Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Forte 4 User Manual
Forte 4 User Manual
All rights reserved. No parts of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic, or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems - without the
written permission of the publisher.
Products that are referred to in this document may be either trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the
respective owners. The publisher and the author make no claim to these trademarks.
While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, the publisher and the author assume no
responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of information contained in this
document or from the use of programs and source code that may accompany it. In no event shall the publisher and
the author be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage caused or alleged to have been caused
directly or indirectly by this document.
Contents 5
Table of Contents
Foreword 0
Part II Introduction 11
1 What...................................................................................................................................
is Forte? 11
2 System
...................................................................................................................................
Requirements 13
3 What's
...................................................................................................................................
new in Forte 4 13
Rack File Com..........................................................................................................................................................
patibility w ith Forte 3 17
4 Where
...................................................................................................................................
to go for Help 18
Part IV Tutorials 23
1 Tutorial
...................................................................................................................................
#1: Adding a Plugin and Creating Scenes 23
2 Tutorial
...................................................................................................................................
#2: Audio Routing and Mixing 25
3 Tutorial
...................................................................................................................................
#3: MIDI Routing and Filtering on a Plugin 26
4 Tutorial
...................................................................................................................................
#4: Global MIDI Automation 28
5 Tutorial
...................................................................................................................................
#5: Preparing a Rack for Performance 29
5
6 Forte 4 User Manual
2 Plugin
...................................................................................................................................
Console 39
MIDI Program..........................................................................................................................................................
Map 44
MIDI Routing .......................................................................................................................................................... 45
Scene Com m..........................................................................................................................................................
ands 46
3 Audio...................................................................................................................................
Input and Mix 47
4 Insert...................................................................................................................................
Effects 48
Insert Manager
.......................................................................................................................................................... 50
Part X SceneView 66
1 Image...................................................................................................................................
Cues and Cue Notes 69
2 Set Browser
................................................................................................................................... 70
3 Styling
...................................................................................................................................
Scene View 2 with Stylesheets 71
7
8 Forte 4 User Manual
1 Plugin
...................................................................................................................................
Compatibility Fixes (DeviceCompatibility.xml) 120
2 Safe...................................................................................................................................
Mode 121
3 Moving
...................................................................................................................................
From 32 bit to 64 bit Forte (VST Plugins) 122
4 OPTIONS.INI
...................................................................................................................................
File 122
5 Log ...................................................................................................................................
File 124
Index 0
If you do not understand or accept these terms, or your local regulations prohibit
“after sale” license agreements or limited disclaimers, you must cease and desist using
this product immediately. Copyright laws supersede all local regulations.
This license is a contract between you, the end-user of this software, hereinafter
referred to as “THE USER”, and BRAINSPAWN, hereinafter referred to as the
“AUTHOR(S)”, and is governed under the laws of the State of Texas.
Copyright
This product (in whole or in part, including all files, data, and documentation, from here
on referred to as PRODUCT) is © Copyright 2001 BRAINSPAWN, all rights reserved, and
is protected by the United States copyright laws, international treaties and all other
applicable national or international laws. This PRODUCT may not, in whole or in part,
be copied, photocopied, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium or machine
readable form, without prior consent in writing, from the AUTHOR(S) and according to
all applicable laws. The sole owner of this PRODUCT is the AUTHOR(S).
No Warranty
The AUTHOR(S) provides absolutely no warranty. The software and information are
provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including, but
not limited to, any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular
purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and usefulness of the software and information
is with THE USER. Should the information prove to be incorrect and/or software
not work as expected, THE USER assumes the cost of all necessary servicing, repair
or correction.
In no event will the AUTHOR(S) be liable to THE USER for any damages, any lost profits,
lost monies, or other special, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use or inability to use this software and/or information (including but not limited to
loss of data or data being rendered inaccurate or losses sustained by third parties),
even if THE USER has advised us of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim
by any other party.
Restrictions
THE USER may not use, copy, modify, translate, or transfer the PRODUCT or any copy
except as expressly defined in this agreement. THE USER may not attempt to unlock or
bypass any copy-protection or authentication algorithm utilized by this PRODUCT. THE
USER may not remove or modify any copyright notice, nor any “about” dialog or the
Operating license
THE USER has the non-exclusive right to use the PRODUCT only by a single person, on
a single computer at a time. If the PRODUCT permits, THE USER may physically transfer
the PRODUCT from one computer to another, provided that the PRODUCT is used only
by a single person, on a single computer at a time. In group projects where multiple
persons will use the PRODUCT, each member of the group must purchase an individual
license. Use over a local area network (within the same locale) is permitted provided
that the PRODUCT is used only by a single person, on a single computer at a time.
Evaluation
THE USER has the right to evaluate this PRODUCT for the period of 30 days, provided
that terms of Operating license are compiled with, and that the PRODUCT is not used
for profit, including but not limited to creating patch libraries and sounds for any
pieces THE USER are profiting from. Should THE USER continue use of the PRODUCT
after your evaluation period expires, or use it for any profit, THE USER shall pay the
registration fee.
The PRODUCT may be transferred to another party. To perform such a transfer, THE
USER must notify the AUTHOR(S) in writing of the transfer. The letter must include:
Terms
This license is effective until terminated. THE USER may terminate it by destroying the
complete PRODUCT and all copies thereof. This license will also terminate if THE USER
fails to comply with any terms or conditions of this agreement. THE USER agrees upon
such termination to destroy all copies of the software and of the documentation, or
return them to the AUTHOR(S) for disposal.
Redistribution
THE USER are permitted to distribute the evaluation shareware package of this
PRODUCT provided that the a) the package is not modified in any way, and b) that no
profit is earned from such redistribution. However, THE USER can charge reasonable
fees to cover costs of media, packaging, shipping, handling, electronic transmission
and storage, and other costs impacting THE USER in the process of such distribution.
2 Introduction
Forte was conceived in 2001 for the simple reason that there existed no VST host that
made it easy to play music. There are many VST hosts around, but all of them are
designed as studio tools to enable music production. They have tracks, and timelines, and
tempos and key change markers, and MIDI and audio editing. These are all great (and we
love these programs) but they are "Swiss Army Knives" with a million gadgets. Getting to
the point of actually being able to play music on a MIDI keyboard through a VST plugin is
a many-step process with these tools. What we wanted when we started Forte was a
single purpose tool: something to just play VSTs.
Forte exists to turn the experience of playing VSTs into something as simple as sitting
down at a piano (and just as fun.) Forte has existed on the market for 9 years now (!)
Our emphasis is on stability for performance, not trying to get to the next major revision
out as fast as possible.
To get started with Forte if you don't have any VST plugins, try downloading the free mda
Piano at http://mda.smartelectronix.com/synths.htm
Simplicity
As mentioned above, Forte is a single tasker. All of its features are in support of playing
VSTs. There's no recording, playback, sequencing, timelines, tracks or any of that. There
are, however, some unique features for playing live.
Forte can be configured to automatically start when you boot Windows. It can also be
configured to automatically load a rack of VSTs, meaning that you can plug in your PC,
hook up MIDI and audio cables, and when you turn it on, it will boot automatically and be
Now imagine that with about one hundred scenes. It works. Professional musicians have
built big rigs with a dozen VSTs and many scenes, and they play through that set every
night.
Stability
Bringing a computer on stage seems like high-risk behavior but it is the way of the future.
Many musicians are doing it now and more all the time. If you choose to use VSTs for
performance, wouldn't it be nice to have some tools built into the host to help you
become comfortable with your rig's reliability? Forte has two major features designed to
help you ring out a performance system. First, it has a "stress test" that simulates you
playing on stage. If you load your rack of VST plugins into Forte and start the stress
test, it will jam huge amounts of MIDI down the plugins' throats while thrashing between
scenes. The intensity levels are adjustable, but the point is that its doing what you would
be doing on stage but much more aggressively. Its trying to punish the VSTs and see if
they break. Not all VSTs are up to the task, so its good to know up front!
Also, if you find a particular rack of VSTs to be reliable, you can preserve a "manifest"
containing the versions of all the VSTs, the OS libraries, the audio drivers, and critical
Forte settings. Later, if you do encounter problems, you can compare this manifest
against your current one and look for any changes in your PC configuration.
So in summary, Forte exists to play VSTs as opposed to compose or produce with them.
We've had years to polish Forte and many musicians are using it professionally every
night.
Please make sure you keep a backup copy of your rack file in Forte 3 format.
Details:
Tempo:
BPM is ALWAYS per scene
MIDI Sync Enable/Disable is per scene
MIDI Automation is NEVER per scene (it is always global to the rack)
MIDI Sync Port is GLOBAL per rack
Tempo BPM is compatible with Forte 3, but sync and automation are not – be sure to check and
adjust when loading a Forte 3 rack
Transport:
Play state is ALWAYS per scene
MIDI Automation is NEVER per scene (it is always global to the rack)
NEW: Starting Bar:Beat per scene
NEW: Rewind to starting Bar:Beat on transport change. On or Off
NEW: Time Signature per scene
VST plugins now honor start time and rewind settings (e.g. EnergyXT)
Play state is compatible with F3, but automation is not - check be sure to check and adjust when
loading a Forte 3 rack
SceneView
The original SceneView in Forte 2 has been removed. What was called SceneView2 in Forte 3 is
now just SceneView.
Dynamic Transpose
New “+” and “-“ buttons on the bottom of SceneView enable you to dynamically transpose the
entire set up or down in half-steps. This transpose setting is not saved. Instead it is intended to
be a quick way to change keys. Click the transpose value button quickly to reset transpose to 0.
Other
The “Menu” button now enables you to quickly select the set list.
The SceneView Options now enable you to show SceneView on a 2nd monitor.
Rack Manager
The Scenes and Setlists Manager in Forte 3 has been expanded to become the “Rack Manager” and
includes the Scene and Set Manager, MIDI Automation, and the Rack Editor.
