Is there a way to humanize the start of a note only?

[MikeInBoston]

And leave the ending alone. There doesn't seem to be a way in the humanization dialog. Is there a workaround?

Thank you.

Mike

[stubbsonic]

I'm looking at DP 8.06 here, and in my Humanize plugin window, there are check boxes to activate and deactivate note-on & note-off controls.

But if the front of the note is moved, and the duration is unchanged, then will that move the end of the note? I never use this plug-in, but I'd say probably. Now the question is if you set the onset and duration values to be opposites, will it keep the note ends stationary?

Worth a test. You could set one to +10% and the other to -10% and see if the note end stays put. Post back results. I'm curious (but not curious enough to ... you know.. try it myself).

[MikeInBoston]

Thanks for the suggestion, but it doesn't work. For one thing, there isn't a note off checkbox. The closest thing to that is a duration checkbox, but it doesn't accept negative numbers. If you type in a negative number as opposed to scrolling to the number with the mouse, you can put in a negative number (which remains in the number field the next time you open the dialog), but it doesn't do a thing. It has no effect.

I don't think this has a workaround, other than fixing all the note-offs manually.

Thanks for the help, anyway.

Mike

[FMiguelez]

I think randomized quantization will work for attacks while leaving the durations alone (there's an option in there, IIRC).

[stubbsonic]

The only hitch about this is that if the front of the note is moved, and the duration is unchanged, the release will move too.

But I can confirm that if you use the Quantize feature, and put randomize to some positive %, (emphasis seems to cause it to prefer either early or late attacks) it will work.

If you UNCHECK the box that says "Don't change durations" it will leave the release alone. I.e. you WANT it to change the duration by moving the front of the note and NOT the end.

[MikeInBoston]

I'll try these suggestions this evening.

Thanks so much guys.

Mike

[MikeInBoston]

Hey, I got it to work! I used a randomization value of 1 in the quantize dialog. I didn't realize I'd have to first humanize the starts and then quantize the ends, but that's fine. Hey, at least there's a workaround. I'm happy.

Thanks guys.

Mike

[Tritonemusic]

Thanks for the follow up, Mike. That's good info.

[Killahurts]

Very interesting!

[stubbsonic]

You mentioned "humanizing the starts". Were you referring to the randomization setting in the Quantize plug-in? And a 1% setting would be pretty subtle.

You shouldn't have to quantize the note ends. If you uncheck that "Don't Change Durations..." box, it should leave the note ends where-ever you put them.

[MikeInBoston]

No, no. I'm referring to the Humanization dialog box, and I use around 2% in the Onset field. I'm trying to "dirty-up" a robotic performance, not quantize it. But the problem is that Humanization moves the note ends too (no way to leave them out). Hence the need for the Quantize function, which you suggested.

By the way, I'm not using the MIDI plug-ins, because I want to see the changes with respect to the grid.

Mike

[stubbsonic]

Ah. Ok.

For the record, if you are wanting to humanize (actually, Randomize) the timing of the note starts without moving the note ends, then you don't need to use humanize at all. Use only the quantize process using only the randomize function at the bottom (with emphasis in either direction or at zero). Use the setting described above.

Then you can use the humanize process in a separate pass for just for randomizing velocity- as a separate pass.

Another point, is that you can use the insert plug-ins in the mixer to do the process non-destructively and listen to the kinds of results you are getting, (even saving the settings) then delete the inserts and go apply the same settings destructively.

[FMiguelez]

Wouldn't using randomized quantization have the same effect on the attacks as the Note On setting in the Numanizing command?

[MikeInBoston]

Another point, is that you can use the insert plug-ins in the mixer to do the process non-destructively and listen to the kinds of results you are getting, (even saving the settings) then delete the inserts and go apply the same settings destructively.

Yes, I'm going to try that, too, and when I'm not worried about the note ends, I may not even apply the plug-in. I kind of like working non-destructively.

[stubbsonic]

Wouldn't using randomized quantization have the same effect on the attacks as the Note On setting in the Humanizing command?

In one sense, I was trying to adhere to a nuance in meaning. As it may be that some "Humanizing" algorithms my provide a more typically human "slop" where a true randomize function would use random values that might be less "human" and more "just stupid".

I guess the terms random & human get used interchangeably. I suppose we've earned that.

But to your question, using the randomize setting in the quantize function allows you to only move the start and leave the note-end stationary. As we discovered, there was no way to accomplish this with the humanize function, as once the note start was moved, the end would also move (in one way or another).

I don't know what MikeInBoston's ultimate goal was, but I thought it was an interesting conceptual question (clearly).