Please help with advice on how to switch between sounds of 4 banks soft synth!

Hello, I have Roland SRX Orchestra soft synth with Logic Pro and I'm trying to figure out how can I switch between sounds of its 4 banks each containing 127 patches, using my midi-keyboard which can send program/bank/midi-channel change messages.

I can assign 127 patches to Logic' channel strip Performance setting, but since its .cst files are bound to the project and not to a separate channel strip it's limiting me to use only 127 patches. Any ideas what can be done to be able to switch between 4 banks of the plugin synth? Thanks!

Unlike their hardware counterparts, software instruments are rarely conceived to be switched on the fly. DAWs are conceived to easily accommodate as many tracks as you may need (thousands of tracks in Logic's case).

So the first question would be, do you really need to switch patches on a track and if yes, why? Far from the idea that you should justify your needs, but on the other hand, because the software isn't necessarily conceived around that kind of workflow, if we know your reasons better then we may be better armed to produce an appropriate solution.

Plugins typically don't respond to MIDI program or bank change messages, unlike hardware, for a myriad of reasons.

Other than saving out all the patches to Logic presets and loading them that way, you could have four different instances on different tracks, each one with a different bank file loaded, and then use performance switching and track switching to switch between banks and each 128 patches inside that instance.

David, I placed a midi-keyboard on a clear table without any screens and monitors to be deeply focused on the sounds. 127 sounds are pretty much, but I did wonder if there's a chance not to make my own selection of sounds that I can use, but to try all the sounds provided by the synth.

des99, I tried that before I posted this thread. When I'm trying to switch to another patch on the second channel strip with the Performance setting it loads the bank from channel strip 1.

Hey, guys. I forgot to say I've solved this task on the next day or so by writing 4 simple Automator scripts which do copy and paste a bunch of 128 Logic files containing bank presets, I attached them to my midi buttons using midiStroke app, so it works like a charm! I think it can be very handy while working with any soft synth/plugin with the need of switching between its patches very quickly using the functionality of a midi keyboard.

I can upload the script here if it interests someone! Thanks!

Great! Good to hear. I would love to see the script, and I'm sure it will interest others now or in the future - so if you can upload it here that would be great, thanks.

Sure.

1. You need to save the desired number of patches of your synth/plugin consequently to the program numbers from 0 to 127 with the same names, and place them in any desirable folder of your mac.

2. Create or use the attached Automator script to copy your patches to the Logic's Performance folder and save it as an application.

3. Use any appropriate app like Silverlight or any other to assign a keyboard shortcut to run the Automator script every time a hotkey or midi button is pressed.

4. If needed to assign midi buttons there's a free mac application called midiStroke which binds a midi button with a keyboard shortcut. Also, there's a pretty nice paid app called MidiShortcut with the free trial, which has some more features like midi learning and detecting CCs of your controller.

5. If there are more than 128 sounds of your synth/plugin you wish to switch between, then just save the patches to the separate folder and make a copy of the Automator script changing only the folder in step 4 (on the Automator screenshot) and assign it to another shortcut or midi button.

And, here you go. If your midi controller allows switching between 128 program changes you can now switch between your saved banks of patches on the fly

Script.zip