KVR Audio

Romwell · Post by **Romwell** » Sun May 07, 2006 6:53 am

OK, I just wanted to create this post to summarize all the experience anyone might had on fixing the following problem:

Cubase SX 1.0 - 3.1 has midi timing issues on Windows XP when using certain USB/MIDI interfaces. When one records the part, everything sounds right, but notes/midi events get placed in the wrong places along the timeline (either siginficantly before or after the time they were supposed to be). The misalignment may also grow with time and can be temporarily fixed by reseting MIDI controlling device.

Possible causes, as far as I know:
1)The USB/MIDI driver is used through "Emulated" Direct Music driver mode, hence errors and bad things happen. More about that is in document located in "MIDI port enabler" folder in Cubase directory.
2)The computer is in ACPI mode, and should be in Standard PC mode

I tried fixing the issue by not using emulated midi driver, but did not succeed. I don't really know anything about ACPI mode. If anyone else had solved the same problem, please post here. I know there are many posts in many forums on this topic, but I was quite lost trying to gather informaion from too many sources. So if you have posted the solution elsewhere, please copypaste it here.

hesnotthemessiah · Post by **hesnotthemessiah** » Sun May 07, 2006 6:59 am

There is also the same problem with Cubase VST5 (I use version 5.1r1). I use a Creamware Scope Pro Sound/MIDI Card. I did have a good search on the Cubase forum for answers but there does not seem to be a definitive answer to this problem.

"Reset Devices" in the Cubase VST5 options menu solves the problem for a short amount of time - so I select this just before I record something and all is OK for a minute or so - bit of a pain in the butt but this is the only solution I know that definately works for Cubase VST5.

I thought I read, on the Cubase forum, that this problem had been solved with Cubase SX as it provided some sort of option in it's preferences that allowed you to fix it. Sorry, can't remember what it was though!

flugel45 · Post by **flugel45** » Tue May 09, 2006 2:34 am

Do you have XP with service pack 2? The last service pack supposedly messed up USB timing on some systems. You need to disable USB power management (or something like that). I've seen the answer on this forum, so do a search and try to find the thread that mentions this specifically.

I'm at work right now, so don't have the time, otherwise I'd look it up for you.

Good luck,
JD

hesnotthemessiah · Post by **hesnotthemessiah** » Tue May 09, 2006 4:52 am

hi there flugel45.

1)I am using XP with Service Pack 1 and have never installed Service Pack 2.

2)My soundcard (the Creamware Scope Pro) is used for MIDI in/out and is PCI not USB.

3)The problem occurs using VST plugins aswell as external midi sources.

So the problem does not seem to be Service Pack 2/USB related in my case. You're suggestion may help others though.........

Thanks.

hvaring · Post by **hvaring** » Tue May 09, 2006 5:01 am

Romwell wrote:Cubase SX 1.0 - 3.1 has midi timing issues on Windows XP when using certain USB/MIDI interfaces. When one records the part, everything sounds right, but notes/midi events get placed in the wrong places along the timeline (either siginficantly before or after the time they were supposed to be). The misalignment may also grow with time and can be temporarily fixed by reseting MIDI controlling device.

Hi, this has been an ongoing issue on the Cubase forums for a long time. There seems to be a workaround that helps in a large number of cases: Go to Devices | Device Setup | MIDI | DirectMusic and check the "Use System Timestamp" near the bottom of the dialog. This uses a supposedly more accurate method of timing MIDI events, so it might fix your problem.

hesnotthemessiah · Post by **hesnotthemessiah** » Tue May 09, 2006 5:17 am

[quote="hvaring Hi, this has been an ongoing issue on the Cubase forums for a long time. There seems to be a workaround that helps in a large number of cases: Go to Devices | Device Setup | MIDI | DirectMusic and check the "Use System Timestamp" near the bottom of the dialog. This uses a supposedly more accurate method of timing MIDI events, so it might fix your problem.[/quote]

That's a solution for Cubase SX - any solution/s for us Cubase VST users? (apart from "upgrading" to SX!) Would be interesting to hear if anyone has had any success with this solution for SX though. Have checked the Cubase forum in the past and, from what I can remember, this solution seems to have worked for Cubase SX users.

Scotrick · Post by **Scotrick** » Tue May 09, 2006 1:22 pm

yes.
for VST/32 5, first download the last version from Steinberg's site... that's a 5.2 for PC.

Then you search your program folder for a file called 'ignoreport filter,' and move it from it's folder to the main the folder... then when you check your MIDI inputs, you'll see that some are 'emulated,' and some are not, if you're currently using the emulated ports, then try using nonemulated ones, and if you're currently using nonemulated ports, try using emulated ones...

check here for the complete story, and this solution is mentioned several times on the Cubase forums, especially the older forum for VST/32 5, steinberg themselves even have information on it in their support archives

http://www.jay.fm/miditime/

I've used both the Mac and PC versions of vst/32 5, no timing problems on the Mac, but I did have timing problems on the PC, until I used the above solution, and it was fixed...

in the latest version of SX 3, a 'use system timestamp,' option has been added... but some users still have to go through the whole 'ignore port filter,' stuff

hesnotthemessiah · Post by **hesnotthemessiah** » Tue May 09, 2006 4:05 pm

Hi alabamian. I have seen this solution before on the Cubase forums but it thought was not good for me - I cannot remember the exact reason why I thought this, but I think it was to do with the fact that it was a solution for vst32/5 not my version which was Cubase VST 5 (not "VST32 5") and I did not have the ignore port filter file. Plus I have no mention of emulated drivers for midi inputs that I can find anywhere on my PC- I only have the options of Creamware MIDI In/Out 1 and Creamware MIDI In/Out 2 and MROS on Cubase's Options/MIDI Setup/System/Input From section.

I have just read that this thread has the heading "Cubase SX timing issues in XP" and I feel that I am hijacking this thread by talking about my problems with Cubase VST5.

So I have started a new thread "Cubase VST5 timing issues in XP".

Romwell · Post by **Romwell** » Thu May 11, 2006 8:17 am

Tried using system timestamp, enabling/disabling Constrain delay compenation, using enableemulated and ignoreportfilter switches and then enabling/disabling/trying emulated/nonemulated ports, installing new drivers for midi interface, what not. At this time (4:13 AM) I can't tell whether Cubase has timing issues or I do

, but it will be easy to check in the morning. Last time I left Cubase running for a night, and in the morning the notes were off by more than a beat (!).

Also, hesnotthemessi, I think it doesn't really matter whether we're talking about SX or VST, since the problem seems to be identical, and so the soluton should be similar. Anyway, we'll see where it goes

Romwell · Post by **Romwell** » Fri May 12, 2006 8:37 pm

Hmm problem seems to have stopped occuring on the system. Fooh.
No I'm running with NOT emulated drivers, using system timestamp, with contrain delay compensation OFF, end emulated drivers diabled.

Killvehicle · Post by **Killvehicle** » Fri May 12, 2006 8:59 pm

Yeah I remember this was an ongoing problem on the Cubase Forums, I personally never thought it was a problem for me, yet all I have available are the emulated ports. I often wonder why, but if it works why bother right?

BUt no I am going to bother, How come all I have listed are the emulated ports, and never anything not emulated? I alwasy felt this was some type of error but my midi seems to be about98% on. Casue I did do some tests awhile back to check and it wasnt perfect but really close..

bduffy · Post by **bduffy** » Fri May 12, 2006 9:25 pm

Yeah, what is up with that "Emulated" BS? No other program does that, AFAIK.

Cubase SX timing issues on XP