 29 Rack Setlistand Scenes Global MIDI Automation PRESETS MIDI AUTOMATION REMOVE SELECT ALL DESELECT ALL REMOVE SELECTED ADD CHANGE SCENE WITH MIDI PROGRAM CHANGE PORT Any CHANNEL Any M MIDI SYNC PORT A Advanced Topics Full discussion MIDI Automation 78 4 5 Tutorial 5 Preparing a Rack for Performance Before performing with any computer based rig you should use all the tools available to you to build confidence in your setup Remember that the reliability of your computer based rig is not just about Forte but about everything e Your computer o Is it reliable o Does it boot reliably o Is it free of extraneous software and especially anything that could slow the computer down e Your audio I O device o Does the audio driver load every time the computer boots without issues o Are you able to play for extended periods of time without audio glitches e Your MIDI I O device o Is it reliable o If you you have more than one MIDI I O device do they come up in with consistent well known port names Port names like USB MIDI In is not helpful e Your audio plugins o Can they withstand hours of audio streaming without issues e g memory leaks crashes other bugs e Your rack file o Are your scene changes responsive hint slow scene
63. be advanced to The following scene advance will then move to the original next scene The inserted scene is not removed from the set order until the rack is reloaded You may also insert a quick access scene via the SceneView Quick Access buttons You may show or hide the Quick Access Scenes area by pressing the Show Hide button See Scene MIDI Automation 9 for details Global MIDI Automation Scene changes and other operations can be automated with user definable MIDI events or by specific control surface commands Access the Global MIDI Automation manager by pressing the RACK EDITOR button on the Control Module and selecting the Global MIDI Automation tab Press ADD to display a menu of available automation actions Select on eto add it to the MIDI Automation list Then alter the Port Channel Event Type etc to match the MIDI input events you wish to trigger the automation action You can also press LEARN to cause Forte to capture the next MIDI event and use that as the trigger Use the SELECT ALL DESELECT ALL and REMOVE SELECTED buttons to remove MIDI Automations 2014 Brainspawn Inc Rack Editor PRESETS MIDI AUTOMATION REMOVE SELECT ALL DESELECT ALL REMOVE SELECTED ADD r CHANGE SCENE WITH MIDI PROGRAM CHANGE PO y Ba CHANNEL Any 4 ADVANCE TO NEXT SCENE LEARN L o EAN co OE cr 4 BACK TO PREVIOUS SCENE LEARN f a PORT oe E E MIDI SYNC PORT a MIDI Sync Port
64. bles you to customize the look of SceneView using css styles compatible with Qt Widgets Examples can be found in your Forte install folder Changes to this page will take effect the next time SceneView is opened 2014 Brainspawn Inc 112 Forte 4 User Manual 17 6 Scene Options Preferences E oy General Options Scene Options Edit Shortcuts Skins These plugins will not be loaded with new preset data on scene changes Audio Options This is for use primarily with plugins that take too long to load presets like some Plugin Options samplers which must load new sample data from disk SceneView Options Kontakt 5 Scene Options Yi MIDI Input Ports 4 MIDI Output Ports 4 Control Surfaces Wb Copy F E OK Cancel Add Plugin Remove One of the most powerful features of Scenes is the ability to load each plugin in the rack with different data on each scene change Some instruments however take a very long time to change configuration A common example is soft samplers which must load new sample sets from disk This page enables you to configure a list of plugins that will not be loaded with new data on scene changes For instance you can include Kontakt in a rack but if it is on this list the sample set will not change between scenes Instead use MIDI routing changes between scenes to alter the output If an instrument is listed here the configuration action specified in Scene Commands see Scene Change
65. c Select a Key Range Tab A Key Range blocks MIDI notes outside a selected range of notes and also enables you to transpose the selected range up or down in half steps Four key ranges can be configure to do advanced ranges and splits Uncheck Enable MIDI Notes to disable MIDI Note events from this input port channel Select the Controllers Tab The controllers table enables disables remaps and layers MIDI CC messages Press Unity Map to restore the default no remap You can also do things like rescale between a minimum and maximum value set a value to send when the scene is used Init value and set up advanced modes like Toggle and Snap Advanced Topics Full discussion of MIDI Filtering and Automation 5 2014 Brainspawn Inc z Forte 4 User Manual 4 4 Tutorial 4 Global MIDI Automation Many functions of a rack file can be controlled remotely by MIDI Automation 79 including Change Schema from MIDI Program Change Advance to Next Scene Back to Previous Scene Browse to Scene or Set Item Transpose up or down one half step Tempo Adjust Increment and Decrement Tap Tempo Transport Play Stop MIDI Panic Quick Scene Access 1 8 And many others Set Up MIDI Automation 1 Open Rack Editor 9 by pressing RACK EDITOR button on Control Module 2 Change to the Global MIDI Automation tab 3 Press the Add button to show a menu of available automation actions Select one 4 In the MIDI Autom
66. can set up an instrument to stream from the audio input device Adjust audio mix for multi output plugins each output individually see the Audio Mix 47 tab of the plugin console e Audio mix can be automated either by MIDI Automation 9 responding the MIDI input or a Control Surface 85 e Bus mix can be adjusted using the SceneView mixer Tutorial 3 MIDI Routing and Filtering on a Plugin Each plugin in a rack both instruments and insert effects has a MIDI routing filter e All MIDI routing is per scene and can change for each scene Open the Plugin Console to show the MIDI Filter Press the arrow next to the instrument name and select the MIDI Routing tab 2014 Brainspawn Inc Tutorials File View Set Options Tools Help core RI BRE Les ots Provon Man MOI Raiano Scene Comores Boo From To V MIDISPORT 4x4 In B Enabled V MIDISPORT 4x4 In C Enabled V MIDISPORT 4x4 In D Enabled Enable or Disable an Input Port The From column has entries for each MIDI input port Right click on the To column to present a menu with choices for how to enable or disable MIDI from a specific input port Select an Input Port and Channel Select an Input Port and Channel to display the MIDI routing and filtering for that input port channel combination Right click in the To column of a channel for a menu of options for enabling or disabling MIDI input from a specific channel remap a channel add a layer et
67. causdbenansezdcqcrdedecnanvernes 102 MIDI Closed Loop Test with EHCo only esee meme 103 Configuration ManifestsS ccoooonncccccnnnninnnonnninnnnnnnnnnnnnnrnnnnnnnrrnnnnnnrrnnnnnn rr nrn nan nn nnn nnn nnn nn nnn 103 Automatic Backu p 2 ment emus tai 103 Configuring Options and Preferences 103 Edit Shot iaa 106 A A TOO 107 A dio OPIO a Dia 108 Plugin OPtIONS viii 110 SceneView OPtONS ii is in Aia r bs 111 SCONE Options ii tas 112 MIDI Input and Output Ports rire aene tube oen eed Jeccanssapceueddsedener dances 113 MIDI Config uei mer P 114 Control SUCESO E A 115 ene piper 115 Troubleshooting 115 2014 Brainspawn Inc ER Forte 4 User Manual 1 Plugin Compatibility Fixes DeviceCompatibility xml ener 120 2 Sate Mode 121 3 Moving From 32 bit to 64 bit Forte VST Plugins eee Hee 122 EeluHpeHEINJ Ic aa 122 DL li E E T 124 Part XIX Menu Reference 125 Part XX Keyboard Shortcuts 127 Part XXI Technology Acknowledgements 129 0 Index 2014 Brainspawn Inc Brainspawn Software License Agreement 9 1 Brainspawn Software License Agreement The use of this product indicates your understanding and acceptance of the following terms and conditions This license shall supersede an
68. close them when rack power is turned off It will always close ports when exiting When unchecked input ports will be closed when rack power is turned off 2014 Brainspawn Inc ma Forte 4 User Manual MIDI Output If EHCo is installed Forte will display a similar Configuration display for MIDI Output Ports See EHCo Y for more details 17 7 1 MIDI Configuration Preferences E H General Options MIDI Configuration Edit Shortcuts Skins V Load Keyboard Range settinc Load Keyboard Transpose setting Plugin Options SceneView Options V Load Channel Mar Load Controller Ma MIDI Input Ports OQ MIDI Configuration 4 MIDI Output Ports Module Creation Ma Control Surfaces Y Autoload MIDI Configuration File fy Copy _ Check to load default configuration Uncheck to load last used configur v Display this page before each load OK Cancel This page configures which portions of a MIDI Configuration file will be used when you load a configuration file Instrument Module Creation options enable you to select the MIDI Configuration to use Autoload MIDI Configuration File unchecked to start with a generic configuration e All 128 MIDI keys are passed to the instrument e No transpose e No channels or controllers are remapped 2014 Brainspawn Inc Configuring Options and Preferences 115 Autoload MIDI Configuration File checked to start with ei
69. command line schtasks create tn Run Forte on Logon tr c program files brainspawn Forte 3 Producer Edition forte exe sc onlogon rl highest Plugin Compatibility Fixes DeviceCompatibility xml Forte tries to make a good decision about how to get and set VST configuration chunks or FXB FXP data However sometimes a plugin wants something different to get or set its entire state Forte has a way to override scene capture and recall behavior for individual plugins A file called DeviceCompatibility xml in the install directory contains plugin specific settings which can override the default behavior Plugins are referenced in this file by either CLSID or VST ID If your favorite plugin does not correctly restore its settings on scene change add it to this file Note that this MUST be a valid XML file in order for the feature to work An typical example entry would be 2014 Brainspawn Inc Troubleshooting 124 Device Name KarmaFX gt saveFXB bool 1 gt lt saveFXP bool 0 gt lt saveProgramNumber bool 0 gt saveParams bool 0 gt lt Device gt This instructs Forte how to save scenes not restore them so you must restart Forte reload your rack and recapture your scenes The entry is defined by the Device tag Plugins can be identified in several ways e Name lt partial case insensitive plugin name gt affects any plugin that matches the plugin name e Name lt partial case insensitive p
70. ctions to all plugins in the rack EHCo External MIDI Hardware Controller EHCo is an add on product for Forte Performer Edition and is available separately It is included with Forte Producer Edition See www brainspawn com for details on trying and purchasing EHCo Device E MU Proteu 5 Sysex Prefix Output Port MIDISPORT 4x4 Out A v Channel Add Remove Edit Send Send MIDI Sync Description Type info Controller Change Control Chi cc2 0 Bank Program Ch Bank Program Ch1 Bnk 0 se Send All Test IA J MIDI Out Getting Started This section will tell you how to get EHCo started as quickly as possible Hd Install EHCo EHCo is provided as a self installing program EXE file To install double click the installation program file and follow the instructions in the installation wizard You will need to agree to the End User License Agreement and enter your User Name and License Key 2 Start Forte 3 Add EHCo to a new rack Click the add button on FORTE s head er module In the pop up menu of plug in choices select the brain spawn sub menu and select EHCo 2014 Brainspawn Inc EHCo External MIDI Hardware Controller 93 EHCo will be added to the rack 4 Open EHCo s plug in console Open the EHCo console by clicking the arrow button next to the brainspawn EHCo name in the instrument module 5 Select a MIDI Output Port Click the arrow in the Output Port box to open a me
71. dd or remove an image cue to the selected song or to a scene within a song The small page icon next to the song or scene will be white when an image cue is attached The Use column displays how many times the song is used in various sets Scene Pool The Scene Pool is a collection of all scenes You can e Clone a scene by clicking on it and pressing the Clone button e Delete a scene by clicking on it and pressing the Delete button e Double click on a scene name to rename it e Check or uncheck the Inc column to include or exclude the scene from the checked scenes setlist e Check or uncheck the Lnk column to lock or unlock a scene for modification Double click the Description column to add description information to the scene Click in the Trn column to transpose the scene up or down Press Image Cue 9 Add or Remove to add or remove an image cue to the selected scene The small page icon next to the scene will be white when an image cue is attached You cannot create new scenes here because scenes are snapshots of the current rack 2014 Brainspawn Inc Forte 4 User Manual 11 3 Press the NEW SCENE button on the console to create a scene Quick Access Scenes The Quick Access scene area enables you to define up to 8 scenes that are accessible instantly by MIDI control regardless of the current set order When activated the scene will join the current set at the next location and the scene will
