connecting the midi keyboard to Qtractor.

[(b)ananartista]

i've just installed Qtractor in Ubuntu
and i start composing with midi
with dssi plugins (hexter and whysynth).

now i want to connect my nocturn midi keyboard and do a live session.
i've tried in the Jack Connections (ALSA)
to connect the instrument with the Qtractor master
and also with midi thought port-0
but nothing happened.

also the red record botton is inactive ...

what i have to do ?


thanks.

[rncbc]

hi,

1. create a new midi track
2. add the desired instrument plugin to that track
3. connect your keyboard to master in (midi input bus)
4. arm the track for recording: press the [R] button turning to red
5. play something on the keyboard; on the mixer, check that midi signal level is being detected; if the track is in (auto-)monitor, you should hear your playing right away
6. press the big red button (it should be enabled by this time and since step 4)
7. if the session is scratch/new, you should give it a name in the dialog that promptly pops up
8. when ready, press play and that's it, actual recording will get rolling
9. when bored, stop

hth

[(b)ananartista]

oh thanks ! perfect ...
i was missing the [R] button.
now i can record.

...but:
01) i see Qtractor is not so good for quantize.
i mean, i'm used to Reason and it works worse.
which software do you use for midi or wich trick i have to know for make it work well ?

02) i downloaded very good synths for example Phasex. there is a way to use it in the MIDI track ?
(now i'm recording it in the audio track connecting the phasex to the sequencer).

and also there is a way to use the drummachine Hydrogen directly inside the Qtractor project ?
(or maybe another drum software or plugin...)

03) i'm using WhySynth and Hexter as dssi plugin for the midi. Have you any suggestions ?


and finally
04) ...why when i start the Jack audio connection kit all the audio outside the softwares i'm using stop working ?
(all the files, the audio on youtube, yes all the audios ...).
have I to do something to activate it?


and for now no other question
a big thanks !!!

[Capoeira]

i see Qtractor is not so good for quantize.

I haven't found any sequencer who has quantize-options like rosegarden....it's the only one which can quantize in a "natural" way

[rncbc]

maybe iif someone explains what is actually wrong with qtractor quantization it might get fixed, eventually

first of all, qtractor doesn't do any quantization on recorded midi events, unless you opt to do so from View/Options.../MIDI/Capture/Quantize. however there, i may it find utterly disrupting--it may seem to correct the sloppiest of the musicians but, imo it can certainly ruin the performance of a good one.

all that to say that quantization in qtractor is best used as a post-recording surgical tool--using Tools/Quantize while editing on the midi clip editor (aka piano-roll).

otoh, what is "natural" quantization? i have this hunch that quantization is rather "artificial", by definition.

seeya

[Capoeira]

otoh, what is "natural" quantization? i have this hunch that quantization is rather "artificial", by definition.

seeya

thats the point, my friend.....in Rosegarden you can quantize by percentage, so you don't get a artificial result. lets say you have one beat with four quarter notes....first one is 5ms, 2nd 6ms, 3rd 8ms and 4th 2ms off. you can than quantize by a user defined value, lets say 50% so you get 2.5, 3, 4 and 1ms and dont loose any "human-touch". just have a look at it and yo understand. you are correct, the "normal" quantize-options in other sequencers are only usefull for electronic music.

[rncbc]

have you ever tried swing-quantize?

[rncbc]

02) i downloaded very good synths for example Phasex. there is a way to use it in the MIDI track ?
(now i'm recording it in the audio track connecting the phasex to the sequencer).

as all synths that aren't plugins, you'll have to connect them as stand-alone: midi via alsa-midi and audio via jack. simple as that. downside is that you'll also have to start those on your own whenever you load your saved qtractor session, again and again.

and also there is a way to use the drummachine Hydrogen directly inside the Qtractor project ?

nope. hydrogen is not a plugin. take the stand-alone midi/jack route approach please.

03) i'm using WhySynth and Hexter as dssi plugin for the midi. Have you any suggestions ?

that should work as you are used to, that is, all state will be saved within a qtractor session file. so what's the question?

04) ...why when i start the Jack audio connection kit all the audio outside the softwares i'm using stop working ?

jack takes hold of your soundcard and that's a fact (and price) you must get used to. alas. there's ways to work around that (pulseaudio?), but when your job is primarily as a producer (as against to just as a consumer) you'll be fine with the situation (aka tradeoff) .

and for now no other question
a big thanks !!!

im sure you'll have some more

seeya

[Capoeira]

have you ever tried swing-quantize?

no i haven't, but from what i read it has an algorithm, so i think it can't be sounding all that natural....but i try

[rncbc]

.....in Rosegarden you can quantize by percentage, so you don't get a artificial result. lets say you have one beat with four quarter notes....first one is 5ms, 2nd 6ms, 3rd 8ms and 4th 2ms off. you can than quantize by a user defined value, lets say 50% so you get 2.5, 3, 4 and 1ms and dont loose any "human-touch".

this sounds more like a "rescale" then "quantize"...

i guess rosegarden calls it the latter (quantize) while i (and thus qtractor:) name it the former (rescale)

cheers

[pneuman]

I think it's a little of both What quantizing with a percentage in Rosegarden (and commercial DAWs) does quantize the notes, but instead of snapping them straight to the beat, it moves them only part of the way there.

Think of what Qtractor does now as 100% quantization -- it takes the notes, and locks them directly to the beat. Then, imagine a quantization of 0%, that wouldn't move the notes at all. A 50% quantization, then, moves each note half-way between where it is now, and where a full 100% quantization would put it.

As Capoeira mentioned, this can tighten your timing without making things sound robotic, since it's still not perfect -- it's just closer to perfect than it was before. I'd love to see it in Qtractor as well, so if it's just an oversight, and something that can hopefully be added without too much work, that'd be great!

[Capoeira]

I'd love to see it in Qtractor as well

I'd love to see that in seq24 as well and I hope that Ardour3 will have this

[rncbc]

I'd love to see it in Qtractor as well

Guess what? Qtractor svn trunk r1739 (qtractor 0.4.7.34+) now has this quantize percentage added on the MIDI clip editor (aka piano-roll) quantize tool (see Tools/Quantize... menu).

You may apply this percentage for selected events time and/or duration quantization (0% for none, kind of a no-op; 100% for full quantization, exactly as it was before this percentage option being suggested).

Test && Tell

[pneuman]

I'd love to see it in Qtractor as well

Guess what? Qtractor svn trunk r1739 (qtractor 0.4.7.34+) now has this quantize percentage added on the MIDI clip editor (aka piano-roll) quantize tool (see Tools/Quantize... menu).

You may apply this percentage for selected events time and/or duration quantization (0% for none, kind of a no-op; 100% for full quantization, exactly as it was before this percentage option being suggested).

Test && Tell

Just updated my SVN copy here and tested it out -- it looks great! I'll be recording some drumming from my keyboard in the next few weeks, and this'll be just the thing to tighten up the timing a bit without making it sound robotic. Thanks!

[Capoeira]

Qtractor svn trunk r1739 (qtractor 0.4.7.34+) now has this quantize percentage added

nice