A “Hide” button in the Song Pool hides the Song Pool area
Upon pressing “OK” to exit Rack Manager, the current scene is re-applied to make sure changes
are accurately reflected.
MIDI Automation
The MIDI Automation manager is completely redesigned and all MIDI automation capabilities are
now configurable through this interface. These automation settings are global to the entire rack
file, not per-scene settings. Automation options include:
Scene Change
Scene/Song Browse
Transpose, Tempo, and Transport
Quick Access Scenes
Bus Volume
In addition, sets of MIDI automation may be saved as a preset and recalled using the Presets on
the left side of the display.
MIDI Sync port and speed are now configurable from this display.
There is also a MIDI automation now defined to update the current scene.
Rack Editor
This replaces the Forte 3 rack editor (in the Tools menu) and contains more configuration options,
including:
Per-scene Bus Volume
Per-scene Instrument Mute
Per-scene per-VST-output Bus routing and volume
Set/Song/Scene Browser
Forte 4 contains a new full-screen Scene/Song browser which enables you to quickly switch to
other parts of a set list or even insert new scenes or songs dynamically into a set.
Additionally, these new features are usable via MIDI automation. See the MIDI automation tab in
rack manager to open the scene browser, scroll through items, and select or cancel all via MIDI.
You man now save and load instrument plugin FXP/FXB files from the right context menu without
opening the plugin GUI.
Program Settings 103 now has an option to enable or disable Touch Mode scrolling in SceneView 66 and
Set Browser 70 .
Plugin Support
Forte 4 contains better VST plugin scan diagnostics, and also supports zero-output VST plugins (for
use as MIDI processors using Virtual MIDI Input).
jBridge
jBridge support has been changed significantly from Forte 3.
Forte 4 has a checkbox option in Plugin Manager to "Automatically use jBridge if needed." If
checked, when Forte scans for VST plugins and encounters a DLL file it cannot load using normal
means, it will attempt to load it using jBridge. If this is successful, Forte will note that it is a
bridged plugin of the alternate bit width, but will treat it exactly as if it had been scanned in the
normal way.
When a bridged plugin is loaded (either during rack creation or rack load) Forte will load it using
jBridge.
Forte 3 had a checkbox in Plugin Manager to "Enable jBridge (if installed)" which behaved
differently than Forte 4. If checked, the Forte 3 Plugin Manager would create jBridged versions of
every VST it scanned. These were considered different plugins, were listed separately, and you
could use either one. However, this created some usage difficulties and that option is now
hidden in Forte 4. If you wish to use this behavior with Forte 4, you must manually edit the
OPTIONS.INI file. See OPTIONS.INI for details.
An additional complexity arises when both 32 and 64 bit versions of the same plugin are in the
Forte 4 scan path. Since they both are identified as the same plugin, which becomes the "official"
plugin? Forte removes conflicts by marking one or the other as "Ignored". The policy has two
stages of priority:
The newer version of a plugin is the "official" plugin and the older one is marked as an older
revision and ignored, regardless of 32 or 64 bit compatibility.
If the plugins are of the same version, the one matching the bit width of Forte (e.g. 64 bit plugins
on 64 bit Forte) is made the "official" plugin and the other is marked ignored with an explanatory
note.
As far as we know, there are no “breaking” changes. If you load a Forte 3 rack in Forte 4
and resave it, it should work as it always did on Forte 3. However, using new features in
Forte 4 will obviously not work when reloaded in Forte 3.
Use backups!
3.1 Installer
The Forte installer is a single installer package that can install Forte in either 32 bit or 64
bit mode, and run in Trial Mode (no license), Performer mode, or Producer mode.
3.2 Enabling Forte with a Registration User Name and License Key
The first time you run Forte after installation, or if you have not yet provided a user name
and license key, Forte will run in Trial mode. In Trial mode Forte will prompt you for
license information and exit after 30 minutes if you choose to not supply it.
If you have received user registration information, enter it here and press OK. This will
activate Forte in either Performer or Producer mode.
You may access this screen again from the Tools menu by choosing Tools|Update or Enter
User Registration Information. You may press "Remove" to remove any current registration
information.
If you choose to run Forte in Trial mode, you will see the following message.
Configuration Audio Options: 1st you will be asked to select the audio I/O device(s)
you wish to use. See Audio Options 108 for details. This decision is changeable later by
selecting Program Settings 103 .
Find Plugins: 2nd you will be notified that Forte has not found any plugins. Press OK to
start the Plugin Manager to configuration the location of your plugins and scan them into
Forte for use. See Plugin Manager 33 for more details. For now, you will be presented
with the VST Scan Folders 35 tab. Add the location(s) of your VST plugins and press
"Find my VST Plugins..." to continue.
This may take several minutes to complete, but after the scan the plugins will be
At the end of the scan, the VST Plugins tab 36 will be visible showing the found VST
plugins. Press Close to continue.
Press the button labeled "+BUS" to show a menu of available audio outputs. You may
adjust this using Options|Program Settings 103 and selecting the Audio Options 108
category.
4 Tutorials
18
Install Forte
20
First Time Setup
31
Now Forte is running and you can see the Forte Control Module with its buttons for
loading and saving rack files, adding instruments, etc.
Note the Audio button on the right side of the Control Module is glowing red. This
indicates that audio is now streaming to your audio output device. Press the Audio button
to stop or restart audio streaming.
Tip: You can also add a VST effect plugin and Forte will prompt you to select and audio
input channel to feed it.
Advanced Topics
Use Scene Commands 46 to control what happens to each plugin as a scene is selected
for use
Use Rehearsal Mode 66 during Rack editing to avoid accidentally switching scenes and
losing changes
Organize Scenes into Songs and Setlists 60
Add Insert Effects 48 to instrument and bus modules
Click the bus name on the instrument module to see a bus menu (e.g. "Bus 1" above).
Select a bus from the menu to route the audio to the bus.
Each bus has an audio output (e.g. "LineOut 1 - LineOut 2" above), which is either a mono
or stereo channel of the audio hardware. Click on the audio output label on the bus to
see an audio output menu. Select an audio output from the menu to route the audio to
the audio output.
Tip: With ASIO drivers, only one audio hardware device can be used at a time. The
choice of audio device is determined by the 1st chosen audio output on a bus (in other
words, before any buses exist, no audio hardware is enabled.) When you add an
instrument, if there is no bus already, a new one is created with the default audio
hardware. If you wish to use another ASIO device instead, create the bus first by
pressing +BUS on the empty rack and determine the audio hardware before you add any
instruments.
Advanced Topics
Each instrument's audio chain starts with an audio input 47 (by default "no input") -
audio from the input is routed through the instrument. You can set up an instrument to
stream from the audio input device
Adjust audio mix for multi-output plugins (each output individually) - see the Audio Mix
47
tab of the plugin console.
Audio mix can be automated either by MIDI Automation 78 (responding the MIDI input)
or a Control Surface 85
Bus mix can be adjusted using the SceneView 66 mixer
All MIDI routing is per-scene and can change for each scene
Press the arrow next to the instrument name and select the MIDI Routing tab:
Advanced Topics
51
Full discussion of MIDI Filtering and Automation
Many functions of a rack file can be controlled remotely by MIDI Automation 78 , including:
Advanced Topics
Full discussion MIDI Automation 78
Your computer:
o Is it reliable?
o Does it boot reliably?
o Is it free of extraneous software and especially anything that could slow the computer
down.
Your audio I/O device:
o Does the audio driver load every time the computer boots without issues?
o Are you able to play for extended periods of time without audio glitches?
Your MIDI I/O device:
o Is it reliable?
o If you you have more than one MIDI I/O device, do they come up in with consistent
well-known port names? Port names like "USB MIDI In" is not helpful.
Your audio plugins:
o Can they withstand hours of audio streaming without issues (e.g. memory leaks,
crashes, other bugs)
Your rack file
o Are your scene changes responsive (hint: slow scene changes are always slow
To help with these things, Forte includes several important tools you should be using to
build confidence in your rig. See Confidence Building Tools 100 for more information.
MIDI Input/Output Ports: MIDI messages from external sources enter Forte from MIDI
input ports. MIDI Input ports may be virtual input ports created by virtual MIDI output.
See MIDI Input and Output Ports 113 for details on how to configure ports. Only the EHCo
plugin 92 can output MIDI messages to physical MIDI output ports.
MIDI Filters: Each plugin has a separate MIDI filter for each MIDI input port. See Plugin
MIDI Filtering and Automation 51 for details on how to set up MIDI filters.
Audio Input: Each instrument module 32 can have a selected audio input 47
mono or
stereo channel feeding the instrument plugin.
31
Audio Output: Each bus module can be assigned to a selected audio output mono or
stereo channel.
AUDIO button (right): Turn rack power on or off. When off, Forte does not consume
CPU power for audio processing and closes the audio outputs.
LOAD/SAVE buttons: Load and save racks.
+INST button: Add a new instrument module.
+BUS button: Add a new bus
NEW SCENE button: Create a new scene
UPDATE SCENE button: Update an existing scene
Create and manage scenes.
Go to the next or previous scene
Set Tempo
Set Transport Play/Stop
View CPU utilization.
PANIC button: MIDI Panic.
View audio levels going into the audio output device (post bus effects) with the Audio
Meter.
Change the volume of all audio routed to the bus with the bus volume fader (post bus
effects).
Add, remove or reorder VST and DirectX audio effects.
Display the console for each VST and DirectX audio effect.
Select an audio output device.
Each bus is assigned to a single mono or stereo audio output and may share hardware
outputs. You may rename buses by clicking on the “Bus Name” field and entering a new
name. The audio meter displays peak level. Red is clipping level. To correct for overdriven
outputs you may:
Adjust the bus volume fader. This affects every module feeding the bus.
