What Midi capabilities does ProTools NOT have?.....just curious...

[Roy Howell]

I sometimes hear that PTLE is 'lacking' in the Midi area. Yet, I find it to be great and can create and edit about anything I can dream up.
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So what is it, as far as Midi, that PT doesn't have? (Or maybe it's better for me not to know, eh?... after all, 'Ignorance is Bliss'... [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] )
Just curious...

Thanks, Roy

[Princeton]

Good question, I use MIDI quite a bit, and have no problems except for the inability to pull up the patch list from any module, I'm able to do anything I want to.

[srik]

1. Can we disable midi ports that are not required?
answer is no, I am not able to run other midi programs with PT. Like PT takes up all the ports. We cannot configure the midi ports to be used by PTLE.

2.Patch selection is not possible like in cakewalk.

3. Piano roll is very hard to view, I prefer each bar to be denoted by a blocks

many more! short comings are there, however I use it for its superior audio quality, it is the best I know in the industry till date.
[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[soundsurfr]

Some of the things that I was able to do in other programs, but haven't figured out whether PTLE can do are:

1. Step record- Set the note duration, say sixteenth notes, then play in notes as slow or fast as you want to - you'll get all 16th notes, perfectly spaced. Great for programming in high-speed solos, drum parts, etc.

2. Arpeggiate chord algorithms.

3. Algorithms for chording - e.g. Play root note, get pre-specified chord. In some programs, you can specify a minor 7, for example, then hit C, and the program will put up a Cm7 chord.

4. Restrict to scale - tell the program what key and what scale you're playing in, and the program will only let you play the notes in that scale. If you hit other notes, they're ignored or switched to the nearest "correct" note. Great for playing keyboard solos when you're a keyboard dork like me.

5. Select notes is much more sophisticated in other programs. In PT, if you need to get fancy, you basically have to go in and tell the program what note ranges you want to select. In some programs, you can grab everything that's at say, c#3 with a single click. Some let you select every other note, or every third note in a range, which is great if you want to accent every 3rd hi hat or take out a few hits in a long pattern.

6. Most other programs allow you to program and view midi in either piano roll notation (like PT) or using staff notation. Huge for some people (not me).

There's probably a lot more (and PT may even do some of these and I just don't know how). Can't think of all of them just now - too tired.

[Sixpence]

I know there's a swing function in quantise but I'd love groove templates.

Patch names for definite. Even if it means typing in the info by hand. If patch names were read from a text file we could all share what we have and build a library of patch names.

DP3 (and others) have a cool brush tool that brushes in snare patterns, hats etc....

a choice of piano roll or drum map on midi channels

[Roy Howell]

Really interesting and I thank each one of you...

Soundsurfr/Greg,
If I understand your #5, you can grab everything at say, c#3 with the Hand Tool, by clicking left and highlighting to the right (on that key only).
And I was on the phone with 8mm/Robb the other night, and he discovered (Eureka!) that you can highlight any random Midi notes (using Hand Tool), by holding down 'Shift' as you go. That's not the same as choosing 'every third note', but it gets that particular job done easily.
I have never had much of problem with the Patch List thing. Sheesh, by now, I know the Patch #'s by heart.
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It would be nice to be able to print out compositions in some cases (though rarely necessary). But, for everyday Midi playing and editing, I find PT Midi very functional.

Thanks guys, Roy [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Phil O'Keefe]

Editable notation display instead of the frickin' piano roll... [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[LEV]

Originally posted by srik:
1. Can we disable midi ports that are not required?
answer is no, I am not able to run other midi programs with PT. Like PT takes up all the ports. We cannot configure the midi ports to be used by PTLE.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Can't you use Hubi's Midi Loopback? I use Hubi to sync PTLE with Acid and Vegas.

Lars [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[da BaSsTaRd!]

Originally posted by Sixpence:
I'd love groove templates.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">yes! me too...

[MKM2]

Please tell me that you can configure your midi ins... I want to control softsynths from PTLE with MidiYoke (or Hubis), and really don't like midi loops. I'm (supposed to be) buying my AM3 right now...