Heheh... well those are just shots in the dark because I'm not full grasping the problem but hopefully one of those methods will at least point you in the right direction. Cheers.

The issue seems to be that setting the Now Time ignores the SMPTE and Millisecond formats.
 
The documentation talks about being able to enter time in SMPTE format, which would allow me to align clips by explicit time values, rather than the default MBT format.
 
The problem is, I do not see anywhere that I CAN actually enter a SMPTE value and have it recognized, for purposes of positioning the Now Time.  It certainly does not work in the Go dialog box.  That converts everything to MBT values.
 
Are you aware of anywhere I can type in a SMPTE value and have that used to set the Now Time?
 
Bob Bone
 

The best way is to match the original song to a timeline and write it out from that. I did it with a Def Leppard song and they are famous for some serious tempo drift.

robert_e_bone
The issue seems to be that setting the Now Time ignores the SMPTE and Millisecond formats.
 
The documentation talks about being able to enter time in SMPTE format, which would allow me to align clips by explicit time values, rather than the default MBT format.
 
The problem is, I do not see anywhere that I CAN actually enter a SMPTE value and have it recognized, for purposes of positioning the Now Time.  It certainly does not work in the Go dialog box.  That converts everything to MBT values.
 
Are you aware of anywhere I can type in a SMPTE value and have that used to set the Now Time?
 
Bob Bone
 

EDIT: I made an error in the following post. You cannot type time values into the Transport Module.
 
You can't just set the Now Time manually? Oh and I'm pretty sure if you type the value you want in the now time box of the Transport Module you can set the Now Time any way you'd like.

9 different time sigs in the 1st minute, jeez, am so glad am a 4/4 cat lol

The best way I can think of to do this is to ignore the time sigs completely. Just play and record the midi. It doesn't really care what the time sig or even the tempo. It will grab everything you do as you do it. Kinda like an audio session.
 
The problem comes in if you are planning to use a drum VST that has to follow the time sig and tempo.  However, if you can play the drums in real time, even if they are midi, that problem goes away.
 
I could not imagine the difficulty of trying to match up an audio scratch track to a midi project that wants to follow tempo and time. I have worked in the past on a few projects like that and even with one time sig and constant tempo, if the scratch was not recorded to a click the issue of sync is a major one.
 
good luck...
 
I'd certainly like to hear this after you get it done.

I'll take another stab at explaining the issue I am trying to solve.
 
Project 1 is a bunch of clips on multiple tracks, representing the guitar tracks for a particular song.  This was recorded at a tempo of 108, in a time signature of 3/4.  There are multiple time signature changes in the actual song, none of which were inserted by the guitar player into his project, prior to recording.  His playing is to the metronome beeps, which are set to 1/8th note value, so he does not care about the time signature changes.
 
Project 2 is created by me, for the same song, and will contain multiple MIDI tracks for drums, bass, violin, and keyboards.  My project DOES care about the time signatures, and I went through the exercise of figuring them all out.  Just in the first minute of the song, there are something like 9 time signature changes.
 
Further complicating things is that since the Step Sequencer ONLY supports a time signature meter base of 1/4 notes, for me to use Step Sequencer for some of the midi tracks, I HAVE to double the tempo of the song, to 216, and use 1/4 notes instead of 1/8 notes.  So, my quarter notes playing twice as fast will sound the same as his eighth notes.  This is an unfortunate reality of the Step Sequencer's design, which I have submitted a feature request for them to change to allow non-quarter note meter bases. (going on 2 years now).
 
The tempo is not an issue, as it is an exact doubling of the original tempo the guitar player uses, and my quarter notes line up fine with his eighth notes.
 
BUT, because in my project I have all of these time signature changes inserted, my measures do not line up with his any longer.  THIS is the issue I am trying to solve.  I have to copy his guitar clips into my song, and since I cannot at this point set the Now Time to a SMPTE value, which would use TIME as its positioning basis - rather than the MEASURE base format that MBT uses, I cannot easily position the paste point in MY project for pasting in his various clips.
 
SOOO, trying to sum that all up, I need to figure out how to get the Now Time set per either a SMPTE format or a Millisecond format, both of which use time instead of measures.
 
It seems to me that unless I am missing something there is no way for me to accomplish this, despite the documentation indicating time being able to be entered in SMPTE format.
 
If indeed that is the case, this would appear to be a bug in their redesign of the Now Time.
 
Bob Bone
 
 

Guitarhacker
The best way I can think of to do this is to ignore the time sigs completely. Just play and record the midi. It doesn't really care what the time sig or even the tempo. It will grab everything you do as you do it. Kinda like an audio session.
 
The problem comes in if you are planning to use a drum VST that has to follow the time sig and tempo.  However, if you can play the drums in real time, even if they are midi, that problem goes away.
 
I could not imagine the difficulty of trying to match up an audio scratch track to a midi project that wants to follow tempo and time. I have worked in the past on a few projects like that and even with one time sig and constant tempo, if the scratch was not recorded to a click the issue of sync is a major one.
 
good luck...
 
I'd certainly like to hear this after you get it done.

Thanks - I will certainly post a link to the completed tune.
 
I DO want to be faithful to the time signatures, so recording it in free form is not the way I want to do this.  I am approaching multiple songs in the approach of creating faithful MIDI versions of a bunch of classic progressive/tunes, such as:
 
UK - In the Dead of Night (this one is just about done)
Jean Luc Ponty - Mirage, Enigmatic Ocean, Nostalgic Lady (Mirage is almost done too)
Bruford - Fainting in Coils, Sample and Hold, Joe Frasier, Palewell Park (Fainting in Coils about done)
Allan Holdsworth - Tokyo Dream, Road Games
Dixie Dregs - Night Meets Light (the one I am working on now), I'm Freaking Out, Twiggs Approved
Jerry Goodman - multiple tunes
 
To the best of my knowledge, nobody has created midi versions of the above tunes, and I thought these worthwhile to do, out of respect to and love for the original music.
 
So, this is why solving this issue is important to me.  I want the finished material to be done as correctly as possible.
 
Bob Bone
 

THE FOLLOWING IS INCORRECT. DISREGARD. Sorry.
 
Like I said... I'm pretty sure you can set the Now Time display of the Transport module to either of those value types then just type in the exact point in the song you want. The now time should jump to that point once you type it in and press Enter.
 
Oh and I usually just drag the clips and match the waveforms by eye. if things are getting too hinky.

I can click on the time formats displayed to toggle through the various formats, but where do I type in a SMPTE value?
 
Bob Bone