72. dule to see a bus menu e g Bus 1 above Select a bus from the menu to route the audio to the bus Change instrument or bus volume Both instrument modules and buses have mix volume controls You can change either to alter the audio mix Adjustments to bus volume affect all instruments that route through the bus while adjustments to instrument volume affect only the instrument post insert effects Route buses to audio outputs Bus 1 Each bus has an audio output e g LineOut 1 LineOut 2 above which is either a mono or stereo channel of the audio hardware Click on the audio output label on the bus to 2014 Brainspawn Inc o Forte 4 User Manual 4 3 see an audio output menu Select an audio output from the menu to route the audio to the audio output Tip With ASIO drivers only one audio hardware device can be used at atime The choice of audio device is determined by the 1st chosen audio output on a bus in other words before any buses exist no audio hardware is enabled When you add an instrument if there is no bus already a new one is created with the default audio hardware If you wish to use another ASIO device instead create the bus first by pressing BUS on the empty rack and determine the audio hardware before you add any instruments Advanced Topics e Each instrument s audio chain starts with an audio input by default no input audio from the input is routed through the instrument You
73. e Each bus is assigned to a single mono or stereo audio output and may share hardware outputs You may rename buses by clicking on the Bus Name field and entering a new name The audio meter displays peak level Red is clipping level To correct for overdriven outputs you may e Adjust the bus volume fader This affects every module feeding the bus e Adjust audio output level at the instrument or audio effect console Many instruments and audio effects have output level controls e Adjust audio output level using MIDI input Many instruments respond to MIDI controller 7 volume e Change the global volume trim in Program Settings Audio Options The audio meter also provides an indication of audio dropouts When an output is incapable of providing enough audio to the sound card it will notify you by driving the meter to bright red If no sound is being produced but the meter intermittently shows a spike check to make sure you are not running too many modules and buses Instrument Modules Below the output buses are the instrument modules Each contains one VSTi or DXi instrument Although the sounds on this instrument can be changed the instrument itself cannot To use a different instrument create a new module T Um Av Instrument modules may contain VST and DirectX audio effects which are applied to that module only The output of a module goes to one output bus The bus routing for a module can be changed at any
74. e Scene Song Browse e Transpose Tempo and Transport e Quick Access Scenes e Bus Volume In addition sets of MIDI automation may be saved as a preset and recalled using the Presets on the left side of the display MIDI Sync port and speed are now configurable from this display There is also a MIDI automation now defined to update the current scene Rack Editor This replaces the Forte 3 rack editor in the Tools menu and contains more configuration options including e Per scene Bus Volume e Per scene Instrument Mute e Per scene per VST output Bus routing and volume Set Song Scene Browser Forte 4 contains a new full screen Scene Song browser which enables you to quickly switch to other parts of aset list or even insert new scenes or songs dynamically into a set Additionally these new features are usable via MIDI automation See the MIDI automation tab in rack manager to open the scene browser scroll through items and select or cancel all via MIDI Other Usability Enhancements Creating a module for audio processing is now simpler VST effects plugins are now included in the list of VSTi instruments when creating a module If the selected plugin is an effects plugin non VSTi Forte will automatically prompt you to select an audio input for the module You man now save and load instrument plugin FXP FXB files from the right context menu without opening the plugin GUI Program Settings 1 now has an option to enable or dis
75. e jBridge if needed recommended Ignore selected Plugin DLLs Rescan selected Plugins Remove selected Plugin DLLs Full Rescan Plugins Quick Scan Add Plugins Testing your Setup Press the button labeled INST to show a menu of available plugins The plugins found during the plugin scan should be in this menu If not use Tools Manage VST Plugins to return to the Plugin Manager Press the button labeled BUS to show a menu of available audio outputs You may adjust this using Options Program Settings and selecting the Audio Options 1 2014 Brainspawn Inc Installation and First Time Setup 23 category Verifying Version and Registration Information Use Help About to show Forte version information including your registration information This is also available on the program title bar Opening Online Documentation Press the F1 key or use Help Help menu to open Forte Help 4 Tutorials 4 1 Tutorial 1 Adding a Plugin and Creating Scenes This is a tutorial for 1st time Forte users Install Forte 18 First Time Setup 2 Now Forte is running and you can see the Forte Control Module 3 with its buttons for loading and saving rack files adding instruments etc File View Set Options Tools Help cote PRESEN Add an Instrument Plugin Press the INST button to open a menu of available instrument plugins Select a plugin and it will be added to your rack 2014 Brainspawn Inc z Forte 4 User Manu
76. efined in Global MIDI Automation 79 Deleting Scenes You may rename a scene on the Control Module by right clicking on the scene and selecting Delete Scene from the menu You may also delete scenes from within the Scene and Set Manager gt Songs and Setlists Forte enables you to further organize your rack for performance beyond defining individual scenes Forte also defines Songs and Setlists A Song is an ordered list of scenes This enables you to re use scenes in different songs reducing the burden of maintaining separate duplicate scenes A Setlist is an ordered list of songs Using Setlists you can build sets from songs each containing scenes and you can rapidly alter a set by simply altering the set list by moving adding or removing songs See Setlist and Scenes Editor 75 for more details Also see Different Ways to Use Scenes Songs and Sets for hints on how to use songs and sets effectively Song and Set Transpose Songs and Sets may contain customized transpose settings enabling you to conveniently transpose entire sets or individual songs or scenes up or down See Transpose 9 for details 2014 Brainspawn Inc Scenes Songs and Setlists 61 9 3 What s in a Scene A scene is a basic building block of a Forte rack file rore 100 eve score EI a wm me er ur A Scene contains Chk Or Lock Refs Transp Sync BPM Play StartBar Beat Rewir Mete Fade ms Scene Name Description M
77. enoa eaa a a a edel esee De eerte iv cee dies intestines 61 Different Ways to Use Scenes Songs and Sets 2 c ccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaeesneeeesees 62 HCl CE S 64 Managing Scene Sivesviiccicc sevice 64 Import Scenes and SONGS ccoiiciccoicinnrninicnnrrici iii 64 Rehearsal Mode 2 neun ette A ii 66 SceneView 66 Image Cues and Cue Notes cnini di 69 Ie 70 Styling Scene View 2 with Stylesheets ccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneees 71 Rack Editor T3 Rack Editor iE ae endure uniu 73 Setlist and Scenes Editor icio aannaaien haraa ta aadaki 75 Global MIDI Autoriation iniret on eter iii 78 Maintaining Rack Flles 80 Creating New Racks ete te a Ere esu ERE Ae FEN ata 80 Loading and Saving Racks 5 ecrire iecur Heecoce i 80 Copying and Replacing Instruments and BUSES cceeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeneeeeeeeneees 81 erqeunnnblidiutlcpieer e 81 COPYING BUSES e 82 Trimming RaCkS hiisi 82 Adapting to Hardware Changes ccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaeeeeeeaaeeeeeeaeseeeeeaaneeeeeaaeeeeseas 83 cUDIVEIR NIC frau O Re iii 83 2014 Brainspawn Inc Part XIII a AO N Part XIV 1 2 Part XV o 01 AO DN
78. ent scene unless you create a new scene or update the current scene Open SceneView to see the Performance Display Press SCENE VIEW to open the SceneView 9 display The rack view is the basic view for rack editing but for performance open the SceneView to see a full screen display optimized for performance Press the HIDE button to hide SceneView and return to the rack display 2014 Brainspawn Inc Save Your Rack Press SAVE or File Save to save your rack file for later use When ready press LOAD to select and reload your rack Advanced Topics e Use Scene Commands 9 to control what happens to each plugin as a scene is selected for use e Use Rehearsal Mode 96 during Rack editing to avoid accidentally switching scenes and losing changes e Organize Scenes into Songs and Setlists 99 e Add Insert Effects 9 to instrument and bus modules 4 2 Tutorial 2 Audio Routing and Mixing Instrument modules stream audio from a VSTi or DXi instrument plugin through any insert effects and through a mixer to a bus A rack has contain many instrument modules and many buses Each bus feeds an audio output e More than one instrument can feed the same bus e More than one bus can feed the same audio output e Each mix level and instrument bus assignment is per scene and can change for different scenes Select an Output Bus for an Instrument T MUS me E 53 AV Click the bus name on the instrument mo
79. g shown in a separate window To float a docked console double click on the docking handle or single click on the float button at the top left of the console window To dock a floating window double click on the title bar of the console window Preset Manager Forte features easy access to different preset sounds on an instrument These sounds can be either built into the instrument similar to ROM presets on hardware sound modules or created and stored by the user similar to RAM presets on hardware sound modules Regardless of the type of preset Forte always displays presets in an easy to find alphabetical format broken into sub menus A user defined preset has a user icon next to the name whereas ROM presets have a chip icon 2014 Brainspawn Inc Using Plugins 41 Favorites Preview Presets MM Reggae Basic Variation 70 Load FXP FXB m Lordi Save FXP FXB Acid Scan Amon DII Bank 0 Program 0 ca 3 mf J B Percussion T ugernisation Balls Barbara D Ahoi Brians Choice Can t Stand the Rain Captain Phlanger AT Careful with that Axe Selecting a Preset Click the preset name bar and select the preset from the Favorites submenu one of the Presets submenus or the MRU most recently used list Each of the Preset submenus holds the available presets in alphabetical order Recently Used Presets When you select a preset it is added to the top of the recently used list
80. g into Windows If you configure Windows to auto login Forte will start as soon as Windows auto logs in e Open SceneView at launch automatically starts Forte with SceneView enabled Autoload Rack when Forte Starts automatically loads a specified rack file when Forte starts By checking these items and configuring Windows to automatically log in you can press the computer s power button and automatically be ready to play your rack file Compatibility issues with Windows User Account Control NOTE On Windows Vista and later enhancements in UAC User Account Control may prevent Forte from starting correctly on Windows login Forte requires runlevel highest a Windows privilege option to be compatible with the widest variety of VST plugins 2014 Brainspawn Inc 2 Forte 4 User Manual 14 2 15 Forte uses a Run key in the Windows registry to cause itself to be launched on login but depending upon your Windows configuration this may not work as expected The workaround for this is to create a task in the task manager that launches Forte on logon Make sure Run with highest privileges is checked A command line tool exists to create this task As an example the following could be run from an Administrator command line schtasks create tn Run Forte on Logon tr c program files brainspawn Forte 3 Producer Edition forte exe sc onlogon rl highest MIDI Panic The Panic button sends MIDI Note Off instru
