David Baay

An ARA-enabled clip (Audio Random Access) will display 'RFX' (Region FX) in the upper right corner. Groove clips will have beveled/rounded corners, and locked clips will have a lock icon in the upper left corner. You might also check for Audiosnap being enabled under Clip properties in the Track Inspector. If the clip is in any of these special modes applied, slip-stretching will not be allowed. In the case of MIDI, Step Sequencer clips cannot be stretched, either.

Glad to help. Garritan is somewhat unique in using Modulation to control volume. IIRC, they added support for CC11 at some point to be more compatible with GM conventions. CC2 (Breath) also does the same thing. You might want to find out what characteristic of the sound is controlled by Modulation in Spitfire, and see if it's possible to emulate that with a different controller. Here's a summary of controller implementation in Garritan: https://usermanuals.garritan.com/GPO5/Content/controls.htm EDIT: I should add, if the parameter controlled by Modulation in Spitfire has a counterpart in Garritan, you can copy the Mod controllers to the appropriate controller number in the PRV, and then delete the Mod controllers.

Maybe more precise to say say 'offset' the existing MIDI. In other words, 'lie' to the synth, making the timestamps later so the audio renders later without actuallly delaying the audio output. So you could offset the existing MIDI while passing live input MIDI through immediately, and have both in sync with plugin-delayed tracks.

EDIT: Nevermind. Had missed the first of your two updates.

That should still work in CbB. Check that clip isn't locked, Groove-clip-enabled, Audiosnap-enabled, ARA-enabled, etc.

I didn't watch the video, but for a project with tracks already matching a constant project tempo, the procedure is simple: - Select All - Show Clip properties in the Track Inspector, and expand the Audiosnap section. - Check the Enable box, set the Follow Option to Autostretch, and check the box to Follow Proj Tempo. - Change the tempo.

So I got the same stuttering effect here, and noted it was happening particularly on strings and in places where the tempo wasn't changing. I looked at the controllers in the PRV, and found both Modulation and Expression controllers following the same pattern but at different average levels. In Garritan, Modulation (CC1) and Expression (CC11) both control the Expression parameter, so the controllers are competing with each other, and rapidly switching the level up an down since the curves are at different levels. Deleting either set of controllers eliminates the stuttering.

Actually pretty straightforward: - Check the box to Enable MIDI Out when inserting Jamstix - Insert another MIDI track, and set it's Input to Jamstix. - Leave Input Echo disabled. - Arm the MIDI track to record, and hit R. I wouldn't be surprised if there's an option to drag MIDI out of the Jamstix UI, but I've always used the above method because I just like to watch it do its thing in real time, and listen for parts that I might want to modify, move, delete, copy, re-arrange, assign to a different synth, etc. After recording, you can drag that clip to the Jamstix track and switch it to MIDI Playback mode, or take parts of it to different tracks or separate lanes of the of the Jamstix track... whatever works. EDIT: Looking back at some of the projects where I used it, I've usually just set the input of the Jamstix MIDI/Simple Instrument track to the Jamstix MIDI Out, and recorded directly into that track. So long as you leave Input Echo disabled while Jamstix is in Jam mode, that works fine.

Are there tempo changes in the project? Possibly Aria Player is not handling them as well as a Miroslav, though I would expect it should. If the stuttering persists after freezing/bouncing to audio, that would take the audio driver/hardware out of the equation. It could also be that some particular controller in the MIDI is causing problems with Garritan. If you want to share the Garritan version of the project somewhere, I could give it a run on my good-but-less-than-state-of-the-art system to see how it behaves.

I realized after posting that this explains why you don't use the audio metronome.

Yes, I've seen a lot of requests for this over the years. Kind of funny that it got implemented as an incidental benefit of the Export function. I hadn't really thought about it until the OP brought it up again.

