Helpful ReplyHow to just change the play length of a MIDI track?

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shaggydawg
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2018/04/21 03:48:37 (permalink)

How to just change the play length of a MIDI track?

Once again I am baffled by what should be a simple process! 
 
I have a MIDI track that I use to control a device. I use this track on every project so rather than recreate it every time, I just delete all the other tracks in a project and keep the MIDI track, then begin a new project.
 
The projects are of varying lengths, so I want to be able to trim the length of this MIDI control track so the project doesn't play on and on till the end of the MIDI track. This also affects the "fit project" function because the project size is based on this MIDI track whose length I can't crop!
 
I've tried simply selecting the end portion of the track and hitting 'delete' but that has no effect. The length remains.
 
Can someone tell me what the mysteriously hidden function is to shorten my MIDI track to match the new project? (Or more likely the understanding of the issue I'm missing to make this happen.)
 
Thanks!
#1
Anonymungus!
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/21 04:36:15 (permalink)
Hey Shaggy, this should be very simple. Go to the end of the MIDI track, and shorten it by grabbing the end and drag it to the place you want (known as 'Slip Edit' I believe).  Or, you could split the track at the proper place and delete the part that is too long.  Cheers! 

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Toddskins
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/21 04:39:54 (permalink)
Not the answer, but someone here will help us find something along the lines of an "end of file" or "end of song" marker, that you can adjust in the MIDI Event List.  Problem is I just looked in the list and did not see the notation where it should be, which means Sonar is handling it differently, or actually you have to find that code in another place.
 
Here's something that states it must exist:  http://www.recordingblogs...-of-Track-meta-message
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Toddskins
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/21 04:40:54 (permalink)
Anonymungus!
Hey Shaggy, this should be very simple. Go to the end of the MIDI track, and shorten it by grabbing the end and drag it to the place you want (known as 'Slip Edit' I believe).  Or, you could split the track at the proper place and delete the part that is too long.  Cheers! 


I suspect this won't work because he is working with MIDI, not audio.  
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BRainbow
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/21 07:25:35 (permalink)
Try turning on "Ripple Edit Selection" in "Options" below the toolbar in Track View before you select the end section and hit delete.  It is supposed to work and sometimes does for me -- depending on the project.  Another thing to be sure of is that there are no stray controller events or other things like markers etc. that might not get deleted when you select a section of your MIDI track.  To be totally sure I "select all"from the "edit" menu, then re-select just the region I want to delete by cntrl-clicking on the track view timeline at the point I want the deletion to begin. Then I hit delete.  After that I select the same region the same way again and use "cut special" from the "edit" menu and make sure all the check-boxes (including "delete hole") are ticked before I cut.  Again, be sure "Ripple Edit Selection" is checked before you do this.
 
If that doesn't do it, I'm sorry but this has been a bug in SONAR/Cakewalk for a long time, at least on a number of my projects.  We all want the tape to stop rolling at the end of the song but often is doesn't despite these meticulous procedures.  Good luck.

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Bristol_Jonesey
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/21 09:14:13 (permalink)
Slip editing is definitely the way to do it as described above - just drag the right hand edge of the clip backwards to the desired length
 
Then, right click the clip and choose "apply trimming"
 
Also, there is absolutely no need to save a separate project with the original clip in it - just drag it to your desktop and import it into any project you want.

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Kalle Rantaaho
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/21 09:15:26 (permalink)
Going to the Event view and making sure there are no events after the desired length is one thing to do, maybe.

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Bristol_Jonesey
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/21 09:21:38 (permalink)
Hi Kalle.
 
I don't think this will be an issue for the OP until he follows the steps outlined above.
 
His problem with "fit to project" seems to revolve around this one long Midi clip

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shaggydawg
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/21 20:33:35 (permalink)
Well thank you everyone for your input. It occurred to me that I normally run SONAR HS, and that has led to a lot of problems/misunderstandings in the past, e.g., it didn't have a lot of the features mentioned in your replies.
 
So I've reopened the project in my recently downloaded Cakewalk re-release, which is more full-featured.
 
Anyway, I seemed to have been able to clean up my offending MIDI track. It actually had a couple of tracks overlaid onto it. How that happened, I don't know. I deleted all of that and am now down to a nice clean MIDI track with what appears to be a proper length, and "fit to project" works correctly.
 
The last problem I guess is another universal issue. How do I get my project to stop playing at the end of the tracks?? That issue did not get fixed. I've found this to be very inconsistent when using SONAR/Cakewalk. Sometimes it's good, other times it stops a few measures late, other times, like now, it just keeps playing forever until told to stop. Goofy!
 
Thanks all.
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Cactus Music
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/21 22:27:38 (permalink)
Cakewalk has never stopped at the end. I think it only does this when you use the playlist feature. 
Why would it matter? 
If you wonder off to get a cup of coffee it will play for hours until you come back and stop it. Your not meant to wander off. Your supposed to be working on something. 
The Playlist feature is used for live gigs, I opted out as I found it too slow between songs. But many use it. 
 
So is that why you want it to stop? Live gigs? 
I just export the song as a WAVE file, no issues for over 12 years. 
 
 
 

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#10
shaggydawg
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/21 22:56:53 (permalink)
I suppose you're right. It's expected behavior (for me, anyway), but not really necessary.
 
I did try playlisting in SONAR for a couple of live gigs and it was just 'ok'. I would open all the songs in a set prior to performing to try to minimize any delay between songs. I lived with it. It was also cumbersome for a number of other reasons.
 
Yes, there are much more suitable setups for live playlisting, and now I use SONAR to just produce tracks, export the files, and load them into an iPad playlist app. 
 
Thanks.
 
 
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BRainbow
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/21 23:52:28 (permalink)
"Won't stop at end of song" is the feature I was addressing in my post above.  Glad you solved your other problem, Dawg.  You'll love the depth of Cakewalk.

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Toddskins
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/22 12:17:54 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby abacab 2018/04/24 21:34:59
Cactus Music
Cakewalk has never stopped at the end. I think it only does this when you use the playlist feature. 
Why would it matter? 
If you wonder off to get a cup of coffee it will play for hours until you come back and stop it. Your not meant to wander off. Your supposed to be working on something. 
The Playlist feature is used for live gigs, I opted out as I found it too slow between songs. But many use it. 
 
So is that why you want it to stop? Live gigs? 
I just export the song as a WAVE file, no issues for over 12 years. 
 

 
In the Track View click on the menu Options, and at the bottom of the list is "Stop at Project End".  Click that on.



I'm on X3 Producer, but it should probably still be there.
#13
shaggydawg
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Re: How to just change the play length of a MIDI track? 2018/04/24 20:26:35 (permalink)
"Stop at Project End" fixed my run-on issue! :-)
 
Thank you, my brethren.
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