This is mostly related to merge tempo from tapping which I cant believe can be this hard.
I have a client tracks, all realtiime. Im now producing the track and require host based bpm for some of the fx
I tap a timing track in midi and check its alignment with recorded audio.
All good
Now I dont want the midi tap part to change, ever as it is now an absolute timing; I lock the track right. I merge tempo from tapping and check the click which is ok
Saved the project
Opened it this morning to start work and the click/tempo track was out. I unlocked the timing midi part and its suddenly aligned with the now, wrong timing and I have to start again as the change isnt in the undo history
I wanted to use midi as its a lot easier to align the events although using a tapped audio and analyse is so much easier
1/4 notes seem to be the best setting
Either way, how can you tell midi track to stay absolute forever?
Are there better ways of doing this? I use Ableton as well but not to mix…its so easy with the follow tempo and that track masters the timing over the rest
But I dont want to manipulate the recorded music in any way. It must remain untouched, thats the whole point of capturing a live take by talented and genuine musicians. After 40 years of producing, there is a magic in a group of peeps playing that are connected and quantise just irons the humanity out of it…sterile tbh as this is art and not a product.
I point clients that want that or massive pitch correction/hard quant to some other contacts unless its part of the brief eg EDM etc.
I simply want to integrate eg host based bpm eg delay that will follow the variations in the playing tempo. The music is perfect as is.
Thanks @ASM and @mlib
Hilarious really…spent the first 20 years all about slaving playing to the machine and the last 20 years slaving the machine to the playing…
So track only
Yes, the video shows what you want. You don’t need to set it to a fixed tempo. You can use the Tempo changes that match the Audio’s variations for the grid & then the MIDI should follow the Audio. Look at the video starting about 9:30. He gets to a spot where he tells you the Audio is freely playing with a varying tempo and the Click is synced to it. You want to do that.
Thanks for reiterating the vid @raino I appreciate your help
Dom is focused on the warp tool for tempo and thats great, really surgical. I understand that method. TBH he would have saved a lot of time by simply grabbing the drum track and analysing tempo, then just tweaking the warp/map.
What Im trying to do is fine tune a couple of tools for tempo.
In this case I would like to play in a simple midi 1/4 not click and use that as reference, then use the warp tool to fine tune it. This lets me play a slight variation in as part of the performance (yeah its more about the art of the human that Im trying to achieve). This is mostly for really acoustic group jobs (sometimes without percussion to easily map too…like this current track).
Im just having trouble getting this particular mode to work
@Johnny_Moneto
Perhaps she was actually my mother???
I always felt adopted…well maybe not since my parents were from Hamburg and the ol blonde haired blue eyed stuff but maybe Grace had a lot of work done
BTW That was a mammoth album. Not particularly my genre but there is some much good work and so many stories…still have a BSE from that era because those producers got such a solid vib even though not super hifi
For anyone else interested, I have found both methods work together to make it simple and enjoyable instead of just mouse jockeying etc
Create midi track. I call mine timing ref and split the window views, keeping all cycle, timing and sig info up top (see pic below)
Set it’s midi tracks time base to linear not musical
(I find it easier to not monitor/ turn up the connected instrument and rather record the timing silently )
Play along with/record the main timing track of the production ie follow whoever holds the greatest feel importance, eg acoustic guitar often in solo artist production. Use high enough timing. resolution to save you tweaking work eg 1/4 notes. This allows you to impart a nice additive feel/human variation as well. Less is def more eg only hearing a single track to play to
Execute Midi/merge tempo from tapping.
NOW use the warp (‘event follow’ IF you already have midi stuff down but if you are just starting the production, then warp grid is fine)
Turn on click
Open the sample editor of the reference audio track
Play it through and if there are any noticeable bits out of sync then zoom into the spot and use the warp tool to fine tune.
Always make sure the tempo track is cleared of any existing before ‘merge tapping’ is applied
The actual feel of timing is often not by the envelope start but the peak of a strike…else it can artificially force a different feel.
Add ‘feel’ variation by leaving the verses a lot looser and tightening only the choruses…its subtle but quite humanising.
Leave vocals playing with the reference instrument to help focus accent timing and experiment by varying the volumes of each track…it can produce a different result depending on your timing interpretation )while playing along)
Disable timing track after you are done so you have it for history
Would be nice to stitch it all into a macro/logical editor preset…since you cant actually use proper macro language because Cubase API window handles are not visible…sure we don’t necessarily need Reaper type stuff but please at least expose the wnd-handle stuff
