The Control Window

When you open a plugin's control window, it will look similiar to the orchestral "Cellos" plugin shown below:

Note: To open a plugin's control window using qtractor, locate the plugin's name shown on the track, and then doubleclick the left mouse button as so:

The control window has 3 distinct panels or "screens" called Monitor, Edit, and Master. Only 1 of the 3 screens is shown. A (blue) menu bar at the top of the window allows you to flip between the screens. Above, you'll notice that "Monitor" is the color red to indicate that you're currently viewing the monitor screen.

If you click on Edit or Master, then a different screen will be shown.


The Monitor Screen

The monitor screen shows you what patches are assigned to the 16 midi channels. For example, the "cello" patch is assigned to midi channel 1. A cello section playing legato (described later) is assigned to channel 2. The cellos playing pizzicato is assigned to channel 3. And the cellos playing tremolo is assigned to channel 4. The "Cellos" plugin has only 4 patches, so these four are also repeated for the remaining 16 midi channels.

If you set your midi controller to channel 1, and play some notes, you should hear the cello section. At the same time, midi channel 1 in the monitor screen will blink green as you play notes to indicate activity. If you change your controller to channel 3 and play some notes, you should now hear pizzicato cellos. Also, channel 3 should blink green.

You should set your plugin track to the desired MIDI channel. For example, to set channel 3 in qtractor, doubleclick on the channel number for the track as so:

This opens the track settings dialog. Change the channel to 3 as so:

The monitor screen is used to test if your sequencer track is set to the correct midi channel (to play the patch you want to hear). The monitor screen is also used to test if your midi controller's midi channel is likewise set. Finally, the monitor screen provides a quick summary of which patches are assigned to the 16 midi channels.


The Edit Screen

To view the settings for a patch, you must first select the Edit screen from the menubar:

You will then see some settings similiar to the Cellos edit screen below:

All the settings for only one (of the 16) MIDI channel are shown. The setting labeled Channel tells you which of the 16 MIDI channels is being shown. Above, that would be MIDI channel 1. The gray button to the right tells which patch is set to play on this channel. Above, that is the Cello patch. Click on the up arrow for the channel to change to channel 2:

Now you'll see the settings for MIDI channel 2. Note that the gray button indicates that the "Cello Legato" patch is set to play for channel 2.


Changing a setting

On the Edit screen, you'll see a setting labeled Volume. This sets the volume for the channel. It defaults to 100. Click the left mouse button on either the up or down arrow beside the 100 to raise or lower the volume, respectively. If you hold down the mouse button, the volume will continue changing even faster until you release the button.

Most of the other settings are changed similarly.

You can change any setting at any time, even while a channel's patch is being played by a sequencer track or your midi controller.


The Master Screen

The Master screen contains settings that affect all 16 channels of the plugin. For example, there is a master volume (separate from each channel's individual volume on the Edit screen).