Visual-based plugin connections
Visual-based plugin connections
Connect plugins together any way you wish without the need to create channel strips, busses, sends and inserts
Patch Persist™
Switch from one rackspace to another while holding keys or your sustain pedal. The notes from the old rackspace will continue to sound while new notes you play will use the plugins in the new rackspace. Allows seamless transitions from one song to the next or from one part of a song to another.
Glitchless switching
Create an arbitrary number of setups with your chosen plugins connected anyway you want and then switch from one to another without any audio glitches
Predictive loading™
When predictive loading is enabled, instead of loading your entire show, we load pieces of it in anticipation of upcoming use. This is done in the background with no impact on audio so you can still switch instantaneously to the next rackspace.
Predictive loading reduces significantly both your RAM usage and CPU utilization. It is really suited for live musicians using a large number of plugins + samples but are mostly following a set list.
Audio File Player
A plugin that supports playback of AIF, FLAC, MP3, OGG and WAV file formats. Up to 8 simultaneous tracks. Suitable for playing backing tracks and or for looping short samples with seamless switching from one track to another while maintaining the playhead. Each track can have its own output channel allowing individual post-processing if needed.
Widget groups
Control multiple parameters by assigning individual widgets to each parameter and then group the widgets so that turning any of them makes them all turn. Use a “master” widget to control multiple sub-widgets. Each widget has its own scaling so it’s simply to control the range of each parameter separately. Adjusting the cutoff frequency of multiple synths in one go is easy as is the ability to crossfade volumes or effects.
Rackspace variations
No need to duplicate rackspaces just to get minor changes to your sounds. Variations provide instant recall of modified sounds even while audio is still playing.
MIDI Clock Sync
Gig Performer can sync to an external MIDI clock source such as a DAW, Maschine or a keyboard that can generate MIDI clock events. Any time dependent plugins running in Gig Performer (echo, delay, drum sequences) will stay in perfect synchronization with your external source.
Partial saving
Instead of an all or nothing approach, if you’re tweaking multiple rackspaces, you can choose to just save some of them rather than saving everything in one go. That way, if you’re done with certain rackspaces you can save them but still leave others unsaved in case you decide you don’t want to keep the changes you’ve made.
Multi-instance support
Create multiple independent running instances of Gig Performer® for different members of the band or for when you want to separately control some plugins while leaving others alone.
Share/modify gig files on any computer
Any gig file can be opened on another system (Windows or OS X). Missing plugins will be handled by our internal “Chameleon” plugin that mimics all properties of the original plugin (except the actual processing) allowing you to modify the gig file, save it and re-open it on a computer that does have all needed plugins.
If the current system does not have enough audio inputs or outputs, Gig Performer® will create “Virtual channels” that will produce no input or output, but will allow you to change the connections, save the gig and later reopen it with the original device.
Advanced MIDI functionality
Control your rackspaces with MIDI commands, switch variations or toggle the tuner view. Remap or block MIDI channels, transpose notes automatically and restrict notes ranges to create keyboard splits and layers.
Automatic MIDI device detection
Connect or disconnect USB or virtual MIDI devices on the fly. Gig Performer® will detect new devices automatically and make them available.
Performer and Connection views
Easily switch between the front performer view where you can see your controls and the connections view where you insert and connect your plugins together.
Bypass plugins
Deactivate any plugin any time you need. Great for allowing or bypassing effects plugins on the fly.
MIDI and OSC controllable widgets
Widgets are controls such as knobs, buttons, labels, sliders and meters that can control and monitor plugin parameters. Widgets can scale values giving you the full motion of the physical knob, slider or expression pedal while restricting the actual parameter range. Learn mode makes it easy to assign a MIDI control to a widget and to assign a widget to a plugin parameter.
OSC support
Control Gig Performer® remotely using OSC-based apps such as Lemur and TouchOSC.
Use applications like MaxMSP or Bidule to develop sophisticated algorithms for interactive control with Gig Performer managing your audio flawlessly
Cross platform support
Gig Performer® is available for both OS X and Windows. Gigs created on one platform will run unchanged on the other platform (assuming the required plugins are available).
