Do you use *Metro* ?

[lingyai]

I'd love to hear people's thoughts re Metro 7, expecially its MIDI handling, these days.

I'm happy enough or at least can live with my main DAWs, Studio One v3 and Sonar for my audio and overall mixing, but need better midi implementation than they offer; that's a kind way of saying they are buggy on my setup (mysteriously moody midi signal routing in Sonar; and in the latest S1v3, notes randomly not playing back, and the inability to do multiple-take midi loop recording (i.e. sets up a new midi track automatically for each new take, and mutes all the previous takes).)

What say you, people?

[SaganTech]

Hello lingyai,

Have you tried the demo? Metro is very full-featured in its MIDI implementation.

[braj]

Wow, I used Metro as my first DAW on the Mac platform way back when. I never knew Jeremy was Carl's son. That's very interesting.

[lingyai]

Hello lingyai,

Have you tried the demo? Metro is very full-featured in its MIDI implementation.

Time permtting, but it's a busy time of year, and it does take time to download, install and start exploring a new DAW. Would you be able to save me some time please, by helping me with thes following questions?

-- As above, can I do multiple-take midi loop recording? Meaning, suppose I have a guitar track in place, and I now want to accompany it on piano (VSTi) over a looped region; I'd want to be able to record sequential piano takes, one at a time, so that a new midi track is created automatically for each new take, and all the previous piano takes are muted; so that when recording any one piano take, I hear only the piano that I'm performing at the time, and the guitar. And when I'm done, I'd have each piano take in its own midi track.

-- Can Metro handle midi-transmitting instruments which make no sound, but rather which send their midi output to drive other VSTis? For example, Cthulu or most other midi arps / chorders; EZKeys; or Konakt, using its "Send midi to the outside world" mode?

-- Is there a manual available for the latest version 7.x? Your page here

https://sagantech.com/downloads/

has a manual, but is labelled as being for Metro 6. Also on that page there is a link to downlaod a midi editing tutorial -- is this for Version 6 or 7?

[SaganTech]

-- As above, can I do multiple-take midi loop recording? Meaning, suppose I have a guitar track in place, and I now want to accompany it on piano (VSTi) over a looped region; I'd want to be able to record sequential piano takes, one at a time, so that a new midi track is created automatically for each new take, and all the previous piano takes are muted; so that when recording any one piano take, I hear only the piano that I'm performing at the time, and the guitar. And when I'm done, I'd have each piano take in its own midi track.

Yes. Metro has 2 different multi-track recording modes aside from overdub. Multi-take mode sounds exactly like what you are looking for. There is also song-building mode.

-- Can Metro handle midi-transmitting instruments which make no sound, but rather which send their midi output to drive other VSTis? For example, Cthulu or most other midi arps / chorders; EZKeys; or Konakt, using its "Send midi to the outside world" mode?

Any VST that transmits MIDI can be enabled for recording in the 'Instantiated Effects/Synths Window'. After it is enabled, a new MIDI input appears and can be routed to any MIDI track.

-- Is there a manual available for the latest version 7.x? Your page here

https://sagantech.com/downloads/

has a manual, but is labelled as being for Metro 6. Also on that page there is a link to downlaod a midi editing tutorial -- is this for Version 6 or 7?

The manual is online and can also be downloaded for local access. It has not been updated for version 7 but there is documentation on the new features for version 7. The 'MIDI editing tutorial' is applicable to both Metro 6 and Metro 7.

Thank you for your questions and I hope my answers are helpful.

[lingyai]

Thank you for your questions and I hope my answers are helpful.

They are, thank you. I'll investigate.

[goldenanalog]

Bump (in the night)

[goldenanalog]

Metro 7.3.3 now available
Postby Jerm » Fri Jan 04, 2019 5:24 pm

New to this version:

