Subject:Need help with MIDI

Posted by: DKeenum

Date:7/30/2004 2:20:43 PM

I decided to take Mario's advice, so here goes...

When I work with MIDI it feels cumbersome. NOw my background goes back to Opcode's Vision on the Mac. In fact it was acid that caused me to buy a PC for music. I always worked in what vision called an event list window. It gave an exact number for where a note was. Each quarter note had 480 ticks, so the eigth notes came on 240 ticks, etc. Anyway, I miss that. I've not been able to get used to the piano roll.

Anyway, I'd love to see the ability to edit MIDI be developed further in acid.

Or maybe Someone can help me learn to use better use MIDI in acid 4. What do you think?

Subject:RE: Need help with MIDI

Reply by: SonyJennL

Date:7/30/2004 3:56:20 PM

Thanks for the feedback, DKeenum.

I'll give Opcode a look. Additionally, will you please double check that your email address you have listed with the forums is correct? If it is, please check for an email from me.

Thanks,
Jenn

Subject:RE: Need help with MIDI

Reply by: MyST

Date:7/30/2004 7:15:01 PM

LOL!!

I'm like... What'd I say???
When did I give advice about MIDI??
Then it clicked...OH, specifying what you'd like in the software!
Excellent DKeenum!
However, don't forget to send this directly to Sony via the Product Suggestion.
Did you get the free MIDI editors for Acid? Someone still has the link I'm sure.

Mario

Subject:RE: Need help with MIDI

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:7/30/2004 9:39:54 PM

> Someone still has the link I'm sure

That would be the GenieSys OPT plugins.

~jr

Subject:RE: Need help with MIDI

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:7/30/2004 9:43:44 PM

> I always worked in what vision called an event list window

So what is wrong with ACID's Event List Editor window?

~jr

Subject:RE: Need help with MIDI

Reply by: DKeenum

Date:7/31/2004 6:16:30 AM

MyST, I do have those plug-ins, but I don't use them much.

Look guys, I'm thinking we could talk about something that has a benifit. I've had my say on 5.0 so I've got to move on. So....

How do you guys work in MIDI? I have changed so much of the way I do things by using acid, I figure I need to relearn MIDI recording. So here is how I do it:
1. record the part
2. Open up properties and edit with the piano roll.
3. Render to wav.

I do miss a pre-roll, but where I'm really needing help is in the editing. Now I have the same problems in reason, so I'm thinking that it could be me.
Any suggestions?

OT - have you seen the sonic reality group buy over on kvr-vst?

Subject:RE: Need help with MIDI

Reply by: MyST

Date:7/31/2004 6:34:28 AM

First and foremost, let me repeat what I've already stated before...
I'm not a Pro, I'm a hobbyist.
That being said, the way you record midi is pretty well the way I use it.
Record my midi, edit the hell out of it (I'm not a musician either) then render as wave.
Pros might be able to chime in with a more efficient workflow for you, but for me it's pretty well "one step at a time".
Me...I get a certain melody in my head, try to put it down on the keyboard, then edit that. Then I'll render as wave and build a project around that using loops. Not very elegant, but it does get my mind off "the daily grind", which is what I bought this software for.

Mario

PS: I got Reason-Adapted with my M-Audio Firewire410. I really want to play around with it. How do you like it? I also got (dare I say it) Ableton Live- Delta edition. So I've got a few things to look at.

Subject:RE: Need help with MIDI

Reply by: DKeenum

Date:7/31/2004 6:44:19 AM

Reason integrates with acid naturally. Plus you can loads of free refills on the internet. Reason sounds good and you get an rex player that is a great loop addition to acid. You will probably take to the sequencer quickly ( it also can run synced to acid). So I'd say go for it!

Live - I know nothing, but I'm sure there will be some volunteers to hijack the thread.

Subject:RE: Need help with MIDI

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:7/31/2004 6:48:09 AM

> How do you guys work in MIDI?

I almost always lay down a scratch drum track first because there is no metronome. Then I press record and wait 4 beats to sync up and record the MIDI track several times in a row without stopping. This leaves you with a track where the first measure is always empty because there is no pre-roll, and several performances. I listen to the performances to select the one I like best. Sometimes I have to use the piano roll to make sure I came in exactly on the first beat of the measure. If its slightly after the beat I leave for a more human feel but if its before the beat I snap it to the beat so the note-on isn’t lost when I trim the loop. Likewise for the note-off at the end of the measure.

Now depending on what I plan to do with the loop I will do different things:

If I want to keep the loop as a wave file, I’ll just trim the loop to the section I want right there on the timeline, solo the track, and render as a wav file.

If I want to keep the loop as a MIDI loop, then I do one of two things:

If there are a lot of performances, I will open the loop in the chopper and chop the section I want to a new track. That becomes my final loop.

If there are only one or two performances, I will open the piano roll and delete the ones I don’t want and move the one I do want to the beginning of the loop and press the save button.

So what I would like to see in ACID 5 is a metronome so I don’t need the scratch drum track. A pre-roll so I don’t have to edit out the 4 bars of silence at the beginning of every MIDI track. The concept of takes so that ACID sees each looped performance as a separate take of the same loop. Then I could just choose the take I like best. It would also be great if in the Piano Roll Editor, there were a command to trim everything outside the loop marker. That would make my MIDI editing a whole lot easier. Project 5 has this last capability and it impressed me as being very useful.

Hope this help.

~jr

Subject:RE: Need help with MIDI

Reply by: DKeenum

Date:7/31/2004 2:14:22 PM

Good suggestions Johnny. I've never used the beatmapper much. I've always edited loops in atrack and then render the track, but I need to give it another go... especially with MIDI.