This not picking up the first MIDI note in a song thing

Is this an acknowledged problem? I guess I have never actually started a tune with a MIDI note until tonight.. At to my horror X2 is not picking up any MIDI notes that start at 00:00:00, regardless of what synth they're sent to. Googling I see that others have mentioned this problem and suggested to leave an empty bar at the start of the song. Fair enough, but how can such a fundamental bug have slipped through the net? 

Hi, sharke,
                Did you play the MIDI note or insert it manually? If you play it, it would be possible that you might play a split second ahead of 00:00:00, then it will not be recorded, I had done that mistake myself. Go to PRV to check if the note is there. If the note is there and not make any sound, then check if you had any automation like volume that is too low.

                This is what I can think of for now. If it is none of the above then it is definately a bug that need to be addressed.

I actually used step record. There is no doubt that the notes in question are bang on zero. 

Jeff Evans


Pick up the clip and move it one bar to the right and see what happens.

I tried that, it plays. It's when the first note falls exactly on tick 1 of the project that it doesn't play. 

And just to clarify: I have tried this with Massive, Reaktor, Absynth, Dimension Pro and Rapture - multiple sounds on each. 

Update: It seems this is an occasional bug. I restarted Sonar and it worked. Restarted again and I have the same problem. 

Try increasing your MIDI buffer setting in Preferences.

yeah, that is nonsense. you play a note at anytime during the count-in and it will be placed right on 0 and play back fine and on time.

Bristol_Jonesey


We've had this come up on the forum many, many times in the past.

The recommendation - as always - is NOT to start your Midi data at 01:01:000

Start at measure 2, even 3 or 4.

This way everything (Sonar/Interface/Midi/Tempo etc) is able to get in sync and do it's stuff before you hit any Midi notes

+1
 
starting a midi song at 02:01:000 has been accepted practice essentially forever... no matter what sequencer you have..
 
 

Increase value of Prepare Using <value> Milliseconds to 500 in MIDI preferences if it's less than that. SONAR X* defaults to 250 which is too low for some systems, and is the most common cause of dropped MIDI notes.

sharke


Yeah I already had increased it to 500 because of problems using R-Mix, so it wasn't that unfortunately. 

fwiw, imo the correct answer here is in Jonesey's post above... it is simply good practice to start any midi based song at measure 2.. there is simply no way you can ever guarantee correct operation of a midi song by doing otherwise... regards.

Yeah I already had increased it to 500 because of problems using R-Mix, so it wasn't that unfortunately. 

It might be worth trying values up to 1000 if you haven't already. Some systems/projects need higher values.


Also, I suggest splitting Simple Instrument tracks to separate MIDI and Synth tracks, which might help you troubleshoot the problem further, and could conceivably resolve it, as there have been many undesirable behaviors associated specifically with Simple Instrument tracks in the past.

there is zero chance whatsoever of a set of hardware synths sync'ing to clock and having channel, patch and control data being setup while simultaneously playing a set of midi notes... :) .. and that is the reason why it has been a convention to start midi songs at measure 2

I was going to mention that the one area in which this is a persistent problem is with hardware synths. But there are fewer and fewer of us still using them, and this issue in particular does not seem to involve them.


My solution to hardware synth issues is to get them set up in advance and disable the widgets that send patch changes and other messages that can cause delayed - usually not completely dropped - notes. And then I get the hardware synth part rendered to audio as early as possible so it's not an ongoing problem.

Lets move from member opinion to straight FACT.

Access Virus setup guide page 17 "Inserting one or two empty bars at the beginning of the song helps the Virus TI settle into the tempo"

It takes no time at all to validate the reasoning for this statement by Access GmbH... start at 1:01:000 and you get dropped notes and hanging arpeggiator.. go further.. record and freeze the synth.. audio is bounced and oops.. first measure is all corrupted...

So, there is no "system tweak" that fixes this issue.. its real, well known and well documented in this forum several times as Jonesey indicated... a simple search is suggested to any casual reader of this thread.

A famous Abraham Lincoln quote seems appropriate in this instance ;)

Sigh.. The Virus was nothing more than an example. This can happen on any of my current synths...

Look, this has been a well known and well documented issue with sequencers and midi devices for 20 years...namely you cannot send significant control, setup and timing information while simultaneously expecting notes to sound from a hardware synth...

The fact that you are unaware of this issue and I am does not make you right and me wrong, nor does it make the issue disappear, nor does it invalidate my statement and nor does it give just cause for you to throw redicule at my statement with references to your rear end... it is standard practice ..to anyone who knows about it

My view here is neither rogue nor unique... it is in alignment with a sizeable number of members with long experience in midi or hardware synths.. any simple search of the forum will validate this...or post a thread with a question on the topic... I am not the one who needs any sort of convincing :)

fyi, yes indeed, along with many others i have made a request for a custom offset to the display ruler... though it is far more important to video folks than midi.. at least with midi its simple math not seconds or parts thereof..tho still tiresome at times.

p.s. I have no issues in integrating Maschine with a music start at (say) measure 2, i simply have a scene with a blank pattern run at song start of 1:01:000 and use PC msgs to change to an active scene/pattern upon music start...be that at measure 2 or elsewhere... if you are not familiar with this mode i will be happy to help, but i am done with this thread.

peace out.

I HAVE THIS PROBLEM! Sorry to shout, but it's a doozy. It CAN'T be me. I started another thread on this a followed all the steps people asked, NOPE.!!!!