DP MIDI and Timing..

biujee · Post by **biujee** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:36 am

Hi all,
I had enough of waiting around for Apple to fix all the bugs in Logic 8 so decided that I would start slowly moving over to DP 5.12. I had been using Logic since version 3 so it wasn't an easy transition! But am starting to wonder why I didnt move over years ago... I do have my issues with DP, although it is more to do with me not knowing where things are and having to look for the simplest of key commands......Anyway...

Is it me, or does DP handle MIDI much better than other DAW's?
I know that even when you DONT quantize something in logic, it still gets pulled to the nearest Tick per bar...
What is the deal with DP, does this have a different amount of Ticks resolution per bar than Logic, as programming is DEFINITELY improved and sounds more how I played it in rather than how Logic plays it back?

I hope I am not going mad, but is this the case, does DP handle MIDI timing and Ticks per bar better than other DAW's as it certainly sounds that way?

Many thanks..

Dwetmaster · Post by **Dwetmaster** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:58 am

Hey welcome to this board...

I cannot talk to you about logic as I don't know it. But DP has a few feature you can checkout concerning MIDI incoming data. there's the automatic input quantization ( like you say is happening in Logic )
The MIDI Ticks Resolution is totally customizable according to your need from
2 to 10000 ticks per beat. But it's just a displaying resolution as the DP is way more precise than that in terms of your MIDI Data placement in time.

DP can also automatically adjust the timing of your recorded material according to the patch thru. Be sure to check out the "Recording" chapter for further infos on what you can do to your incoming data.

Have fun!

biujee · Post by **biujee** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 11:31 am

Dwetmaster, thanks very much...Gonna def look into it.
I think that already gives me a few things to look at concerning the timing input of DP.

Anyone else have experience of this in DP or Logic?

Many thanks.

jlaudon · Post by **jlaudon** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 5:16 am

I just bought Logic 8 a few weeks ago, and did a dance song which didn't require much MIDI input (copying and pasting loops mostly). It was good for that. These few days, I thought I'd try to arrange a pop ballad in L8, since the VI efficiency is so good. Man, I tried for two days, but the MIDI recording got me so frustrated. I thought I was doing stuff wrong, but asked my friend who's a Logic trainer about a few things (like the replace, take folders, can I see different MIDI tracks in the piano roll together without having to manually click on the regions of the tracks I wanted to see - since L8 uses colour on the notes to denote velocity, i can't tell which region is which - in DP, one track uses the same colour, but it's lighter or darker depending on the velocity - great to differentiate between all the tracks, and easy to edit. In L8, I have to click-hold on a note to know it's position - in DP, it's there at the top of the window when it's highlighted. Then the punching in in L8, all the notes would hide until I finished my take, or in cycle record, all the notes would be erased in the whole section that's in the cycle. My friend told me to turn off the replace button, then I would record, and hear the previous take merging together, unless I chose to record into take folders, but there's a new take every time I record. Anyways, i can go on and on, but... I really tried, then I saved the whole file as a MIDI, imported it into DP, and finally started getting somewhere.

Even though L8 is great for VI efficiency, most of a musician's time is spent recording the MIDI - if that's not happening, the VI efficiency isn't much use. One other thing - say I have a drum VI set up in L8, with 3 tracks for the MIDI, like kik/snare/hh - when I mute the kik and snare tracks, wanting to listen to the hh track, they all get muted. What's that all about?

Anyway, you can tell I'm ranting - I bought L7, got frustrated with the MIDI stuff, sold it to someone a couple years ago. Then in hope, I bought L8 - getting frustrated again. There's lots going for L8, but with the primitive and confusing MIDI implementation, I'll do all my programming in DP, and if I need to use a L8 VI, I'll route it into DP via Soundflower.

Sorry about this rant, but DP's MIDI is way ahead in ease of use and musical flow. Hope this helps

Kurt Cowling · Post by **Kurt Cowling** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 8:12 am

Dwetmaster wrote:
But it's just a displaying resolution as the DP is way more precise than that in terms of your MIDI Data placement in time.

Just to clarify this... DP's internal MIDI resolution is to the current sample rate. It will then display it at whatever ppq you like, but it's always recorded and played back according to sample location (even if it falls between the ppq "ticks"). So, exact resolution is a function of sample rate and tempo, but the end result is that it's pretty darn good.

--Kurt Cowling

biujee · Post by **biujee** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 9:46 am

Just to clarify this... DP's internal MIDI resolution is to the current sample rate. It will then display it at whatever ppq you like, but it's always recorded and played back according to sample location (even if it falls between the ppq "ticks"). So, exact resolution is a function of sample rate and tempo, but the end result is that it's pretty darn good.

Interesting!! Many thanks for that info..