81. gins 45 Program Change Map The remap algorithm is Output Program Input Program MODULO Number of Entries This means for example if there are 3 entries in the remap table Incoming MIDI Program Remapped MIDI Program Change Change 0 1st entry 1 2nd entry 2 3rd entry 3 1st entry 4 2nd entry To add a remap entry press New To delete a remap entry highlight the entry in the list and press Delete 7 2 2 MIDI Routing See Plugin MIDI Filtering and Automation 5Y 2014 Brainspawn Inc s Forte 4 User Manual 7 23 Scene Commands Commands to execute when switching to this scene Auto Set plugin configuration if it is different from the previous scene B All Notes Off All Sounds Off I Disconnect this instrument when loading configuration data Reset All Controllers MIDI Program Changes Program 34 s we gt v 15 S 11 None gt gt v v m m v v None 12 None v v None 43 None v v v v 2 8 88 None None v None None v v v v v 2 8 88 e M None Scene Change Tab on a plugin Set Configuration Data FXB FXP and or DirectX Preset Data This option selects how configuration data is applied to the plugin e Do not set per Scene plugin configuration data when this is checked data specific to each scene is not loaded into this instrument Instead the instrument is loaded once with the configuratio
82. h MIDI cables configure the device this way e Connect MIDI in to the BCF2000 MIDI IN port e Connect MIDI out from the BCF2000 using MIDI OUT B Thru Do not use MIDI OUT A as that will result in a MIDI loop e Use S 3 mode standalone mode 3 to avoid a MIDI loop When configured this way input to the BCF2000 alters fader position but is not output back thru to the output Manual Fader manipulation will generate MIDI out to Forte Emulation Modes The Behringer BCF2000 can also be configured to emulate the Mackie and Logic control surface products by pressing a mode button while powering on the device You may use the following emulation modes either with USB or MIDI e MC C Mackie mode for Cubase e LC Logic Control e MCSo Mackie mode for Sonar e bhui Mackie Baby HUI When using MIDI cables use S 3 standalone mode and the MIDI OUT B THRU port to prevent MIDI loops 2014 Brainspawn Inc Performance Features 91 14 Performance Features See e Autostart 9 e MIDI Panic 92 14 1 Autostart General Options Launch Forte when Windows starts Hide splash screen at start Open SceneView at launch Autoload Rack when Forte starts Check to load default rack Uncheck to load last used rac Forte contains features to enable you to boot your computer up directly into your rack file This enables low or no touch start up operation e Check Launch Forte when Windows starts to auto run Forte as soon as you lo
83. ing well for real time audio Use this in combination with the Diagnostics display and the Stress test Another tool recently recommended is LatencyMon at www resplendence com latencymon Safe Mode is Useful for Narrowing Down Problem Plugins Start Forte in Safe Mode by holding down the left CTRL key while clicking on the icon You will be given the opportunity to exclude certain plugins from this run of Forte If you load a rack with plugins excluded they will be replaced by proxies which are just internal placeholders By excluding plugins you can narrow down problems to specific plugins REMEMBER In safe mode the rack is not automatically enabled for streaming you must press the rack power button to start 2014 Brainspawn Inc Troubleshooting Configuration Manifests Show You What Changed Tools Menu Problem A rack file once worked perfectly on your PC but now it doesn t or you ve moved it to another PC and it doesn t work e Use a configuration manifest to help diagnose the changes in your setup that may be affecting your Forte rig Here s how e Once your rack is working the way you want it to select the new Tools menu item Create Installation Configuration Manifest e Answer Yes when asked to embed the manifest in your rack file The next time you save your rack file the manifest will be contained within it e A manifest is a snapshot of your configuration containing o A record of every DLL modu
84. irectory contains plugin specific settings which can override the default behavior Plugins are referenced in this file by either CLSID or VST ID If your favorite plugin does not correctly restore its settings on scene change add it to this file Note that this MUST be a valid XML file in order for the feature to work See Plugin Compatibility Fixes DeviceCompatibility xml 9 Diagnosing Crashes and Freezes Forte Crashes Forte crashes are usually accompanied by an offer to submit a crash report Please do so if at all possible Crash dump files are essential to finding and fixing crashes within the Forte application itself Plugin caused Crashes If a crash happens within a VST plugin you will usually get a VST crash handler which 2014 Brainspawn Inc Troubleshooting no displays Forte version Plugin version Plugin vendor if known The action Forte was attempting with the plugin when the crash occurred Please report this to the plugin vendor first If the plugin vendor believes this is a Forte issue have them contact Brainspawn If the plugin crash occurs during Scene change or plugin data load you may also use the SingleStepVSTPluginLoad troubleshooting option to narrow down the specific data that is causing the crash See OPTIONS INI File 7 for details If a plugin crashes during scene capture or update you may try settings StopAudioDuringSceneCapture 1 in OPTIONS INI 22 Blue Screen Crashes Blue Scree
85. ist This can be used to modify the Sysex ID of any transmitted data to match your MIDI device configuration For instance a Roland XP 50 typically responds to device 17 If you have changed this to another number you should enter the correct bytes into the Prefix area The bytes must start at the beginning of the system exclusive message and will replace as many bytes as are in the prefix Editing MIDI Messages Select a message and press edit to edit the data An editor dialog appropriate for the type of message appears The system exclusive editor is a hexadecimal editor with the 2014 Brainspawn Inc EHCo External MIDI Hardware Controller 99 ability to import and export SYX files 15 6 MIDI Closed Loop Test MIDI Closed Loop Test This tests MIDI data integrity through your system by outputting events on all enabled EHCo instances and making sure the expected number of events return Instructions 1 Connect the MIDI outputs to MIDI inputs and configure Forte to pass event through unmodified 2 Press Start Number of active instances of EHCo to be used in the test 1 oc ENNEEEN zi ot MON 2 Count of all input events on all instances of EHCo Should be instances X output count Difference between events output and input should be zero 1 Testing This MIDI Closed Loop test enables you to test MIDI I O integrity though your system It emits MIDI event data CC and counts the number of MIDI responses I
86. it is a bridged plugin of the alternate bit width but will treat it exactly as if it had been scanned in the normal way See Using jBridge for details 2014 Brainspawn Inc Using Plugins 37 7 1 2 1 Using JBridge Forte includes support for Bridge to support 32 bit VST plugins within 64 bit Forte and vice versa jBridge is a separate product not affiliated with Brainspawn Without a bridge like this Forte can only load plugins that match the bit width of Forte e g 64 bit Forte cannot load a 32 bit VST plugin jBridge is available on the Web Search for Bridge VST jBridge works by interposing itself between Forte and VST plugins and operating on the plugin s behalf Forte interacts with jBridge while presenting the user with a view of the plugin itself jBridge handles making this transparent The result is that 64 bit Forte can use 64 bit Bridge to host a 32 bit VST plugin Forte has a checkbox option in Plugin Manager to Automatically use jBridge if needed If checked when Forte scans for VST plugins and encounters a DLL file it cannot load using normal means it will attempt to load it using jBridge If this is successful Forte will note that it is a bridged plugin of the alternate bit width but will treat it exactly as if it had been scanned in the normal way When a bridged plugin is loaded either during rack creation or rack load Forte will load it using jBridge Forte 3 Compatibility Note Forte 3 h
87. king on it in the submenus and selecting Delete User Preset Assigning MIDI Presets to Specific Channels If an instrument supports multi channel operation you may right click on a preset and assign it to any MIDI channel 1 16 2014 Brainspawn Inc Forte 4 User Manual 7 2 1 Favorites Presets 1 Presets 2 mf Pianol mf Piano1 mf Pianol mf Pianol to Favorites Preview Presets Channel 1 Hi D O Q 6 mf Organ 3 Channel 2 4 s Sam Trombone Channel 3 e e Fla AL mf Standard Set Channel 4 Channel 5 FXP FXB Load Save for VST Plugins If the plugin being shown is a VST or VSTi plugin two additional options appear in the preset manager menu e Load FXP FXB You may browse and load a standard VST FXP or FXB file into the plugin e Save FXP FXB Save the state of the plugin in a standard VST FXP or FXB file MIDI Program Map Remapping or Disabling MIDI Program Changes Incoming MIDI Program Changes may optionally be remapped or disabled If remapping is on the program change is remapped to a configurable list of presets If remapping is off the program change is sent directly to the instrument which may or may not respond by changing its internal preset The list can be of any length up to 128 entries Additionally MIDI Program Changes can be ignored When checked program change messages are not remapped or passed to the instrument 2014 Brainspawn Inc Using Plu
88. kip a step by selecting No on the dialog box The data to be loaded is logged to the log file before loading into the plugin and is also logged if skipped If a load operation causes the plugin to crash the immediately preceding data item is probably to blame and the raw content of the data is available in the log file The log file is called Forte log in the same folder as OPTIONS INI See Log File 12 for more information Audio Options Audio StopAudioDuringSceneCapture 0 don t stop restart audio default or 1 stop restart audio engine during scene capture or update If you encounter issues with plugins during scene capture or update you may try setting this value to 1 When set to 1 Forte will stop the audio engine during scene capture and restart it if needed when complete Audio RestartAudioOnMIDIPanic 0 don t stop restart audio default or 1 stop restart audio engine during MIDI Panic RestartMIDIOnMIDIPanic 0 don t stop and restart MIDI Ports default or 1 stop and restart MIDI Ports during MIDI Panic MIDI Meter The following MIDI Meter options enable highly specialized uses of the MIDI meter SceneView SceneViewFavorSceneNames 0 default or 1 If O when using single scene songs 2014 Brainspawn Inc ou Forte 4 User Manual 18 5 the song name will be displayed in SceneView If 1 when using single scene songs the scene name will be displayed in SceneView StretchBackgroundImage
89. le VST plugins ASIO drivers Windows components 3rd party components and its version o Key configuration settings from OPTION INI e When you have a problem select the new Tools menu item Validate Against Manifest to create a difference report in your Windows clipboard This can then be pasted into Notepad or other text editor to view The difference report contains o A list of manifest items missing from the current configuration e g DLLs o A list of manifest items in your current configuration that are not in the manifest o Any manifest items that are different e g DLL versions are different o Matching items You may also copy the embedded manifest to the clipboard for examination with Tools Copy Manifest to Clipboard and delete the current manifest with Tools Clear Manifest See Configuration Manifests 1 Common Advice for Plugin Problems Use Single Threaded Mode Preferences Menu Forte uses different threads for different plugins and sometimes plugins cannot handle this Go into preferences and uncheck Use all available CPUs and restart Forte This will use only one CPU core thread for all streaming You will waste CPU capacity but it has been known to help with some plugins Use Disconnect on Scene Change Scene Commands Tab 2014 Brainspawn Inc ns Forte 4 User Manual Scene changes can be complicated times for plugins Right in the middle of processing both audio and MIDI they are asked
