Midi Automation Track import?

challtaq

Hi,
I'm new here - checking out if StageTraxx3 might be my go-to App for the future ^^
...
Please enlighten me:

By composing my Backing Track etc. in a DAW of my choice (Cubase) , my music generally includes Tempo Changes. Aside of this I using a distinct MIDI Automation Track (.mid) for executing all PC, CC, etc. necessary...
Please mind, that this Midi Track does include stamped-in Tempo Changes.
Does StageTraxx3 have an import functionality for this?

... I rather wouldn't want to start coding, as everything's running already.

thanks!

Damir

challtaq sounds like you are running midi tracks in a daw . ST3 is not a .mid player it only plays audio files , you need to convert all your midi tracks to audio then export them as audio files to ST3 , you can record a click track if you need to lock in to tempo changes while no audio is playing otherwise you could program visual click in lyrics screen and run in sync visually.

peter

No, ST3 works only with timestamps which are independent of tempo changes. ST3 is not aware of a song tempo or any changes to this.

challtaq

peter thanks first.
so, maybe I just run a Click-Track and won't use your tempo features.
...
BUT what's with my second question:
Does StageTraxx3 support .Mid-Track import?

The B.Beat FROM M-Live does it - if you're not understanding my question: https://youtu.be/6UVoB7KTVTM

Riff

Damir I don't think it's an audio track, if I'm reading it right. It's a midi track for automation that has all of the program and control changes to change banks, patches, etc. Some also use this track to control lighting.

It's nice to be able to program a midi track with those commands in a DAW right along side of your audio tracks, making it simple to have things timed precisely.

Perhaps if there was a way to convert a midi track to ST3's midi notation, that would be helpful.

peter

A visual metronome feature is on my todo list for version 3.8. It is not 100% sure it will make it but if it makes it into version 3.8. The song tempo setting will be a bit more useful.

challtaq

hello Riff -
you're exactly right,

I need a MIDI-Track for automation of my Pedalboard, and light-show.
What l wanted to point out was:
If there is an integration for MIDI-Tracks (.mid) the file format may also allow to content tempo-information (via MIDI-Clk), which would be a necessity for me to be enabled, as my music contains tempo changes.

sorry before for the confusion

...
The rest of the audio tracks will run as Wavs.

AnthonyB

I've come here looking for the exact same feature.
I have Program Changes and CCs for guitar effects units in a track in my DAW. What I'm wanting to do is be able to export both the audio stems for import into ST3 (can do) AND export the MIDI track containing the guitar effects unit PC and CC events (e.g. format 0 MIDI file) and have ST3 be able to import it and convert into the method it uses for playing back MIDI Send commands with a song (i.e. commands embeded in the lyric sheet).

Obviously, I'm lucky in that I'm probably only dealing with 10-20 MIDI commands per song so I can manually enter them into ST3 lyrics page for each song OR I could just get my guitarist to plug in his unit and do a live run against the song once and have ST3 learn it (and then manually tweak as needed).

But it would be nice and I don't think overly difficult for ST3 to have an a format 0 MIDI file import and conversion capability.

Is there any chance this is on the roadmap for a future release?

peter

It is on the roadmap for version 4.

AnthonyB

peter Thanks Peter for confirming this!

I worked in the software industry for over 20 years so I ask this question knowing the likely answer 🙂 but is there any approx. ETA for v4? I only ask as I'm currently evaluating ST (you can thank Scott Uhl for making me aware of ST!) with the view of adopting ST for my band and am about to embark on the process of onboarding a LOT of songs which means a lot of manual MIDI command writing in the lyric sheets based on ST3. If I knew an approx timeframe for ST4 then I could make a decision on whether I proceed in part, in full, or hold off.

Also, any chance you are considering the ability to import a MIDI stem as a file (just like an audio file) and be able to load it into a song (I'm thinking like current process of setting up multitrack song) and have it play the MIDI file back in sync with audio files? I'd really prefer this option over an importer/converter that translates the MIDI data into the current lyric sheet format method if possible. Or even ability to handle both methods would be awesome.

peter

The way it will most likely work in version 4 is that you attach a midi file to a song and it will play back in sync with the audio files.

Regarding the ETA, see my post here: https://support.stagetraxx.com/d/3021-happy-new-year-and-a-look-ahead-for-stage-traxx

AnthonyB

After spending 7 hours yesterday with the guitarist in my band to review all of his effects MIDI automation timings, and refining them for precise timings, I had some thoughts on functionality that I hope can be included when this capability is included in ST4.

Because of the way I export my backing tracks from my DAW, I'm never starting from the start of the sequence/project. E.g. I might start my count-in at bar 2 and song intro is bar 4. When I export the audio, I export from Bar 1 Beat 4 so there is always 1 beat of blank audio in my backing track audio files.
So when using the ST3 MIDI automation features, I always use an offset to factor this time difference with the MIDI commands that I'm currently manually copying out of my DAW,

If in ST4 we have the ability to save a MIDI 'stem' (that contains MIDI commands to automate devices) from a DAW and attach that to a song in ST4, if there is no ability to control the start time of the MIDI stem export (the case for me as far as I've found in Cakewalk Sonar), then I'd definitely need an ability to define an offset for the MIDI file I'm attaching to my multitrack audio song.

Judging by what I've seen in ST3, I'm sure you've already thought about this, but I just wanted to call in out just in case!

bens

AnthonyB When you export the midi track from your DAW, you should be able to select where it starts from. I have the same issue in Logic, and my MIDI track is aligned with the start of the backing tracks usually around bar 5. I can then either trim the start of the timeline or select a range to export.

peter

Actually I haven't thought about this. But I will make a note not to forget it.

AnthonyB

Thank you @peter !

AnthonyB

bens Yeah, I think (using Cakewalk terminology) that I have to learn to create a clip that starts where the backing track will start, and then export the clip, which will then have a start time that matches my audio backing track export.
Something for me to investigate!

EDIT: Now I remember the quirk in Cakewalk! So even though you can define a Start and End marker for your project that is used to define the Audio Export start/end time, for MIDI tracks, you have to use a track clip. The problem was, to make the clip also start at the project's Start marker, I was having to put a dummy MIDI event to force the clip to start at that point. I mean, not the end of the world to put something that will have no consequence there, but still annoyingly 'not neat' at the same time.