Newbie Questions

[jules]

Ok, here's a topic that newbies can use to ask all the obvious questions.. and any useful stuff that appears here can then get moved into the FAQ topic.

[RebelYell]

Ok, here's another question, again, it may be me, but maybe not...

It's seems upon opening Tracktion, my audio cards' (Audiophile) input and output sample rates are reset to 44,100 (I previously set them to 96,000). It could be my settings in the card but I tried all options and the same happened.

Any ideas?

Thanks again

[jules]

ok, I saw this one in another thread - best way to debug audio hardware problems like this is to email me your log.txt file (in the tracktion\~temporary directory).

This log has lots of info about your hardware that I can use to figure out what's going on.

[gruberman]

Is Tracktion able to do note lengths? You mark a number of notes and then you chose what length you want.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[FilthyK]

Newb Central, yaaaahhh... I feel comfy here I have some real dumbass 's to ask...

Let's talk midi clips

I know midi is an info stream, not a sound wav

I know there's 16 channels and 10 for drums is a good number

I know there's 128 parameters governing things like note velocity, cut-off, etc... and there are some of these unassigned

And I understand the Master and Slave concept






Example:

I make a nice melody with my soundfont player in F'Loops of a violin. Instead of rendering to wav, I render to midi (correct? ). So I have effectively recorded a midi pattern data, and I now place this clip into Tracktion.

At this point, must I have a midi out to trigger my keyboard sounds

Can I hook this midi pattern up to a synth in a Tracktion track and trigger it

And this midi edit thing... can I call up some sort of visual representation of this pattern, and rearrange the notes And if so, can I add or subtract midi notes

[valley]

I know midi is an info stream, not a sound wav

Some people find it helpful to think of the old paper piano rolls in early automatic pianos. The little dots represented keys, and as a line rolls past the read heads, the little black punched blobs would cause a key to play. Not entirely surprisingly, this is were the Piano Roll concept in modern sequencers came from. (stating the bleedin' obvious).

MIDI itself is basically a collection of simple events, comprising things like note on, note off, and control change, etc.

At a *very* high level, MIDI data looks something like:

Channel 3. Key A#3 Note On. Velocity 90. Note Length 50 ticks.

The MIDI event makes no statement about the type of sound that should be played, just that whatever instrument happens to be listening out for an event on channel 3, will play an A#3.

I know there's 16 channels and 10 for drums is a good number

Yup, although don't treat the percussion on channel 10 things as being especially important. This is a compatibility thing so that two General MIDI
devices can play the same MIDI file easily. If you don't use GM you can shove your percussion on whatever channel you want.

I know there's 128 parameters governing things like note velocity, cut-off, etc... and there are some of these unassigned

'Unassigned' is possibly not quite the right word. None of the MIDI CC numbers are truly 'assigned' they are suggestions. Any MIDI device is free to implement as many or as few of the standard CCs as the manufacturer chooses, and how those CCs are mapped is also flexible. By and large, fortunately, most manufactures follow the spirit of MIDI and stick to the suggested mappings. Thus CC1 is pretty much garaunteed to be the Modulation Wheel. CC7 will generally be Volume.

I make a nice melody with my soundfont player in F'Loops of a violin. Instead of rendering to wav, I render to midi (correct? ).

You would normally say 'export' the MIDI rather than render.

So I have effectively recorded a midi pattern data, and I now place this clip into Tracktion.

At this point, must I have a midi out to trigger my keyboard sounds

If you want to send your MIDI data to an external device, such as a keyboard, then yeah, you'd select the tracks' output to go to your MIDI out.

Can I hook this midi pattern up to a synth in a Tracktion track and trigger it

Yup. As I said above, MIDI data really is pretty much device agnostic. The only time a MIDI stream becomes device specific is if you are using sys-ex, which for the most part your probably wont be.

Other than that though, you can run your MIDI data through *any* MIDI device (including VST plugs). Be aware though that how the device chooses to interpret your MIDI data may not be what you expected. Running the MIDI sequence for a trance bassline through a sampler with a vocal part loaded isn't going to sound so hot

However, a useful creative trick can sometimes be to deliberately set the wrong instrument to play a MIDI part. Running melodies through percussion kits can be a great way of coming up with some interesting rhytmic ideas.

And this midi edit thing... can I call up some sort of visual representation of this pattern, and rearrange the notes And if so, can I add or subtract midi notes

I'm assuming you mean the Piano Roll when you say MIDI Edit? Tracktions' Piano Roll editor is not so dissimilar to the one in Fruity (albeit a little more fiddly to use). I'm not totally sure what you are asking here, but I think the answer is simply, 'yes'.

[FilthyK]

Thanks again, monfraire

I've heard of sysex before and it sounds like "involved" midi, so you're probably correct in your assumption that I might never need it.

Now, I did some fiddling earlier... I exported a loop as a midi file instead of a wav in F'Loops... closed F'Loops and opened Tracktion. I then opened a session edit and tried to import the midi file...

Nuthin' doin'!

When I tried to import, it said "copied to clipboard"... when I opened the clipboard and told it to paste, it said "nothing to paste". The only other time I ran into this situation was when I tried to import a 32-bit wav into Tracktion. I think that's what it does if a file is imcompatible. Period.