90. lugin vendor name gt affects any plugin by a vendor e CLSID lt a big string of letters and numbers gt affects a specific plugin A CLSID is how Forte unambiguously identifies a plugin This value matches the value Forte uses to identify the plugin in its plugin cache file plugins xml The flags that be used within a Device element include e SaveFXB if 1 save an FXB chunk with a scene e saveFXP if 1 save an FXP chunk with a scene e saveProgramNumber if 1 save the VST program number with a scene e saveParams if 1 save the VST parameters with a scene typically only effects would use this option e isVSTi if 1 forces a plugin to be identified as an instrument plugins This is useful for example with Guitar Rig which is an effect plugin not an instrument but since you would typically want it to have its own module and be fed by audio input you can force it to be treated as an instrument 18 2 Safe Mode Safe Mode is a troubleshooting tools that disables certain convenience behavior in Forte To start Forte in Safe Mode you may start Forte from the Forte safe mode Start Menu item or hold down the left CTRL key while clicking on the icon Forte will automatically ask you if it should start in safe mode if it exited abnormally the previous time it ran Safe Mode alters Forte s behavior in the following ways e Disables the automatic crash reporting tools e Presents a dialog box to disable some or all plugins du
91. mory Displays available memory Information 2014 Brainspawn Inc Menu Reference 127 Display Displays audio and MIDI diagnostic counters See Diagnostics Display Diagnostics 109 Stress Rack Starts and stops the rack stress test See Stress Test 100 Experimental Access to experimental unsupported features 19 information Update or Enter Manage User Registration License User Registration Information Help Displays version and user registration information Help F1 Displays searchable help Displays the README RTF file that accompanies a release with last minutes notes 20 Keyboard Shortcuts It Show hide the full screen SceneView display Esc will also close the SceneView display Show hide all Output Buses Copies the selected Output Bus or Instrument Module See Adding Deleting and Copying Instrument Modules and Adding Deleting and Copying Output Buses for more information Ctrl Creates a new Scene with a default name E based on the current date and time md a Solos the selected Instrument Module a 2 Mutes the selected Instrument Module 2014 Brainspawn Inc et EH lt un or WO et a Ctrl C 128 Forte 4 User Manual Keys troke Ctrl Displays the Open rack dialog box and enables a previously O saved rack to be loaded Y Toggles audio engine On Off Toggles transport Play On Off T Ctrl Creates a new
92. mplete PRODUCT and all copies thereof This license will also terminate if THE USER fails to comply with any terms or conditions of this agreement THE USER agrees upon such termination to destroy all copies of the software and of the documentation or return them to the AUTHOR S for disposal Redistribution 2014 Brainspawn Inc Brainspawn Software License Agreement 11 THE USER are permitted to distribute the evaluation shareware package of this PRODUCT provided that the a the package is not modified in any way and b that no profit is earned from such redistribution However THE USER can charge reasonable fees to cover costs of media packaging shipping handling electronic transmission and storage and other costs impacting THE USER in the process of such distribution Other rights and restrictions All other rights and restrictions not specifically granted in this license are reserved by the AUTHOR S 2 Introduction 2 1 What is Forte Let s Start at the Beginning Forte is a VST plugin host application for Windows PCs VSTs are software packages that synthesize sounds There are thousands of VSTs in existence and more each day For a good database of VST plugins see kvraudio com 99 However VSTs are plugins and are not useful unless you add them to another software application called a host Many hosts exist today including Cakewalk Sonar Reaper Cubase and Forte Forte was conceived in 2001 for the simple reas
93. n it held when the rack file was last saved and maintains that configuration across all scene changes in the rack This is selected any time a plugin is loaded that appears on the scene skip list in Program Settings e Auto Set plugin configuration if it is different from the previous scene Forte tracks the data sent to a plugin and this option will only send configuration data if it is different than what was loaded by the previous scene This can reduce scene change times by avoiding unnecessary operations Note that Forte cannot know if you have manually changed the plugin s configuration the comparison is only done between the data of the previous scene and the current scene 2014 Brainspawn Inc Using Plugins 47 e Yes Set plugin configuration when changing to this scene load configuration data into the instrument when changing to this scene e No Do not set plugin configuration when changing to this scene do not load configuration data into the instrument when changing to this scene Resets e Send all notes off to the instrument sends a note off for each playing note plus the MIDI All Notes Off command on each channel Send all sounds off to the instrument sends MIDI All Sounds Off command on each channel e Reset all controllers sends MIDI Reset All Controllers command on each channel Program Changes This option enables you to send a program change to each MIDI channel The menu has an option
94. n order to set up this test e Make sure no MIDI inputs are receiving events e g nothing is emitting MIDI sync or other constant messages e Connect a MIDI output back to an input e g MIDI Out A connected to MIDI In A e Press the Start button EHCo will emit events and display a count of both transmitted and received events This test will automatically restart as long as the final input count equals the output count If an event is lost and the input count is less than the output count the test will stop Note that during the test it is common to see a difference between input and output counts The important thing is that when the output sequence is complete that the input count catch up during the quiescent period at the end of each run 2014 Brainspawn Ing 000 100 Forte 4 User Manual 16 16 1 Confidence Building Tools Forte has a number of features designed to help you with diagnostics endurance and change control Select one of these topics for more information e Stress Test 1 e Diagnostics Display 1 e Memory Information e Configuration Manifests 10 e Automatic Backup e MIDI Closed Loop Test only with EHCo 9 Stress Test The capability to play virtual instruments in a live setting is based upon making a number of elements work together reliably e Computer Hardware and BIOS e Operating System e Soundcard and MIDI drivers from various sources e Forte e Virtual instrument
95. names have no context within the song Cue notes to the rescue Songs with Cue Notes on Scene Names Once a scene is added to a song you may rename it in place in the Set Manager This doesn t actually change the scene s name but assigns a cue note to the scene that only applies to the scene in that song Friday Night Set Long Distance 2014 Brainspawn Inc Forte 4 User Manual 9 5 9 6 9 7 001 Section A Rich Piano 002 Section B Dirty Organ Hotel California 003 Intro Dirty Organ 004 Bridge Rich Piano Scene Naming with the Pipe character Some users prefer to build the song names into the scene names in order to distinguish for instance the intro to one song vs the intro to another song If the scene s name is of the form song scene a song name a pipe character and the rest of the scene name and the song part of the name matches the song the scene is in the song and pipe character will be omitted when displayed Transpose Forte features a flexible set of transposition features that enable you to make transpose choices in several ways 1 Each plugin s per scene MIDI filter contains a transpose value in half steps 2 A scene can have a transpose value that affects all incoming MIDI notes 3 A song can also have a transpose value that affects all scenes in the song 4 A set can have a transpose value that affects all songs in the set The transposition is cumulative This means you
96. ne Into Current Set to add any scene in the rack into the next set position This does not permanently alter the set list but is a quick way to add a scene temporarily Adjusting the Bus Mix in SceneView The faders on the bus meter bridge alter the bus volume separately from the bus levels defined in each scene These adjustment levels are saved globally in the rack file and can be used to fine tune a mix without changing each scene Touch Mode If Touch Mode is enabled in Program Settings General Options the Full Scene List can be 2014 Brainspawn Inc SceneView 59 navigated using touch gestures swipe scrolling Otherwise it uses scrollbar gestures Customizing the Appearance of SceneView SceneView elements such as the scene list Quick Scene buttons meter bridge and other buttons may be shown or hidden in SceneView Options 111 SceneView can also be locked to a second monitor in Options SceneView is stylable using Qt compatible stylesheet syntax In SceneView Options 11 you can specify an alternate css file to style the controls Two example files are installed by default in the Forte installation folder SceneView Default Style css and SceneView Dim Red Style css You can use these examples to create your own styles but style sheet creation assistance is not available from Brainspawn support This is an advanced user topic for those familiar with style sheets 10 1 Image Cues and Cue Notes Image Cues and
97. neral See Logging Level 9 for more information 2014 Brainspawn Inc Menu Reference 125 19 Menu Reference File Closes any currently loaded rack prompting to save if necessary and creates a new empty rack New Rack Ctrl or Creates a new scene in the current rack or Creates a new instrument or bus in the current rack rt Open Ctrl Closes any currently loaded rack prompting to save if necessary pens O and opens a different rack Import Imports songs or scenes from a different rack into the current rack Songs or See Importing Songs and Scenes from other Racks Scenes Save Ctrl Saves the current rack Save As S Trim Updates all scenes in the current rack This can be handy for Rack removing unused data froma rack file See Trimming Racks Audio Ctrl Play or stop the audio engine Engine P Transport Ctrl Start or stop the Transport Play Play T Recently a list of recently opened rack files loaded rack files Exit Ctrl Exit Forte X Displays SceneView w Options 2014 Brainspawn Inc 126 Forte 4 User Manual Program Displays Forte Preferences See Configuring Options and Preferences 1 Settings skins Displays the Skins page of preferences Control Displays the Control Surfaces page of preferences See Control Surfaces Surfaces 15 Rehearsal Prompts you before you change scenes in case changes need to be Mode updated first This
98. nes are Songs The most basic method of using scenes is to create a scene for each song you wish to play Name the scene after the song and order them as desired in the scene list In this mode the Set Manager us configured to use either all scenes or selected scenes sets As an example 2014 Brainspawn Inc Scenes Songs and Setlists 63 001 Long Distance 002 Hotel California 003 Tom Sawyer etc Advancing through the scenes changes the setup for each song in the set Songs with Multiple Scenes What happens if you have a song setup that is complicated enough that you want to change your setup in the middle of a song At this point you may define some songs and add the various scenes to the song You then must define one or more sets to add the songs into For example Friday Night Set Long Distance 001 LD Part 1 002 LD Part 2 Hotel California 003 HC Part 1 004 HC Part 2 Unfortunately this leads to many scenes awkward scene naming and perhaps duplicated setups so you may wish to use the same scenes over again Songs with Reused Scenes Friday Night Set Long Distance 001 Rich Piano 002 Dirty Organ Hotel California 003 Dirty Organ 004 Rich Piano Where Rich Piano and Dirty Organ are the same scenes reused in two different songs This reduces rack size and complexity because you have fewer scenes to manage Unfortunately it doesn t provide much useful musical cue information because the scene
