MIDI notes out of sync caused by Delay Compensation?

[Starcrash]

If I have Delay Compensation engaged while recording a MIDI performance, the resultant MIDI notes are early (very early!) relative to the grid. If I turn off DC it's normal. Is there some way around this?


I'm on PT Ultimate 2020.3.0 but I feel like this has always been an issue in PT. What I always end up doing is tap the keyboard as precisely as I can to the click and then measure the offset on the timeline and nudge the notes.

[ChuckS]

IIRC, something like this was a problem when you had high latency plugs engaged on the master. My memory may be flawed.

[albee1952]

Indeed, any latency on the Master Track is NOT compensated for, so step #1 would be to make any Master Track plugins inactive(Bypass does not work for this) and test. Select(Under View>Mix Window Shows>Delay Compensation and look at the numbers across the bottom of the MIX window. Anything showing more than 10-11 samples is going to be a possible cause of timing issues because Delay Compensation works by finding the track with the most latency, and making every other track LATER by that amount. This is not an issue when mixing, but can be an issue while tracking(recording), so if you see big numbers, disable(Make Inactive) the plugins causing the big numbers.

Also, be aware that its possible for erroneous compensation to happen if you have tracks using sends, but those sends don't go anywhere(making those sends inactive or removing them solves that problem).

One work-around is to use the original midi as a timing reference, commit the track that the midi is "playing" and then nudge the committed audio file so it lines up with the original midi

[Starcrash]

I have just one stereo instrument track and one stereo audio track in the session. I turned off delay comp, no plugs (except the VI), lowered buffer to 128 and still the midi notes end up about 75-100 ms early on the timeline. When I play it back it sounds nothing like the performance. I don't think it's just me playing ahead of the beat because it's way off.

[XJENSEN]

How do you monitor the instrument? Direct or via Pro Tools? Are you playing to a Click Track or to some audio?

[Starcrash]

Thanks, XJENSEN. I'm playing along with a stereo audio track, a bounce of my session I made to take the other tracks out of the equation.


I'll try a few more tests with a click as well.

[XJENSEN]

Same here. I picked up Logic for composition. There was certainly a learning curve to go through, but now I regret I didn't do it earlier. The MIDI features there are amazing, things Pro Tools can only dream of. And the ease of it. Smart Quantization, Smart Tempo, MIDI scripting, MIDI effects, no timing problems, ... Now I'm getting to a point I start using Logic more and more for recording as well. It's so much fun! That's why I said earlier, and I meant it, just start using another program for MIDI, and thank me later.

[Markrosoft]

Maybe it is finally time to try logic. I'm a little afraid of starting from scratch with a new DAW but it would be nice to have things work well.

I can't believe how long this bug has existed (at least... 6 years for me?) and how Avid continue to not address it. Your recording not being in time?! It's like, come on... that's your ONE job.

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by Markrosoft

Maybe it is finally time to try logic. I'm a little afraid of starting from scratch with a new DAW but it would be nice to have things work well.

I can't believe how long this bug has existed (at least... 6 years for me?) and how Avid continue to not address it. Your recording not being in time?! It's like, come on... that's your ONE job.

To be fair to Avid, Pro Tools really hasn't seen itself as occupying the "DAW for composition" space. PT has always been the go to DAW for pro level mixing and post-production. That's probably why they seem so much further behind in that area. Logic and (to some extent) Ableton, were put together with MIDI composing in mind far more than audio mixing and post-production. If Avid ever beefed up the MIDI applications to be on par with, say, Logic, that coupled with PT's audio mixing/editing would probably make PT the only DAW anyone would ever need.

[XJENSEN]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

To be fair to Avid, Pro Tools really hasn't seen itself as occupying the "DAW for composition" space. PT has always been the go to DAW for pro level mixing and post-production. That's probably why they seem so much further behind in that area. Logic and (to some extent) Ableton, were put together with MIDI composing in mind far more than audio mixing and post-production. If Avid ever beefed up the MIDI applications to be on par with, say, Logic, that coupled with PT's audio mixing/editing would probably make PT the only DAW anyone would ever need.

Yes, that's right. They once portrayed a vision of evolving towards a creation-centereded application, but then showed no effort of adding but the most basic MIDI functions. At this time you can't even work properly with MIDI regions, just a simple cut-and-paste makes you lose events that are not on the grid.

As it stands, Pro Tools just is an application for recording and cutting up audio, really.