DP 9.13 Hangs Up during Tap Tempo -- Might Shooshie know?

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jcfelice88keys
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Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:57 pm
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DP 9.13 Hangs Up during Tap Tempo -- Might Shooshie know?

Post by jcfelice88keys »

When using Tap Tempo, I find that DP 9 (and earlier versions also had this condition) seems not able to keep up with my tapping. Originally, I thought my Mac Pro's CPU wasn't up to the task, but the same thing still happens with a 12-core Intel ZEON @3.33GHz per core, hyperthreaded to 24 cores, machine equipped with 128 GB of RAM. "Hanging Up" consists of DP9's inability to follow my tapping (the music literally stops playing) -- sometimes, I need to wait a few seconds for the program to catch up ... only to resume this sluggishness a few measures later into the song.

The problem arises when I use Pianoteq, or NI Kontakt 5 with a single piano patch. At other times, it has hung up using using a piano from SmartMusicSoftSynth. The problem of hanging up goes away when I disengage the instruments all together, but then I must tap in "silence".

My question is this: Are there settings in DP9 that provide relief to this hanging up? Seriously, I don't think my computer is the rate-limiting factor.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Joe <jcfelice88keys>

EDIT: Just to be clear, I am tapping on a MIDI file that has been quantized, and zero plugins are used that might clog the MIDI stream (i.e., no reverbs or compression, or even EQ are invoked when tapping the tempo, but it still hangs up.

Shooshie? Any ideas as to how to proceed? Items to change or turn off?

End Edit
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Shooshie
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Re: DP 9.13 Hangs Up during Tap Tempo -- Might Shooshie know

Post by Shooshie »

I can't say for sure, as I have not tried Tap Tempo in quite a while. (maybe 2 years)
Standard opener to all who are reading: Tap Tempo is not the same thing as Record Beats. Yes, they both involve tapping on the keyboard, but they do entirely different things, complete opposite of the spectrum.

and... Record Beats works fine. I use it all the time.

Now, back to Tap Tempo. I've used a few techniques over the years since it quit working back in... I don't know... maybe DP4? Yeah, I think it was when we switched over to OS X, which was DP4. Tap Tempo really hasn't been 100% functional since OS X. Only MOTU knows the reason. I sure don't.

1) First, try setting the initial tempo marking as high as it will go. Anytime you stop and start again, set the first tempo marking as high as it will go. Back in the early to mid 2000s, I used this technique successfully. I'm not sure it's still a valid method, because they claimed at one point that Tap Tempo had been fixed. It wasn't, but for simple things it worked fine without any special efforts, so I didn't complain. I mean, if I can get the basic outline there, I can adjust the tempos manually for the final outcome. But it's possible that in fixing it they made that method obsolete.

2) If that doesn't work, let's turn off the plugins. You can set up a mix without plugins that you can switch to when doing this. (If you set up a blank mix, be sure to DUPLICATE your current mix before you do, or you'll lose it.) In fact, you may want to turn off the audio system and try recording tempos with MIDI-Only. If you have a MIDI rack left, or a keyboard with good sounds, try rerouting the music to 2 or 3 channels of MIDI: just a bare mix that gives you everything you need to hear where the tempos should be.

Summary:
1) manually set the initial tempo as high as it will go.
2) try it with MIDI only

I believe the problem is that their testers are simply not testing it. Or if they are, they're not trying rallentando or stringendo. Or from molto vivo to largo and vice versa. Or they're setting it up in an 8 bar, one-track test. It's one thing to test it on "twinkle twinkle little star," but quite another to use it for 256 bars of a big orchestral template. The programmers, for 15 years, kept thinking it was fixed, but it simply wasn't! There are other ways of getting your tempo mapped, so I rarely use it anymore. But maybe it finally IS fixed. That would be great! Except... if it was fixed, you wouldn't be asking me this. So... meh...

Shooshie
|l| OS X 10.12.6 |l| DP 10.0 |l| 2.4 GHz 12-Core MacPro Mid-2012 |l| 40GB RAM |l| Mach5.3 |l| Waves 9.x |l| Altiverb |l| Ivory 2 New York Steinway |l| Wallander WIVI 2.30 Winds, Brass, Saxes |l| Garritan Aria |l| VSL 5.3.1 and VSL Pro 2.3.1 |l| Yamaha WX-5 MIDI Wind Controller |l| Roland FC-300 |l|
jcfelice88keys
Posts: 35
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:57 pm
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Re: DP 9.13 Hangs Up during Tap Tempo -- Might Shooshie know

Post by jcfelice88keys »

Thanks Mr. Shooshie,

I shall give the 400bpm initial tempo a try -- somehow, I remember that having been said a number of years ago. Yes, I disengage all plug-ins as a matter of practice with tap tempo. I even thought of "heavily quantizing" the notes of the piano MIDI file, BEFORE attempting tap tempo, so that the program doesn't have to work so hard -- again, sadly, to no avail.

Regardless of the outcome, it's good to see you back at Motunation, Mr. Shooshie!

Cheers,

Joe
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Shooshie
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Re: DP 9.13 Hangs Up during Tap Tempo -- Might Shooshie know

Post by Shooshie »

jcfelice88keys wrote:Regardless of the outcome, it's good to see you back at Motunation, Mr. Shooshie!

Cheers,

Joe
Thanks, Joe. And it's always good to see you here, too.

I hope you figure something out. I'd like it even more if MOTU would find a programmer who would FREAKING FIX TAP TEMPO FOR FREAKING GOOD, FOR FREAKING EVER!

MOTU: if you ever decide to actually fix Tap Tempo, please get your programmer to work with me. I'll break it every time until it's fixed. Guaranteed. It's not going to get done otherwise. Also guaranteed.

Shoosh
|l| OS X 10.12.6 |l| DP 10.0 |l| 2.4 GHz 12-Core MacPro Mid-2012 |l| 40GB RAM |l| Mach5.3 |l| Waves 9.x |l| Altiverb |l| Ivory 2 New York Steinway |l| Wallander WIVI 2.30 Winds, Brass, Saxes |l| Garritan Aria |l| VSL 5.3.1 and VSL Pro 2.3.1 |l| Yamaha WX-5 MIDI Wind Controller |l| Roland FC-300 |l|
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