Newbie Questions

[galimpic]

OK, I figured it out... it was the foot (hihat) controller. I just don't know how to turn it off so it doesn't display those vertical lines in the clip. Anyway, it's not a big deal. But I have a few more important questions:

1. Whenever I record (audio) from a mark-in point in a track, if there was a clip that ends at that point it automatically gets truncated at the end a little bit. Just like dragging the white right triangle to the left. I have to manually drag it back to snap to the original position. What is that all about? Does it have anything to do with 'offset' parameter? What is that offset for, anyway? There is a number there by default, but I don't know where it's coming from.

2. Now for the serious problem: When I playback midi recording from Tracktion to the drum module which in turn produces sound that comes back so that I can record it as an audio clip, every minute or so, randomly, a wrong sound is produced. It is not the cable (i switched), there is no MIDI feedback (only one cable connects them)... now, I know it's not easy to troubleshoot a problem like this without more information, but my question is simple - is there a known issue with sending wrong MIDI data from Tracktion when the system is overloaded or something, or should I look somewhere else? Drivers, settings etc. should be OK as far as I can tell.

[IIRs]

1. Not completely sure what you mean, but perhaps you need to investigate the "record mode" options for that input? These determine whether newly recorded clips replace existing ones or not..

2. No issue that I'm aware of. Some people (myself included) notice that the timing of external MIDI suffers when there's a lot of screen re-drawing going on (eg; when you waggle the mouse wheel over the edit) but I have never experienced actual wrong notes.. can you be more specific about the "wrong sounds" you are getting?

[galimpic]

1. I have an existing audio clip on a track. I put the mark-in right at the end of it to punch record from that point. When the new clip is created, the old one's end is moved to the left a little (approx. 1 beat), and I have to go and extend the end of the clip again to uncover the last part of the wave inside it. It happens every time.

2. I record a MIDI clip capturing the midi exit of Roland's TD-3 drum module in real time while playing an electronic drum set. Then I play the clip back from Tracktion into the module and listen to the sounds produced. They are, of course, the same as during the recording - except for two things: the timing is sometimes not precise, which is probably because of the computer being overloaded. But, I am also getting some random kick and crash sounds and I am not sure whether it is the wrong information sent from Tracktion due to the same problem. I would like to try the same thing from some other sequencer, but I don't know how to export a clip as MIDI. I tried export and it didn't work.

[IIRs]

1. Got you! Its a known issue. I would suggest its a fairly benign one though..?

2. The MIDI timing goes out on my machine if I zoom the display too fast, but I just zoom the edit right out before I record MIDI parts back into Tracktion as audio and its not a problem.. I've never experienced wrong notes though. You couldn't possibly have another MIDI clip routed to the same out by accident?

It might be worth quantising the note lengths if they're very short.

MIDI export is a bit weird in Tracktion: only MIDI that arrives at a hardware MIDI out gets included in the file.. you may need to re-route the track and / or disable any filters.

[Beno]

Doing a bit of house cleaning...

[JumboNewJack]

as a programmer by day, I realise that a lot of things are already understood once you get past the jargon. some questions:

1. What is a "host"? Is Tracktion a host? Is a host just something needed for a VST/VSTi to operate within?

2. When using a filter on a track that already has
music recorded on it, when you play it and use the filter's parameter adjusmtents (knobs?) should you hear what the effect is supposed to do right away?

3. For MIDI, since there seems to be some MIDI note playing/handling issues, is it better to use another software program to create your MIDI clip and THEN insert that clip into Tracktion? For instance, I'm demoing RealGuitar VSTi cause I want strumming. Should I do all the recording in RealGuitar, save it (or should I be saying 'render' ) as a MIDI file and then go into Tracktion and put that into a track?

4. A 'sampler' is for making and editing sounds. A 'synthesizer' is for playing those sounds like an instrument. Is this correct? (yes, I have searched endlessly and haven't found the definitions just statements using them). What is a soundfont and soundbank in relation to those two?

If there is a simple tutorial, or even a book that has this info, that would be great too. I haven't been able to find one and these forums are the only places I have ever seen this discussed.

thank you

[Lunch Money]

as a programmer by day, I realise that a lot of things are already understood once you get past the jargon. some questions:

1. What is a "host"? Is Tracktion a host? Is a host just something needed for a VST/VSTi to operate within?

Yes, Tracktion is a host. You are correct that a host is needed for VST/VSTi to operate. You can get a non-sequencing host like Tobybear's MiniHost, though often when we use the term 'host', we are referring to sequencers like Tracktion.

