I NEED HELP WITH QUANTITIZING!?@??#

[TXBalla2000]

I use Cakewalk PA9 for my music creations...sometimes I record my tracks in through audio 1st of all mainly because I dont know how to configure my keyboard(ensoniq zr-76) to record midi into seperate channels and tracks..etc but anyways it never fails, I can record over and over and over and over and when Im done my tracks NEVER seem to be on beat I try to quantiize but I dont understand the concept or something behind it because that is the only thing my music is lacking no matter how hard I try...COULD someone pLEASEE show me something or direct me to some info on Quantitizing audio tracks and also configuring my keyboard to record midi cause I know it would be a lot easier if I could record via midi instead of straight audio. THANKS IN ADVANCE

[bigBadWolf]

hi TXBalla2000,

( i am assuming you are running a PC )

You cannot (automatically) quantise audio tracks once they have been committed to audio. That would be the equivalent of re-adjusting the placements of family members in the annual Xmas photo after it has come back from the print-shop.

Having said that, of course you could go into the audio track and MANUALLY edit the timing positions of notes but, frankly, that is a veeery innefficient use of studio time.

Quantization is something which occurrs in MIDI - so the issue here is to get your midi inputs working properly.

Firstly, check to see if your MIDI drivers are installed and assigned. Go OPTIONS/MIDI on the toolbar ( or TOOLS/MIDI - sorry, i am not at my workstation to check ) and you should see the names of your MIDI drivers (from your soundcard and/or other MIDI interface)in the "inputs" and "outputs" tables. Ensure the ones you want to use are selected ( ie BLUE ). Then hit "OK".

( If you have selected new drivers during this process, it's best that you close CWPA9 and re-open - to be sure to be sure )

After checking your physical MIDI cabling connections, check to see that you have a little grey box with two (unlit) red dots in your task bar ( bottom right ). Now, strike any key on your connected MIDI keyboard and one of the dots should light up. This will confirm that CWPA9 is receiving MIDI data.

Now, in your CWPA9 workspace, click on/create a MIDI channel and click the "R" button associated with that channel to arm the channel for recording MIDI data. The "R" button should now be RED.

Now, click on the "RECORD" button in the transport bar and things should start moving.

Play your MIDI keyboard.

When you click the "STOP" button, you should now have (unquantised) MIDI data recorded in this channel.

To quantise this data, in CWPA9, click EDIT/QUANTISE. A window will pop up displaying quantise options.

Let's assume for a moment that you are recording a 4/4 kick drum. Click on "QUARTER" and hit "OK". Your notes will now be shuffled slightly such that they start exactly on the quarter note.

Once your notes are quantised and you are happy with the performance, you can commit this MIDI to audio in the same way as you have done before - but this time all notes will be perfectly timed.

That should at least get you going.

Hope that helps - come back if you need more assistance http://www.audioforums.com/forums/smile.gif



[This message has been edited by bigBadWolf (edited 06-23-2002).]

[TXBalla2000]

Thanks for the reply, What I also dont understand about connecting midi is how can I record all my tracks into midi and save it as midi file to complete at a later date. When I tried this before when I started my program my tracks werent all able to play at the same time. Only one sound at a time. I may sound confused and confusing but basically my disk drive is damaged on my keyboard so therefore I cant save onto it so I want to be able to use my computer to save my midi files track by trackm BUT HOWWWWWWW?!?!??!?!?!?

[bigBadWolf]

dude,

if your equipment is damaged, then no advice will be able to assist you here - apart from save your pennies and fix it.

also, when you save your work, you don't NEED to save it as a separate midi file, as all midi data is saved in the cakewalk file automatically.

Alternatively, if you can't save it, then go FILE/SEND-TO and email it to yourself and store it on your ISP server rather than your disc drive.

[TXBalla2000]

I would like to know:

*Why, when I am workin on a midi song and I have all my tracks recorded in midi format, I try and play all of the sounds and then they dont ALL play because my keyboard only responds to one sound/track. How do you dump track by track BACK into my keyboard's internal sequencer (is it possible??)..How would you do it for most boards with built in sequencers?!?@!?@

Sorry for being a pain...

[bigBadWolf]

Try changing the MIDI OUTPUT track number within Cakewalk/SONAR such that each of your MIDI channels is a different output number - then assign the matching track number within your synth/keyboard to your desired sound.