99. nfiguration to all other scenes for this plugin and this port YMI Configuring Plugins to Output MIDI to Other Plugins Virtual MIDI Input See Using MIDI Out from Plugins 58 2014 Brainspawn Inc s Forte 4 User Manual 8 1 Saving and Using MIDI Routing Presets Click Save to save the MIDI Routing of the currently selected port Clock Open Load to load a MIDI Routing into the currently selected port Press Save to save a configuration This includes for each MIDI input e Key Range e Transpose e Channel remap e Controller remap This enables frequently used MIDI configuration parameters to be applied to other Instrument Modules or stored for future use When a MIDI Configuration is loaded you may optionally load or ignore specific portions of the configuration Tip Each MIDI Configuration file stores information about a single MIDI port If you save a file it will reflect the configuration of the currently selected port if a channel from to pair is selected beneath it it will still save the parent port info When you load a MIDI Configuration file it is loaded into the current port This makes it useful to save MIDI Configuration files that are device specific because devices are attached to ports Y Setting the Default MIDI Routing for a Plugin A last used MIDI configuration is always saved with an Instrument Module Usually this MIDI configuration will be reloaded automatically on any future Instr
100. nored Remove from this list Rescan selected files for VSTs This tab displays the list of DLL files that were skipped during the VST scan and displays the reason for rejection You may select one or more DLL files and Remove them from the list in which case the next scan will attemp to rescan these DLLs You may also press Rescan to immediately rescan any selected DLLs for inclusion in the plugin list 2014 Brainspawn Inc Using Plugins 39 7 1 4 VST Crash List Forte Plugin Manager E VST Scan Folders VST Plugins Ignored Files Crash Log Path Crash detail Show Crash Details Remove from this list Rescan selected files for VSTs If the Plugin Manager crashes when trying to enumerate a VST plugin it will log the results in this list You may extract extra details remove it from the list or rescan it immediately 7 2 Plugin Console Each instrument has its own user interface called a Console e g Native Instruments B4 has the vintage drawbar organ keyboard shown below Consoles can be either displayed or hidden 2014 Brainspawn Inc Forte 4 User Manual BAI a El Alt Bus Out NIXMIR EIS all 1 Soul Explosior anana PEE n A n IN I m a a Hi i PERCUSSION 2 HR i OFF Ba sade WNL MAA A Docking and Floating the Instrument Console The console may either be docked embedded in the Forte window below the Instrument Module strip or floatin
101. ns are ALWAYS a result of a defective device driver Typically this will be an audio driver a MIDI driver or a software protection device driver Freeze Hang If Forte freezes during an operation work to identify if the condition can be consistently reproduced then try the following Start in Safe Mode launch Forte while holding down the left CTRL key and exclude some of the plugins reload the rack file and see if the hang can be reproduced Retry as necessary until you narrow the hang to a specific plugin Start Task Manager or Process Explorer at http technet microsoft com en us sysinternals bb896653 aspx and see if the CPUs are 100 busy Open the Diagnostics display in the Tools menu and see if the dropout count in increasing during the freeze Make sure you don t have a MIDI feedback loop Forte Log File Forte maintains a log file that has adjustable levels of output It is located in your application data directory under brainspawn forte You can also conveniently access it using the menu command Tools Log File View which will open it in notepad You can adjust the output levels in Preferences Logging Level The levels are Silent Errors default Warnings or Information If you are having a problem finding an audio driver or plugin or any other type of startup problem you can sometimes find useful information in the log file Sometimes you will need to adjust preferences to change the logging level to Information and rest
102. ntBar nextSceneHintLayout horizontalSpacer 2 nextSceneHintLabel sv2frame MainSceneArea upcomingScenesAreaLayout previousSetItem frame cueNote sceneName setOrderNumber songName sceneDescription currentSetItem nextSetItemi nextSetItem2 nextSetItem3 GOTO HIDE 001 The Solid Time of Change Qt Control Type OPTIONS INI SceneView Visiblity flag QVBoxLayout Qframe QHBoxLayout Spacer Qlabel Qframe QVBoxLayout SceneViewltemWidge t QFrame QLabel QLabel QLabel QLabel QLabel SceneViewltemWidgesee elements above t SceneViewltemWidgesee elements above t SceneViewltemWidgesee elements above t SceneViewltemWidgesee elements above t ShowNextSceneHint ShowUpcomingScenes 2014 Brainspawn Inc sv2frame_MeterBridge setOrderListWidget sv2frame_QuickAccessButtons button QA1 button QA2 button QA3 button QA4 button QA5 button QA6 button QA7 button QA8 sv2widget MidiMeter sv2frame PerformanceButtons lastSceneButto n nextSceneButton panicButton powerButton prevSceneButton tapTempoButto n transportButton sv2frame Toolbar Title menuButton 11 Rack Editor Custom Widget QListWidget Qframe QPushButton QPushButton QPushButton QPushButton QPushButton QPushButton QPushButton QPushButton Custom Widget QFrame QPushButton QPushButton QPushButton QPushButton QPushButton QPushButton QPushButton QFrame QLabel QPushButton SceneView ShowMete
103. nu of available output ports If no ports are available open FORTE Program Settings and select MIDI Output Ports 6 Play MIDI Input At this point EHCo should receive MIDI input and echoing it to the selected MIDI output port Overview EHCo extends FORTE s features to external MIDI hardware devices The name EHCo is short for External Hardware Controller EHCo is added to FORTE racks in the same way other VSTi and DXi instruments are added EHCo can be found in the FORTE instrument menu under brainspawn This Operations Manual assumes you are familiar with Forte operation Although EHCo is a plug in it will not operate with other host applications It is designed to work closely with FORTE s built in features For example although EHCo outputs MIDI data it does so through Forte s internal capabilities This enables MIDI port management to be centralized within FORTE EHCo receives MIDI input like any other VST or DXi virtual instrument which it echoes to a selected MIDI output port This enables you to use Forte s sophisticated MIDI filtering and routing capabilities to control external hardware Additionally this enables you to send specific MIDI messages including system exclusive to external devices on FORTE scene change How It Works Within Forte VSTi and DXi instrument plug ins take MIDI and audio in and send audio out EHCo extends this to external hardware connected to the PC with MIDI output ports EHCo will pass audio
104. oducer Edition Welcome to the forte 4 Producer Edition Setup Wizard This will install forte 4 Producer Edition 4 0 4 4 on your computer It is recommended that you close all other applications before Click Next to continue or Cancel to exit Setup Run the Installer Accept the license agreement If you cannot agree to the license terms select I do not accept the agreement and the installation will stop Select 32 bit or 64 bit install Forte 64 bit can only use 64 bit MIDI and audio drivers and 64 bit plugins Likewise 32 bit Forte can only use 32 bit MIDI and audio drivers and 32 bit plugins A plugin called Bridge 9 available from another vendor can be used to run 64 pit plugins in 32 bit Forte and vice versa Note that you can run the installer twice and install both 32 and 64 bit versions on your computer Select Program Installation Folder 2014 Brainspawn Inc Installation and First Time Setup a e Select Program Shortcut options e Additional Options o Create Desktop Icon o Create Quick Launch Icon o Delete existing configuration files o Migrate MIDI presets and plugin cache from Forte 3 When is license information required Forte 3 required license information during the installer Forte 4 prompts for license information 12 when it is run What Configuration is Shared between 32 bit and 64 bit versions Forte 32 bit and 64 bit use the same configuration files meaning that configur
105. ogy by Steinberg Soft und AS Hardware GmbH er PlugIn Interface Technology by Steinberg Soft und Hardware GmbH DXi technology by Cakewalk 2014 Brainspawn Inc 130 Forte 4 User Manual ReXY 2 0 technology by Propellerhead re Software AB O 2014 Brainspawn Inc
106. on that there existed no VST host that made it easy to play music There are many VST hosts around but all of them are designed as studio tools to enable music production They have tracks and timelines and tempos and key change markers and MIDI and audio editing These are all great and we love these programs but they are Swiss Army Knives with a million gadgets Getting to the point of actually being able to play music on a MIDI keyboard through a VST plugin is a many step process with these tools What we wanted when we started Forte was a single purpose tool something to just play VSTs Forte exists to turn the experience of playing VSTs into something as simple as sitting down at a piano and just as fun Forte has existed on the market for 9 years now Our emphasis is on stability for performance not trying to get to the next major revision out as fast as possible To get started with Forte if you don t have any VST plugins try downloading the free mda Piano at http mda smartelectronix com synths htm Simplicity As mentioned above Forte is a single tasker All of its features are in support of playing VSTs There s no recording playback sequencing timelines tracks or any of that There are however some unique features for playing live Forte can be configured to automatically start when you boot Windows It can also be configured to automatically load a rack of VSTs meaning that you can plug in your PC hook up MIDI
107. ored in a text file call OPTIONS INI using traditional Windows style ini formatting OPTIONS INI is located in the user s application data folder This folder has been located in different places in different versions of Windows As of Windows 7 it is in the C Users lt username gt AppData Roaming brainspawn forte 3 folder A handy way to access this folder is to start Forte and select the menu command Tools View INI Files and application data folder which opens the folder for easy access OPTIONS INI has several sections Many of the settings are configured via the Options Program Settings 1 display However sometimes certain advanced troubleshooting options are settable by directly editing OPTIONS INI This section defines some useful troubleshooting options Often the option does not exist in OPTIONS INI by default which means it takes its default state To enable an option navigate OPTIONS INI to the specified section the text with the brackets around it and add or edit the line of text containing the option name and the sign After using a troubleshooting option you may turn it back off by simply removing it or switching its 1 or O state You must restart Forte after saving OPTIONS INI for option changes to take effect Troubleshooting SingleStepVSTPluginLoad 0 disabled default or 1 enabled If SingleStepVSTPluginLoad 1 Forte prompts you before each step of sending data to a VST plugin during scene load You may s
108. ormance Organizing plugin settings into repeatable sets of sounds is what sets Forte apart from Digital Audio Workstations The most basic unit of performance is a scene A scene is created as a snapshot of the 2014 Brainspawn Inc Scenes Songs and Setlists 59 current rack at a particular point in time See What s in a Scene Note that the Program Change remap is not included in a Scene Scenes may be optionally changed using incoming MIDI program changes When this feature is enabled MIDI Program Remap does not work because the program change messages are used to change scenes instead of being remapped and sent to the instruments How Rack Changes Affect Scenes e It is likely that you will add or remove modules buses or effects from your rack after you have created some scenes When a Scene is used e Any new Instrument Module the scene does not recognize will be muted This is to preserve as much as possible the sound that was generated by the scene To integrate the sound of the new module into a scene unmute and configure it and then update the scene in the Setlist Manager or by pressing CTRL U e Any new Audio Effect the scene does not recognize will be placed into the bypass state e If modules or effects have been removed the scene will skip them and silently update itself to remove the unused data This will happen even if the scene is protected in the Setlist Manager Managing Scenes and Building Sets