Built-in full screen guitar tuner
Quickly tune your guitar visually by flipping to a full screen view that lets you easily see what adjustments are needed.
Usability and workflow
We understand deeply what’s needed at creation time, during rehearsals with others and during an actual show and have targeted our feature set to address both.
Custom panel and widgets for each rackspace.
Define custom performer views for each song with just the controls (knobs, sliders, buttons etc) required. No need to clutter your display with controls that aren’t actually needed.
LEDs show activity on each channel
Diagnose problems on stage very quickly. It’s easy to see that audio is coming in (or not) and going out (or not) on the appropriate channels.
Incoming MIDI is also highlighted so you can easily tell if an external device stops working.
Send program changes to external MIDI devices automatically
When you change from one rackspace to another, each of your external MIDI devices (keyboard and rackmount synths, drum machines, etc) can be sent the desired Program Change messages automatically so they’re ready for use.
Scaling curves allow you to control the shape of the output of a widget or convert an incoming note velocity to a new velocity. Various predefined curves are available and they can be tweaked as necessary. You can also just draw your own curve as well to achieve the effect you require.
Create a sound by placing and interconnecting your desired plugins, such as a synth, some effects and perhaps a mixer. Select them all and then save the selection as a named favorite. The favorite will subsequently show up in all plugin insert menus, making it easy for you to recreate that configuration whenever you need it again. This feature is also very powerful for creating your needed sounds on your studio computer and then transferring them to your touring laptop.
Parameters you select in an open plugin are captured into the Probabilistic Sound Designer dialog window. When you click Randomize, you're only adjusting those selected parameters. Each entry in the PSD dialog has a curve but unlike widgets where the curve controls scaling, in the PSD the curves are used to define the probability of particular values being selected. Make sure the filter cutoff never gets too slow so as to block all sound. Perhaps adjust the max range of the VCA attack parameter so that the sound doesn't have too much delay. Constrain the octave ranges of the oscillators, perhaps ensuring that 1/3rd of the time we select 8' and 2/3rds of the time we select 4'. The possibilities are endless.
Numerous new widgets are included in Gig Performer - a new sustain pedal, plastic knobs, drum pads and more colored sliders. Shapes can be colored with different borders and fill colors and morphed from rectangular to circular. Your creativity is now the limit to creating fabulous front panels in Gig Performer.
Some plugins support a large number of outputs and they depend on the traditional channel strip to control how many ports should be available. When you only need a stereo pair, it is convenient not to have a large horizontal block. In Gig Performer, the number of available ports is controlled by the channel count override, which can be applied to individual plugins and will be remembered when the gigfile is reloaded or if the plugin is saved as a favorite.
Rather than a single audio length tail, Gig Performer 4 gives you the ability to control input muting and output fading separately. Input muting controls how much time it takes for audio input to be silenced when you leave the rackspace. Output fading controls how much time will be taken for audio to fade out when you leave the rackspace.
Instead of searching through menus of perhaps hundreds of plugins (you know who you are!), the Quick Plugin Finder makes it easy to find the plugin you need by simply typing partial strings. For example, as shown here, to find the Modartt Pianoteq 7 plugins, it's enough to type pia mod 7 (in any order, by the way) to restrict the list of available plugins to those matching your query. The Quick Plugin Finder also knows about manufacturers, presets and favorites.
Any entry field can be changed by either dragging your mouse (or finger) up or down, or by using the large popup touchpad where you can just tap on the squares to enter a value. The large popup keypad also does validation so you can't enter an invalid value. You can also just tap the BPM field to pop up a larger view where you can quickly change tempo, tranpose, trigger Tap Tempo and enable Ableton Link, the last allowing you to synchronize Gig Performer with any other application that also supports Ableton Link.
The tuner view makes it easy for guitarists to quickly check and adjust their tuning. You can toggle into the tuner view from any other view and toggle right back as soon as you're done. All output will be silenced automatically while you're in tuning mode. You can adjust the concert reference pitch from its default of 440 Hz to suit your own needs. The tuner view fills the entire screen so you can easily see it from a distance.