Adjust audio output level at the instrument or audio effect console. Many instruments
and audio effects have output level controls.
Adjust audio output level using MIDI input. Many instruments respond to MIDI controller
7 (volume).
Change the global volume trim in Program Settings 108 Audio Options.
The audio meter also provides an indication of audio dropouts. When an output is
incapable of providing enough audio to the sound card, it will notify you by driving the
meter to bright red. If no sound is being produced but the meter intermittently shows a
spike, check to make sure you are not running too many modules and buses.
Instrument modules may contain VST and DirectX audio effects which are applied to that
module only. The output of a module goes to one output bus. The bus routing for a
module can be changed at any time by clicking on the bus assignment display.
6.5 SceneView
See SceneView 66
Press the RACK EDITOR button to open the rack editor. The rack editor has three tabs:
Rack 73
Setlist and Scenes 75
78
Global MIDI Automation
7 Using Plugins
Access the plugin manager either from the program start menu "Manage VST Plugins" or
from Forte's Tools|Manage VST Plugins... menu item.
When exiting the plugin manager, Forte will immediately rebuild its plugin list to reflect
changes made in the plugin manager.
The VST Scan Folders tab enables you to add folders to scan for VST plugins. You may
add or remove folders from the list and may start scanning.
This is the list of discovered VST plugins. It includes the plugin name, the plugin vendor,
what type of plugin it is, and the DLL pathname.
You may select one or more plugins and Remove or Ignore the DLLs that host these
plugins. Ignored plugins will go on the Ignored VST Files List 38 as "user ignored".
Forte includes support for jBridge to support 32 bit VST plugins within 64 bit Forte and
vice versa. jBridge is a separate product not affiliated with Brainspawn. Without a bridge
like this, Forte can only load plugins that match the "bit-width" of Forte (e.g. 64 bit Forte
cannot load a 32 bit VST plugin).
jBridge works by interposing itself between Forte and VST plugins and operating on the
plugin's behalf. Forte interacts with jBridge while presenting the user with a view of the
plugin itself. jBridge handles making this transparent. The result is that 64 bit Forte can
use 64 bit jBridge to host a 32 bit VST plugin.
Forte has a checkbox option in Plugin Manager to "Automatically use jBridge if needed."
If checked, when Forte scans for VST plugins and encounters a DLL file it cannot load
using normal means, it will attempt to load it using jBridge. If this is successful, Forte will
note that it is a bridged plugin of the alternate bit width, but will treat it exactly as if it
had been scanned in the normal way.
When a bridged plugin is loaded (either during rack creation or rack load) Forte will load it
using jBridge.
Forte 3 had a checkbox in Plugin Manager to "Enable jBridge (if installed)" which
behaved differently than Forte 4. If checked, the Forte 3 Plugin Manager would create
jBridged versions of every VST it scanned. These were considered different plugins, were
listed separately, and you could use either one. However, this created some usage
difficulties and that option is now hidden in Forte 4. If you wish to use this behavior with
Forte 4, you must manually edit the OPTIONS.INI file. See OPTIONS.INI 122 for details.
An additional complexity arises when both 32 and 64 bit versions of the same plugin are in
the Forte 4 scan path. Since they both are identified as the same plugin, which becomes
the "official" plugin? Forte removes conflicts by marking one or the other as "Ignored".
The policy has two stages of priority:
1. The newer version of a plugin is the "official" plugin and the older one is marked as an
older revision and ignored, regardless of 32 or 64 bit compatibility.
2. If the plugins are of the same version, the one matching the bit width of Forte (e.g. 64
bit plugins on 64 bit Forte) is made the "official" plugin and the other is marked ignored
with an explanatory note.
This tab displays the list of DLL files that were skipped during the VST scan and displays
the reason for rejection. You may select one or more DLL files and Remove them from the
list, in which case the next scan will attemp to rescan these DLLs. You may also press
Rescan to immediately rescan any selected DLLs for inclusion in the plugin list.
If the Plugin Manager crashes when trying to enumerate a VST plugin, it will log the
results in this list. You may extract extra details, remove it from the list, or rescan it
immediately.
Preset Manager
Forte features easy access to different preset sounds on an instrument. These sounds
can be either built into the instrument (similar to ROM presets on hardware sound
modules), or created and stored by the user (similar to RAM presets on hardware sound
modules.) Regardless of the type of preset, Forte always displays presets in an easy-to-
find alphabetical format broken into sub-menus. A user-defined preset has a “user” icon
next to the name whereas ROM presets have a “chip” icon.
Selecting a Preset
Click the preset name bar and select the preset from the Favorites submenu, one of the
Presets submenus or the MRU (most recently used) list. Each of the Preset submenus
holds the available presets in alphabetical order.
Favorite Presets
You can designate a preset a “favorite” with easy access via the Favorites submenu by
right-clicking on the preset and selecting “Add to Favorites.” You can remove a favorite
by right-clicking the preset in the Favorites submenu and selecting “Remove from
Favorites.”
Preview Presets
Forte will automatically cycle through an instrument’s presets, pausing for 10 seconds on
each while you audition them. Press Continue to advance to the next preset before the 10
seconds is finished or Abort to stop previewing.
This preset is now available in the Presets submenus in alphabetical order and with “user”
icon next to it. User presets may be added to the Favorites list just like any other preset.
Load FXP/FXB: You may browse and load a standard VST FXP or FXB file into the plugin.
Save FXP/FXB: Save the state of the plugin in a standard VST FXP or FXB file.
This means, for example, if there are 3 entries in the remap table:
To add a remap entry, press [New]. To delete a remap entry, highlight the entry in the list
and press [Delete].
Do not set per-Scene plugin configuration data – when this is checked, data specific
to each scene is not loaded into this instrument. Instead the instrument is loaded once
with the configuration it held when the rack file was last saved and maintains that
configuration across all scene changes in the rack. This is selected any time a plugin is
loaded that appears on the scene skip list in Program Settings 110 .
Auto: Set plugin configuration if it is different from the previous scene – Forte
tracks the data sent to a plugin and this option will only send configuration data if it is
different than what was loaded by the previous scene. This can reduce scene change
times by avoiding unnecessary operations. Note that Forte cannot know if you have
manually changed the plugin’s configuration; the comparison is only done between the
data of the previous scene and the current scene.
Yes: Set plugin configuration when changing to this scene – load configuration
data into the instrument when changing to this scene
No: Do not set plugin configuration when changing to this scene – do not load
configuration data into the instrument when changing to this scene.
Resets
Send all notes off to the instrument – sends a note off for each playing note, plus the
MIDI “All Notes Off” command on each channel.
Send all sounds off to the instrument – sends MIDI “All Sounds Off” command on
each channel.
Reset all controllers – sends MIDI “Reset All Controllers” command on each channel.
Program Changes
This option enables you to send a program change to each MIDI channel. The menu has
an option called “Program Change…” that enables you to enter the bank and program
number manually. In the Enter Bank/Program dialog box, a button called “BankCalc”
enables you to enter the bank number in MSB/LSB format for your convenience.
You may select the mono or stereo audio input source and monitor the input levels. Select
“No Audio Input” from the input selection box to turn off audio input.
Although some instruments will process audio input, most will not. For this reason there is
a special module you can create from the add module menus called ‘brainspawn Audio
Input’. This module is a module without an instrument. In the Audio Input module, the
audio is sent directly from the input to the module’s insert effects.
WARNING! Be very careful when using audio inputs that you do not accidentally
enable an audio feedback loop! This may damage your audio equipment if volume
is too high.
VST and DirectX audio effects may be inserted into either modules or output buses.
To insert an effect, right-click on an audio effects patch point shown above and select
the DirectX effect from the pop-up menu.
To delete an effect, right-click on the effect you wish to remove and select “Remove
Audio Effect” on the pop-up menu.
You can use the up/down arrows on the right to view different effects in the chain.
By right-clicking and opening the insert menu, you may right click on an effect and add it
to your favorites, rename it or hide it.
Bypassing Effects
Effects may be bypassed either by clicking the bypass button in the instrument module or
bus or by unchecking the “Active” column in the Insert Manager. Effects are bypassed
independently for each scene, so you may use scene changes to switch effects in and out
of an instrument module or bus.
Also note that MIDI Program Change messages are never sent to insert plugins.
This is to reduce cases where multiple effects plugins are inadvertently changing sounds
when the user intents to change only the instrument.
You can automate audio effects with MIDI the same way you automate instruments.
Please refer to MIDI Filtering and Automation 51 for how to do this.
Insert Manager
The insert manager enables you to reorder, add, or remove insert effects plugins from the
instrument module.
Key Points:
Each plugin has a full set of MIDI Routing options
Each plugin's MIDI routing is independently configurable for each scene
Each MIDI input port can be either enabled or disabled. If enabled, each input channel can
be remapped and layered. In the above picture channel 6 is layered to channel 5 and
channel 6. Each MIDI event (e.g. notes) on channel 6 is duplicated and sent to the
instrument both on channel 5 and channel 6.
Right click a row in the To column to make changes to this mapping. Click the triangle icon
to expand or collapse portions of the channel display.
Right click the To column on the port row to enable or disable the entire port, disable all
its channels, reset channels to a 1-1 map (unity), or map all channels to channel 1.
For each MIDI input port and channel from/to pair you can independently configure:
What MIDI note ranges a instrument will respond to (splits and layers configuration)
How incoming MIDI notes will be transposed (after note range filtering)
How incoming MIDI continuous controller data is remapped to different controller
numbers.
The menu item “Full Reset” resets all port mappings and then applies the selected port/
channel. The menu item “Port Reset” only changes the port selected while leaving other
ports unaffected.
Copy/Paste enables you to copy the MIDI routing for one port to another
Copy to all ports on this plugin enables you to duplicate the configuration of one port to
all ports on this plugin only.
