Weird MIDI behavior for MIDI Files recently uploaded

[go2ldook]

Have been running MIDI files with recordings for a while now, creating my files using MIDIEditor. Has been a few weeks since I created a new MIDI File, but the past several days I tried and the ones I have uploaded do not seem to run well. These files send CC's to LoopyHD to start and stop loops, and the ones recently uploaded seem to have glitches when running. Loops will stutter at times. I am blaming Bandhelper here because it only happens with new ones. My previously uploaded recordings with their associated files seem to work just fine. I tried updating Bandhelper and all of my apps. That has not helped. Updated MIDIEditor just in case, but that has not helped.

Frustrating as this has rendered me unable to create new songs with attached MIDI files. Plus, when I updated to the new version of Bandhelper, the offset timing for the recordings and MIDI file are now off. I had tweaked each MP3 to be perfect, but now they are off. Tried the new feature to delay the recording start...this helps a little, but not perfect.

Is there any way you can make the recording delay even more precise to 1/1000th of a second?

[Ahiru]

... when I updated to the new version of Bandhelper, the offset timing for the recordings and MIDI file are now off. I had tweaked each MP3 to be perfect, but now they are off. Tried the new feature to delay the recording start...this helps a little, but not perfect.

Is there any way you can make the recording delay even more precise to 1/1000th of a second?

As of a BH update around November of 2019, the relative offset timing of the audio file and an attached MIDI file was reduced by roughly 100msecs, which helped address issues with (IIRC) transmitted MIDI clock timing (unrelated to using an attached MIDI file).

I had many MIDI files I had previously edited to add appropriate delays to keep them closely in sync with the audio recordings. So I had to edit about 70 MIDI files to alter the timing to get it all back in sync.  In my case, I subtracted a previously added delay of 100msecs from each of the MIDI files.  It was a giant PIA, but it all works fine now. (I had postponed accepting BH updates on my main iPad for months because of this, so it ended up as a good April coronavirus shutdown task )

In my testing I found the new recording delay was not accurate / consistent enough for my purposes.  So I chose to leave this as zero and instead slog through changing all the MIDI files.

(Re your other issues, I have not however experienced any other issues with sending the MIDI data, though my MIDI files are all note events and edited within a DAW; I don't use MIDIEditor.)

[go2ldook]

Yeah, I played this afternoon and found that setting the recording delay at -120 msec worked well for the ones I tried. I will try this again later  while recording to see if the loops line up well with the beat. I am finding it workable...I had taken the approach of tweaking the recording, not the MIDI file, as this seemed much easier to just measure the offset using waveforms and hack that much off the silence before the beat starts (I always create my files with a measure of silence just so I can have a buffer).

Anyway, I have tried almost all of my old recordings and I am not getting this stutter issue. I thought maybe it was just uptempo songs for some reason, as the new songs I did were over 150 bpm, but have tried some older uptempo songs an no problem. I am at a loss, and I hope Arlo can provide some insight. I will continue to troubleshoot on my end. One thing I am definitely seeing is a problem with the Midi Clock on the new songs: my Strymon Mobius pedal displays the bpm for the song, as determined by the MIDI clock. On the old songs, it stays steady, but not the new ones...it will shift during the song.

The song a tired to add this weekend was Message in a Bottle, played at 155 BPM. I play the verse bass line and loop it. Later in the song, I can see the Mobius pedal goes from 155 to maybe 154 or 153, and when the looper is told to play the bass line, it will play, then suddenly stutter and restart from the beginning, but now off tempo. I think one time, on the 3rd verse (after stuttering during 2nd verse), it was back on tempo when it was played again.

This behavior seems consistent and only with songs I have recently added to Bandhelper.