Properly Converting Midi Tracks To Wav Tracks In Pro Tools

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MistaFinnis

New member
Whats Up People?. I use Pro Tools LE 6.7 and I am probably one of the only kats in here that actually use the Midi Sequencer in pro tools but hey it works and I love it but anyways...I use a MBOX, motif with the midnams to make my tracks..I am having a timing issue when recording these midi tracks into audio tracks for further editing and processing..Heres the scenario:

When I make all my midi tracks I go into each individual track and solo it while recording it into an armed individual audio track..Thats how I was told to convert them..However when doing this it records them a split second late so therefore when I put the cursor on lets say beat one of the track it doesnt quite catch the sound on the exact 1st beat it cuts off half of it..Its not recording it on the grid in sync with the midi track...What can I do to make this work? And I apologize if I am confusing the absolute hell out of yall with this question..Let me know if you dont understand so that I can clarify..For those of you that got my point could you please pleas help me and give me some suggestions at doing this task a lil more efficiently..or at least tell what Im doing wrong..Thanks in advance.
 
MistaFinnis said:
Whats Up People?. I use Pro Tools LE 6.7 and I am probably one of the only kats in here that actually use the Midi Sequencer in pro tools but hey it works and I love it but anyways...I use a MBOX, motif with the midnams to make my tracks..I am having a timing issue when recording these midi tracks into audio tracks for further editing and processing..Heres the scenario:

When I make all my midi tracks I go into each individual track and solo it while recording it into an armed individual audio track..Thats how I was told to convert them..However when doing this it records them a split second late so therefore when I put the cursor on lets say beat one of the track it doesnt quite catch the sound on the exact 1st beat it cuts off half of it..Its not recording it on the grid in sync with the midi track...What can I do to make this work? And I apologize if I am confusing the absolute hell out of yall with this question..Let me know if you dont understand so that I can clarify..For those of you that got my point could you please pleas help me and give me some suggestions at doing this task a lil more efficiently..or at least tell what Im doing wrong..Thanks in advance.
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You seem to be contradicting yourself. Is your audio recording late or early? If it was recording late, it wouldn't cut anything off when you put your cursor on the 1st beat... your cursor would be before the beat began in that situation rather than cutting half of the note off.

Anyway, I will assume that the audio is recording late... meaning that it is later that the corresponding midi track that you are recording to the audio track.

I would imagine it is due to the latency in your system. There will always be some latency in your audio recording. I would suggest that you just grab the piece of audio and slide it back so it matches up with the midi track.
 
Actually the cursor is AFTER the beat begins..Lets say Im converting my midi kick drum to audio track..when I put the cursor on beat 1.00.00 to play back what I recorded...It doesnt play the full "UMPHH" attack of the kick instead it only records the release of the kick ( Feel me??)...Sliding it wont really do me any good because theres no where to slide it too and also theres no audio there to slide because it sounds like half of a sound ( I know this is a confusing lil question..Im more visual)....Now what can I do?...If it is the latency how would I go about solving that..Any settings on pro tools that I can change?...I know I know Im just learning pro tools..havent taken any classes or anything just a young, hungry, grindin artist/producer willin to do what it takes to get the knowledge. Appreciate you dvyce for your help on this..by the way you helped me a lot on the heated thread about panning and mixing..Thanks in advance.
 
MistaFinnis said:
Actually the cursor is AFTER the beat begins..Lets say Im converting my midi kick drum to audio track..when I put the cursor on beat 1.00.00 to play back what I recorded...It doesnt play the full "UMPHH" attack of the kick instead it only records the release of the kick ( Feel me??)...Sliding it wont really do me any good because theres no where to slide it too and also theres no audio there to slide because it sounds like half of a sound ( I know this is a confusing lil question..Im more visual)....Now what can I do?...If it is the latency how would I go about solving that..Any settings on pro tools that I can change?...I know I know Im just learning pro tools..havent taken any classes or anything just a young, hungry, grindin artist/producer willin to do what it takes to get the knowledge. Appreciate you dvyce for your help on this..by the way you helped me a lot on the heated thread about panning and mixing..Thanks in advance.
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Hmmm... well, I can't really say how your sequencer is recording audio before your midi is played...

It does not seem like a "latency" thing... in fact, it would see seem like that is the opposite of your problem-- rather than your audio taking too long to get into your computer, it is getting there before you even send it!


Let me see... I don't use Protools LE, I use an HD TDM system which is slightly different and doesnt have the same sort of latency and recording issues, but let me see what I can do.


Well, the easy thing to do would be to start recording 1 measure into your track (have 1 measure of blank lead time in the beginning of your sequence) and after you record your midi in, just shift the track a bit later to match the timing properly.

...that would do it, but it does not solve your underlying problem. your sequencer should not have audio showing up earelier than the source.


Do you haver any sort of "delay compensation" running in your sequencer? In your "operations" menu in PT, do you have "use delay compensation" checked? This may cause some timing effects if you use it during tracking (I don't even know if LE has this "delay compensation" feature).