2. When using a filter on a track that already has
music recorded on it, when you play it and use the filter's parameter adjusmtents (knobs?) should you hear what the effect is supposed to do right away?

If you are twiddling in realtime, yes, you should hear the effect of the knobs right away. If you want to record these realtime twiddlings for later playback, make sure the 'record automation' button is pressed (the one next to the play button).

3. For MIDI, since there seems to be some MIDI note playing/handling issues, is it better to use another software program to create your MIDI clip and THEN insert that clip into Tracktion? For instance, I'm demoing RealGuitar VSTi cause I want strumming. Should I do all the recording in RealGuitar, save it (or should I be saying 'render' ) as a MIDI file and then go into Tracktion and put that into a track?

It completely depends on your way of working. If RealGuitar is capable of creating its own MIDI files using specific techniques for creating realistic guitar sounds, then I'd use RealGuitar. For many other daily MIDI editing functions, you can use Tracktion's editor. Other people, simply because they don't LIKE T's MIDI editor, have used external programs like energyXT

4. A 'sampler' is for making and editing sounds. A 'synthesizer' is for playing those sounds like an instrument. Is this correct? (yes, I have searched endlessly and haven't found the definitions just statements using them). What is a soundfont and soundbank in relation to those two?

A sampler plays back recorded information (a sample). Back in the day, they also had the job of RECORDING said samples, but in the computer sequencer environment, they're usually just playback engines.

A synthesizer "synthesizes" a sound, using a variety of different techniques and technologies.

In other words, a 'trumpet' sample will be a recording of a trumpet being played, and a synthesized trumpet sound will use waveforms and modulation in order to try to replicate and generate a trumpet sound artificially.

To make matters even more confusing, many samplists and sample-users use samples of synthesizers.

[mandolarian]

#1. Yes. Tracktion is a host. Some would say THE host. It is the arena where VST effects and VST instruments come to play.

#2. Yes. Instantly + Sound Latency + Filter Latency = Almost instantly.

#3. Up to you. T1 MIDI editing is primitive by some standards. T2 MIDI will be much more civilized. But use what works for you.

#4. Sampler used to mean a recorder/playback device. Not so simple anymore. Most software 'Samplers' are playback only. Sometimes refered to as a "ROMpler'. A 'synthesizer' actually is synthesizing a sound in real time (less latency). However many synths use a 'sample' as a building block for the sound so the it can be a murky definition.
You can buy sample libraries of famous synths that you can playback in your sampler.
A soundfont is a storage/playback format for samples.
A soundbank is where you go to make withdrawls from your soundfont account.

[IIRs]

1. Is Tracktion a host? Is a host just something needed for a VST/VSTi to operate within?

Yes, and yes. A host can be a sophisticated program in its own right which allows its functions to be extended by "hosting" 3rd party plug-ins (like Tracktion), or it can be a simple wrapper designed to allow a synth plug to be played in real-time through a few effects plugs.

2. When using a filter on a track that already has
music recorded on it, when you play it and use the filter's parameter adjusmtents (knobs?) should you hear what the effect is supposed to do right away?

Yes, except when that track is routed to another track that has been frozen, in which case you will need to un-freeze to hear the change. Maybe you haven't got that far yet though.. basically the answer is yes!

3. For MIDI, since there seems to be some MIDI note playing/handling issues, is it better to use another software program to create your MIDI clip and THEN insert that clip into Tracktion? For instance, I'm demoing RealGuitar VSTi cause I want strumming. Should I do all the recording in RealGuitar, save it (or should I be saying 'render' ) as a MIDI file and then go into Tracktion and put that into a track?

"Saving as" a MIDI file is fine. However, unless you have another app that you are already familiar with I would suggest you stick with Tracktion: the MIDI editing isn't really all that bad in V1, it just isn't up to the (revolutionary) standards set by the rest of the app. T2 does much better in that regard..

4. A 'sampler' is for making and editing sounds. A 'synthesizer' is for playing those sounds like an instrument. Is this correct? (yes, I have searched endlessly and haven't found the definitions just statements using them). What is a soundfont and soundbank in relation to those two?

No, not really. modern sampler plugs are named badly IMO, for historical reasons: hardware samplers allowed actual sampling, ie: recording analogue signals as digital audio which could then be trimmed & looped and triggered from a MIDI input. Modern "sampler" plugs tend to assume that the actual sampling is done with an audio editor or DAW, and are really just sample-playback devices, which concentrate on the looping / mapping / triggereing aspects.

