Working with Melodyne stand-alone and importing tempo maps

[winkpain]

Here's an idiosyncratic issue that has cropped up for me:

I have a project that I have been working on extensively in Melodyne 5 stand-alone to get tempo, pitch, and timing info from a complex, mixed-meter traditional song (audio file recording). After having done the work of analyzing, editing, and getting notes, timing, key, and a tempo map(with its key and meter info as well) where I want them in Melodyne, I have exported them as a MIDI file and tempo map from there. In the stand alone of Melodyne, there is an export function for Tempo Maps as well as a regular MIDI file export for notes, etc.

Melodyne stand-alone has come to be a go-to for me for this type of work, as I then have these project files and their exports available elsewhere in my workflow.

I have noticed that in order to get the exported tempo map into a Cakewalk project, I cannot simply (as I would assume) drag the MIDI file into my project and retain the tempo map info, neither can I choose "Import/MIDI..." and bring the file in successfully that way. Both these methods bring in an empty MIDI track with no tempo/meter/key info in the case of the tempo map MIDI file, or the MIDI file with the note info but neither any tempo/meter/key info. It is this info, of course, that is the crucial stuff desired from the project.

The only way I seem to be able to get this info into Cakewalk is to start with a blank slate and choose "Open" from the file menu and choose the tempo map file. In this case, CW brings in the MIDI file (and the tempo map, thankfully) into a blank project, but with no output busses added. This is odd to me, but easily remedied.

None of the above is necessarily a show stopper of course, but it certainly hampers workflow if I have a project that I have been working on already a bit and want to import this tempo and meter/key info into it.

So, is this not possible? Is that not what at least  "Import/MIDI" should do?? Why would tempo/meter/key info not be included with this action?

And, a little additional issue here that inhibits this project as well, one that has been cropping up for me lately and I mentioned in a previous post, is that once the meter/key info is in a project, there seems to be no way to globally edit the key (signature) of the project. By which I mean, if the project contains many changes of meter (time signature), it is extremely cumbersome to change the key signature as it is individually coupled with each of these meter changes (seen in the Meter/Key view), which is by no means musically necessary or appropriate. I have many meter changes and only one key for the entire song, and I would like to alter that key at will  in one go without touching the meter changes. It is not uncommon to have pieces with, say, 20-40 meter changes and only one or two key signatures throughout. That is quite a lot of work, then, to go through and change 20-40 key "changes" all individually to the same key whenever we want to try a different key of the entire piece.

So, is this decoupling of meter and key possible?? OR Is there a work-around for this that someone can clue me in to?

 

[winkpain]

Any Melodyne/CW experts out there?  I figure with the integration that this would be an appropriate place to try and sort this out...

[scook]

Cakewalk MIDI import strips tempo out by design so the existing project tempo map is preserved but it is possible to copy tempo maps between projects.

With the project to change open

• open the MIDI file containing exported tempo map in Cakewalk creating a new project
• make a time-based selection (it may help to open the tempo view)
• use Copy Special making sure to include Tempo Changes
• paste into the other project

 

[winkpain]

6 minutes ago, scook said:

Cakewalk MIDI import strips tempo out by design so the existing project tempo map is preserved but it is possible to copy tempo maps between projects.

With the project to change open

• open the MIDI file containing exported tempo map in Cakewalk creating a new project
• make a time-based selection (it may help to open the tempo view)
• use Copy Special making sure to include Tempo Changes
• paste into the other project

 

Excellent! That's it precisely!  Your knowledge here is concise and vast, scook. Thank you!

Any idea how to work around editing song key signature without the time signature coupling?