Logically, PDC can only work by adding delay. So, conversely, overriding it can only work by subtracting delay. It's not possible to subtract delay from a real-time input, so PDC and PDC override have to work at the output. But the issue with existing vs. real-time MIDI could potentially be handled better by delaying the output of existing MIDI to the synth rather than delaying the audio output from the synth. 'Aways Echo Current' facilitates the composing process by allowing a user to switch instruments simply by changing track focus. In conjunction with 'Allow MIDI Recording without an Armed Track', the creative process can proceed very quickly. A major downside of this feature, however, is that a MIDI track that initially has no input assigned will default to All Inputs - Omni when it gets auto-echoed, which can cause a lot of unexpected problems if you don't realize it. Personally, I just don't work fast enough for it to be of much value to me, and I like to have control over what's being echoed at any given moment, regardless of where the focus is.

That's gotta be it. I overlooked the key word 'files' in the title.

Is it a VST3? I've had trouble with AAS Chromaphone VST3 hanging Cakewalk, though others don't seem to have a problem with it, and other VST3s load fine for me. For Chromophone I have to use the VST2 version.

That's odd. Is this affecting both projects and project templates, or just a particular project? Most of those settings are different than what I typically use, especially the MIDI metronome. It shouldn't matter but it's a bit unusual, so that would be the first thing I'd want to check. Any particular reason you're not using the audio metronome - don't like the sounds on offer?

Coincidentally, a youtube video was just linked in another thread that shows pretty much exactly this process - just doing it in a multitrack project. And he sets every measure from start to finish while I usually start with 'rough set' as described, and dial it in only where really needed. But setting every measure like this is valid if you know the tempo is that variable, and are more concerned with super-tight timing than audio artifacts. I swear: A. That's not my video, and B. I did not see it before posting. ;^)

If you just want to get the task done: - Bounce the Master bus to a 'Master Bounce' track that outputs directly to Main Outs - Solo that track along with the one you want to record on. - Enable PDC Override and record away,

I've ony listened briefly on crummy laptop speakers, but I'm guessing this suggestion would apply broadly; Bring up the level of the instrument(s) defining the harmonic structure. The chord changes are cool but not as audible as they should be everywhere. I think this is partly what makes it sound 'Asian' - the melody is too dominant. A switch to - or addition of - a lead instrument with more sustain on the choruses could also help that. Nice work otherwise. I like it.

I took the above to mean he wasn't auto-echoing the offending track, but it's not a 100% clear.

I've posted about this many time in the past, and usually just refer to those older posts, but decided to start fresh. As usual, this assumes some knowledge of functions, menus and keyboard shortcuts: The general approach I would recommend, whether you use Melodyne, Audiosnap or Set Measure/Beat At Now - or maybe even Fit to Improv with a MIDI guide track - is this: - Get the timeline aligned to the MP3 in a new, separate project, starting at 136bpm. - Enable Audiosnap in Autostretch mode (or Melodyne if you're using that), and delete all the tempo changes. - Reset the initial tempo to 136bpm if necessary, and bounce the audio to render the stretching . - Import the rendered .WAV into your other project. To get the most precise results with the greatest flexibiity in choosing how much you mangle the audio with stretching, I recommend setting the timeline manually using Set Measure/Beat At Now. - Start by importing the MP3 to a new 136bpm project, and deleting the dead air that MP3 encoding adds (and/or your collaborator left in) at the start - Drag the clip to align the first downbeat to the nearest bar line (i.e. 1:01:000 if it starts on a downbeat or 2:01:000 if there are pickup beats). - If isn't starting at 1:01, snap the Now time to 2:01 and use Set Measure/Beat At Now (Shift+M) to pin down that point as the reference for subesequent timeline 'Sets'. - Start play back and stop the transport at the downbeat transient that should be hitting the 9:01 barline, and SM/BAN that point to Measure 9, Beat 1 (or Measure 10 if the first downbeat is at 2:01). - Go through the rest of the clip using a combination of playback (spacebar), previous/next measure and tab to transient keyboard shortcuts to put the Now time on downbeat transients at 8- or 16-measure intervals, and 'Set' those beats out the the last downbeat or the point where a decelerando starts if there is one. (Note: If the rhythm doesn't have strong transients on downbeats, you can set a different beat or even a fractional beat somewhere else in the bar). once you get the hang of using the shortcuts, this goes pretty quickly. - Enable the playback metronome, and listen through the clip, setting additional points as needed to tighten up the timeline to the audio. Understnad that SM/BAN is entering tempo changes to make timeline fit the audio; there's no audio stretching going on at this point. - If you find at some point that you've made things worse, it's best to Undo your way back to the last 'Set' before the mistake was made. With a contiguous clip that starts at 1:01:000, you can delete tempos, and not mess things up, but when doing this with MIDI or multiple audio clips that don;ta ll start at time zero, it's imperitive that you use Undo. And it's best to do progressive Save As with a new name at regular intervals so you can easily back up to a 'good' state if needed later on. - When it sounds good throughout, do a final Save As, go to clip properties in the Inspector, enable Audiosnap in Autostretch mode, choose Online and Offline stretching algorithms (Elastique Pro may or may not sound the best), and delete all your carefully set tempos (eek!), leaving only the initial tempo. If that tempo got changed by the set at 9:01 or an earlier one (likely), change it back to 136.00. - Have another listen to see how the online stretching sounds, and if it's all good, Bounce to Clip (or Track if you prefer to preserve the online stretching for comparison), and drag or export/import that clip into your working project. - Have a beer, go for a walk or take a nap. One final thought: The issue I have withe Melodyne, and the reason I prefer Set Measure/Beat At Now is that Melodyne tends to produce a hyper-smooth tempo map with interpolated tempos where no beats even exist, and when you 'flatten' the tempo by deleting them, there's so much streching going on everywhere that significant distortion results. If a recording has relatively tight timing to begin with, it's best not to set it at a resolution finer than a measure, and preferably less if it's not absolutely needed to eliminate obvious drift. I've recently experimented with a procedure for using Melodyne to extract tempos, and then thin them down to beats or measures, but it's a bit fiddly, and ultimately not really an improvement over Set Measure/Beat At Now, either in speed or quality of the end result.