109. ote that USB MIDI modes are only settable while in native Mode although they can apply in enumation mode too Consult the BCF2000 documentation for more information The key to successfully using the BCF2000 is coordinating its own internal settings with an appropriately configured control surface definition in Forte Some BCF2000 modes echo MIDI input back to output resulting in a MIDI loop as Forte and the BCF2000 both try to send the same data back and forth to each other forever Therefore setting up the BCF2000 correctly for Forte is critical to success 2014 Brainspawn Inc so Forte 4 User Manual Native Mode Forte contains several provided control surface definitions for native Behringer BCF2000 e BCF2000 Bus Mix faders control only bus volume e BCF2000 Instrument Mix faders control only instrument volume only channel 1 for multi channel instruments e BCF2000 Module Bus and Instrument Mix faders control the first eight Forte modules either bus or instrument only channel 1 for multi channel instruments Using the BCF2000 Connected via USB When using the BCF2000 with USB configure the device in U 1 mode U 2 3 or 4 may work as well but the internal routing is more complex In USB mode a MIDI driver will appear in Windows called BCF2000 When setting up the USB BCF2000 control surface in Forte the port will appear as dedicated Using the BCF2000 Connected via MIDI cables When using the BCF2000 wit
110. ptions are o Auto to load data only if its different than the current scene o Yes to always load data o No to never load data NOTE Scenes to not automatically reference every plugin in the rack file For example if you create a scene and then add a new plugin the existing scene will not automatically 2014 Brainspawn Inc Rack Editor contain any information about the new plugin In this case the rack editor will display a message plugin not configured in scene If you wish to add this plugin to the current scene you may either update 5 the scene or trim 82 the rack File Trim to update all scenes Plugin Global Settings Two settings are global to the rack file for each plugin They are also available in the plugin console scene commands 8 e Use separate plugin setting data for each scene when disabled the plugin uses the settings in effect the last time the rack was saved When enabled each scene can set the plugin s configuration e Disconnect plugin when loading new plugin setting data Reordering Instrument and Bus Modules In the lower left corner are two buttons to reorder buses and instruments Click to switch to reorder mode and drag the instrument and bus modules up or down to reorder NOTE when you change the order of modules forte must save close and reopen the rack file 11 2 Setlist and Scenes Editor The Scene and Set Manager is where you can organize scenes into songs and sets
111. r VST plugins and press Find my VST Plugins to continue Forte 4 Forte has not found any plugins The Plugin Manager will now start to help you find plugins for use in Forte This may take several minutes to complete but after the scan the plugins will be 2014 Brainspawn Inc 22 Forte 4 User Manual instantly available to you when you run Forte in the future At the end of the scan the VST Plugins tab 3 will be visible showing the found VST plugins Press Close to continue E Forte Plugin Manager gt B VST Scan Folders VST Plugins Ignored Files Crash Log Name Vendor Type Path Absynth 5 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 dll Absynth 5 Native In VST 64bit C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 FX Surround dll Absynth 5 Native In VST 64bit _C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 FX dll Absynth 5 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Absynth 5 Stereo dll Battery 3 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Battery 3 dll FM8 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI FM8 dll FM8 Native In VST 64bit C Plugins64 NI FM8 FX dll Guitar Rig 5 Native In VST 64bit C Plugins64WNI Guitar Rig 5 dll Kontakt 5 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Kontakt 5 160ut dll Kontakt 5 Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Kontakt 5 dll Kontakt 5 Native In VSTi 64bit _C Plugins64 NI Kontakt 5 Sout dll Massive Native In VSTi 64bit C Plugins64 NI Massive dll Y Automatically us
112. rBridge ShowFullSceneList ShowQuickAccessButtons ShowQuickAccessButtons ShowQuickAccessButtons ShowQuickAccessButtons ShowQuickAccessButtons ShowQuickAccessButtons ShowQuickAccessButtons ShowQuickAccessButtons ShowMidiMeter ShowPerformance Buttons ShowTitle The Rack Editor is a display for rack level editing Press the RACK EDITOR button on the Control Module to open the Rack Editor accept changes or Cancel to abandon changes The Rack editor has three tabs Dismiss the rack editor with the OK button to e Rack Editor 7 for rearranging rack elements and editing rack components across multiple scenes e Setlist and Scenes Editor 5 for arranging scenes into songs and sets e Global MIDI Automation for setting up MIDI automation for things like scene changes 11 1 Rack Editor The Rack Editor is a rack centric view of your rack file the context of a particular scene the Rack Editor enables you to edit rack components across all scenes You can see at a glance how a plugin s configuration changes between different scenes in the rack and to make quick and easy changes Instead of editing a rack within Press the RACK EDITOR button on the Control Module and select the Rack tab O 2014 Brainspawn Inc Forte 4 User Manual RACK COMPONENTS PER SCENE DETAILS Bus Bus 1 Bypass All Nob All Sou Reset Plugin Data Set Plugin Data 4 Instrument Pentagon Input No Audio Input v BB1C3C85 Auto BB1
113. returned from the MIDI output port driver lagnostics 0 Audio drop outs MIDI Events In 0 0 MIDI Events Out MIDI Output Errors NOT READY o 0 MIDI Output Errors other Memory Information Memory Information gives you information about how much memory your rack file is consuming and how much spare memory you have If the required memory is greater than the Threshold a waming will be displayed when the rack is loaded Total Physical Memory 332711 Mb Usable Memory 1672 48 Mb Current Rack Size 421814 Mb 1415 48 Mb Warning Threshold On 32 bit versions of Windows with 4GB of RAM it is normal to see usable memory of only about 1500MB or so on an empty rack The reason for this is that 32 bit Windows by default give each application only 2GB of memory It is not a problem with Forte About 500MB of that is loaded with the application and a large number of Windows DLL components See this 115 to take advantage of a Windows configuration change that makes more memory available to Forte 2014 Brainspawn Inc Confidence Building Tools 103 16 4 MIDI Closed Loop Test with EHCo only See here 103 16 5 Configuration Manifests Problem A rack file once worked perfectly on your PC but now it doesn t or you ve moved it to another PC and it doesn t work Use a configuration manifest to help diagnose the changes in your setup that may be affecting your Forte rig Here s how Once your rack is
114. riety of ways See Scene Commands for more information Insert Manager Right click an effect and select Insert Manager to control the order of inserts at that patch point Po minimoog V Insert Manager Lo LO e Active Add Remove All Move Top Up Down Bottom Insert Manager The insert manager enables you to reorder add or remove insert effects plugins from the 2014 Brainspawn Inc Using Plugins 51 instrument module 8 Plugin MIDI Filtering and Automation Each plugin both instruments and insert effects contains a MIDI Routing map The MIDI Routing map changes MIDI input events before they enter the plugin Examples of routing and filtering include masking out MIDI input re channelizing it layering across channels limiting key ranges transposing keys and many advanced operations on MIDI CC events Key Points e Each plugin has a full set of MIDI Routing options e Each plugin s MIDI routing is independently configurable for each scene Opening the MIDI Routing View for a Plugin Open the plugin console for the plugin and select the MIDI Routing tab Port Channel Routing and Layering The MIDI Routing tab configures channel specific MIDI input settings Scio From To 4 MIDISPORT 4x4 In A Enabled 01 01 02 02 03 03 04 04 05 Each MIDI input port can be either enabled or disabled If enabled each input channel can 2014 Brainspawn Inc 52 For
115. ring this run This is useful if you believe a plugin is causing a problem Excluded plugins are replaced with proxies simulated place holders during rack load e Disabled automatic rack load feature e Does not automatically start the audio engine 2014 Brainspawn Inc 122 Forte 4 User Manual 18 3 18 4 e Stops at the profile selection dialog regardless of the timeout mode Producer Edition only Moving From 32 bit to 64 bit Forte VST Plugins Background Forte identifies all plugins by a unique identifier called a CLSID The CLSID of a plugin can be found in the plugins xml cache file and it looks something like 305B2033 9E2D 4FF1 A6D4 6930EC21AB26 but is different for each plugin CLSIDs were originally a unique identifier for DirectX and DirectShow plugins For VST plugins Forte created a CLSID by hashing together the plugin s VST ID value with the plugin s DLL name and combining the result with a standard fragment of CLSID xxxxxxxx 9E2D 4FF1 A6D4 6930EC21AB26 This has always worked well except that many plugin vendors deliver the 32 bit and 64 bit plugins with the same VST ID but using different DLL filenames This unfortunately results in different generated CLSIDs For instance the CLSID generated by 32 bit Forte uses the 32 bit DLL plugin name and the 64 bit uses the other DLL plugins name resulting in different CLSIDs which if not accounted for makes it impossible to load some rack files built in 32 bit
116. s of various technologies VST DXi ReWire etc from many vendors Each of these elements can be a weak link that makes the system unreliable Each can interact with other elements in unexpected ways For this reason Forte includes a built in stress test to enable you to test all of the above working together in the same rack file for extended periods of time 2014 Brainspawn Inc Confidence Building Tools 101 r Stress Rack This feature allows you to put pour rack under stress It is provided as a tool to help you gain confidence in your configuration However it is not a substitute for other pre show testing Cancel Choose stress options and press Start Results will be written to your log file and can be viewed when the process Cancel is complete STEP 1 Select how long you wish to run the stress test 1 hour y STEP 2 Select which events to include MIDI Notes and Controllers turn your audio down Select number per second 1 120 60 v MIDI Panic every 30 seconds Power Cycle every 30 seconds MIDI Program Changes changes scenes if mapping enabled Select frequency every 5 seconds Sequential 5cene Changes 5 Random Scene Changes Select Frequency of Scene Changes every 5 seconds To start the stress test 1 Turn down or off all of your audio outputs 2 Load your performance Rack File 3 Select Tools Stress Rack from the menu 4 Select the length of time you
117. s where multiple persons will use the PRODUCT each member of the group must purchase an individual license Use over a local area network within the same locale is permitted provided that the PRODUCT is used only by a single person on a single computer at a time Evaluation THE USER has the right to evaluate this PRODUCT for the period of 30 days provided that terms of Operating license are compiled with and that the PRODUCT is not used for profit including but not limited to creating patch libraries and sounds for any pieces THE USER are profiting from Should THE USER continue use of the PRODUCT after your evaluation period expires or use it for any profit THE USER shall pay the registration fee Back up and transfer THE USER may make one copy of the software part of the PRODUCT solely for back up purposes THE USER must reproduce and include the copyright notice on the back up copy The PRODUCT may be transferred to another party To perform such a transfer THE USER must notify the AUTHOR S in writing of the transfer The letter must include e The name of the party to which the transfer is made e THE USER s registration information e A statement that THE USER is ceasing all the rights to use the PRODUCT e THE USERS signature e New registration information will be issued by the AUTHOR S to the new user of the PRODUCT Terms This license is effective until terminated THE USER may terminate it by destroying the co
118. ses when both 32 and 64 bit versions of the same plugin are in the Forte 4 scan path Since they both are identified as the same plugin which becomes the official plugin Forte removes conflicts by marking one or the other as Ignored The policy has two stages of priority The newer version of a plugin is the official plugin and the older one is marked as an older revision and ignored regardless of 32 or 64 bit compatibility If the plugins are of the same version the one matching the bit width of Forte e g 64 bit plugins on 64 bit Forte is made the official plugin and the other is marked ignored with an explanatory note 2 3 1 Rack File Compatibility with Forte 3 Forte 4 can load rack files created in Forte 3 However a rack saved in Forte 4 may lose some functionality when loaded in Forte 3 As far as we know there are no breaking changes If you load a Forte 3 rack in Forte 4 and resave it it should work as it always did on Forte 3 However using new features in Forte 4 will obviously not work when reloaded in Forte 3 2014 Brainspawn Inc a8 Forte 4 User Manual 2 4 3 1 Use backups Where to go for Help Go to www brainspawn comygo support for help nstallation and First Time Setup nstaller The Forte installer is a single installer package that can install Forte in either 32 bit or 64 bit mode and run in Trial Mode no license Performer mode or Producer mode P Setup forte 4 Pr
