Syncing Dorico to DAW - TXL method inaccurate?

Dorico
1

I know this has been covered before. But I’m wondering if:

  1. Any progress has been made with accurate two way sync between Dorico and a DAW, perhaps just Cubase
  2. If other people who use the TXL timecode have found it not entirely accurate.

My use case is this:

I use Sibelius to create a score. I also have some audio in a DAW (usually logic). If I use Rewire to sync those two I can use the transport from either to start/stop them, from any point, and also to record audio from Sibelius into Logic.

I have read, and tried, the frequent suggestions here to use the TXL Midi Timecode plugin. It sort of works, but:

  1. I don’t get two way controls - that is to say starting has to be from the Dorico end. Not the end of the world, but annoying.

  2. More concerning is that the sync doesn’t seem to be solid. Using Rewire I can set Sibelius and Logic going, turn on both metronomes and they are rock solid, even with umpteen tempo changes. Not so Dorico-Logic with the TXL.

Here’s what I did:

I created a very simple midi track in Logic. Just a crotchet on the start of each bar. Drew in a few tempo changes. Exported that MIDI file. Imported it into Dorico. Set up the TXL Plug in. It works as expected, but if I do the “two metronomes” thing, they are not together. They are not even consistently not together, they drift apart, sometimes by a whole quaver, then come back together. Even if I don’t have any tempo changes they are not anywhere near as accurate as using Rewire.

Am I doing something wrong?

2

I have been using this Dorico - TXL - Logic workflow for quite a long time now.

The sync is not always “rock solid” - you can get it to “wow” quite a bit if you stress it by hitting play and stop repeatedly in Dorico. But usually the sync is very solid for me (I have macBook Pro M2 Max).

Have you drawn any gradual tempo changes in your test files?

Those will make Dorico and Logic lose the sync, since they actually handle those differently (!)

I should add that I always need to manually adjust the sync in Logic Pro -settings to match the two metronomes.

3

Thanks very much for the reply, and the link to your previous investigations - very informative.

Somewhere at the back of what I like to call my “mind” I did have the idea that the averaging of tempo changes was different across different platforms. Though it was worrying that even with one single unchanging tempo, the sync wasn’t anywhere near as solid as it is with Rewire.

Let me just bring up those two files again…

OK, still wobbly, for want of a better phrase.

More experimentation…

Set the metronome to 60 (easier to calculate any offsets needed if one beat = one second). Reexported MIDI file from Logic, reimported MIDI file to Dorico. Also tidied up the MIDI region, which seemed to start before the song start.

It seems stable now, though somehow the Logic click is very slightly ahead of the Dorico click.

I’m not quite sure what I’m meant to do with offsets and such like, this is all new to me, any tips gratefully received.

I’m not actually wedded to Logic. I have Pro Tools too, and if Steinberg ever get close integration between Cubase and Dorico, would be happy to swap over.

Oh, you mentioned machine spec. Macbook M1 Pro, 32gb RAM, 2 TB SSD

4

What do you “manually adjust” in Logic to match the two metronomes please?

5

I adjust the offset for the timecode from Logic preferences. I do this until the two clicks align. Let me know if you don’t find the setting and I can take a screenshot