Samplers excel at imitating "real" acoustic instruments (as you are triggering recordings of the real thing) but can be quite inflexible (as any expression in the samples themselves is non-negotiable) and can often get very large: a good piano emulation for example, will need every key to be sampled at multiple velocities, and the fancier ones will have yet more variations for string resonances etc..

Synthesisers traditionally create the sound from scratch, often starting with basic waveforms with are filtered and modulated in various ways to produce a complex result. It tends to be a lot harder to convincingly emulate acoustic instruments in this way, but the advantage is that, as all factors of the sound can be changed in realtime, it is possible to be much more expressive when playing such an instrument.

To make matters worse, many modern samplers incorporate sophisticated synthesis features, and many synths (eg WusikStation) rely on banks of samples to provide the raw wave-forms!

A soundfont is simply a standard file format for a "multi-sample" ie: a collection of related samples (such as the piano I described above) which are all stored together along with information about key & velocity assignments etc.

SFZ (check the quick links top right) is a free sampler (ie: sample-playback) plug which loads the soundfont format, and will let you play and record these sounds in Tracktion.

If there is a simple tutorial, or even a book that has this info, that would be great too. I haven't been able to find one and these forums are the only places I have ever seen this discussed.

Try posting more specific questions in the appropriate forums here: I suspect you will get more links than you need..

<edit> about 18 people replied while i was typing all that! DOH!!

[JumboNewJack]

Thanks for the quick and excellent answers! The sampler question was really because while growing up a sampler was something you recorded a sound into and played it back with the sampler's keyboard (Rapper's loved samplers).

With these answers I think I will be progressing very nicely. The main reason I asked about the MIDI part was because I can play the generic MPU-401 input into a track and click the keys on the gui keyboard and hear sounds and record sounds. But, I am chord biased and didn't see how I could record chords in real time and it seemed very menial to record one note at a time, go back and then click the next note in the chord/chords, go back and do the third etc. Am I missing something here? I was thinking that maybe another host was more user friendly.

oh, one more question...what is a buss and how does it help in making music?

Thanks for helping a Newbie out, great forum![/img]

[mandolarian]

Ouch! Chords using only a mouse?
You'd have to really fast. Do you not have a MIDI keyboard or MIDI guitar or other polyphonic-capable MIDI device?

However, if you only have the GUI and a mouse, then cut and paste is your friend. Or just score bass lines and save the boring parts for later...

[IIRs]

oh, one more question...what is a buss and how does it help in making music?

A "buss" sums audio signals: by default all Tracktion's tracks are routed to the main audio output (with the master fader) which can also be called the "mix buss".

In the days of analogue multitrack recording, busses would be used to feed the recorder. eg: if you had an 8-track recorder, you would need an 8-buss mixer, so that the 16 / 24 / 32 available channels could be sensibly grouped, perhaps with all the drums being recorded in stereo to tracks 1 & 2 while guitars & bass get tracks 3 to 6, leaving 7 & 8 for vocals.

Busses are also useful when mixing, eg: when mixing live bands I will "route" or "buss" all the drums to groups 1 & 2, send the guitars & bass to 3 & 4, use 5 & 6 for keyboards & backing tracks, and 7 & 8 for all vocals. This allows me to quickly re-balance the mix without having to move ~8 faders together to change the overall level of the drums.

In Tracktion you can create a group buss by simply routing a selection of tracks to another track; any filters on the destination track will now act on a sub-mix of your tracks, which allows you to adjust the level of the group as a whole, or apply compression (which will sound different than if it were applied to the individual tracks) or share an effect such as reverb. Tracktion's grouping arrangement is actually one of its most powerful features, as its (apparent) simplicity actually makes it much more flexible than most other sequencers. (Which tend to stick to the hardware model of a fixed number of sub-groups in a fixed order, and which either live in a seperate mixer page, or are tacked onto the far right of the main mixer.)

[JumboNewJack]

However, if you only have the GUI and a mouse, then cut and paste is your friend. Or just score bass lines and save the boring parts for later...

Well I do play bass, so no argument from me there! I guess I can always dust of the Casio VZ-1 in the attic and feed it through my M-Audio fast track into Tracktion.

Platinumears, thanks for the buss explanation. I do understand the process of mixing a group of tracks to one track (I believe that was a recommendation in one of the threads about the problems with racks). I just didn't know that was the equivalent of a buss.
Thanks again, I'm raring to start now...