119. should never be used in performance Tools View INI Files Opens Windows Explorer at the folder containing Forte INI and other support files Log File Email Email Forte log file reset the contents of the log file or open the log Reset View file in Notepad for viewing Create Capture Forte manifest information and optionally embed it in the Installation current rack file for later comparison See Configuration Manifests 103 Configuration Manifest Validate Against Compares a new manifest against a manifest created previous and Manifest stored in the rack file See Configuration Manifests 1 Copy Manifest Copies the current manifest to the Windows clipboard See to Clipboard Configuration Manifests 1 Clear Manifest Cleats any manifest from the rack file See Configuration Manifests Manage VST Start VST plugin manager to find plugins See Plugin Manager Plugins Displays the rack editor The rack editor enables you to see your Rack Editor rack in an alternate way by plugin instead of by scene See Rack Editor 7 Change Create a new hardware profile for this rack This can be used to Hardware swap MIDI port assignments by creating a new rack and mapping Profile existing ports to alternates See Hardware Profiles Merge MIDI Merges MIDI input port filters into one Input Filters Crashes Forte This is a test to see if it exits cleanly with your setup Crash AT ESE cts of MIDI and audio drivers Me
120. single instance of EHCo can output to a single MIDI output port Multiple instances of EHCo can be created in a rack to output to multiple ports Enable the MIDI output ports you wish to use with EHCo You may select multiple output ports and choose the specific port within EHCo External Device Emulation An external MIDI device e Is connected to a MIDI Output Port e Responds to one or more MIDI channels e Optionally has MIDI program names and bank names e Optionally can respond to MIDI System Exclusive data EHCo acts as a proxy for your external MIDI hardware by reading INS files containing bank names patch names and controller names This enables you to select patches on your MIDI device using friendly bank and patch names within EHCo To import patch names click the open button on the Device combo box and select Import Patch Names Browse to the desired INS file and click OK 2014 Brainspawn Inc EHCo External MIDI Hardware Controller 97 Device E MU Proteus MPS Import Patch Names Sysex Prefix Clear this List Output Port MIDISPORT 4x4 Qut A v Channel Generic Device 6 E MU Audity 2000 INE E MUB 3 Add Remove Edit Send E Send MIDI Sync ans E MU Carnaval E MU Classic K Name Description Type info pos Controller Change Control Ch1CC2 0 E MU Morpheus Banl 1 Ch am Ch 1 Bnk 0 E MU Orbit pe u 2 E MU Planet Phatt m abl o a 1000 ms E MU ProFormance E MU ProFormance E MU Proteus 20
121. ss Train and the field will change to Training Now simply change a controller on your MIDI input device and the field will automatically change to the controller number you sent The Instrument Module must not be muted and the rack power must be on for training to succeed If the Auto Train button is on when New is pressed training will be started automatically You must manually select the to field Some instruments provide a comprehensive list of MIDI controllers which will be shown in the to field Many unfortunately do not and you must consult the instrument manual and select a numerical field 2014 Brainspawn Inc Plugin MIDI Filtering and Automation IMPORTANT CC remapping and layering are channel routing specific You will have as many CC remap settings as you have channel mappings Be sure to select the desired channel mapping on the left before altering the CC remap Mode Minimum Maximum and Initial Value Each CC remapping can be set up to assume an initial value on scene load and scale between a minimum and maximum value e Init If supplied the CC value is transmitted to the plugin when the scene is applied This is a way to set up initial controller values for future manipulation If Init is blank no initial value is sent e Min Max When an input CC value is remapped incoming values are rescaled between the Min and Max values For instance if Min 30 and Max 60 then incoming values of 0 127
122. t can output to the same bus 2014 Brainspawn Inc MIDI and Audio Signal Flow 31 Effect Bypass Effect plugins 8 can be bypassed or not per scene 6 User Interface Overview 6 1 Control Module The top rack space is the Control Module cote IP su IEEE On the Control Module you can AUDIO button right Turn rack power on or off When off Forte does not consume CPU power for audio processing and closes the audio outputs LOAD SAVE buttons Load and save racks INST button Add a new instrument module BUS button Add a new bus e NEW SCENE button Create a new scene UPDATE SCENE button Update an existing scene Create and manage scenes e Go to the next or previous scene e Set Tempo Set Transport Play Stop e View CPU utilization e PANIC button MIDI Panic 6 2 Output Bus Modules Below the Control Module are the output buses A bus is the place to add audio effects to multiple instrument modules simultaneously or control the mix of several modules as a group Bus 1 ENS 4 EE On each bus you can e View audio levels going into the audio output device post bus effects with the Audio Meter e Change the volume of all audio routed to the bus with the bus volume fader post bus 2014 Brainspawn Inc 32 Forte 4 User Manual 6 3 effects e Add remove or reorder VST and DirectX audio effects e Display the console for each VST and DirectX audio effect e Select an audio output devic
123. t start Select if you do not want to see the splash screen at program startup e Open SceneView at launch Automatically shows the SceneView when a rack loads 66 e Enable Touch Mode If checked the scrolling behavior in SceneView and Set Browser 70 are altered to be touch friendly If unchecked scrolling uses the traditional scrollbar gestures 2014 Brainspawn Inc Configuring Options and Preferences 105 Autoload Rack when Forte Starts Loads either the last used rack or a specified default rack when Forte starts Default Rack Save location Path used to save rack files Default Backup Rack Save location Path used to save backup rack files The default is the same directory used to save the rack file e MRU Sizes select how many racks instruments and inserts to keep in your most recently used lists Disable Screen Saver while playing Disables any configured screen saver when the rack power is on Minimize to System Tray Choose whether Forte minimizes to an icon on the task bar or in the system tray e Use all available CPUs This is a troubleshooting option which should remain checked If you are using a multiple processor system and encountering problems you can uncheck this option to see if it is related to multi processing Number of Auto Backups to keep Every time you save a rack file in Forte it makes a backup to preserve the old file The number of backups is configurable here
124. te 4 User Manual be remapped and layered In the above picture channel 6 is layered to channel 5 and channel 6 Each MIDI event e g notes on channel 6 is duplicated and sent to the instrument both on channel 5 and channel 6 Right click a row in the To column to make changes to this mapping Click the triangle icon to expand or collapse portions of the channel display Right click the To column on the port row to enable or disable the entire port disable all its channels reset channels to a 1 1 map unity or map all channels to channel 1 For each MIDI input port and channel fronyto pair you can independently configure e What MIDI note ranges a instrument will respond to splits and layers configuration e How incoming MIDI notes will be transposed after note range filtering e How incoming MIDI continuous controller data is remapped to different controller numbers Quick MIDI Routing Use the Quick MIDI Routing button to quickly set up basic channel routing The menu item Full Reset resets all port mappings and then applies the selected port channel The menu item Port Reset only changes the port selected while leaving other ports unaffected E Advanced MIDI Channel Routing Use the Advanced MIDI Channel Routing dialog to configure channel from to pairs using a convenient matrix view 2014 Brainspawn Inc Plugin MIDI Filtering and Automation 53 Advanced MIDI Routing MIDISPORT 4x4 In A M
125. ther a specified default configuration or the last used configuration 17 8 Control Surfaces See Configuring Control Surfaces for Use in Forte 17 9 Copy Options 81 See Copying Intruments and Copying Buses 9 18 Troubleshooting It is important to understand that Forte as a VST host is part of a performance system that also includes your choice of PC OS plugins and audio MIDI interfaces Brainspawn does not offer system integration services Instead we have developed a number of tools to assist you in integrating a performance ready system When assembling a performance rig please use these tools to build confidence in your system Stress Test Tools Menu The stress test tool in the Tools menu exercises your rig by simulating MIDI input and performing scene changes You can configure the stress test to perform various operations and leave it running for hours You can also pump more MIDI into your system via stress than you could ever by simply playing a keyboard If your live rig can survive indefinite amounts of stress that is a good confidence builder However it is not any sort of certification of reliability The primary value in the stress test is if it fails If it fails either a hang or dropouts or a crash or a blue screen it positively indicates that a component of your system is not durable Be sure to turn your audio inputs down during stress tests The output is decidedly not very musical See
126. tions Plugin Manager SceneView Options Scene Options H A MIDI Input Ports y MIDI Output Ports om Cai Sais VST Instrument Plugin Output H A Copy 10 Preset MRU Size _ Single mono or stereo output less CPU like Forte 8 Multiple mono or stereo outputs more C Warning Configuring VST plugins for single output will lose all mix information for other outputs when you save your rack This change will take effect when you reload a rack file Cancel The Plugin Options page enables you to set the number of Most Recently Used presets to track It also has a button link to the Plugin Manager 3 to enable you to discover and organize plugins 2014 Brainspawn Inc Configuring Options and Preferences 111 17 5 SceneView Options Preferences E H General Options SceneView Options Fort Audio Options u Plugin Options Y Show Full Screen V Show MIDI Meter SceneView Options J Show on 2nd Monito V Show Quick Access Buttons Scene Options E H MIDI Input Ports Y Show Full Scene List v Show Title y MIDI Output Ports V Show Performance Control Buttor Y Show Next Scene Hint Surfaces V Show Upcoming Scenes M Show Set Order Number E opy Y Show Meter Bridge v Show Scene Description V Resize Cue Images Style Sheet css in Qt format Clear to restore default E Cancel The Style Sheet path control ena
127. to completely reconfigure their sound A Scene change typically causes a new VST chunk FXB or FXP data block to be downloaded into the plugin Some plugins have a hard time with this Try disconnecting the plugin during scene changes On the Scene Commands tab of the plugin console check the Disconnect this instrument when loading configuration data box Don t Download new plugin data on Scene Change Scene Commands Tab You can also check the box Do not use per scene configuration data to avoid having a new VST chunk downloaded during a scene change This is especially recommended for sampler plugins In this case the plugin will remain configured the same during the entire set but you can send program changes to it on scene change This is much more light weight All this is configured on the Scene Commands tab Run Forte in Administrator Mode Some plugins can t be discovered or don t behave correctly on Windows Vista or Windows 7 unless Forte is running with Administrator privileges Right click on the Forte shortcut and configure it to always run as administrator Change the Device Compatibility file Forte tries to make a good decision about how to get and set VST configuration chunks or FXB FXP data However sometimes a plugin wants something different to get or set its entire state Forte has a way to override scene capture and recall behavior for individual plugins A file called DeviceCompatibility xml in the install d
