Audio sources when used as FL Studio instrument?

[amacdougall]

Summary:

In FL Studio, I would like to send audio to the Audio Sources jacks in the Voltage Modular VST instrument.

I can do this for Voltage Modular FX! But I want to send audio to the instrument (or "generator", in FL Studio) version of the plugin.

Detail:

If I use Voltage Modular FX (VMFX) as a mixer track insert in FL Studio, I can route audio from other mixer tracks to the VMFX track. This is called a "sidechain." Then I can use the Processing tab of the FL Studio plugin wrapper to assign sidechain inputs to VMFX inputs, and the incoming audio appears in the Audio Sources jacks within VMFX.

However, if I want to play Voltage Modular as an instrument, instead of using it as an insert effect, I have to load it into a channel; FL Studio refers to this type of plugin as a "generator". As I understand it, there are two versions of VM: one which is used as an instrument or "generator", and one which is used as an insert effect.

I would like to receive audio from mixer tracks to the Voltage Modular generator, so I can play notes directly, but also work with external audio sources.

Maybe FL Studio doesn't support this use case; maybe it does, and Voltage Modular hasn't added support for it; or maybe it's possible, and I just don't know how!

Context:

I want to play with the ESP-20 and Envelope Follower modules to create an instrument which is modulated by other sounds playing within the DAW.

I was able to get this to happen by putting together a Frankenstein's monster which uses the Fruity Voltage Controller generator to send pitch and gate CVs instead of audio, which is picked up as an external audio source in Voltage Modular FX. But this is awkward and requires more setup, and uses up one of the two external audio inputs. I can use two external audio sources by panning one to the left and one to the right, but it would be nice to just get the audio directly into the non-FX VM VST.

[farbstoff-fabrik]

I have had the exact same question !

I guess you missed one part - just like me

Set up VMFX as midi port 0 (for instance, or 1, see the settings tab) load a midi-out within FL Studio (from the instrumentslist) and link it to port 0 (or 1: MUST be the SAME) and then you can also receive midi in a FX VST, as VMFX.

I use that setup all the time on melda auto-pitch but never realised it would also work with this. Heheh

if it's unclear - drop me a message thru facebooks VM page.

[farbstoff-fabrik]

image_139980.png (388.04 KiB) Viewed 2268 times

That's the image i placed on a dutch forum with my solution.

[amacdougall]

Sorry I didn't reply earlier; we just moved to a new place, and between that and work, I haven't had a chance to play around with music. This worked like a charm! I really appreciate your advice.

And more generally, this is why I still love old-school forums even when social media or sites like Reddit have sucked up most of the oxygen. This post was able to sit around for a month before getting an answer, and sit around for another month before I replied again—but here we are, one gem of information passed from one brain to another.

What am I gonna use this knowledge for? Hell if I know! I could make an instrument that acts like a lead when it plays by itself, but dynamically changes when other instruments are playing. Or make a pad or bass whose effects automatically match the kick or the snare. But at least I have a much easier way to do what I want, whatever that may ultimately be.

[farbstoff-fabrik]

Have fun!