Applying a Quantise 'grid' to freetime recorded piano

[tollboothmusic]

Hi Everyone

I feel like this should be easy to do but I just can't get my head round it.

I have some piano that I've recorded both the MIDI and audio for which was recorded 'freetime' ie with just the pianist's own internal metronome for reference

He's pretty on the money to be honest and almost but not quite spot on (less than 1-2bpm drift across the track). However, the track is for a ballet exercise and needs to be absolutely bang on timing.

So I just want to basically work out the apx bpm and then set that as my DP bpm and then quantise to it, but DP doesn't seem to let me. It was recorded with the DP tempo at default 120bpm but he's playing at about 91bpm.

When I set a tempo change in my DP conductor track and then copy/paste the info in from before the change, the MIDI data goes all over the place and pastes in totally wrong, it effectively seems to paste the data in about 30bpm slower (ie - about the same reduction as i'm trying to set in the conductor but it's done it to the incoming data instead).

Am I doing things in the wrong order or using the wrong command to paste etc. It feels like this approach should work but it's just not doing what I think it should.

Thanks - especially if this is a dumb question.

Paul D
UK

MacPro / OS10.7.4 / DP8 / Mach 5v3 / 2408 / 24io / Traveler v1

[stubbsonic]

This is a little tricky to do with MIDI. I've done it with audio, and it CAN be done.

I'm confident someone will chime in with a better method than this.

You can use Region/Scale Time to stretch/contract the MIDI data relative to the current tempo.

So you could set your tempo to 91 BPM, then do the ratio of tempos to scale the time. 120/91 or roughly 131.87% -- in other words, it would stretch the MIDI out by that amount making it slower match the new tempo more accurately. You could keep trying it until your MIDI track appears to end on the correct bar number. Keep undo'ing until you get it there. However, I'd recommend you err on the side of going just a too long (higher %)-- I'll explain below.

From there, you could work in sections and off-grid drag things closer to the grid, THEN quantize. The thing is, if there are little rolled chords or other non-quantized embellishments, you can deselect them before you quantize. I think if you are careful about dragging things in big phrases closer to the beats, it should be relatively easy.

The reason I suggested a just slightly higher percentage, is that otherwise you might end up with your MIDI kind of piling up on itself on your edit track as you slip things into their correct position. If you are pulling sections earlier, you won't have that issue. You could always shave a hair off the duration of everything if that ends up being a problem.

That's one way.

[Tim]

Lock the tracks, then change the tempo.

What are you copy/pasting?

[stubbsonic]

See!! His was better. (and more concisely worded!)

Thanks, Tim. That's one of those features I just never used with MIDI.

[tollboothmusic]

thanks both - and hey, sometimes the long answer is the good one!

i'd forgotten i could lock tracks like that. basically what i'm doing is copying the MIDI track from earlier in the timeline at its original tempo and then setting the target tempo on the conductor track at a clear safe distance later in the timeline and trying to paste it into the tempo section at the right speed and then quantise.

as i said, the pianist is remarkably good considering he doesn't play to metronome and so i'm confident that it's doable, but i did like the suggestion of pasting in sections to prevent 'bunching' - i've done that a lot before where i've adjusted rest bars or gaps after intros which always wander in timing a little no matter how good the chap is.

i'll try both over the weekend when i'm next editing and let you know how i get on!

thanks again

p