Copy port to all scenes copies the port configuration to all other scenes for this plugin
and this port
Press Save to save a configuration. This includes for each MIDI input:
Key Range
Transpose
Channel remap
Controller remap
Tip: Each MIDI Configuration file stores information about a single MIDI port. If you save
a file, it will reflect the configuration of the currently selected port (if a channel from/to
pair is selected beneath it, it will still save the parent port info.) When you load a MIDI
Configuration file, it is loaded into the current port. This makes it useful to save MIDI
Configuration files that are “device-specific” because devices are attached to ports.
There are for independent key range and transpose tabs, enabling you to do advanced
things like automatically playing a chord, or leaving dead spaces in the middle of a
keyboard.
You may change the upper and lower ranges a note at a time by clicking the up/down
arrow buttons for each. The MIDI keys that lie within the enabled range are then
transposed by the amount shown in the transpose box.
Training is a convenient way to automatically set the upper and lower ranges. Press
[Train] and a message will show “Training…” Now simply press two notes (simultaneously
or one after another) on your MIDI input device. The instrument module must not be
muted, and the rack power must be on for training to succeed.
IMPORTANT: Key Range and Transpose are channel-routing specific. You will have
as many ranges and transpose settings as you have channel mappings. Be sure to
select the desired channel mapping on the left before altering the key range and
transpose.
Each MIDI controller can be enabled, disabled, remapped, layered, toggled, or rescaled. In
the above picture:
Right click a row in the To column to make changes to this mapping. Click the triangle icon
to expand or collapse portions of the channel display.
Right click the Mode colume to change Toggle modes. Click in the 0 and 127 columns to
set linear rescaling values.
Training is a convenient way to automatically set the “from” field without having to
consult your MIDI controller configuration. Select a “from” field, press [Train] and the field
will change to “Training…”. Now simply change a controller on your MIDI input device and
the field will automatically change to the controller number you sent. The Instrument
Module must not be muted and the rack power must be on for training to succeed. If the
[Auto-Train] button is on when [New] is pressed, training will be started automatically.
You must manually select the “to” field. Some instruments provide a comprehensive list of
MIDI controllers which will be shown in the “to” field. Many, unfortunately, do not and you
must consult the instrument manual and select a numerical field.
IMPORTANT: CC remapping and layering are channel routing-specific. You will have
as many CC remap settings as you have channel mappings. Be sure to select the
desired channel mapping on the left before altering the CC remap.
Init – If supplied, the CC value is transmitted to the plugin when the scene is applied.
This is a way to set up initial controller values for future manipulation. If Init is blank, no
initial value is sent.
Min/Max – When an input CC value is remapped, incoming values are rescaled between
the Min and Max values. For instance, if Min = 30, and Max = 60, then incoming values
of 0-127 would be rescaled to 30-60. If Max is less than Min, the scaling works in
reverse. For instance, if Max = 30, and Min = 60, thenincoming values of 0-127 would be
rescaled to 60-30.
Toggle Mode
Toggle Mode configures a controller mapping to toggle the between two values each time
a controller transmits a value of 127. This feature enables you to assign MIDI foot
switches to features on the instrument like an organ’s rotary speed: Step on the pedal
once to slow the rotors down and step again to speed them up. Toggle mode is
configured with a maximum and minimum value to toggle between. When the MIDI
configuration is applied on scene change, the maximum value of the toggle is sent to the
instrument. Further incoming
trigger values of 127 cause the toggle to toggle between the minimum and maximum
values.
Snap Mode
Snap mode configures a controller mapping to snap between the minimum and maximum
value (0 and 127 by default) based upon the input CC value. 0-63 snaps to the minimum
and 64-127 snaps to the maximum value.
The most basic unit of performance is a "scene." A scene is created as a snapshot of the
Note that the Program Change remap is not included in a Scene. Scenes may be optionally
changed using incoming MIDI program changes. When this feature is enabled, MIDI
Program Remap does not work because the program change messages are used to change
scenes instead of being remapped and sent to the instruments.
Scenes are snapshots in time of the rack file. Later changes to the rack do not
automatically update a scene. In order to update a scene you must update the scene
which is the same as taking a new snapshot. To do this, press the UPDATE SCENE
button.
Renaming Scenes
You may rename a scene on the Control Module by right clicking on the scene and
selecting Rename Scene from the menu. You may also rename scenes from within the
Scene and Set Manager 75 .
Switching Scenes
Once multiple scenes are created, you may switch between them in several ways. From
the Console, you may press the Up or Down arrow buttons to the right of the scene list.
You may also:
Deleting Scenes
You may rename a scene on the Control Module by right clicking on the scene and
selecting Delete Scene from the menu. You may also delete scenes from within the Scene
and Set Manager 75 .
A Song is an ordered list of scenes. This enables you to re-use scenes in different songs,
reducing the burden of maintaining separate duplicate scenes.
Using Setlists, you can build sets from songs, each containing scenes and you can rapidly
alter a set by simply altering the set list by moving, adding, or removing songs.
See Setlist and Scenes Editor 75 for more details. Also see Different Ways to Use Scenes,
Songs, and Sets 62 for hints on how to use songs and sets effectively.
A Scene contains:
Most scene attributes are adjustable in the Setlist and Scenes Editor 75 . Plugin data is
adjustable by altering the plugin's user interface and updating the scene.
Check/Lock
Scenes can be checked or unchecked. A special setlist includes only checked scenes.
The lock check protects a scene against accidental update.
Play/Stop
Each Scene may have the transport in either the Play state or the Stop state. This means
you can stop and start drum machines on scene change. When play starts, Forte reports
a start position determined in the scene. If you stop and restart the play button, the
position will either continue or be reset to the start time depending upon how the scene is
set up.
Press the PLAY button on the Control Model to Play/Stop the transport.
Press the PANIC button on the Control Model send all notes off to all plugins and reset
the MIDI input ports.
Rewind on Play/Stop
A scene can be set up to either rewind the transport on play or stop, or leave the play
position where it is stopped. On Rewind the transport returns to the Start Bar:Beat
position. By default a scene has Rewind enabled.
Transpose Amount
Forte includes several ways to transpose a performance up or down by scene, song, or
set. See Scene and Set Manager 75 and Transpose 64 for more details.
Image Cue
An image cue 69 can be attached to a scene. SceneView will display this image when the
scene is used.
Plugin State
For each plugin in the rack:
Plugin configuration
MIDI Routing 51
Scene Commands 46
Audio Mix 47
Advancing through the scenes changes the setup for each song in the set.
Unfortunately this leads to many scenes, awkward scene naming, and perhaps duplicated
setups, so you may wish to use the same scenes over again:
Where "Rich Piano" and "Dirty Organ" are the same scenes reused in two different songs.
This reduces rack size and complexity because you have fewer scenes to manage.
Unfortunately, it doesn't provide much useful musical cue information because the scene
names have no context within the song. Cue notes 69 to the rescue....
9.5 Transpose
Forte features a flexible set of transposition features that enable you to make transpose
choices in several ways:
The transposition is cumulative. This means you can define transpose at any of the
above layers and the effective transpose will be the sum of all. This also means you can
use the same scene multiple times in different songs, and have different transposition in
each.
If forte can adapt an existing bus for use with the new scene it will by adding insert
plugins. These plugins are bypassed by default in the other existing scenes.
If forte can adapt an existing instrument module (the imported scene has the same
Forte will attempt to match existing buses, scenes, and insert plugin chains as much as
possible. There is no user interface to guide this process, so make sure you are working
You may prefix the imported songs or scenes with text if you prefer.
Options|Rehearsal Mode is a special mode that helps you avoid losing changes to a scene
before updating it. If this option is enabled, any scene change will result in this prompt.
You have the opportunity here to cancel the scene change, then you can update the
scene to save changes.
10 SceneView
SceneView is a full-screen touch-enabled display that shows critical performance
information. Show SceneView by pressing the SCENE VIEW button on the Control Module
or by selecting View|SceneView in the menu. Exit SceneView by pressing the HIDE button
in the upper right corner.
SceneView
Display Reference
SceneView has a number of displayable elements that can be shown or hidden in
SceneView Options 111 .
Full Scene List (Left) - A list of the entire set organized by song. Click on any item to
switch to that scene.
Performance Control Buttons (Bottom):
o Panic - stop all MIDI
o Dynamic Transpose - Press - to transpose down a half step, + to transpose up a half
step, and the tranpose value to reset to 0
o Tempo - Tap repeatedly to set a new tempo
o Play - press to play or stop the transport
o Undo Scene Change, Previous Scene, Next Scene - change scenes
o Rack Power - press to stop/restart audio streaming
Upcoming Scenes (Middle) - Displays a list of the next few upcoming scenes in large
font
Meter Bridge (Bottom) - Displays the audio levels of each bus and faders to adjust
the bus mix.
MIDI Meter (Right) - Displays the current value of the assigned MIDI Controller. Click
the combo box indicator to assign a controller to meter.
Quick Access Scene Buttons (Right) - Press one of these 8 buttons to quickly insert
one of the predefined Quick Access Scenes into the current set and switch to it. See
Scene and Set Manager 75 for help on defining Quick Access Scenes.
Title (Top) - Displays the Set name if using songs and sets or displays the rack name
otherwise.
Touch Mode
If Touch Mode is enabled in Program Settings (General Options), the Full Scene List can be
navigated using touch gestures (swipe scrolling). Otherwise, it uses scrollbar gestures.
Image Cues
Image Cues can be attached to scenes, entire songs, as well as individual set list elements (scenes
with a song). This means that you can use the same image cues across all scenes in a song or use
different images for each scene in a song and reuse scenes in other songs with different images.
Image Cues are managed in the Setlist and Scenes Editor 75 .
When the setlist is advanced, there is a priority for determining which image is shown in
SceneView:
1. The song item image cue
2. The scene image cue (the image that was supported in prior versions of Forte)
3. The song image cue
The purpose of image cue is to enable you to display customized content in SceneView such as
graphics, scanned sheet music, or lyrics.
