Ensoniq style patch select buttons in Cubase

For those in the know already is I’d like to see the [CTRL][Shift] and [ALT] being used in VSTi plugins that come with Cubase the same way Ensoniq patch select buttons in Cubase.
Maybe there are other brands using the same idea with real-time alterations of sound layers by holding down buttons on synths but I only know of Ensoniq?

If you don’t know Ensoniq keyboards all of them (?) have two extra buttons just above the pitch wheel within reach for two left-hand fingers and what they do is you hold one or two down and the ASR plays back an alternative patch sound.
What it actually does is it gives you 00 X0 0X XX = four alternative sounds to play back whenever you feel like it given the patch you’re using is programmed that way of course …
You can have some obvious examples like 00 = default sound, X0 = stereo chorus, 0X = wah-wah and XX = up two octaves e.g. to “extend” your keyboard range in real-time. Use your imagination …
You can also be more subtle and nifty in your button programming than that obvious example.

Now … sadly Ensoniq is dead and gone but computers still have [CTRL][Shift] and [ALT] keys so why not use them?
This is not a Cubase feature request per se but all the synths bundled with Cubase would benefit with [CTRL][Shift] and [ALT] being able to alter sounds in real time.
And three buttons gives you 8 sounds!!!

1 -
2 [CTRL]
3 [CTRL] and [Shift]
4 [CTRL] and [ALT]
5 [Shift]
6 [Shift] and [ALT]
7 [CTRL][Shift] and [ALT]

mac users have the mac version.

So hold down any of these keys and play with your right hand and each and any patch can now play eight times the noises. Your neighbors will love you even more!!!
It’s of course very similar to Key Switches but there are also benefits like the fact you don’t wast MIDI keys that are sometimes out of reach especially on smaller keyboards and your CTRL keys are always hardware and visible to you IRL.
The computer is so much more than an old sampler can ever be so in a VSTi like HALion or HALion Sonic SE you have 16 slots that you could potentially load up with similar patches and play selected stacks of with the flick of CTRL switches!!!

Well, that’s it I think, therefore I am? :laughing: