Carla Patchbay VST with multi-output SF2

All your LV2 and LADSPA goodness and more.

Moderators: MattKingUSA, khz

Post Reply
PatS
Established Member
Posts: 68
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:57 pm
Location: Hessen, Germany
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 1 time

Carla Patchbay VST with multi-output SF2

Post by PatS »

I just noticed that when I use Carla-Patchbay16 (as a VST plugin) and then load an SF2 soundfont with multiple outputs, the SF2 only shows as having a 2-channel output.
This doesn't happen when I:
Use Carla-Patchbay16 standalone
or
load any other type of plugin (VST, LV2) with multiple outputs.

Is there a setting somewhere I need to make? Or is this a (normal) limitation of Carla+SF2 ?
Thanks!
User avatar
Mr. Lumbergh
Established Member
Posts: 34
Joined: Thu Feb 20, 2020 10:44 pm

Re: Carla Patchbay VST with multi-output SF2

Post by Mr. Lumbergh »

I believe that SF2 itself only supports stereo, so there are only two channels of output available.
I'm going to need you to go ahead, and come in on Sunday, too.
PatS
Established Member
Posts: 68
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:57 pm
Location: Hessen, Germany
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Carla Patchbay VST with multi-output SF2

Post by PatS »

That would have been my guess if I had not seen Carla-Patchbay (standalone) show me multiple outputs of certain sf2's. In fact when adding a plugin in Carla (format: Sound Kits), almost every sf2 is listed both as standard (2 outs) as well as a 16-outputs version. Presumably a nice feature of Carla.
But even with those 16/32 outputs per sf2 showing, Carla-Patchbay itself only has 2 outputs. So multichannel routing would only be possible within this Carla instance. (Carla standalone this is, as opposed to Carla-Patchbay16 as VST in my DAW, see below)
The next issue arising would be how to configure/assign those multiple outputs to the sounds of the sf2. I wouldn't know how to do that.

The reason I'm asking all this is my idea of being able to use sf2 drum kits and do multitrack drum mixing. But maybe that's not the best idea anyway.
Never mind though. I have resorted to loading multiple instances of Carla (one per track) in my DAW (Reaper). Luckily, CPU load is only slightly higher this way than having multiple sf2's within one instance of Carla.
I'll see how far this gets me.
Post Reply