Question for SSScientist...

[TelePaul]

...or anyone else who wants to help me out. I have two questions about sequencing Midi in Cubase; I mosty track audio and have a few queries.

Firstly, do Midi tracks have a propensity to peak more than audio tracks? I seem to be hitting the red alot and having to adjust and ending up with an overall mix that isn' t that loud. Any thoughts on this?

Seocndly, because of the VSTs I'm using I'm running my 512 MB pretty close to the bone. I plan to add a few Audio tracks and want to avoid popping. This is a silly question, but is there any way to kinda disable midi while I track Audio? Obviously I'd still need to hear it in the background.

Any help would be great.

 

[ssscientist]

do Midi tracks have a propensity to peak more than audio tracks? I seem to be hitting the red alot and having to adjust and ending up with an overall mix that isn' t that loud.

The metering in a midi track is showing you velocity values only. There's no way to cause distortion or any other artifact traditionally associated with overloading an audio track. If you have the master level of the plugin associated with the track set too high then you can cause distortion, both at track level and at mix level.

is there any way to kinda disable midi while I track Audio? Obviously I'd still need to hear it in the background.

There is, and it's called 'track freezing'. The last version of Cubase that I used seriously didn't offer it, but they may have introduced it in the last few years. I know Tracktion and Reaper both have it, and LIVE has an especially flexible implementation in which you can still move and edit (to a point) tracks that are frozen.

Upgrading your computer's memory is one of the best thing you can do for your system. Before you spend money on that next softsynth you've got your eye on, think about sinking the dosh into a less sexy but ultimately more useful memory upgrade.


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[TelePaul]

The metering in a midi track is showing you velocity values only. There's no way to cause distortion or any other artifact traditionally associated with overloading an audio track. If you have the master level of the plugin associated with the track set too high then you can cause distortion, both at track level and at mix level.

So you're saying that so long as the plug in master isn't too high, its okay if the midi hits the red? Or should it be hitting the red?

I'll look up track freezing in Cubase, thanks. And yup you're right about the computer, I'm working on it.

 

[lasagne]

Hi Telepaul. This is probably an inefficient way of freeing up ram, but what I have done is convert the midi track to an audio track ie export only the midi track as an audio file, then reimport it into cubase.

That way, you are not using the VST anymore.

 

[altitude909]

but what I have done is convert the midi track to an audio track ie export only the midi track as an audio file, then reimport it into cubase.

thats exactly what the freeze function does

 

[ssscientist]

So you're saying that so long as the plug in master isn't too high, its okay if the midi hits the red?

Yes.

To clarify, what I'm saying is the function of the meters changes when you are recording either an audio track or a midi track.

When recording an audio track they show the input level of the signal.

When recording a midi track they show only the velocity of the incoming notes which is one of the three main things that midi tracks records -- what note is played, how long it's held and how hard it's struck.

The 'how hard' part is what's reflected on the meters, and it's actually preferable to have at least some of the notes hit the top velocity. Many soft synths have velocity sensitive EVERYTHING that can be programmed, not just the amplitude (volume) related parameters, so a monitor of the incoming velocity info can be very useful.


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[TelePaul]

thats exactly what the freeze function does

Fellas, thats a great idea!! Agh I'm pretty mentally challenged these days, sorry. I'll definetely do that when I have the backing tracks I want, I'll sacrifice a bit of flexibility any day. Great call. Thanks.