NOTE that when combined with the “cue note” feature (the ability to use a custom name for a
scene within a song) this feature enables full customization of the set list with full reuse of
scenes. Scenes can be named after sounds or rig configurations, while the cue notes and images
can define portions of a song.
Cue Notes
Cue notes are customized text that apply only to a scene within a particular song. Once a scene
is added to a song, you may add a cue note to it by double clicking on the scene in the
song list. This doesn't change the scene's name, but assigns a "cue note" to the scene
that only applies to the scene in that song. The cue notes is displayed before the scene
name in SceneView. For example, a Scene named "Rich Piano" may be added to a song
called "Long Distance" and a cue note "Section A" added. The resulting set item looks like
this in SceneView:
The purpose of cue notes is to enable you to tag a scene changes to something in the set
like "Measure 24" or "Section B". It can also hold reminder prompts like "reset transpose".
MIDI Automation
MIDI Automation can also cause the Set Browser to be displayed. The forms this supports
are:
Browse to a scene in the set
Browse to a song in the set (select 1st scene)
Insert new scene into set from scene pool list
Insert new song into set from song pool list
Touch Mode
If Touch Mode is enabled in Program Settings (General Options), the list can be navigated
using touch gestures (swipe scrolling). Otherwise, it uses scrollbar gestures.
Two default style sheets (.css files) are included in the Forte installation folder. These
can be used for reference.
For a full discussion of Qt4 Stylesheets, please search the Internet for "Qt4 Stylesheets".
In short, each element is independently addressable by name or widgets can be styled by
control type. Children of controls inherit styling of the parent unless specifically
overridden.
Knowing the control names enables customization of each, including hiding specific things
not hidable in options by coloring it with transparent color (=rgba(0,0,0,0)).
11 Rack Editor
The Rack Editor is a display for rack-level editing. Press the RACK EDITOR button on the
Control Module to open the Rack Editor. Dismiss the rack editor with the OK button to
accept changes or Cancel to abandon changes.
Press the RACK EDITOR button on the Control Module and select the Rack tab.
The structure of the rack file is displayed in a tree on the left side of the screen. When
you highlight a rack component, the right side updates with a line of information for every
scene in the rack.
Using this display it is easy to see in which scenes a plugin has a different configuration
from other scenes.
NOTE: Scenes to not automatically reference every plugin in the rack file. For example,
if you create a scene and then add a new plugin, the existing scene will not automatically
contain any information about the new plugin. In this case, the rack editor will display a
message "(plugin not configured in scene...)". If you wish to add this plugin to the
current scene you may either update 58 the scene or trim 82 the rack (File|Trim) to
update all scenes.
NOTE: when you change the order of modules, forte must save, close, and reopen
the rack file.
The Scene and Set Manager is where you can organize scenes into songs and sets.
Access the scene manager by pressing the RACK EDITOR button on the Console amd
selecting the Setlist and Scenes tab.
Set Pool
The top left is the Set Pool. Two predefined sets exist:
all scenes consists of all scenes in the Scene Pool. This is an easy way to advance
through all scenes in order without imposing Song management.
checked scenes is the similar but only includes and advances through scenes checked
in the "Inc" (include) column.
You can double click on a custom set's name to rename it. You may also double click on
the number to the right of a set to transpose 64 the entire set up or down the number of
halfsteps. This is done by altering incoming MIDI note data.
The Set Organizer may be shown or hidden with the Hide Sets button.
Current Set
The current set area shows the song and scene order of the currently chosen set. You
may:
Show or hide the individual scenes in the song list by pressing the Show/Hide Scenes
button.
Export a set list to the clipboard by pressing the Export button. You may then paste
the results into another application for printing.
The "--end of set--" item is in the set list to mark the end of the set and to enable you to
drop songs at the end of the set.
Song Pool
The Song Pool is a collection of all defined songs. You may:
The "Use" column displays how many times the song is used in various sets.
Scene Pool
The Scene Pool is a collection of all scenes. You can:
You cannot create new scenes here because scenes are snapshots of the current rack.
Press ADD... to display a menu of available automation actions. Select on eto add it to
the MIDI Automation list. Then alter the Port, Channel, Event Type, etc to match the
MIDI input events you wish to trigger the automation action. You can also press LEARN to
cause Forte to capture the next MIDI event and use that as the trigger.
Use the SELECT ALL, DESELECT ALL, and REMOVE SELECTED buttons to remove MIDI
Automations.
Presets
A set of MIDI Automation items can be saved as a named preset and recalled in other
racks. Type a preset name and press SAVE to save a preset. Press LOAD to recall a
preset and press REMOVE to remove the selected preset.
NOTE: Using alternate MIDI controllers: You may change the number of scenes per bank
by modifying a setting in OPTIONS.INI. Select Tools|View INI Files… and open
OPTIONS.INI. Find the line that says “ScenesPerBank=128” and change that to a
different value. If you change this to 4, for example, you must select bank 1, program 0
to access the 4th scene in the setlist. Likewise, bank 2, program 2 would select the 10th
scene. The ability to alter the number of scenes per bank can be useful when using some
MIDI controllers like guitar footboards that select programs using separate pedals.
You may then add buses, and instrument plugins. For each instrument, you may wish to
alter the plugin's sound and the MIDI configuration. Then snapshot one or more scenes to
organize the rack into a set list.
39
See Plugin Console to edit plugins
75 33
See Scene and Set Manager in the Rack Editor to organize scenes into a
performance setlist
To load a rack file, press the LOAD button or use the File|Open... command to select a
rack file to load. Rack files use the extention ".rcf".
To save a rack file, press the SAVE button or use the File|Save or Save As... comand to
save a rack file.
Automatic Backup
When you save a rack file, Forte can save a backup of the current file. See Configuring
Options and Preferences 103 to configure backup. The backup files have the extension
".rcf_bk".
You may copy an instrument to a new instrument and specify a new instrument plugin.
The preferences above will be used to copy or skip various attributes of the original
instrument module.
You may copy a bus to a new bus. The preferences above will be used to copy or skip
various attributes of the original bus module.
The command is in the File menu. Trim simply cycles through all scenes in the rack,
applies each one, and then recaptures it as a new up-to-date snapshot.
If you encounter a hang or crash during rack trim, you may use a troubleshooting option
to see if that addresses the issue. See Trim_Delay_Ms in OPTIONS.INI 122 .
Performer Edition
In Performer Edition, a rack file can hold one hardware profile. However, Forte 2.0 includes
a powerful remapping wizard enabling you to alter your rack’s hardware mappings quickly,
even switching to alternate MIDI and audio ports.
Producer Edition
In Producer Edition, a rack file can hold multiple hardware profiles and can intelligently
choose a compatible profile when you load a rack. Once a rack has been loaded on a
specific set of devices and the mapping wizard is complete, the saved rack can then be
moved back to the other hardware and return to this hardware configuration with no
additional user intervention required. Each hardware configuration will have an associated
hardware profile that determines MIDI and audio mapping.
When you load a rack file, you are given an opportunity to choose between compatible
profiles or create a new profile. By default, the opportunity lasts for 5 seconds before the
first compatible profile is automatically loaded. This behavior can be changed in the profile
selection dialog box. Note that incompatible profiles are also shown with the reason they
are deemed incompatible. This can help you remember to plug in hardware if necessary.
You may choose to use an incompatible profile in "offline" mode by selecting it and
pressing the "Use Offline" button. In this mode, the real audio and MIDI hardware is
ignored, and simulated devices with the expected names are created and used instead.
No MIDI input or audio streaming is possible when using a profile offline but this is useful
for rack editing.
1. Select the name of the profile and choose an existing profile upon which to base the
new one (PRODUCER only)
2. Map MIDI Ports. Here you may swap MIDI port assignments or remove them.
3. Choose ASIO driver (ASIO mode only). This enables you to adapt a rack to a different
ASIO setup.
Upon completion, the new profile is active and is available in the list of profiles the next
time the rack is loaded. In PERFORMER edition, this new profile replaces the old profile.
85
See Configuring Control Surfaces for Use in Forte for details on how to set Forte up for
use with a control surface.
Some control surfaces have dedicated MIDI inputs and outputs (like the Frontier
TranzPort). In this case, you do not need to choose ports as they are already known.
Upon startup, Forte reads three XML files containing control surface definitions:
You may alter or create new definitions using the Control Surface Definition Editor in the
start menu. This application always automatically edits "MyControlSurfaceDefinitions.xml".
You may also edit the XML files by hand if you have the knowledge to create valid XML.
Automated volume on buses and instruments – the first eight modules are mixed with
the 8 faders of the control surface. A bank up/down button enables you to control the
next 8 modules.
Toggle Mute
Next Scene/Previous Scene
Tap Tempo
Transport Play/Stop and Panic
This definition includes feedback to the control surface for automated flying faders.
USB/MIDI modes are selected by pressing Store and Edit together and using knob 1 to
select U-1/2/3/4 through S-1/2/3/4, followed by exit. Note that you may need to restart
Forte as this can add or remove MIDI drivers in Windows.
Mackie Mode vs. native Mode is selected by holding a button while powering on the
device. Note that USB/MIDI modes are only settable while in native Mode although they
can apply in enumation mode too.
The key to successfully using the BCF2000 is coordinating its own internal settings with an
appropriately configured control surface definition in Forte. Some BCF2000 modes echo
MIDI input back to output, resulting in a MIDI loop as Forte and the BCF2000 both try to
send the same data back and forth to each other forever. Therefore, setting up the
BCF2000 correctly for Forte is critical to success.
Native Mode
Forte contains several provided control surface definitions for native Behringer BCF2000:
When configured this way, input to the BCF2000 alters fader position, but is not output
back thru to the output. Manual Fader manipulation will generate MIDI out to Forte.
