Hai guys, here is a big doubt I had for years. When I play and record midi normally I find the notes slightly before the beat lines. I am not a fan of quantize in all tracks and it all just gets perfectly aligned to the bars and beats. I leave them like that and they sound good and natural. But is this how its supposed to be? I thought may be its coz of the midi latency this thing happens and tried to move the notes slightly ahead ( I moved exactly 17 milli sec ahead, which is my latency showed in asio). It doesnt seem bad now the notes are little more closer to the grid lines and it sounds good as well. But I am totally skeptical about this.  
      This cannot be because of midi latency right? This must be how a natural playing is populated in the grid. So i just switched on the metronome and started playing a note at every beat. I tried my best to play totally in sync with the metronome and this is what I got, I have posted the screenshot. Just wondering is this how a natural playing gets populated in the grid? Or is it coz of some kind of latency issue or Am I such a bad player? What do you guys get when you guys record! Are the notes always slightly ahead of the grid lines?

It looks to me like its variable. Just like it is with humans.  

Here, Saw this on a link at KVR.
Haven't tried it yet but will, as my DAW is making me also look bad in the way you have described.
 
https://expressiveelectro.../midi-latency-analyser

I agree with John - I think  you are just seeing your own human fluctuation in timing. I have never known anyone to play exactly in time when analysed by a DAW. That variance is a part of expression.
 
On the other hand if the timing was out by precisely the same number of ppq on every note (after syncing an external synth and recording its arpegiator for example) I would be more inclined to investigate.
 
For some more disturbing news, record some vocals and have a look at it in melodyne:)
 

Yes tenfoot. Must be just true. I knew that as well. And that's why I never cared about it for years. Yet some time it bugs me why its always ahead of the intended grid line than behind it.

Let's say I quantize it now 



Everything perfectly aligned now.

Now let me run sonar's Humanize CAL with 10% offset





Now that looks fine to me. Its not perfectly in the grid. Some notes a ahead of the intended grid line and some notes are behind the intended grid line.

But when I record it all notes are ahead of the grid line. If only you guys could conform whether the same thing happens for you all. I will have no other confusions 

bitman
Here, Saw this on a link at KVR.
Haven't tried it yet but will, as my DAW is making me also look bad in the way you have described.
 
https://expressiveelectro.../midi-latency-analyser

That seems interesting. I will have a try and see. But I am clueless of what it does though . 

I tend to find my timing when playing to click with Sonar is ahead of the beat. I don't know if this is solely due to my own timing (I'm a professional jazz pianist, so it's not just straight-up bad playing, but I'm aware that I tend towards the front side of the beat even without a click) or if there's a technological component to it, but I've gotten used to just nudging things to the right in order to correct for it. 
 
It might be interesting to record live synth output simultaneously, on a piano sound or something else with a nice fast attack, and see if there's a difference in how the MIDI lines up. But if it turns out to be just your timing, I wouldn't worry excessively about it... it hasn't destroyed my career yet, and I played 200 shows last year!

Which is better, before or after? Most of my live playing is behind the beat. Egregiously late notes are corrected, but I leave the rest where they lay.

sonarman1
Yes tenfoot. Must be just true. I knew that as well. And that's why I never cared about it for years. Yet some time it bugs me why its always ahead of the intended grid line than behind it.

But when I record it all notes are ahead of the grid line. If only you guys could conform whether the same thing happens for you all. I will have no other confusions 

I find I am usually slightly ahead of the beat when I record midi into sonar. Not that is means much - I am sure people vary with playing styles. FWIW I am certain Sonar is recording my performance correctly. Any variation belongs to me:)
 
 

57Gregy
Which is better. before or after? Most of my live playing is behind the beat. Egregiously late notes are corrected, but I leave the rest where they lay.

Kinda depends on the music you're playing. A lot of jazz players (other than me) often tend to lay back a bit, and I will do this sometimes deliberately, for effect; time feel is kind of a personal thing and part of a player's sound and style, interacting with phrasing and dynamics. Rock and funk typically work better with a somewhat stricter feel, but then there are always going to be players who have a much looser feel and sound great with it...
 
I try not to overthink these things any more, having spent too long second-guessing myself and worrying someone would catch on to the fact that I didn't really know what I was doing (as if anyone really does). So I played kind of timidly and without conviction. But at a certain point I just kind of decided, well, here I am, I've been playing this way for a couple of decades, it's not likely to change, but if I'm going to bother playing then people may as well hear me... so I started playing stronger, and everything kind of got better and easier and more fun, so that seemed like the right approach!
 
EDIT: I almost forgot: as the old song has it... 
"T'ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it!"