Cubase ARA with Melodyne: tempo detection / audio to MIDI functions are missing

Cubase
#1

Hello!

First of all, yes. I have asked about this on the Celemony side. But if anyone here knows please do share it with us.

  1. Will Melodyne ARA within Cubase allow for tempo assignment? At the moment, the button “Confirm as File Tempo” does nothing. I thought it would transfer Melodyne’s tempo map over to Cubase’s tempo track, but it actually does nothing. Melodyne’s manual describes that exact behavior:

“The functions in Melodyne’s Tempo menu are not yet supported by Cubase and therefore have no effect.”

So my question is: will these functions ever be supported? Who has to take action for that to happen, Celemony or Steinberg?

Here is a video of how the function should work; and below, the Melodyne manual where it says Cubase does “not yet” support it.

Tempo detection in Studio ONE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix1FKDtfiUs&t=6m43s

Melodyne usar manual - “at the moment, there is no tempo detection”
http://helpcenter.celemony.com/hc-2/doc/melodyneStudio4/en/M4tour_CubaseARA_TempoTempoanpassung?env=cubase

  1. Audio to MIDI. In Cubase you have to export the MIDI from Melodyne and then reimport it back to Cubase. Studio ONE allows to drag-and-drop to convert audio to MIDI. Will anything like this be featured in Cubase?

Here is how it works on Studio One

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix1FKDtfiUs&t=10m20s

I know Cubase converts audio to MIDI, but DNA takes this function to a whole other level. Same with tempo detection.

Thanks!

#2
#3

I suspect those features are coming. If not 10.0.40 then 10.5. But then again, you never know.

That said, In my experience, Cubase’s tempo detection is pretty good as-is so I can understand it not being a priority for day one. But yeah, it should work with Melodyne. Sometimes Cubase is good enough. Melodyne is usually pretty good. I can see one working where the other doesn’t.

Now, I’ve never had great results with audio to MIDI in Melodyne. I’ve tried it with vocals a few times and It always required enough clean-up that it was just easier to figure out the part and play it manually. So again, I’d like to see it work just because it should, but having used this feature in the past elsewhere, I’m not really missing it.

#4
#5

I have to agree with Rhino here.

I was blown away by Melodyne’s tempo detection precision. DNA makes it possible. Whereas with Cubase you have to bend backwards to make the tempo organically pulse with the natural fluctuation of live played music.

#6

OK, I’m confused as to what Melodyne is actually doing that is better than adding a Tempo track to Cubase?

Let’s say you have that performance that drifts from 100-110 bpm. The Cubase Tempo track will nail this every time. However looking at Melodyne I see variations, yes, but I’m not clear that Melodyne is creating a Tempo track that it transfers to the Studio ONE DAW in the same way that the Cubase Tempo track does? Does it? And then moving past this question, if the Melodyne program visually maps the recorded track exactly, tempo changes and all, what does it matter that you are editing a track that Melodyne produces a tempo track for? Aren’t the blobs time-aligned to the track in Cubase?

What exactly are you trying to accomplish that you think Melodyne can do better than Cubase?

#7

Well,
This is my objective:
Say I have a recording of a live performance. And I want to create a tempo map that follows the music. If this is feasible, then I can use Cubase to record overdubs and add virtual instruments very easily. All this material would breathe rhythmically with the music instead of getting adjusted to a constant tempo grid. Due to polyphonic detection, Melodyne’s tempo detection is almost flawless because it bends around the pulse of the performance. It is by far superior to Cubase’s in my opinion.

If I could have Melodyne’s tempo map within Cubase via ARA, then it would save me tens of hours worth of manually creating this tempo map on Cubase.

#8

I thought you could bring your song into Melodyne standalone then export the tempo track and import into Cubase?

#9
#10
#11

OK, I’m still confused. Have you used the Tempo Track feature in Cubase? It is a flawless tool for mapping out a changing tempo in a live recording. You don’t need to commit the recorded tracks to a static tempo grid, the Tempo track follows the pulse of the music. You can punch in and out without changing the pulse/tempo of the live performance. Really, all you have to do is figure out the time signature of the music (4/4, 3/4, 2/4, etc.), create a Tempo track and you’re off and running, start adding more tracks, editing, use Melodyne, etc…

As to using the Standalone Melodyne, when you create a Tempo track in Cubase for your project, you can save all of this in Melodyne (create a folder before you save) from Cubase. When you open the file in the Standalone, the Tempo track info is saved in the Melodyne saved file.

And BTW, you mention the Click? When you create a Tempo track, let’s say the tempo varies from 90-110 BPM, the Click follows the Tempo track. If bar 21 is 90 BPM, the downbeat click is at the top of bar 21 - and- if bar 22 is 100 BPM, the downbeat click is at the top of bar 22. The Click follows the Tempo track map.
.

#12
#13

Whoa, I think something is very different on your end? Here’s a screen shot of a tune loaded into a stereo track on my DAW. I put the time signature in my Project to 4/4 and then set up a ‘Detect Tempo’ launch. Then I clicked on ‘Analyze’ in the Tempo Detection Panel. Please look at my screen shot. Unlike your picture shows, my click track matches this 4 minute tune from beginning to end. The clicks match the tune perfectly. I can’t understand how you are getting your results. We must be doing something differently?

Can you see the variance on the meter in the Tempo Track? Starting at bar 6 it reads ‘133’, then bar 7 @ ‘125’, then bar 8 @ ‘130’, and bar 9 @ ‘122’, etc. and on and on, no errors, the click is right there.

Tempo Track.PNG
Tempo Track.PNG1552×1003 86.8 KB

#14
#15

+1 Its possible in theory but its also never without its own complications. The whole point of ARA is to not need to use melodyne standalone anymore.

#16

I have Snap to Grid Crossing on and Snap to Grid off. Same for you?

#17
#18

Alright, Rhino. I’m not your guy to sort this, but there are plenty who can. It’s something simple, believe it, this function in Cubase is a rock. What I would do is create a new post and ask other forum members why your Tempo analyzer is not performing as it should. Post your picture and skip the frustration part of your story - we’ve all been there… :slight_smile: Someone will sort this quickly and you will have a laugh about this someday. All the best

#19
#20

Alright, you want ARA. But seriously, the audio sample I used to show what the Cubase Tempo track can do is right off a CCR album, a professionally mixed song (that was recorded without a click track). Using the stereo mix of a four piece band, Tempo track had absolutely no problem discerning accurately the pulse/quarter note beat of the entire song.