Subject:Bug ? No sound with MIDI playback

Posted by: Pol Davril

Date:7/21/2006 6:24:43 AM

1) Open Acid Pro 6, blank project
2) Add a MIDI track
3) Assign it to a VSTI (this case, sfz soundfont player)
4) Record a clip in that MIDI track (mine has 48 bars) with Metronome On
5) Playback the recorded clip -> NO SOUND IS HEARD because the clip does NOT send any MIDI notes to output (I have tried routing the output to external MIDI module, same issue)


If the project is saved as acd-zip and opened again, without changing anything, then the sound is OK.

My conclusion: BUG.

+Edited+: No notes are visible in the chopper, that confirms bugs.
After saving & reloading the project, all is normal (notes visible in the chopper & sound is played).
Copying the clip to a second MIDI track -> also OK.

If I select "Copy to new clip", then all is also OK.
Why do I have to do that ?

Maybe a bug, maybe a too complicated implementation, I don't know...

+Edited 2+ : I've had this issue several times, but I can't reproduce it at each run... Weird...

+Edited 3+ : reproduced ! There is obviously a bug...

+Edited 4+ : Screen copies
1. The original MIDI clip is named "MIDI recording"; the chopper window is empty for that clip Screen copy 1 NO MIDI DATA is sent to the VSTi.

2. When the MIDI clip is copied to another MIDI track, its contents becomes visible in the chopper Screen copy 2 ("MIDI Recording - 1" is the copied clip). MIDI data is sent correctly to the VSTi.

Subject:RE: Bug ? No sound with MIDI playback

Reply by: Pol Davril

Date:7/23/2006 11:58:56 PM

Can somebody reproduce this issue ?

Subject:RE: Bug ? No sound with MIDI playback

Reply by: Pol Davril

Date:8/4/2006 2:09:52 AM

Nobody ??

Subject:RE: Bug ? No sound with MIDI playback

Reply by: vespesian

Date:8/4/2006 6:43:51 AM

There's something wrong with your track window..there should be a button for selecting "Program change", "synth change", etc...it's normally right above the clip painter thing...(I had a problem recently where certain sub-menus around the same area suddenly stopped showing up, and my cut & paste functions took like 2-3 attempts - I reinstalled, per Sony Support, and everything's ok.)

...for now.

Subject:RE: Bug ? No sound with MIDI playback

Reply by: Pol Davril

Date:8/10/2006 2:55:57 AM

I've got the same issue with 6.0b.

Here is a new screenshot.

This is a MIDI clip recorded with a synth keyboard. The MIDI track is routed to Sfz+ (VSTi).

After the clip has been recorded, I play it but no notes are sent to the VSTi.
Furthermore, the corresponding Chopper window is empty !

I have tried this several times.
Sometimes, it works : I mean, the sound is produced by pressing Play after the recording. But sometimes not...

Between each test, I have closed Acid and run it again. So, it should start each time with the same default internal values.

Thus, maybe this issue comes from the clip length ? Or the contents of the MIDI clip ?
Obviously, there should be a bug somewhere...

Subject:RE: Bug ? No sound with MIDI playback

Reply by: vespesian

Date:8/10/2006 5:05:08 AM

Do you have XP installed? Cuz GUI difficulties I had, which affected functioning, as described above, seemed to start around time I stopped using XP theme support (ie., windows 2K 'classic' interface).

Subject:RE: Bug ? No sound with MIDI playback

Reply by: pwppch

Date:8/10/2006 8:59:47 AM

We were not able to reproduce this problem so nothing specific was done to address it. We are still trying to determine what is causing this, but until we can reproduce this problem in house it is difficult to fix.

If we can identify and isolate the cause it will be addressed in an update to 6.0.

Thanks
Peter

Subject:RE: Bug ? No sound with MIDI playback

Reply by: pwppch

Date:8/10/2006 10:12:36 AM

don't believe this is a GUI issue. What Pol's image shows is how sfz and othe VSTis report (or actually fail to report) patch names correctly. This is a choice of the VSTi dev to provide or not provide meaningful patch names and is just an "interpretation" of the VSTi spec.

Peter

Subject:RE: Bug ? No sound with MIDI playback

Reply by: pwppch

Date:8/10/2006 10:14:59 AM

Pol ,

A question and things to try if you could:

- Does your recording problem happen with any other VSTi or the DLS synth or is it unique to sfz+

- The next time this happens, put the track into inline edit mode. Move a note from where it is and then back, or in some other way edit a single note that you recorded. Then play? Does it play correctly? Does the Chopper update? If you close/hide and the open/show the chopper does the data appear?

Thanks
Peter

Subject:RE: Bug ? No sound with MIDI playback

Reply by: Pol Davril

Date:8/15/2006 2:37:14 AM

Peter,

With sfz+, the issue can be reproduced (no sound when the track is played, no notes displayed in the chopper).

One thing to point out : the issue cannot be reproduced each time. Between each test, I close Acid completely and open it again. I've had to run Acid 5 times or so to reproduce the issue.

Some clues (brainstorming !): does it depend on the MIDI events ? On the number of bars ? On the polyphony ? Odd or even number of bars ? The presence of incomplete bars ? Blank measures at the start of the track ? ...

When the problem happens :
- I put the track in inline edit mode and move ONE note : no sound.
- I move a SECOND note : the sound is OK when the track is played, but the chopper is still empty.
- I minimize Acid window and then maximize it again : the chopper is updated (all notes are now visible).
These actions could be reproduced several times with the same results.

Other information:
- Hide & show the chopper does not update its contents.
- Minimize & maximize Acid window without having moved at least 2 notes in inline editing does not update the chopper window.
- Moving a same note TWICE in inline editing works also (no need to move 2 different notes)
- I've got exactly the same issue when routing the track to an external MIDI module (hardware).
- I could reproduce the issue with DLS soft synth (same results when moving 2 notes in inline editing mode).
- Move 1 note in inline editing + move a second note + press play in chopper : the chopper is immediately updated and the sound is OK.
- Sometimes, moving 1 note is enough to get sound when the track is played...

It's a very weird issue.
If you want me to make other specific tests, just let me know.

Pol