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  • Will VEP do what I need or should I go hardware interfaces? (Instrument cloning, control syncing)

    Hi all, I am in need of some answers as to whether VEP will be suitable for my very unusual use case. 

    I will try and avoid explaining too many of the technical details as to why I need to do these things, and just ask you to trust me when I say:  I am a microtonalist and there is no more efficient method or workaround to do what I need with the libraries I want to use, as absurd as my needs sound.

    In short, I require sometimes up to 100 clones of the same instrument to make "one instrument". Each track they are loaded on in my DAW requires specific channel routings etc. This means creating the first track and duplicating it X times is not an option. Which in turn means change of instrument choice or settings is a big task - as I must do it on the first track and copy that instance to all the other tracks, replacing the exisiting instances (or saving it as a preset to load on each and every one). 

    Thankfully, I have found a handful of lifesaving scripts in Reaper DAW - copy fx bin (where the instrument sits), paste fx bin to multiple selected tracks (replace existing), and, the icing on the cake, a script which synchonizes all the parameters between plugins on selected tracks so that knob adjustments on the first one are syncd across all tracks. This has enabled changes of instrument and creative choices to be things I can actually explore without spending an hour or more changing settings to create a new track template. 

    Problem #1 - RAM usage. A single instance of Kontakt uses a lot of RAM in itself. I can max my laptops 16GB just loading the up to 100 blank/purged instances required for a single instrument. 

    Problem #2 - It would be extremely more efficient to use Kontakts ability to load 64 instances of the instrument internally. However, Kontakt can't automate cloning many of the same instrument like Reaper can. Nor can it sync all their controls in an instant. 

    The solution - Remote computer farms to hold the Kontakt instances. I have a powerful desktop that could be used for a start. This should be all I need. (Yes I could use the desktop instead of my laptop and not need VEP , but I'd rather use the laptop as my master for now). So assuming my desktop or extra farm computers can power hundreds of Kontakt instances so that I can use multiple instruments at a time, the question is;

    Will VEP enable the workflow that I have discovered with Reaper scripts? Can I host Kontakt on a VEP track, choose and tweak an instrument, and then clone that instrument quickly across 100 tracks each with their own channel settings ready and waiting? This part is essential. 

    The icing on the cake would be if I were able to sync all their controls as my Reaper script allows. Yes, if they all share the same CCs then this is already achieved when using hardware controllers of course - but I would like to be able to tweak any unmapped control on the master plugin at will and have the slaves follow.

    So are these things possible? If not, it would be more than worth it for me to sort out interfacing with a mass of MIDI send and ADAT return cables instead (does anyone have suggestions of good MIDI interfaces with a bunch of ports?)

    Thanks so much for bearing with me :)