Here’s a (another) situation for which I wanted a solution. I’ll describe the situation using Cantabile but I’m sure other live hosts have similar issues:

• I have several VST instruments, which I layer together. For the sake of argument take an orchestral patch: I may have:
  • String section
  • Horns
  • Flutes
  • Woodwinds
  • Timpani
• Depending on the situation, I may need only strings, or strings mixed with horns, with or without timpani. Each of these situation are really just different mixer settings.
• I would like to “call up” a particular mixer setting at the touch of a button.
  I also may want to tweak the mixer setting live, using a slider on my controller
• But … when I call up a mixer setting, I want the whole to “forget” what I may have manually tweaked earlier.
• The problem is that if I e.g. set up the layered instrument as a multi in Kontakt, the mixer settings are “remembered” by Kontakt. Suppose I ‘manually’ up the timpani levels at the end of a show. I close Cantabile, pack up the laptop, and when I re-open for the next show … the timpani level is where I last left it. And I probably won’t even remember where I left it.

A different use case, not involving volume might be electric piano’s:

• I have several electric piano’s in a multi
• I have several effect plugins for these piano’s: overdrive, chorus, delay etc.
• I have several “electric piano patches” which are combinations of electric piano instrument, and specific effect settings.
• I want to be able to call up a “preset” of instrument/FX settings at the touch of a button
• I want to be able to change the FX settings live, but need to make sure that when I call up a preset, it is exactly as I programmed it, not as I last left it.

Topiary Presetz Main Screen

Hence: Topiary Presetz, released in beta today.  Head over to the overview page, read the manual, download and try it!