Yes, as I mentioned earlier, Cakewalk can't differentially delay existing content, and not delay new content generated by the same synth output. When Input Echo is enabled, the assumption is that you plan to rehearse or record new content so it overrides the delay compensation. That's unavoidably going to cause existing content to play early. I thought the OP made it clear he's experiencing this issue without having Input Echo enabled on the problem track(s), automatically or otherwise.

I just finished playing around with this for an hour, and couldn't reproduce a consistent problem. A couple of times I had all synths go out of sync with the metronome and recorded audio when I was making too many changes at once (e.g. adding tracks, toggling input echo, record arming and PDC override), and starting recording without running playback to reinitialize the PDC amount. But I never saw just one synth get out of sync. I does appear I was wrong earlier when I was thinking the automatic input echo built into synth audio tracks would cause them to be subject to PDC override. I believe that was a problem back when synth recording was first introduced, but now override is only triggered by enabling MIDI echo to a soft synth, and that all worked as expected as well, except that synth recording isn't compensated for PDC like audio recording. I dunno... must be project/plugin/platform/procedure-specific.

It's about input echo being enabled on audio tracks. And synth tracks and the synth side of a Simple Instrument track are audio tracks, I now recall having a discussion with the Noel Borthwick about this years ago, and the issue is that you can't separate the audio stream generated by existing MIDI from a stream generated by realtime MIDI. Synth tracks have to honor PDC Override so that you can perform and record in realtime with no latency, and the side-effect of that is that existing MIDI will play back out of sync when recording with PDC Override enabled. The real solution to all of this is just to keep Mastering plugins out of your project until you're done tracking.

Ah, but it is live. Ijust realized that, though it's not visible, synth audio tracks are invisibly input monitored to echo the synth output from the track's input to the output. So it's working as designed, and you'll just need to freeze the existing synth tracks at least temporarily.

Yes, that's expected. It's not possible to compensate existing content, and not compensate live input on the same track. Hard to say what might be going on without knowing where in the routing the PDC is being introduced, and how all the tracks relate to it. I know Guitar Rig, itself, can induce PDC with some patches, and you can't override PDC on tracks that are in the delayed path. What plugin is inducing the PDC, and where is it?