Nd Help matching MIDI to Project Tempo

[musikman1]

I dug up an old audio track and imported it into CW. The project tempo I imported to was set at 75bpm.  The audio track didn't match the project tempo, so the beats didn't align with the tempo ruler, but I was not concerned at that point because I just wanted to quickly try recording a vst synth part to see what it would sound like along with the audio track.  After recording the synth, I saved the project at that 75bpm tempo, which included the new midi synth track I recorded. 

Later on I exported the audio track to a wav file at the 75bpm tempo. I opened a brand new project, imported the wav file, and with a little trial and error, I figured out that the audio track fit the time ruler perfectly if I set the new project tempo at 100.75 bpm.  I then went back to the other project and exported the vst synth midi (at 75bpm) to a midi file.  I then went back to the new project and opened the same vst synth I had used to originally record the midi track, and I imported that midi file and placed it in the vst synth track in the new project with the tempo at 100.75.  I thought the midi file would automatically adjust from 75bpm to the new tempo of 100.75bpm, but it is still seeming to play at the 75bpm tempo it was originally recorded at. 

If I can't get this midi to line up properly, I suppose I could re-record the vst synth track again, but I like the way it came out the first time. Any suggestions? I've never needed to do this before, so I have a feeling I may be missing a step here..... thank you.

[John Vere]

This is a weird one.  You recorded the mid in a project that was 75BPM .  At that tempo the midi track matched the audio. So now when you move it theoretically it should play faster?  In other words it was recorded out of sync to the tempo  at 75,  and now your trying to play it at 100. Midi always follows the project tempo. 

Are you dragging and dropping the midi track from the 75BPM into the 100BPM project with the 2 projects open? 

Or are you saving the 75BPM project as a midi file and importing that?  

Or did you Export the midi track? 

One option is to do just that,  export the synth track as an audio stem. 

Edited August 23, 2023 by JohnnyV

[musikman1]

Yeah it's a weird one for sure.  After I posted this thread, I went back and bounced the midi synth track to an audio track, then exported that audio to a wav file.  That does work when I import that wav file into the 100bpm project.  Only thing is, if I want to edit the midi, I'll have to do that in the other 75bpm project, then repeat what I did again (bounce to audio again and export to wav again).  No problem, I don't mind doing that if need be. 

To answer your question :

14 minutes ago, JohnnyV said:

Are you dragging and dropping the midi track from the 75BPM into the 100BPM project with the 2 projects open? 

Or are you saving the 75BPM project as a midi file and importing that?  

Or did you Export the midi track? 

I soloed the synth midi track, selected that track, then used the File/Export/Standard midi file command (which was the only command I could find for exporting midi).  So I guess even though I soloed that track, I actually saved the entire 75bpm project as a standard midi file and then imported that into the 100bpm project.  I could not find a command for exporting only that one midi track.  🤔

I haven't yet tried dragging and dropping with both projects open.

[David Baay]

Go back to the original 75 BPM project with the synced audio and MIDI.

- Set the Now time at 76:01.

- Shift+M to bring up Set Measure/Beat At Now,  enter measure 101, beat 4, and OK.

- CbB will reset the initial tempo to 100.75 without affecting the playback timing of either audio or MIDI.

- It will also add a mathing tempo node at 101:04 which you can delete.

 

Alternatively, to have CbB find a possibly more precise average tempo:

- Let the project play with the metronome disabled and count bars out to the last downbeat.

- Stop the transport , zoom in, and place the Now time precisely on the downbeat transient.

- Shift+M, enter that measure, beat 1 and OK.

- CbB will calculate the tempo needed to make that measure/beat hit that Now time and change the project tempo .

 

[musikman1]

13 hours ago, David Baay said:

Go back to the original 75 BPM project with the synced audio and MIDI.

- Set the Now time at 76:01.

- Shift+M to bring up Set Measure/Beat At Now,  enter measure 101, beat 4, and OK.

- CbB will reset the initial tempo to 100.75 without affecting the playback timing of either audio or MIDI.

- It will also add a mathing tempo node at 101:04 which you can delete.

 

Thanks David, that worked perfectly!  I'm trying to make sense of the math of it though, I'd like to know how you knew where to set the Now time and what numbers to enter in the Set Measure boxes.  I'm curious on how those numbers interact to have the tempo arrive exactly at 100.75 , if you care to expand I'd appreciate it. 👌

[David Baay]

Sure. First, understand that having 100.75 beats pass in the time of 75 is the same as having 100.75 measures pass in the time of 75, and it's just easier not to have to convert measures and beats to total beats. Then all you're doing is telling CbB "I want 100.75 measures (100 measures and 3 beats in 4/4 time) to pass in the absolute time that's currently at 75 measures from the start". But measures are counted from 1, not zero, so you need to set the Now cursor at 76:01, and tell CbB to adjust the initial tempo  to make measure 101, beat 3 hit that absolute Now time (i.e. 3 minutes, 56.8 seconds).

Edited August 24, 2023 by David Baay

[David Baay]

Dupe

Edited August 24, 2023 by David Baay

[Glenn Stanton]

and this process works in reverse as well 🙂 

[musikman1]

Thanks David, appreciate the explanation. I just now read it, so I'm still going to need to sink my brain into it a bit more before I grasp the process. 

On 8/24/2023 at 4:52 PM, Glenn Stanton said:

and this process works in reverse as well 🙂 

🤔Not ready for reverse just yet Glenn, but good to know, thanks!