Why do Avid refuse to improve the midi?

[SomeOtherGuy]

We still need note names in the MIDI graphic edit window, like every other program has. We've been asking for this for years now. Thanks.

[Tweakhead]

35 years ago - Atari ST / Cubase Drum Edit Grid from the 80's :
https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/steinberg-cubase/137

[Sardi]

Originally Posted by Tweakhead

35 years ago - Atari ST / Cubase Drum Edit Grid from the 80's :
https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/steinberg-cubase/137

That pic brings back a LOT of memories.

I often think about getting my hands on an old 1040ST and connecting it all up like I did ‘back in the day’ and see what I’d come up with without a DAW.

Would be a fun experiment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[EGS]

Originally Posted by Sardi

That pic brings back a LOT of memories.

I often think about getting my hands on an old 1040ST and connecting it all up like I did ‘back in the day’ and see what I’d come up with without a DAW.

Would be a fun experiment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ha!!! For me, it was a Commodore 64, purchased new from TOYS-R-US.

[Parisstudio]

How about fixing the sustain pedal issue? That drives me nuts when punching in and if you don't hit the sustain pedal a few times before you hit record the sustain stays on.

[gthm]

"The March release is supposed to be focused on MIDI"

Pro Tools MIDI will be so good that every Ableton Live user will switch to Pro Tools immediately.



(just being silly, I love my Avid family even though our MIDI is a bit archaic )

[massivekerry]

Honestly, I've always found the MIDI usable, but the implementation came in stages years apart and the different processes don't always speak well with each other. It didn't seem like a wholistic approach was always taken during a number of years as the software developed from being a digital recorder and editor to the all-in-the-box dynamo that DAWS these days have become. To be fair, the technology was different and had more limited, specific possibilities and use cases, so if the foundation didn't evolve with (what) the future (ended up being) in mind, it makes sense that it would take some work to shift the underpinnings around, without breaking anything.

I remember VERY clearly when the MIDI became usable with PT 7 in 2005 (to the point where I didn't feel like I had to use Digital Performer for everything any longer) and PT8 (2008) when the MIDI Editor and Event Operations Window were introduced. The "MIDI workflow" still felt like a somewhat separated experience from the audio, although it was better than previously. But the stuff in the Event Operations Window was very much on it's own, and still somewhat feels that way. (I'm still harping on this, but having to click a micro-sized {in 2024} checkbox as the only way to turn Input Quantization on and off seem ridiculous) It has been heartening to see occasional small improvements on that front, like the post-record Quantization shortcuts and Edit Window(s) integrations last year.

I had a funny stumbling block that illustrated things yesterday. I use a fair number of orchestral sample VIs, and a lot of them are best programmed with a negative playback offset (ie - playback starts "before" the note is indicated in the Edit window) to allow for accurate-sounding legato and swells etc. You can set these values on each track using the Real-Time Properties (RTP) view in the Edit Window. There's an online spreadsheet that has been built by composers who use these, as not all values are published by the developer, and often vary between instruments (or even articulations) in a product package. The values listed are in Milliseconds, so that's what I try to use. You can type that in for each track in the RTP view, but you have to switch (by mouse) each to MS (default is Ticks) and switch each (by mouse) to (negative) - delay, instead of the default + delay.

I thought it might be time-saving to use the MIDI Track Offsets window (found under Events Menu) to be able to just type everything in. Not so. First, you can't click and type in the "milliseconds" value field. You have to type in a sample value, and see what it translates to in MS. Not ideal. Secondly, that value does not automatically carry through to (or display) on the RTP view for the track. There's not a whole lot in the manual about the Offsets window, but what is there seems pretty clear that when this feature was implemented, it was to help sync outboard synths (coming in through an audio I/O) with audio tracks - so you could have an audio drum track and a MIDI/synth drum track line up without flamming. That's all fine and I might value it if I was running a big outboard synth rig, but it doesn't address what I wanted to do, and kind of creates confusion in modern/current workflows, because it seems like it should do one thing, but it does a similar thing for something else in a different way.

Sadly, there are still new things, like Sketch specifically, that feel like the same problem - a separate, encapsulated process/workflow that stands independent of, but somehow sort of works with, the main program. Oddly I don't mind Beat Detective being that way.

But I still manage to get work done every day. If I have to occasionally put on an actual engineer cap and track down how a feature actually works or devise a workaround, well I'm glad I came up in a time when that was the norm.

[skylar_battles]

I strongly feel that the main issues are as such:

1. No MIDI or Instrument track playlists
2. MIDI always being a destructive recording process with the exception of MIDI Merge or MIDI Loop Record
3. Fairly bizarre MIDI export process which I'll post a thread about

EDIT: Also no delay compensation for MIDI beat clock but not sure really how that can be addressed.

[alzakent]

I’d sell my soul for a Tempo Events List window. Studio Vision Pro had it 30 years ago.

[skylar_battles]

In what use case is that helpful for you? Genuinely interested.