FL Studio MIDI timing problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter VintageMan
  • Start date Start date
V

VintageMan

New member
Hi,
I got this problem with Fl studio.
Everything is fine, no delay betwen midi keyboard and computer / vst but after recording process, every note get slightly of beat/bar so i need manually to align them.... its pain in ass, i record complex melodies but after recording process fl studio memorizes my notes slightly different ... Same with Cubase, its even worse..
I have M-Audio M-powered 2496 with 512 buffer size...
 
This would be due to the fact that you probably have slight latency. The latency may be so low that it isn't noticeable to your ears. I believe I once read that it's very difficult for the human ear to distinguish a delay of 25 milliseconds or less.

I run FL Studio and my ASIO driver is set to the lowest possible setting. However, it isn't 0 (it's 256 for the buffer). It estimates I should have about 6ms of latency. That's a VERY low amount of time. But my notes are still off.

Why not use Quantize in the piano roll instead of aligning them manually?
 
Try setting your buffer to 1024 or 2048 it work for me when I working with a lot of samples and plug-ins. Good luck.
 
In my opinion, MIDI is great for programming a synth but not great for recording a keyboard. I'd always go for audio when you can.

I do record a lot with MIDI, but it's semi-recording and usually means a lot of semi-programming, to touch things up.

Anything around 2048 should be usable, set it a bit higher and you have no need for the 'swing' function. :)
 
The problem could be latency.. but it also might not be.

I had this EXACT same problem... and it took about 2 months to figure out the fix.

The problem I had was that my audio was being recorded on time (there was negligible latency)... but when I went to take a look at the playback.. the midi notes were WAY off. They were so off beat that when I quantized, it didn't even quantize properly. It sounded a hot mess and I had to spend countless minutes just moving midi notes... pain in the ass and is very unmotivating. The problem wasn't latency... and it wasn't me just being off-beat either lol.

The problem is with the MIDI port you're using (and i'm assuming this might be the case w/ FL Studio also, though i'm not 100% sure). There are two types of ports you can use... either 1) DirectMusic or 2) Windows MIDI (at least for me there were only two types). Between those two types of ports... you can either check off "Use System Timestamp" or not. So between those... you have four possible options. One of those options DEFINITELY works... you just have to figure out which setting works for your system based on trial and error (not really a big pain in the ass... it's worth it once u figure out which setting works for you).

So.. to simplify... the proper midi port setting for you could either be DirectMusic (Timestamp either checked or unchecked) or it could be Windows MIDI (Timestamp either checked or unchecked).


It's difficult to change in Cubase 5 b/c it has a MIDI port filter. You have to go to C:\Program Files\Steinberg\Cubase 5\midi port enabler
Cut the file that says "ignoreportfilter" and paste it into the regular Cubase 5 folder (essentially taking it out of the midiport enabler folder).
Next, open up Cubase.. go to Device Setup> Midi Port Setup.
Now, you'll see all of your possible midi settings. Go to work and figure out which combination works by process of elimination. One of them definitely works.


Hopefully this solves your problem. This was a HUGE problem for me also... it took many hours of searching for an answer. I can't even remember where I found the answer for it.
 
Man I've been trying to figure this out for a couple of years now, I'm gonna mess with it when I get home and hopefully I don't have to slide notes anymore.

---------- Post added 05-11-2010 at 02:08 PM ---------- Previous post was 05-10-2010 at 05:44 PM ----------

It worked! and I got a bonus with something else . Thanks for the info guys.
 
Exact same issue here with FLStudio 9

Okay so its seems like you've found and are using some kind of different MIDI port setting for a Cubase fix but you didn't share anything about how to change any of that with FL studio or if that was actually a fix for FLstudio. I have the same unresolved problem and if anyone knows how to fix this that's awesome.

I do agree that it doesn't appear to be a latency issue whatsoever. It does look like either a bug in FL studio or perhaps somehow changing a port would make a difference however...

I'm using the Axiom 61 pro with usb and fl 9, windows vista... And not sure if a "port change" is even possible. Any help on this would be great, especially if it actually fixes the problem.. which to clearly state it...

Is when recording midi in fl studio piano roll the score records as played however becomes misaligned in the piano roll/play list upon playback!

Why?? why? Fl studio definitely has some explaining to do.

Thanks, shutta
 
Last edited:
if it's both in FL and cubase, than it sounds like a latency issue, you use USB? of MIDI?
 
Forgot to mention...

I noticed that when the keyboard (not midi) typing mode is enabled and I record to piano roll that way the same problem persists. The notes sound "in time" as I record and are "aligned in time" however they are off-set from the tempo for some reason. Also sometimes the very first note cuts out... and even pausing and not playing a "first note on 0" and then playin on the 2 beat or those following doesn't make a difference. There is still the off-set display of the score in piano roll.

Obviously the go around is to continue to "slide" the notes a 1/4 step to the right to align them but what the hell? Ableton live doesn't have me messing around like this? Its definitely a FL Studio bug in my mind as of now... Any fix appreciated greatly! Shutta
 
Last edited:
I am a newbie myself, I also have the M-Audio 2496, and I recommend that you lower your ASIO/WDM buffer size to 64 or 128, and make sure you selected the right drivers, for me it is M-Audio USB 2.0 ASIO, and use quantize. I hope it helps.
 
Last edited:
I'm not familiar w/ FL Studio enough to tell you exactly what to press... but I can tell you it's a settings issue w/ whatever MIDI driver/port you're using. I can say this confidently b/c I've switched over to Presonus Studio One and I still get the same annoying problem. It took a while to find the correct settings that deliver the best results. I had to choose the correct MIDI driver to use.

FL Studio should be no different. You just have to do a trial & error w/ each possible combination of midi ports, either DirectMusic or Windows MIDI. There is no other solution. I found one that works pretty good in S1, but honestly it's still slightly shifted left when i'm confident I played it on beat.
 
Last edited:
Solution for FL.

I have been having this exact same problem for a while now.

Here is an easy fix that I have found for FL studio:

-Go to Options > Audio

-Go to the "Playback Tracking settings" and switch it from "Driver" to "Mixer".

This seems to solve the problem for me.

This is in FL 9.6. I'm not sure this feature is in FL <9.0 but the fix I mentioned is an easy one if you have the newest version.

This is just a guess, but I think it makes it so that the midi controller has to clock to FL's timing instead of FL clocking to the MIDI controller. Hope this helps but I really would like to hear from anyone who has the hard fix and the reason as to why this problem is happening in the first place. I use lots of different software and I don't want to have to find the 1-click software button to fix the issue for every program. I would prefer just getting my drivers sorted out so everything is in sync by default.
 
FEAST said:
I have been having this exact same problem for a while now.

Here is an easy fix that I have found for FL studio:

-Go to Options > Audio

-Go to the "Playback Tracking settings" and switch it from "Driver" to "Mixer".

This seems to solve the problem for me.

This is in FL 9.6. I'm not sure this feature is in FL <9.0 but the fix I mentioned is an easy one if you have the newest version.

This is just a guess, but I think it makes it so that the midi controller has to clock to FL's timing instead of FL clocking to the MIDI controller. Hope this helps but I really would like to hear from anyone who has the hard fix and the reason as to why this problem is happening in the first place. I use lots of different software and I don't want to have to find the 1-click software button to fix the issue for every program. I would prefer just getting my drivers sorted out so everything is in sync by default.
Click to expand...

Thanks!
It solved problem of mine.
I checked "use mixer as playback position" and worked fine!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top