All demo versions allow saving to a single file named 'MetroDemoDoc'.
Rhythm Explorer Lead Generator and preference dialog tabs.
Lead Generator add preset dialog.
Rhythm Explorer note insert range now stored for each track.
Rhythm Explorer preferences saved with Metro document.
Plug-in option: Close edit window before plug-in.
Plug-in option: Defer set chunk.This defers restoring the plug-in data until after its editor is opened.
Plug-in option: Edit window must be opened, set by default.
Plug-in option: outputs always connected.
Plug-in option: Hide.
Plug-in popup adds submenu for 'Recently Discovered' plug-ins.
Plug-in popup adds submenu for 'Most Instantiated' plug-ins.
If there are more than one plug-in instantiated, the popup menus adds submenu for editing and clearing each individual plug-in.
Markers can be shifted by bar, beat and clock now as well as SMPTE bits.
Right clicking on a pattern in the Rhythm Explorer after generation allows access to information about that pattern.
Ability to show only used automation parameters in the automation popup of the graphic editor.
Rhythm Explorer lead generator options in the marker dialog: lead scale,sync to track, density and motif.
A next button has been added to the marker dialog.
Increased the maximum number of chords and scales to 64.
Mixer channel automation reflected in real time.
Audio normalize dialog allows normalizing of channels independently.
Added a duration popup, indicated by a triangle, to the note event dialog.
With the command key pressed (control on PC), solo or mute affects all selected tracks.
Option in transpose dialog to confine transposed notes to marker chord or lead generator scales.
Enhanced file type support in the jukebox.
Option to synthesize vibrato by using a user specified controller data and converting it to pitch bend.
Copy does not affect undo/redo.
A secondary view type of a track is remembered. When a second instance of a track appears in the graphic editor the secondary view type will be the default.
Subsections can now have a bar offset. This means you can set up a subsection to start at any measure in the parent section.
Option to layer first stereo output from the instantiated effects window.
New PPQs of 864 and 1728, which are divisible by 9.
When the Rhythm Explorer is active, keys 0-8 select the Rhythm Explorer pattern.
Rhythm Explorer jam mode causes the pattern to automatically advance to the next pattern and when it reaches the last pattern it will automatically regenerate new patterns.
Rhythm Explorer's 'use last' button renamed to 'Regenerate'.
Rhythm Explorer adds a 'previous 8' button which allows the previous 8 patterns to be recalculated using the same random seeds that were used when they were originally calculated.
The 'j' key toggles Rhythm Explorer jam mode.
For popup menus with a large amount of items, the page number is shown in the menu.
Save incrementing the file name has been changed such that there is a single menu item for this in the file menu. The previous item in the switches menu has been removed.
Much improved navigation in the list editor using the arrow and tab keys.
Much improved support for bank changes.
Much improved support for program name lists that start at 1 (e.g. Yamaha).
The looping dialog box now has a check box to allow insertion/deletion of time when the number of loops is changed.
The revolution arpeggiator now sports accompaniment mode whereby all arpeggiators change at the same time.
Dragging MIDI data from the graphic editor to the revolution arpeggiator is now supported.
The plug-in window now has an option to 'not record-enable' depending on the type of the plug-in. This is useful if you do not want record enable to be changed when instantiating, for example, a drum type plugin.

Fixed in this version:

Inserting pitch bend using the pitch bend dialog would sometimes fail and other times could be very coarse.
Catches access violations in plug-ins on close. Previously Metro would crash. Windows only.
When in chord entry mode, the graphic editor was not always positioned correctly.
Better plug-in compatibility.
Plugged some memory leaks.
Selecting cue1 - cue4 would position the graphic editor in editing mode.
Was not updating plug-in version numbers properly in some cases.
Was sometimes stopping prematurely in Rhythm Explorer record mode.
Possible crash dragging section in sections window.
Opening old Metro documents containing notation data in 64 bit environment could have been problematic.
Jukebox controls could disappear in some instances.
Pasting into text fields was not always working.
Master volume was not erasing properly in some cases.
Pressing a key on a MIDI keyboard controller would not always set the pitch of the selected note in the list editor.
It was possible the audio files could be loaded even though they had the incorrect number of sample bits.
Sections window was not updating times properly.
Was not inserting time when pasting multiple tracks using ripple edit.
Better bluetooth audio support.
Better Mac OS X 12.12 support.
Bypassing plug-ins on the master channel was sometimes problematic.
Cancelling from the qualify dialog could have caused a crash.
Adding a new mixer channel now observes the current view visiblity.
The menu item 'insert on new track' in the plug-ins window was incorrectly placing the selected plug on a mixer channel.
Setting the loop button in the graphic editor or tracks window now causes the playback position to jump immediately to the correct position.
Changing a file from the links dialog from AIF to CAF or visa versa could have caused problems.
Paste And's transpose option was broken.
Rhythm Explorer was not working properly when initiated from the tracks window.
Aux pop up in mixer window was not always popping up.
Improved support for sysex in an external MIDI stream.
Was not drawing tracks window correctly while recording.
Miscellaneous fixes.

[goldenanalog]

"The biggest thing is the lead generator. 4 years in development." - Jeremy Sagan

[THE INTRANCER]

Christ, what a buggy dated mess this DAW is in.... it looks like it's not evolved since the early days of Windows XP. Can't believe that this is being sold for $299.99

[SaganTech]

How is it buggy? That is totally incorrect.

[THE INTRANCER]

Easily being able to completely blank out the entire screen so it's a completely white screen. Closing the program and reopening it presents you with exactly the same white screen.... Creating a new song doesn't restore the GUI as I would have expected.

I managed to find my way to restore the sequencer... but seriously having looked around the GUI, and having looked at the mixer... I just had to uninstall it.

[goldenanalog]

How is it buggy? That is totally incorrect.

Hi, Jeremy! It's good to see you! I hope that you're doing ok.

I updated last night to the 7.34 beta - anything you'd like tested? The Lead generator looks really intriguing -

[SaganTech]

Thank you goldenanalog! Please contact info (at) sagantech.biz right away if you run into any difficulties.

[goldenanalog]

Thank you goldenanalog! Please contact info (at) sagantech.biz right away if you run into any difficulties.

will do -