Emulation Modes
The Behringer BCF2000 can also be configured to emulate the Mackie and Logic control
surface products by pressing a mode button while powering on the device. You may use
the following emulation modes either with USB or MIDI:
When using MIDI cables use S-3 standalone mode and the MIDI OUT B/THRU port to
prevent MIDI loops.
14 Performance Features
See:
Autostart 91
92
MIDI Panic
14.1 Autostart
Forte contains features to enable you to boot your computer up directly into your rack
file. This enables low or no-touch start-up operation.
Check "Launch Forte when Windows starts" to auto-run Forte as soon as you log into
Windows. If you configure Windows to auto-login, Forte will start as soon as Windows
auto-logs-in.
"Autoload Rack when Forte Starts" automatically loads a specified rack file when Forte
starts.
By checking these items and configuring Windows to automatically log in, you can press
the computer's power button, and automatically be ready to play your rack file.
Forte uses a "Run" key in the Windows registry to cause itself to be launched on login, but
depending upon your Windows configuration, this may not work as expected. The
workaround for this is to create a task in the task manager that launches Forte on logon.
Make sure "Run with highest privileges" is checked. A command line tool exists to create
this task. As an example, the following could be run from an Administrator command line:
schtasks /create /tn "Run Forte on Logon" /tr "c:\program files\brainspawn
\Forte 3 Producer Edition\forte.exe" /sc onlogon /rl highest
Getting Started
This section will tell you how to get EHCo started as quickly as possible.
Overview
EHCo extends FORTE’s features to external MIDI hardware devices. The name EHCo is
short for “External Hardware Controller.” EHCo is added to FORTE racks in the same way
other VSTi and DXi instruments are added. EHCo can be found in the FORTE instrument
menu under ‘brainspawn’. This Operations Manual assumes you are familiar with Forte
operation. Although EHCo is a plug-in, it will not operate with other host applications. It
is designed to work closely with FORTE’s built-in features. For example, although EHCo
outputs MIDI data, it does so through Forte’s internal capabilities. This enables MIDI port
management to be centralized within FORTE.
EHCo receives MIDI input like any other VST or DXi virtual instrument, which it echoes to a
selected MIDI output port. This enables you to use Forte’s sophisticated MIDI filtering
and routing capabilities to control external hardware. Additionally, this enables you to
send specific MIDI messages, including system exclusive to external devices on FORTE
scene change.
15.1 Enabling EHCo with a Registration User Name and License Key
EHCo is installed with Forte or with a separate installer. It can either run in Trial mode,
with an EHCo license, or with Forte Producer license.
If EHCo is running in Trial mode, you will see the following dialog box when you add it to a
rack or load a rack containing EHCo:
If you have received user registration information, enter it here and press OK. This will
activate ECHo in standalone mode. If you register Forte with a Producer license, EHCo will
automatically be licensed as well.
If you choose to run ECHo in Trial mode, you will see the following message.
After 30 minutes, EHCo will manipulate all outgoing MIDI data to turn notes off and reset
MIDI controller values to 0.
Scene Command List: This is a list of MIDI data that is transmitted when the current
scene is switched to
MIDI Data: A list of MIDI messages to be transmitted
Scene Command List Editing Buttons: Buttons to manage items in the scene
command list: Add, Remove, Edit
Send/Send All: Send either the current selected item or all items immediately
Test: Set up and run the Closed Loop MIDI Test
MIDI In/Out Meters: These display activity when MIDI is detected. The strength of
each event is Note velocity or CC value.
EHCo acts as a “proxy” for your external MIDI hardware by reading INS files containing
bank names, patch names, and controller names. This enables you to select patches on
your MIDI device using friendly bank and patch names within EHCo.
To import patch names, click the open button on the Device combo box and select
“Import Patch Names…”. Browse to the desired .INS file and click OK.
Once loaded, the device’s patch names appear in the Forte preset manager and scene
commands sections. Controller names may be edited by name in the Forte MIDI Routing
screens.
In order to proxy an external MIDI device, EHCo must know which MIDI output port the
device is connected to and what, if any MIDI channels it will need to transmit on. Select
the connected port name and channel. If the device receives on all 16 channels, select
OMNI.
Press ‘add’ to create a new MIDI message. A menu appears giving you a choice of which
type of message to create:
Controller value - enables you to send specific CC values to devices on scene change
Generic MIDI message - this enables you to enter a MIDI message using a
hexadecimal editor. If this message is a CC or program message, it will open in the
appropriate editor when you press “edit.”
Bank/Program Change - this enables you to select a preset using the instrument
definitions imported from INF files.
System Exclusive - One or more blocks of system exclusive data be- ginning with 0xF0
and ending with 0xF7.
Wait - Pauses a specified number of milliseconds between messages.
Sysex Prefix
For your convenience, and to avoid having to edit system exclusive data manually, the
Sysex Prefix window enables you to quickly replace the first few bytes of any system
exclusive data in the list. This can be used to modify the Sysex ID of any transmitted
data to match your MIDI device configuration. For instance, a Roland XP-50 typically
responds to device 17. If you have changed this to another number, you should enter the
correct bytes into the Prefix area. The bytes must start at the beginning of the system
exclusive message and will replace as many bytes as are in the prefix.
This MIDI Closed Loop test enables you to test MIDI I/O integrity though your system. It
emits MIDI event data (CC) and counts the number of MIDI responses.
EHCo will emit events and display a count of both transmitted and received events. This
test will automatically restart as long as the final input count equals the output count. If
an event is "lost" and the input count is less than the output count, the test will stop.
Note that during the test, it is common to see a difference between input and output
counts. The important thing is that when the output sequence is complete that the input
count catch up during the quiescent period at the end of each run.
Each of these elements can be a weak link that makes the system unreliable.
Each can interact with other elements in unexpected ways.
For this reason, Forte includes a built-in stress test to enable you to test all of the above
working together in the same rack file for extended periods of time.
You may stop the test before it completes by selecting Tools|Stop Stress from the menu.
When the test is complete, it will offer to open your log file. At the end of the log you will
find information about scene change times, memory utilization over the course of the test,
and CPU utilization in each scene.
NOTE: Although this stress test can be useful for finding weak links in your rack
setup, we can never promise that it will result in a 100% stable live setup. There
are simply too many variables. However, this stress test is certainly better than
assuming everything will work.
The diagnostic display also includes a count of MIDI output errors for use with EHCo. If
you suspect not all EHCo data is being transmitted correctly, the error counts can indicate
errors returned from the MIDI output port driver.
On 32 bit versions of Windows with 4GB of RAM, it is normal to see usable memory of only
about 1500MB or so on an empty rack. The reason for this is that 32 bit Windows by
default give each application only 2GB of memory. It is not a problem with Forte. About
500MB of that is loaded with the application and a large number of Windows DLL
components. See this 115 to take advantage of a Windows configuration change that
makes more memory available to Forte.
Use a configuration manifest to help diagnose the changes in your setup that may be
affecting your Forte rig. Here's how:
Once your rack is working the way you want it to, select the new Tools menu item
"Create Installation/Configuration Manifest". Answer "Yes" when asked to embed the
manifest in your rack file. The next time you save your rack file, the manifest will be
contained within it.
A manifest is a snapshot of your configuration containing:
A record of every DLL module (VST plugins, ASIO drivers, Windows components, 3rd
party components) and its version
Key configuration settings from OPTION.INI
When you have a problem, select the new Tools menu item "Validate Against Manifest" to
create a difference report in your Windows clipboard. This can then be pasted into
Notepad or other text editor to view. The difference report contains:
A list of manifest items missing from the current configuration (e.g. DLLs)
A list of manifest items in your current configuration that are not in the manifest
Any manifest items that are different (e.g. DLL versions are different)
Matching items
You may also copy the embedded manifest to the clipboard for examination with Tools|
Copy Manifest to Clipboard, and delete the current manifest with Tools|Clear Manifest.
See Configuring Options and Preferences 103 to change how many backups are maintained.
are divided into pages selectable on the left side of the window.
The first page of Preferences is "General Options" which affect miscellaneous configuration
items:
Launch Forte when Windows starts? – Select if you want to start Forte automatically
when you log into Windows. For this to be useful, Windows should be configured to log
in automatically.
Hide splash screen at start? – Select if you do not want to see the splash screen at
program startup.
Open SceneView at launch? – Automatically shows the SceneView when a rack loads.
66
Enable Touch Mode - If checked the scrolling behavior in SceneView and Set Browser
70
are altered to be touch-friendly. If unchecked, scrolling uses the traditional scrollbar
gestures.
Autoload Rack when Forte Starts? – Loads either the last used rack or a specified
default rack when Forte starts.
Default Rack Save location – Path used to save rack files.
Default Backup Rack Save location – Path used to save backup rack files. The default is
the same directory used to save the rack file.
MRU Sizes – select how many racks, instruments, and inserts to keep in your most
recently used lists.
Disable Screen Saver while playing? – Disables any configured screen saver when the
rack power is on.
Minimize to System Tray – Choose whether Forte minimizes to an icon on the task bar or
in the system tray.
Use all available CPUs – This is a troubleshooting option which should remain checked. If
you are using a multiple processor system and encountering problems, you can uncheck
this option to see if it is related to multi-processing.
Number of Auto-Backups to keep – Every time you save a rack file in Forte, it makes a
backup to preserve the old file. The number of backups is configurable here.
Logging Level – Configures the amount of information logged to the log file.
Check “Disable shortcuts when Consoles are open” to disable hot-key assignments when
plugin consoles are open. This can solve problems where hot-key assignments conflict
with plugin keystrokes.
17.2 Skins
Forte supports skins which can be selected from this screen. For alternate skins, please
visit www.brainspawn.com. For information on creating your own, please contact technical
support.
Audio Driver Mode – WDM/KS or ASIO – This selection determines the audio driver mode.
