I noticed a huge lag with MIDI input that happens when I hibernate my PC and turn it back on.
If I press a key on my controller, I immediately hear the sound, but the note appears several seconds later. If I play something and enter write mode right after, the notes are written even a few seconds after hearing them.
Closing the project and reopening it solves the problem. I don’t have to quit Dorico completely, i.e. close the hub.
Since I moved to a new computer with the latest update to Dorico 6.2.3 I thought it was my (fairly complicated) setup. But then I updated Dorico on a second PC that has only an audiointerface and a controller attached, and got the same behavior there.
I never noticed this problem before the most recent update.
Both machines run Windows 11.
Any help would be appreciated, and I would gladly help in providing more information if needed.
Kind regards!
When you say you hear the sound immediately, is that coming from Dorico, or elsewhere?
I assume Dorico, which would mean MIDI gets to it on time, but wanted to verify.
Pete
Microsoft
Yes, I hear the sound coming from Dorico with the right instrument for the selected staff. It’s only the actual “writing down” that lags.
Thanks. So that means MIDI is working as expected. This is something internal to Dorico
Pete
Microsoft
So, after experiencing a similar issue in Cubase, I did some troubleshooting (with AI), tried various USB-power-settings and finally could solve it in Cubase by enabling “Use system timestamps” in MIDI settings.
However, Dorico doesn’t have this setting.
I can’t really explain why this happens on both of my computers now while one of them was working fine for years, but it seems there is a bigger problem in the communication between Steinberg software and the Windows MIDI system.
Kind regards!
There was a windows update a few months back that broke MIDI compatibility with a number of systems. Maybe it’s related. If you have an external MIDI interface, maybe the hibernation is confusing it?
I turned off “USB selective suspend” in energy settings, and turned off “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” on all USB root hubs and controllers, without success. I tried with two different keyboards, both are connected over USB. So, I think on my side of energy management there isn’t much to do anymore.
The MIDI timestamp issue was fixed in Windows in May. If you are up to date on your Windows update, you have that fix. If you have uninstalled any updates or disabled Windows features/updates in some way, you may need to repair by going into Windows Settings > System > Recovery > Fix problems using Windows Update.
The AI is generally working off of old info there, unfortunately.
Pete
Microsoft
Unfortunately, not for me. I have this PC since July, did updates after setting it up and run manual update search yesterday. It installed something, but didn’t fix this issue. Do you have a certain update-ID I could search for?
Sorry. I don’t recall the update numbers. “Fix problems using Microsoft Update” would fix it regardless, if that is the issue.
Pete
Microsoft
Quick question for you.
What is the controller you are using? Does it have its own driver? How is it connected?
I did today find an issue with a specific audio + midi driver which may explain that, but only if the specific driver is in use.
Pete
Microsoft
I’m using a Nektar SE25 and an older Novation Impulse 61. Didn’t manually installa any drivers on the new PC, so I don’t think it’s something special. The problem is exactly the same for both keyboards.
Thanks. That kills the driver message timestamp hypothesis then. Our in-box drivers are compliant there.
Pete
Microsoft
Wait… are you leaving Dorico open during the hibernation?
In the old APIs, timestamps are relative to when the MIDI port was opened so I wonder if hibernation may be causing Dorico or Windows to lose track of that somehow. “Use system timestamps” would work around that because those timestamps are just read from the system timer when Dorico gets the message.
Hibernation is always a challenge due to how different hardware/chipsets handle it.
Pete
Microsoft
Yes, Dorico is open (with a project loaded) during the hibernation. Never had an issue with that on my old laptop, and pretty sure didn’t have on that second PC. Sometimes it happens accidentally, if the PC hibernate because I’m away from it for a few minutes, but often I just turn it “off” if I know I’m going to work on that project next time I switch it on.
Of course it wouldn’t be that much trouble to just close dorico before hibernating the PC, UT I thought I’d report it because this never happened to me in the past.
Kind regards
Not long ago, the defaults for sleep and hibernate (the two are different) were changed on some laptops as I recall.
The other thing that changed is the MIDI stack that rolled out in January to all Windows 11 24h2+ PCs.
If you want to see if it’s a problem with the new MIDI stack (and if so, get you unblocked), you can use the Legacy API Mode to put you back on the older MIDI stack in Windows.
Pete
Microsoft