I did open a blank midi clip and messed around for a few minutes, but shit! "Fiddly" is a most diplomatic word for how this thing works! Sorry Jules, but take a look at Fruity or Orion when you build a piano roll. The one in Fruity swings! Apparently, I do half of my work in a midi editor and didn't realize it... There's no way I can work constantly with the one currently in Tracktion, though...

I can see now how F'Loops combined the step-sequencer with the midi editor... how cool... Thanks, man! I f**king learned something!

[contrast]

I did open a blank midi clip and messed around for a few minutes, but shit! "Fiddly" is a most diplomatic word for how this thing works!

I'm curious as to what exactly you don't like about it, it's pretty standard fare for a sequencing package. There are some strange things that could be refined, and it could definitely use some more features to make things easier and faster, but nothing really horribly wrong with it...

Strangely enough I dislike the Fruity interface intensely.

[FilthyK]

I did open a blank midi clip and messed around for a few minutes, but shit! "Fiddly" is a most diplomatic word for how this thing works!

I'm curious as to what exactly you don't like about it, it's pretty standard fare for a sequencing package. There are some strange things that could be refined, and it could definitely use some more features to make things easier and faster, but nothing really horribly wrong with it...

Strangely enough I dislike the Fruity interface intensely.

Wow, you're the first person I heard say that about Fruitys' piano roll...

I am getting ready to go back downstairs, so I do need to spend more time with it, but my initial, five-minute impression was:

--Small size. This thing can take up 3x the space. I do most of my work in either a step sequencer and piano roll, so I need a big piano roll.
--Too many notes represented in the field. It looked like at least 3 octaves of keys jammed in there.
--A line? No, gimme blocks! I am a boy and I want my blocks! Lines are for cokeheads and Californians...
--AFAIK, you need the erase tool to erase notage... I prefer to left-click draw/right-click erase.

Like I said, I will spend some more time with it later, but those were my preliminary thoughts. I haven't checked, but I don't know if this thing does arpeggiation yet!

I will tell you what, though... Tracktion with a better midi editor and a step-sequencer would be cool with Jeskola X-1 for palying soundfonts (use mainly soundfonts).

Layyyter...

[jules]

Filthy, did you not realise you can zoom the midi editor vertically by right-dragging the keyboard? As if I'd leave you with tiny little lines to click on!

but don't worry - I am aware that there's a lot of stuff it still needs..

[contrast]

You can right click on the piano bit and drag up and down to resize it, that might help with some of those (I thought it was awfully small at first as well). You can also hit the delete key to erase the selected note(s) (or just use the hotkeys - e, d, s - to switch tools). I do find the erase tool strange, I'd rather it just delete the entire note instead of part of it.

I would like to be able to make a single track take up the whole edit area though... But if I get started I will nitpick it all day long (how about having the position marker go "behind" any currently selected tracks...)

Also with Fruity it's not so much the piano roll that I have a problem with as it is the rest of the program, which I just find impossible to work with efficiently...

[valley]

Fruity has a very good interface for a certain type of working. For creating drum patterns[1] it is about as quick and efficient a design as any I have encountered.

For making 'songs' I find it a whole lot less friendly, and would rather have the standard part arrange window offered by Tracktion.

FWIW, I can't say that I find the Piano Roll editor to be the best aspect of Tracktion. Zooming in on the octave(s) you wish to work at is a little clumsy. It appears to split the keyboard in the middle so dragging upwards in the top half on the piano causes it to zoom, but in the bottom half one needs to switch to dragging downwards. Straight out, this does my nut in. Could it be set to show only three octaves by default, and do somethign like, say:

right mouse down + drag up = zoom in to keyboard
right mouse down + drag down = zoom out of keyboard
right mouse down + drag left = transpose keyboard downwards
right mouse down + drag up = transpose keyboard upwards



It is difficult to optimize editing to the maximum screen estate. I really wish it were possible to maximize a MIDI clip to stretch from extreme left, to extreme right of the available screen size.

I also would like it if the velocity edit window could be shown under the note arrange, since I think most people probably tend to edit velocities and notes simulatneously, and currently there are a number of unecessary mouse clicks.

Finally, the Piano display and toolbar needs some kind of lock/hide button. When I want it there, I'd rather it didn't keep vanishing, and when I don't want it there, I'd like it to stay out of my hair. I could even live without the hide option, but I think a sticky mode is a must.

[1] which frankly when you strip away all the bells and wistles, is exactly what Fruity is, a damn good drum machine.

[jules]

Thanks - all good points well made.

I'll certainly be doing a lot more to the midi editor before it's finished, and these are all sensible suggestions.

[FilthyK]

Fruity has a very good interface for a certain type of working. For creating drum patterns[1] it is about as quick and efficient a design as any I have encountered.

For making 'songs' I find it a whole lot less friendly, and would rather have the standard part arrange window offered by Tracktion.

Exactly!

FWIW, I can't say that I find the Piano Roll editor to be the best aspect of Tracktion. Zooming in on the octave(s) you wish to work at is a little clumsy. It appears to split the keyboard in the middle so dragging upwards in the top half on the piano causes it to zoom, but in the bottom half one needs to switch to dragging downwards. Straight out, this does my nut in. Could it be set to show only three octaves by default, and do somethign like, say:

That too! My point about being able to work in Fruity is this... when you bring up Piano Roll, it has these big blocks to work with by default. I say zoom in on 2 or 3 octaves by default.

But that's okay... I got Fruity VST to work, but that's another thread...