In ASIO mode, only one driver may be used at a time and the selection is made when
the 1st bus in the rack is created. In WDM/KS mode, multiple drivers may be used
simultaneously.
Audio Sample Rate – Select the sample rate Forte will use to access your sound cards.
ASIO Control Panel – Open the ASIO control panel.
Device List (ASIO mode) – Shows all installed ASIO drivers. The check box indicates
which ASIO driver will be used when you automatically create a bus when adding the
first instrument.
Device List (WDM mode) – Shows all WDM devices available to Forte. Each output may
be enabled or disabled for use within Forte using the check box next to its name. A
disabled output will not be available to assign to a bus and is not used when determining
audio buffer sizes on start-up.
Custom Buffer Settings – Configures the minimum size and number of buffers used. When
both are set to “Auto”, the configuration is automatically computed based upon enabled
audio outputs. If you experience audio dropouts, try different settings here.
WDM/KS Multiple Driver Buffering – Displays the current buffer size and number of
buffers in WDM mode. Forte automatically computes the minimum buffer size when it
starts based upon the enabled audio outputs and the Custom Buffer Settings described
above. The Current Latency is the estimation of software latency based upon the
current buffer configuration.
Global Volume Trim – This gain adjustment is applied to each bus after all effects but
before audio is sent to the sound card. It is applied at the same point the bus volume
fader is applied.
The Plugin Options page enables you to set the number of "Most Recently Used" presets
to track. It also has a button link to the Plugin Manager 33 to enable you to discover and
organize plugins.
The Style Sheet path control enables you to customize the look of SceneView using .css
styles compatible with Qt Widgets. Examples can be found in your Forte install folder.
Changes to this page will take effect the next time SceneView is opened.
One of the most powerful features of Scenes is the ability to load each plugin in the rack
with different data on each scene change. Some instruments, however, take a very long
time to change configuration. A common example is soft-samplers which must load new
sample sets from disk.
This page enables you to configure a list of plugins that will not be loaded with new data
on scene changes.
For instance, you can include Kontakt in a rack, but if it is on this list, the sample set will
not change between scenes. Instead, use MIDI routing changes between scenes to alter
the output.
If an instrument is listed here, the configuration action specified in Scene Commands (see
Scene Change Actions) is overridden to set configuration data only once when the
instrument is loaded. This preserves the behavior of previous versions of Forte.
Enable/Disable MIDI Input Ports – Use this list to enable or disable MIDI input ports
for use in Forte. If an input port is not checked in this list, it will not be opened for input
and it will not be included in the MIDI Configurations list.
Custom Name - You may assign each port a custom name by clicking in the custom
name area. This is useful to rename ports according to what MIDI device is connected
to them. It can also be used if you are moving racks between Forte installations. If
port friendly names are the same, no MIDI port remapping is required. See MIDI Port
85
Renaming for details.
Leave MIDI ports open – If checked, Forte will open MIDI input ports when started,
but will not close them when rack power is turned off. It will always close ports when
exiting. When unchecked, input ports will be closed when rack power is turned off.
MIDI Output
If EHCo is installed Forte will display a similar Configuration display for MIDI Output Ports.
92
See EHCo for more details.
This page configures which portions of a MIDI Configuration file will be used when you load
a configuration file.
Instrument Module Creation options enable you to select the MIDI Configuration to use:
Autoload MIDI Configuration File checked to start with either a specified default
configuration or the last used configuration.
18 Troubleshooting
It is important to understand that Forte, as a VST host, is part of a performance system
that also includes your choice of PC, OS, plugins, and audio/MIDI interfaces. Brainspawn
does not offer system integration services. Instead we have developed a number of tools
to assist you in integrating a performance-ready system.
When assembling a performance rig, please use these tools to build confidence in your
system.
If your live rig can survive indefinite amounts of stress, that is a good confidence builder.
However, it is not any sort of "certification" of reliability. The primary value in the stress
test is if it fails. If it fails (either a hang, or dropouts, or a crash, or a blue-screen, it
positively indicates that a component of your system is not durable.
Be sure to turn your audio inputs down during stress tests. The output is decidedly
not very musical!
counter incrementing, its a sign that something in the system is choking occasionally. This
many not always be a big deal. It depends upon when the dropouts occur and your own
particular usage. See Diagnostics Display 101 .
Use the Memory display on the Tools menu to see how much usable memory you have.
On 32 bit versions of Windows with 4GB of RAM, it is normal to see usable memory of only
about 1500MB or so on an empty rack. The reason for this is that 32 bit Windows by
default give each application only 2GB of memory. It is not a problem with Forte. About
500MB of that is loaded with the application and a large number of Windows DLL
components. It is possible, using the /3GB switch in BOOT.INI (search the Microsoft
support site for specifics) to allocate 3GB to each application.
REMEMBER: In safe mode, the rack is not automatically enabled for streaming - you
must press the rack power button to start
Use a configuration manifest to help diagnose the changes in your setup that may be
affecting your Forte rig. Here's how:
Once your rack is working the way you want it to, select the new Tools menu item
"Create Installation/Configuration Manifest"
Answer "Yes" when asked to embed the manifest in your rack file. The next time you
save your rack file, the manifest will be contained within it.
A manifest is a snapshot of your configuration containing:
o A record of every DLL module (VST plugins, ASIO drivers, Windows components, 3rd
party components) and its version
o Key configuration settings from OPTION.INI
When you have a problem, select the new Tools menu item "Validate Against Manifest"
to create a difference report in your Windows clipboard. This can then be pasted into
Notepad or other text editor to view.
The difference report contains:
o A list of manifest items missing from the current configuration (e.g. DLLs)
o A list of manifest items in your current configuration that are not in the manifest
o Any manifest items that are different (e.g. DLL versions are different)
o Matching items
You may also copy the embedded manifest to the clipboard for examination with Tools|
Copy Manifest to Clipboard, and delete the current manifest with Tools|Clear Manifest.
Forte uses different threads for different plugins, and sometimes plugins cannot handle
this. Go into preferences and uncheck "Use all available CPUs" and restart Forte. This will
use only one CPU core/thread for all streaming. You will waste CPU capacity, but it has
been known to help with some plugins.
Scene changes can be complicated times for plugins. Right in the middle of processing
both audio and MIDI, they are asked to completely reconfigure their sound. A Scene
change typically causes a new VST "chunk" (FXB or FXP data block) to be downloaded
into the plugin. Some plugins have a hard time with this. Try disconnecting the plugin
during scene changes. On the Scene Commands tab of the plugin console, check the
"Disconnect this instrument when loading configuration data." box.
You can also check the box "Do not use per-scene configuration data" to avoid having a
new VST chunk downloaded during a scene change. This is especially recommended for
sampler plugins. In this case, the plugin will remain configured the same during the entire
set, but you can send program changes to it on scene change. This is much more light-
weight. All this is configured on the Scene Commands tab.
Some plugins can't be discovered or don't behave correctly on Windows Vista or Windows
7 unless Forte is running with Administrator privileges. Right click on the Forte shortcut
and configure it to always run as administrator.
Forte tries to make a good decision about how to get and set VST configuration (chunks
or FXB/FXP data). However, sometimes a plugin wants something different to get or set
its entire state. Forte has a way to override scene capture and recall behavior for
individual plugins. A file called "DeviceCompatibility.xml" in the install directory contains
plugin-specific settings which can override the default behavior. Plugins are referenced in
this file by either CLSID or VST ID. If your favorite plugin does not correctly restore its
settings on scene change, add it to this file. Note that this MUST be a valid XML file in
order for the feature to work. See Plugin Compatibility Fixes (DeviceCompatibility.xml) 120 .
Forte Crashes
Forte crashes are usually accompanied by an offer to submit a crash report. Please do so
if at all possible. Crash dump files are essential to finding and fixing crashes within the
Forte application itself.
Plugin-caused Crashes
If a crash happens within a VST plugin, you will usually get a VST crash handler, which
displays: Forte version Plugin version Plugin vendor (if known) The action Forte was
attempting with the plugin when the crash occurred Please report this to the plugin
vendor first. If the plugin vendor believes this is a Forte issue, have them contact
Brainspawn.
If the plugin-crash occurs during Scene change or plugin data load, you may also use the
SingleStepVSTPluginLoad troubleshooting option to narrow down the specific data that is
causing the crash. See OPTIONS.INI File 122 for details.
If a plugin crashes during scene capture or update, you may try settings
StopAudioDuringSceneCapture = 1 in OPTIONS.INI 122 .
Blue Screens are ALWAYS a result of a defective device driver. Typically this will be an
audio driver, a MIDI driver, or a software protection device driver.
Freeze/Hang
If Forte freezes during an operation, work to identify if the condition can be consistently
reproduced, then try the following Start in Safe Mode (launch Forte while holding down
the left CTRL key) and exclude some of the plugins - reload the rack file and see if the
hang can be reproduced. Retry as necessary until you narrow the hang to a specific
plugin. Start Task Manager (or Process Explorer at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/
sysinternals/bb896653.aspx) and see if the CPUs are 100% busy. Open the Diagnostics
display in the Tools menu and see if the dropout count in increasing during the freeze.
Make sure you don't have a MIDI feedback loop
Forte maintains a log file that has adjustable levels of output. It is located in your
application data directory under brainspawn forte. You can also conveniently access it
using the menu command Tools|Log File|View... which will open it in notepad. You can
adjust the output levels in Preferences Logging Level. The levels are Silent, Errors
(default), Warnings, or Information.
If you are having a problem finding an audio driver or plugin, or any other type of startup
problem, you can sometimes find useful information in the log file. Sometimes you will need
to adjust preferences to change the logging level to Information, and restart Forte before
viewing the log. The log will contain detailed information about what Forte did during
startup.
If you are running Windows XP, use the /3GB switch in BOOT.INI (search the Microsoft
support site for specifics) to allocate 3GB to each application.
