Question for the Gurus

[Doug Farrar]

I have Sonor XL 2.0
A guitarist friend recorded a stereo audio track which I have imported into Cakewalk. I would like to sequence a midi drum track to accompany the audio. The problems are:
1. There is a natural fluctuation of tempo.
2. I have to align the midi to the audio.

What do you suggest I do to accomplish this?

 

[Middleman]

Two options come to mind.

1. Handbuild the midi track to match the audio
2. Rerecord the audio with a click track to smooth the tempo

 

[BluesMeister]

Middleman
Option 1 is probably the best, I'm sure Doug doesn't really want to re-record the audio.

You're probably more familiar with this sort of thing than me MM, but is it possible to snip up the audio in to smaller sections and synch each section to the MIDI track? The rationale is that you are less likely to notice timing drift on several short sections than you would over the full length of the piece.

If that does work you could then cross-fade back to a single audio track.

Where are the Gurus when you need them?

--
BluesMeister

 

[moskus]

I agree with Middleman and Paul. Option nr. 1 is the best, I would say...

And IMHO the best way to accomplish this is to use a MIDI controller keyboard and just play along to the guitar-track. The drawbacks are that you need the keyboard and you have to be able to play drums on a keyboard pretty well (so start practising now )

 

[AlChuck]

I agree with Moskus -- the best thing would be to play the MIDI parts along with the audio track and forget about the sequence's tempo.

If that's not an option, you can build a tempo map from the audio file, but that's a real pain in the neck even with the Extract Timing tool.

 

[Middleman]

I agree with Moskus -- the best thing would be to play the MIDI parts along with the audio track and forget about the sequence's tempo.

If that's not an option, you can build a tempo map from the audio file, but that's a real pain in the neck even with the Extract Timing tool.

Yeah, I was gonna go down that path but it is rather daunting if you have not done it before. Just building it by hand is probably best.

 

[James Argo]

Yes, Middleman's suggestion no. 1 is the best option I think
Insert notes manualy to PRV... it takes long time to acomplish, indeed. But ensure accuracy

Hey, you mentioned your friend record in stereo, then you imported to Sonar. What application your friend used ?


Jaymz

 

[moskus]

Yeah, I was gonna go down that path but it is rather daunting if you have not done it before.

One time needs to be the first, right?

 

[Middleman]

One time needs to be the first, right?

Yeah, absolutely. Definitely an education and actually kind of fun if you have the time. With a highly variable tempo though, it might not yeild any usable results. But extracting the tempo from audio can yeild some very creative things like a midi pulse or stealth sound matched to the audio and mixed right underneath.

 

[Teacher]

y don't you try matching the tempo variation in the audio with tempo changes? thats what i do with those old school samples...

 

[Doug Farrar]

Thanks

Thanks for the suggestions. They are all difficult in their own way.
I was hoping for and "easy" fix.

How about this.....

Is there a way for me to tap along with the audio on a single note and have Sonor use the tap track as the master tempo?

That would solve it

James.... he recorded a live stereo performance.

 

[moskus]

Re: Thanks

Is there a way for me to tap along with the audio on a single note and have Sonor use the tap track as the master tempo?

If you do this, then you could use the "Extract Tempo" command (I think). It's worth a shot.