Topic: Latest free version of Cantabile supports 4 keyboard splits well
I'm not affiliated with this company, but I've been using this program and like it. If I'm crossing a line I shouldn't by posting this, I hope the moderators will feel free to delete this message.
Last week, the developer of Cantabile released the latest version of Cantabile lite (the free version) and Cantabile full ($25). See: http://www.toptensoftware.com/cantabile/
The free version supports four keyboard splits, so you can open four instances of Pianoteq (or anything else, such as 3 instances of Pianoteq and a reverb vst, etc) with each instance assigned to its own split. You can have the interface for all four instances open at once, which crowds my screen a bit, and can make it hard to recall which instance is set to which split, or collapse whichever ones that you want. The full version supports as many instances as you want to split across the keyboard. You could presumably have an instance of Pianoteq on every key, if you would like to go quietly mad.
The newest version lets you set the instances so that while the notes are split wherever you want, the sustain pedal and other midi controls work consistently across the entire keyboard. (Earlier versions wouldn't let you do this, so only the first split let you use the sustain pedal.)
It also lets you save presets, of course, so you can name something "Pianoteq 4-way split" and call it up very fast. Saves the last preset you used as the default, too, so if you usually work with one set, or are spending the next few weeks setting up an instance of Pianoteq on every key, it's loaded as soon as you start the program. Will take you ten minutes to set up the splits the first time, but once you've done that, you just open the program and all of the instances are loaded, and quickly.
Includes a midi recorder\player and a wave file recorder on the main interface.
You can also create racks, sets of instruments\effects and turn them on or off fast. (The free version has only two racks, with two instruments for each rack. You therefore have to devote the entire program to just Pianoteq for a 4 way split, with two splits in each rack. Simple, actually.)
Very simple looking, but does a lot, in other words. The developer was quick to answer questions, too. In fact, unless he was already working on the improvement, I think he added the pedal support for all of the splits within two days of my e-mailing him saying it was needed.
That said, I'm curious about other programs. A short time ago, I posted a request for information about what programs other people were using to load more than one instance of PianoTeq and got a few lists of programs. Can people make a few notes here in this thread to indicate the advantages of the ones they use?
