External midi clock

Dorico
1

WANTED: To tell Dorico to track external MIDI clock being sent to computer from arranger keyboard. This way, a part can be worked out on the keyboard then “transmitted” to Dorico with the correct timing so notes are entered with correct timing. Less editing in Dorico. Less time for the project.
All I’ve been able to find on this refers to Cubase. I have Cubase 11, but it’s no help here.
Dorico PLAY mode has an internal Dorico clock. All I ask is an option to tell Dorico not to use its internal clock but to track the clock coming IN from the external device.
All answers welcome.
Thanks.
… Frederick

2

I’m not familiar with this workflow, Frederick. Can you point me at some documentation for another program that includes this functionality so I can find out more about it?

3

Dear Daniel …
Some of us “musical people” (daring not to yet call ourselves “musicians”) use technology to help us make melifluent sounds with pitch and timing but have limited ability to perform, because our fingers insist on making mistakes no matter how we practice.
Some of us have “arranger workstations” that will provide bass, strings, zithers, Jews harps, and a zillion other instruments to BACK our melodies. People tell me my melodies are haunting, but if I live to be a centagenarian I will never be able to play a single one of my wonderful songs using my fingers on the keyboard.
BUT !
I can do an excellent job with the melody IF the arranger workstation is providing backing tracks, as my recently acquired Yamaha Genos keyboard does nicely.
Now I don’t want to “capture” all the MIDI data coming from the keyboard, only the melody and the triad (unless there’s a major 7 or aug 6, etc) in the left hand (I can re-arrange the left-hand once I get it into Dorico.
Which presents the problem, Daniel.
Dorico doesn’t “hear” the metric timing of the Genos, i.e., Dorico apparently has not yet provided a means to “clock” Dorico from the Genos’ output MIDI clock.
If that were possible, we semi-talented musical people could work out a song on the keyboard, maybe even save the MIDI tracks to a thumb drive, then “inhale” them into Dorico in such manner that the measures “line up”, i.e., your amazing Dorico “hears” the Genos “clock” and so enters the notes, not only on the correct lines and spaces but at the correct position and with the played length on the score.
I think it possible many other “musical people” who have these arranger workstations, and probably a host of others who have keyboards like my old Yamaha SY99 or the Korg i3 would go completely out of their minds with joy to know Dorico can follow the internal clock of an external keyboard/workstation.
I would be honored to discuss with you at greater length, kind sir.
Dr. Frederick Graves
Would-Be Musical Playwright

Daniel, you are one of the genies at Steinberg, and you are intensely appreciated.

4

Do you know of any other software that can follow the “clock” on your Genos workstation? I’m really not familiar with what it would entail, but if you can give me an example of another application that works in the way you describe, I will at least look into it to try to understand what might be involved.

5

Isn’t it just sending Midi clock?

Jesper

6

Paul and I had a conversation about this today. These workstations can send MIDI beat clock, which is a relatively little-used part of the MIDI specification. It can send a start/stop message, and periodic time updates, in a tempo-dependent fashion. However, even Cubase does not receive this data, though it can send it. And after our conversation, I’m not sure how MIDI beat clock could provide a useful avenue for input into Dorico in any case.

Frederick, I wonder whether if you’re comfortable with the sequencing tools on your Genos workstation, a good approach might be to think about exporting MIDI from the Genos and bring that into Dorico?

7

First, permit me to express my sincere thanks for your attention to this old man’s ideas, Daniel.
The Genos does provide an EASY way to “lay down” and entire song (with accompaniment) and save it as a MIDI file to a thumb drive.
However, when one attempts to “inhale” that MIDI file, apparently Dorico does not know the tempo of the incoming data, so it gets spread over the measures out-of-synch … unless this old man is missing something simple. I brag about the fact of using Cubase when we had to load if from a cassette tape, but today’s iterations (I have Cubase 11) are so “deep” code-wise and provide so very many incredibly wonderful functions that they tend, at least in my case, to be MORE powerful than I need … YET I WANT TO USE DORICO MORE THAN ANYTHING I’VE SEEN YET.

I finally have sufficient funds at my disposal to produce a full-length stage musical, and I have some wonderful songs, some of which I’ve been able to noodle-out as lead sheets using your amazingly wonderful and long looked-for scoring software, Daniel. But at my age time is a premium commodity, and one song can take me an entire day to get the melody, chords, and lyrics scored … and I have many more that need to be scored … and then I have to go back and try to write some “reasonable” arrangement at least for the piano left-hand.

Any tools or tactics that can relieve me from entering the notes one-at-a-time will be intensely welcome, kind sir.

8

I have no experience with the Genos, but I assume its built-in sequencer has a click track, and time signatures, and tempos? If so, provided you’re using them when you create your songs in the workstation, I would expect them to be preserved in the MIDI files that are exported, and hence to be reproduced in Dorico as well.

9

And conversely if you’re not playing to an internal click, that click is still operating silently, and that’s what determines the meter and bars in the resulting midi file.

10

Yes indeed, and if you have a MIDI file that isn’t strictly timed like this, then there’s nothing Dorico can do to work out the correct timing (maybe one day…)

There is a tool in Cubase that will allow you to add in the tempo changes so that the MIDI events are aligned to the beats, eg see these videos:

However, if this is a little too advanced for you, and you have a lot of content in this form then it may be worth paying someone a small amount to do the mapping for you (it doesn’t take long to do if the rhythmic structure is quite simple – if you have lots of rubato then it will take longer). Once you have MIDI files with correct tempo tracks then Dorico should be able to import them well with minimal extra work.

11

Hi!
Janus and Daniel, I think the only DAW that can receive Midi Clock is Digital Performer. (it has a section in the midi input that receives Midi Clock data).
I don’t have Cubase ( but was said early in this post that it can’t receive). I have Logic Pro X (but it too can’t receive).
Most DAWs only export Midi Clock. For people that use an arranger workstation, Midi Clock would be very helpful because you could transmit many channels of information created live on the spot at once (I have a Roland BK-9).

12

Least to say, Cubase can synchronize to MIDI Timecode.