That's all I can think of right now... sorry I couldn't be more useful this time :)
 
Do you have midi sync enabled and are you using a click on an aux track before recording? Midi thru enabled in PT?
 
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Hmmm... well, I can't really say how your sequencer is recording audio before your midi is played....
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The sequencer actually records audio a split second AFTER playback begins..hummm..

Yes I have tried adding a blank measure in front but I just wanted to do it the right way you know.. ;-)

Do you have midi sync enabled and are you using a click on an aux track before recording? Midi thru enabled in PT?
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Yes I do have midi thru enabled but I dont know if midi sync is enabled or not I didnt see that...Im so confused right now..
 
i always put a two bar buffer so i dont start recording till the third bar actually so it will catch it all. this also helps when you burn a cd. cause cds can cut off the begining of your tracks
 
You dont need a buffer bar to solo your midi track to audio.

This is strange. When you solo an aux input and your midi track,dto you see the midi data (in green) as well as able to listen to your melody?
 
What and how do I buffer two bars???? Can this be done in pro tools le...I dont use aux inputs cause Im using hardware synths.
 
MistaFinnis said:



The sequencer actually records audio a split second AFTER playback begins..hummm..

Yes I have tried adding a blank measure in front but I just wanted to do it the right way you know.. ;-)
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I am a bit confused here...

You say you are recording your midi into audio, and the midi starts on the first beat of the sequence...

...and the beginning of your audio gets cut off, but the midi is playing on the first beat.

Now, if your midi was recording into audio late, it would start after the first beat and the beginning of the first note would not get cut off. You would be able to just slide the audio back to the first beat.


But you say your first note is getting cut off as it records into audio. The only way this can happen is if it was occurring before the midi note.



Ahhhh, wait a second... if you play the whole track along the audio you just recorded, will the timing of the new audio be correct with the only problem being that the beginning of the first note gets cut off? Are you saying that the audio doesn't start recording until a split second after the sequencer starts leaving a portion of blank space in the beginning of the sequence?
 
MistaFinnis said:
What and how do I buffer two bars???? Can this be done in pro tools le...I dont use aux inputs cause Im using hardware synths.
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I think he is talking about the same thing I suggested where you leave a couple of bars in the beginning of the sequence before your track starts. Start recording on measure 3 instead of measure 1.
 
Ahhhh, wait a second... if you play the whole track along the audio you just recorded, will the timing of the new audio be correct with the only problem being that the beginning of the first note gets cut off? Are you saying that the audio doesn't start recording until a split second after the sequencer starts leaving a portion of blank space in the beginning of the sequence?
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Correct...ONLY the first note gets cut off..Audio doesnt start recording until a SPLIT second AFTER the sequencer plays back..(I know I just repeated what you said..sorry)But when you play back it sounds ok...BUTTTTTTTT

..When I put the cursor on lets say bar 5 (Its an 8bar loop)It sounds just like the 1st Note..The cursor is a split second after the note..So I guess its sort of shifting the whole thing huh?....Mannnnn I dont know.. I know Im probably making this harder than what it is..but I really wanna know how to fix it..I wanna do it the right way like I mentioned earlier..Appreciate the help fellas.
 
This is what bar 5 looks like...See how the wav starts before the beat

protools2kl.jpg



See Here--Look at Bar 1..The first note is being cut off before the first beat...

untitled23ba.jpg
 
...I dont use aux inputs cause Im using hardware synths.
When you mean hardware synths, do you mean like a multitimbral keyboard such as a roland fantom? I use a hardware keyboard (fantom) and use aux inputs when I record midi to PT. Not tryin to confuse sh%t but i'm trying to figure out exactly whats goin on
 
MistaFinnis said:
This is what bar 5 looks like...See how the wav starts before the beat

protools2kl.jpg



See Here--Look at Bar 1..The first note is being cut off before the first beat...

untitled23ba.jpg
Click to expand...


This is exactly like I originally said: Your audio is getting into your computer before the midi note in the sequencer.

If you look at where your midi note is and where your audio is, you can see that your audio is before where the midi note is lined up... it is as if your audio is being recorded even before the midi note is triggered...

If you play that audio, it will not line up properly with your track. It will be early.



...and, by the way, the track you are recording to is peaking... turn your input down.
 
Might just be a buffer issue. Large buffers tend to give people bad sync when recording. Turn the buffer size down.

And yes, turn down your input.
 
Lol...Hahaha...Thanks for the advice about the input cause I really need help on this topic as well ..Actually I just quickly recorded that just to have something to show and by the way since were on that subject..(keep in mind Im new to the audio recording world.)..When yall say turn down my input do u mean on the Mbox or the keyboard itself and also ..Should my boards be run through a preamp and compressor just like microphones? Also what are some hints and tips on getting a solid recording of what Im tryin to do..(Converting from Midi to Audio)...

Now back to other topic...

So you think the reason my converted audio is not syncing correctly because of a buffer issue? Sorry If Im being a pain but what should it be set to for example.?/...
 
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