128. trol Compatible Devices The Mackie Control surface definition has the following capabilities Refer to FactoryControlSurfaceDefinitions xml located in the forte install directory for full details Some devices emulate Mackie Control so examining the definition is important to understanding how your control surface works Automated volume on buses and instruments the first eight modules are mixed with the 8 faders of the control surface A bank up down button enables you to control the next 8 modules e Toggle Mute Next Scene Previous Scene e Tap Tempo Transport Play Stop and Panic This definition includes feedback to the control surface for automated flying faders Frontier Design TranzPort If a Frontier Design TranzPort controller is attached to a USB port Forte will open it and respond to commands 2014 Brainspawn Inc Control Surfaces and Automation s TRANZPORT FRONTIER mmm 13 5 Behringer BCF2000 and Compatible Devices The Behringer BCF2000 can be used in several modes with Forte e Connected via USB or MIDI U 1 2 3 4 and S 1 2 3 4 e Mackie mode or native Behringer Mode USB MIDI modes are selected by pressing Store and Edit together and using knob 1 to select U 1 2 3 4 through S 1 2 3 4 followed by exit Note that you may need to restart Forte as this can add or remove MIDI drivers in Windows Mackie Mode vs native Mode is selected by holding a button while powering on the device N
129. ty and usefulness of the software and information is with THE USER Should the information prove to be incorrect and or software not work as expected THE USER assumes the cost of all necessary servicing repair or correction In no event will the AUTHOR S be liable to THE USER for any damages any lost profits lost monies or other special incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use this software and or information including but not limited to loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by third parties even if THE USER has advised us of the possibility of such damages or for any claim by any other party Restrictions THE USER may not use copy modify translate or transfer the PRODUCT or any copy except as expressly defined in this agreement THE USER may not attempt to unlock or bypass any copy protection or authentication algorithm utilized by this PRODUCT THE USER may not remove or modify any copyright notice nor any about dialog or the 2014 Brainspawn Inc 10 Forte 4 User Manual method by which it may be invoked Operating license THE USER has the non exclusive right to use the PRODUCT only by a single person on a single computer at a time If the PRODUCT permits THE USER may physically transfer the PRODUCT from one computer to another provided that the PRODUCT is used only by a single person on a single computer at a time In group project
130. ument Module using the same instrument However if you select a MIDI configuration to be the default it will be used instead This paperclip icon will be displayed with a green color if a default exists for this instrument module Double clicking the button erases any existing default Key Range and Transpose You may configure an instrument to respond to only a subset of the entire 128 note MIDI keyboard To do this select the port and from to channel pair in the left column then click the mouse in the keyboard graphic The disabled upper and lower ranges will be displayed in grey 2014 Brainspawn Inc Plugin MIDI Filtering and Automation 55 Key Range 1 Key Range 2 Key Range 3 Key Range 4 Contes WDI Monto M EE MEPORT 4 A G tn Shown settings apply to current map MIDISPORT 4x4 6to5 Keyboard Enable MIDI Notes iC There are for independent key range and transpose tabs enabling you to do advanced things like automatically playing a chord or leaving dead spaces in the middle of a keyboard You may change the upper and lower ranges a note at a time by clicking the up down arrow buttons for each The MIDI keys that lie within the enabled range are then transposed by the amount shown in the transpose box Training is a convenient way to automatically set the upper and lower ranges Press Train and a message will show Training Now simply press two notes simultaneously or one after another on your MIDI input
131. ur own e MyControlSurfaceDefinitions xml located in the application data directory typically C Users lt yourname gt AppData Roaming brainspawn forte 3 this is where you can add your own definitions You may alter or create new definitions using the Control Surface Definition Editor in the start menu This application always automatically edits MyControlSurfaceDefinitions xml You may also edit the XML files by hand if you have the knowledge to create valid XML r momo E File New Delete sol Sample 1 Automated Mute Sample 2 Automated Bus Insert B Sample 3 Automated Bus Volume Bus 2 Volume from MIDI Controller event on channel 1 CC 1 any Value e Press New to create a new control surface Double click a definition in the left pane to rename it or highlight and press Delete to remove it Use the File Save menu command to save your changes e Use the New and Delete buttons to add or remove individual automation items to the highlighted current control surface definition Click the down arrow on an automation to edit source and destination configuration e When you are finished use the File Save menu command to save the altered file In order to use this new control surface definition you must start Forte open Control 2014 Brainspawn Inc Forte 4 User Manual 13 3 13 4 Surface Settings and configure the definition for use Mackie Con
132. ve and is available in the list of profiles the next time the rack is loaded In PERFORMER edition this new profile replaces the old profile Tools Menu Change Hardware Profile This tool launches the profile creator to change MIDI and ASIO assignments after the rack is loaded You must reload the rack for the new profile to take effect 12 5 2 MIDI Port Renaming Forte enables you to assign custom names to MIDI ports If you use two different setups with different MIDI port hardware but use the same custom names Forte will treat them as identical and avoid profile migration For instance you could assign MIDI Port A to be My Big Keyboard naming it for how its connected If two setups both have a My Big Keyboard port they will be considered the same ports See Custom Names 113 for details 13 Control Surfaces and Automation Forte supports a variety of control surfaces including custom definitions A control surface is a way to automate Forte that is not specific to an individual rack See Configuring Control Surfaces for Use in Forte 95 for details on how to set Forte up for use with a control surface 13 1 Configuring Control Surfaces for Use in Forte Open Options Program Settings 11 and select the Control Surfaces item Select Add to create a control surface Choose a device a control surface definition a MIDI input and a MIDI output You may also edit existing control surfaces or remove them 2014 Brainspawn
133. wish to stress the rack This can range up to 24 hours this test is unattended so you can start it and go do something else 5 Select which events to include in the test and how frequently to send them 6 Press Start You may stop the test before it completes by selecting Tools Stop Stress from the menu When the test is complete it will offer to open your log file At the end of the log you will find information about scene change times memory utilization over the course of the test and CPU utilization in each scene NOTE Although this stress test can be useful for finding weak links in your rack setup we can never promise that it will result in a 100 stable live setup There are simply too many variables However this stress test is certainly better than assuming everything will work 16 2 Diagnostics Display Use the Diagnostics display in the Tools menu to see a count of audio dropouts as well as total MIDI events in or out Use this during a stress test If you see the audio dropout counter incrementing its a sign that something in the system is choking occasionally This many not always be a big deal It depends upon when the dropouts occur and your own particular usage The diagnostic display also includes a count of MIDI output errors for use with EHCo If 2014 Brainspawn Inc ow Forte 4 User Manual 16 3 you suspect not all EHCo data is being transmitted correctly the error counts can indicate errors
134. with a dozen VSTs and many scenes and they play through that set every night Stability Bringing a computer on stage seems like high risk behavior but it is the way of the future Many musicians are doing it now and more all the time If you choose to use VSTs for performance wouldn t it be nice to have some tools built into the host to help you become comfortable with your rig s reliability Forte has two major features designed to help you ring out a performance system First it has a stress test that simulates you playing on stage If you load your rack of VST plugins into Forte and start the stress test it will jam huge amounts of MIDI down the plugins throats while thrashing between scenes The intensity levels are adjustable but the point is that its doing what you would be doing on stage but much more aggressively Its trying to punish the VSTs and see if they break Not all VSTs are up to the task so its good to know up front Also if you find a particular rack of VSTs to be reliable you can preserve a manifest containing the versions of all the VSTs the OS libraries the audio drivers and critical Forte settings Later if you do encounter problems you can compare this manifest against your current one and look for any changes in your PC configuration So in summary Forte exists to play VSTs as opposed to compose or produce with them We ve had years to polish Forte and many musicians are using it professionally every night
135. wn in half steps This transpose setting is not saved Instead itis intended to be a quick way to change keys Click the transpose value button quickly to reset transpose to O Other The Menu button now enables you to quickly select the set list The SceneView Options now enable you to show SceneView on a and monitor Rack Manager The Scenes and Setlists Manager in Forte 3 has been expanded to become the Rack Manager and includes the Scene and Set Manager MIDI Automation and the Rack Editor Scene and Set Manager A Details button at the top of the Scene Pool now expands the columns to include e Scene transpose e MIDI Sync enable on off e Tempo BPM e Transport Play on off e Start Bar Beat enabling more advanced usage of some sequencer plugins e Rewind to Bar Beat on Stop on off e Time Signature e Fade time in milliseconds time it takes to change mix levels when switching to this scene A Hide button in the Song Pool hides the Song Pool area Upon pressing OK to exit Rack Manager the current scene is re applied to make sure changes are accurately reflected MIDI Automation The MIDI Automation manager is completely redesigned and all MIDI automation capabilities are 2014 Brainspawn Inc 16 Forte 4 User Manual now configurable through this interface These automation settings are global to the entire rack file not per scene settings Automation options include e Scene Change
136. y verbal or prior verbal or written statement or agreement to the contrary If you do not understand or accept these terms or your local regulations prohibit after sale license agreements or limited disclaimers you must cease and desist using this product immediately Copyright laws supersede all local regulations This license is a contract between you the end user of this software hereinafter referred to as THE USER and BRAINSPAWN hereinafter referred to as the AUTHOR S and is governed under the laws of the State of Texas Copyright This product in whole or in part including all files data and documentation from here on referred to as PRODUCT is Copyright 2001 BRAINSPAWN all rights reserved and is protected by the United States copyright laws international treaties and all other applicable national or international laws This PRODUCT may not in whole or in part be copied photocopied translated or reduced to any electronic medium or machine readable form without prior consent in writing from the AUTHOR S and according to all applicable laws The sole owner of this PRODUCT is the AUTHOR S No Warranty The AUTHOR S provides absolutely no warranty The software and information are provided as is without warranty of any kind either express or implied including but not limited to any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose The entire risk as to the quali

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