Summary
When in loop mode, if you use a Midi track with “No Instrument” (i.e. So we are only outputting the data to an external Midi interface) the first midi note gets “cut off” on the first loop and every time after.
Description - Setup
- Start a new project.
- Create a new Midi Track. By default the Acoustic Piano is added as a default Virtual Instrument. Remove this instrument so that it says “No Instrument”
- Set the Left and right locators to four bars.
- Create a new four bar midi part and add four whole notes, one at the start of each bar. (i.e. Four C1 notes and make their length exactly one bar each)
- Quantise all notes so they are perfectly one bar each in size/length.
- Hook up an external midi synth (any type) so that it can receive the midi data from the track.
- Enable the loop/cycle button and then hit play.
Results
On the first run, all four whole notes are played perfectly on the external Midi Synth, but when it cycles/loops back to the beginning, the first whole note is played as a quaver. (Instantly cut off by a note off message, so the note doesn’t play for the full bar). The other three whole notes on bars 2, 3 and 4 play fine.
Fix
- Add a Virtual Instrument to the track, so that the VST plays as well as the external Midi interface synth,
- Hit play in loop/cycle mode.
When in loop made all four notes play fine on every loop - on both the internal Virtual Instrument and the External Midi instrument.
For some reason, removing the Virtual Instrument is causing a problem for external midi data in loop mode. It causes the first whole note to be cut off almost instantly by a note off message. Adding the Virtual Instrument fixes the problem, but I have no idea why.
Do I have to have a Virtual Instrument on every external midi track? That seems a bit wasteful on CPU if I only want to use external Midi?
5. Environment
iPad Pro 12.9 Inch (3rd Gen)
iOS 18.3.1
Cubasis 3.7
Kindest Regards
Brett