Forte requires runlevel = highest (a Windows privilege option) to be compatible with the
widest variety of VST plugins. Forte uses a "Run" key in the Windows registry to cause
itself to be launched on login, but depending upon your Windows configuration, this may
not work as expected. The workaround for this is to create a task in the task manager
that launches Forte on logon. Make sure "Run with highest privileges" is checked. A
command line tool exists to create this task. As an example, the following could be run
from an Administrator command line:
<Device Name="KarmaFX">
<saveFXB bool="1"/>
<saveFXP bool="0"/>
<saveProgramNumber bool="0"/>
<saveParams bool="0"/>
</Device>
This instructs Forte how to save scenes, not restore them, so you must restart Forte,
reload your rack, and recapture your scenes.
The entry is defined by the Device tag. Plugins can be identified in several ways:
Name="<partial case-insensitive plugin name>" - affects any plugin that matches the
plugin name
Name="<partial case-insensitive plugin vendor name>" - affects any plugin by a vendor
CLSID="<a big string of letters and numbers>" - affects a specific plugin. A CLSID is
how Forte unambiguously identifies a plugin. This value matches the value Forte uses to
identify the plugin in its plugin cache file (plugins.xml).
To start Forte in Safe Mode, you may start Forte from the "Forte (safe mode)" Start Menu
item or hold down the left CTRL key while clicking on the icon. Forte will automatically ask
you if it should start in safe mode if it exited abnormally the previous time it ran.
Stops at the profile selection dialog regardless of the timeout mode (Producer Edition
only)
Background
Forte identifies all plugins by a unique identifier called a CLSID. The CLSID of a plugin can be
found in the plugins.xml cache file and it looks something like {305B2033-9E2D-4FF1-A6D4-
6930EC21AB26} but is different for each plugin.
CLSIDs were originally a unique identifier for DirectX (and DirectShow) plugins. For VST plugins,
Forte created a CLSID by hashing together the plugin’s VST ID value with the plugin’s DLL name
and combining the result with a standard fragment of CLSID {xxxxxxxx-9E2D-4FF1-A6D4-
6930EC21AB26}.
This has always worked well except that many plugin vendors deliver the 32 bit and 64 bit plugins
with the same VST ID but using different DLL filenames. This unfortunately results in different
generated CLSIDs. For instance, the CLSID generated by 32 bit Forte uses the 32 bit DLL plugin
name and the 64 bit uses the other DLL plugins name, resulting in different CLSIDs, which if not
accounted for makes it impossible to load some rack files built in 32 bit Forte into 64 bit Forte.
Forte 64 bit will load its plugins64.xml cache normally, but will also scan the “alternate”
plugins.xml file for information about potential substitutions. If you load a 32 bit rack file into
Forte 64 and it doesn’t have a particular CLSID (because that CLSID was generated in 32 bit Forte),
it will replace the plugin with the 64 bit version of the VST plugin if it shares the same VST ID.
For this feature to work, a 32 bit plugins.xml file must be available in the same location as
plugins64.xml.
When installing 64 bit Forte, make sure you either select the option to migrate Forte 2 data, which
will copy the plugins.xml from the Forte 2installation folder to the new Forte folder. Alternately,
you may copy the plugins.xml file into the Forte installation folder manually.
Forte options are stored in a text file call OPTIONS.INI using traditional Windows-style
".ini" formatting. OPTIONS.INI is located in the user's application data folder. This folder
has been located in different places in different versions of Windows. As of Windows 7, it
is in the C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\brainspawn\forte 3 folder. A handy way
to access this folder is to start Forte and select the menu command "Tools|View INI Files
and application data folder" which opens the folder for easy access.
OPTIONS.INI has several [sections]. Many of the settings are configured via the Options|
Program Settings 103 display. However, sometimes certain advanced troubleshooting
options are settable by directly editing OPTIONS.INI. This section defines some useful
troubleshooting options. Often the option does not exist in OPTIONS.INI by default, which
means it takes its default state. To enable an option, navigate OPTIONS.INI to the
specified section (the text with the [brackets] around it) and add or edit the line of text
containing the option name and the "=" sign. After using a troubleshooting option, you
may turn it back off by simply removing it or switching its 1 or 0 state. You must restart
Forte after saving OPTIONS.INI for option changes to take effect.
[Troubleshooting]
SingleStepVSTPluginLoad = 0 (disabled, default) or 1 (enabled)
Audio Options
[Audio]
StopAudioDuringSceneCapture = 0 (don't stop/restart audio, default) or 1 (stop/restart
audio engine during scene capture or update)
If you encounter issues with plugins during scene capture or update, you may try setting
this value to 1. When set to 1, Forte will stop the audio engine during scene capture and
restart it if needed when complete.
[Audio]
RestartAudioOnMIDIPanic = 0 (don't stop/restart audio, default) or 1 (stop/restart
audio engine during MIDI Panic)
RestartMIDIOnMIDIPanic= 0 (don't stop and restart MIDI Ports, default) or 1 (stop and
restart MIDI Ports during MIDI Panic)
MIDI Meter
The following MIDI Meter options enable highly specialized uses of the MIDI meter:
[SceneView]
SceneViewFavorSceneNames = 0 (default) or 1. If 0 when using single-scene songs,
the song name will be displayed in SceneView. If 1 when using single-scene songs, the
scene name will be displayed in SceneView
StretchBackgroundImage = 0 (default) or 1. If 1, stretches background images to fit
screen
SceneView
The following options alter the appearance of SceneView:
[SceneView2]
SceneViewMIDIMeterCCMin = 0 (minimum scaled value of MIDI meter in SceneView)
SceneViewMIDIMeterCCMax = 127 (maximum scaled value of MIDI meter SceneView)
If missing the defaults are 0-127. However if you set max = 20, the displayed MIDI meter
range will be from 0-20.
[VST]
CreateSeparateJBridgedVSTs = 0 or 1
default = 0. 1 = create a jBridged version of every VST plugin during scan and treat it
as an alternate, separate plugin. This is the behavior of Forte 3 when the "Use
jBridge" checkbox is checked in Plugin Manager.
The Log file by default only stores warnings and errors. You may select a higher level of
logging in Options|Preferences|General. See Logging Level 103 for more information.
19 Menu Reference
File
Ctrl Closes any currently loaded rack (prompting to save if necessary)
+R and creates a new empty rack.
New Rack/ Ctrl or Creates a new scene in the current rack
Scene/ +E or Creates a new instrument or bus in the current rack
Module/ Ctrl
Bus +
Inse
rt
Import Imports songs or scenes from a different rack into the current rack.
Songs or See Importing Songs and Scenes from other Racks 64 .
Scenes...
Trim Updates all scenes in the current rack. This can be handy for
Rack... removing unused data from a rack file. See Trimming Racks 82 .
View
SceneVie Displays SceneView
w
Options
Program Displays Forte Preferences. See Configuring Options and Preferences 103
Settings...
Control Displays the Control Surfaces page of preferences. See Control Surfaces
115
Surfaces...
Rehearsal Prompts you before you change scenes in case changes need to be
Mode updated first. This should never be used in performance.
Tools
Opens Windows Explorer at the folder containing Forte INI and other
View INI Files...
support files
Log File Email/ Email Forte log file, reset the contents of the log file, or open the log
Reset/View file in Notepad for viewing.
Validate Against Compares a new manifest against a manifest created previous and
Manifest stored in the rack file. See Configuration Manifests 103 .
Copy Manifest Copies the current manifest to the Windows clipboard. See
to Clipboard Configuration Manifests 103 .
Clears any manifest from the rack file. See Configuration Manifests
Clear Manifest 103
.
Manage VST Start VST plugin manager to find plugins. See Plugin Manager 33 .
Plugins...
Displays the rack editor. The rack editor enables you to see your
Rack Editor... rack in an alternate way by plugin, instead of by scene. See Rack
Editor 73 .
Change Create a new hardware profile for this rack. This can be used to
Hardware swap MIDI port assignments by creating a new rack and mapping
Profile... existing ports to alternates. See Hardware Profiles 83 .
Crashes Forte. This is a test to see if it exits cleanly with your setup
Crash (Test)...
of MIDI and audio drivers.
Display Displays audio and MIDI diagnostic counters. See Diagnostics Display
101
Diagnostics... .
Stress Rack... Starts and stops the rack stress test. See Stress Test 100 .
Help
About. Displays version and user registration information
..
View Displays the README.RTF file that accompanies a release with last-
READM minutes notes
E.RTF
20 Keyboard Shortcuts
Keys
Action
troke
Ctrl +
Show/hide all Output Buses.
B
Ctrl +
Solos the selected Instrument Module.
L
Ctrl +
Mutes the selected Instrument Module.
M
Keys
Action
troke
Ctrl + Displays the ‘Open rack’ dialog box and enables a previously
O saved rack to be loaded.
Ctrl +
Toggles audio engine On/Off.
P
Ctrl + Saves the current rack. If the rack has not been saved
S before, you will be prompted to name the new rack.
Ctrl +
Updates the current Scene.
U
Ctrl +
Show/hide the console window of the selected module.
W
Ctrl +
X or
Exits Forte.
Alt +
F4
Spac
Advances to the next Scene.
e
Ctrl +
Spac Moves to previous Scene.
e
Alt +
Adds a new insert effect to the current Module.
Insert
Ctrl +
Adds a new Output Bus to the rack.
Insert
Ctrl +
Deletes the selected Instrument Module or Output Bus.
D
Keys
Action
troke
Down
last Module in the rack, it wraps around to the first.
Arrow
NUMP
AD Presses the MIDI Panic button.
1~9
Ctrl +
Use Scene numbers 11 through 20.
1~0
Shift
+ Use Scene numbers 21 through 30.
1~0
Ctrl +
Shift Use Scene numbers 31 through 40.
1~0
21 Technology Acknowledgements