MUSC1010 – WEEK 5

MIDI sequencing in Pro Tools

Cycle Record including MIDI Merge

• Follow the steps under “STARTING WITH MIDI & SOFT-SYNTHS” in last week’s lecture notes• Set the tempo (to display the transport bar press Ctrl-1)• configure your chosen soft-synth to produce drum sounds.• enable MIDI Merge;

• enable cycle playback by right-clicking the play button.• enable GRID• set the GRID to 1 bar• enable and configure “Input Quantise” which is under Event > Event Operations. Choose an appropriate

quantise value for the beat that you will be performing.• select 1 to 4 bars for recording• start recording. You have the freedom of taking your time, and adding rhythms when you please.

Input QuantiseInput quantise corrects timing problems “on the fly”. This is particularly useful when using the cycle record mode. Go to;

Event > Event Operations > Input Quantise

SwingWhen swing is selected, every second quantise division is shifted by the specified percentage value (0–300) to achieve the “swing” feel. A Swing value of 0% yields no swing, while 100% yields a typical 2/3rds division feel. With Swing set to 300%, every second quantise division is moved to the next division.

Latency

Latency is the time delay inherent in a digital music production or recording system. It can take numerous forms, e.g. the difference in time between when you strike a MIDI key and when sound comes from the speaker, or the difference in time between when an audio signal is registered by a microphone and when it is monitored in your headphones

There are varying amounts of latency inherent in the different stages of recording/production;

1. analogue to digital converters (ADC) on the input stage2. digital to analogue converters (DAC) on the output stage3. the sample buffer on your DAW (recording software).4. the lookahead functionality of plugins

When you are using soft-synths you may need to adjust the Pro Tools “hardware buffer size” in order to make the synth respond quickly to your performance.

Hardware Buffer SizeThe Hardware Buffer Size (H/W Buffer Size) controls the size of the hardware cache used to handle host-based tasks such as real-time plug-in processing.

Lower Hardware Buffer Size settings reduce monitoring latency, and are useful when you are recording live input. Higher Hardware Buffer Size settings allow for more audio processing and effects, and are useful when you are

mixing and using more plug-ins To change the Hardware Buffer Size:

1. Choose Setups > Playback Engine.2. From the H/W Buffer Size pop-up menu, select the audio buffer size, in samples3. Click OK.

SHUFFLE You can “shuffle” the order of regions, but you cannot separate them from each other and you cannot make them overlap as in Slip mode

SPOT You can specify a numeric value for the location of a note or region.

SLIP You can move a note or region freely without it snapping to any value

GRID The note or region will “snap” to the currently selected Grid value

EDIT MODES

Zoom Buttons Use the Zoom buttons to zoom in and out vertically and horizontally on MIDI and audio track material. You can also store and recall five Zoom presets.

Zoomer Use the Zoomer tool to select a zoom view in a track.Zoom Toggle Use the Zoom Toggle to switch between the current zoom view and a defined zoom

view.Trimmer Use the Trimmer tools to trim regions and region groups.Selector Use the Selector to make selections on tracks.Grabber Use the Grabber tools to select, separate, or move regions on tracks.Smart Tool Use the Smart tool to Trim, Select, or Grab regions in tracks.Scrubber Use the Scrubber tool to scrub through track material.Pencil se the Pencil tool to draw automation and MIDI data.

EDIT TOOLS

Balance

Creating a balance between the different sounds in your session generally involves making adjustments to the volume faders in the MIX view. However, for a percussion or drum recording there can be several different sounds in the one MIDI/Instrument track. Therefore it is necessary to create a balance by scaling the velocities of the notes.

adjusting velocities using the grabber

To turn down the high hat, for example you would need to select the hi-hat notes (use the grabber), and then pull one of the velocity stalks down to the desired level.

Controlling Track Levels (to prevent clipping)Sometimes you may find that certain instruments (particularly those that use a sweeping filter or flanger) clip in the track volume stage, even when they are turned down considerably. In this instance you may consider adding a limiter to help control the peaks. Use the MAXIM plugin or the Digidesign Compressor/Limiter III, with the preset “Brickwall limiter”. Adjust the Threshold and Gain as necessary.

Mixing Down• Select the amount of time that you want to mix down (use GRID mode, and enable minutes/seconds view)• File > Bounce > to Disk• Change the Format to “Stereo Interleaved”• Use File Type “WAV”• 16 bit, 44.1kHz• Convert After or Bounce

Myspace Music