Order of events - MIDI stuff

[Papa John]

Can I get my recording to start AFTER the MIDI Preset plays?

My backing tracks (recordings) have an associated MIDI file that plays along with them.
Each song also has a MIDI preset associated with it.
My layout is set to start the recording and "play" the midi Preset on the SONG SELECT event.

I think this all happens at once because my MIDI preset is sending an CC123 (all notes off) to insure that the lights are blacked out.  If I move the note-on for the very first lights to a beat after the song starts, it works fine... but if I have that first note-on at the exact beginning of the song, the lights don't come on... presumably because of the CC123 telling them all to go off at the same time.

Is there a way to have the recording start AFTER the midi Preset plays?   Or do I just have to edit all my midi files so the fisrt note-on is a bit after the song starts?

[arlo]

To keep the exact same workflow and functionality you have now, you could record an automation track that starts the recording after a second or a fraction of a second.

If you are automatically selecting songs with a song completion action, you could trigger the reset MIDI preset from the completion of the previous song rather than the start of the new song, to get nearly the same result with the same workflow. The only difference is that the reset would be sent before the time between songs and then the recording would start after the time between songs.

If you are manually selecting songs, you could trigger the reset MIDI preset from Song Selection, and start the recording from Song Second Selection, but then you would have to select each song an extra time compared to what you're doing now.

[Ahiru]

FWIW we've found it simplest to avoid splitting closely associated control info between MIDI files and Automation.  For lights (in the MIDI file) each song ends with a standard pattern that's lower intensity but sufficient for audience banter between songs.  Each song also starts (typically during count-down tick in the backing track) with a 'pre-song' lighting pattern that's very low but not quite full blackout.

Automation is used for MIDI guitar and vocal effects since it's easier to tweak those there.

By keeping lights 100% in the MIDI file and effects 100% in Automation, there's no concern about conflicts or race conditions.

Just something to consider if you end up having to edit all those MIDI files anyway...