MIDI timeline display

Damir

bnyrj The request is to have the option to load a MIDI track, see it and set regions based on that.

I have just read again the original request.
I was in your shoes before ST was born, my last arranger keyboard was a Yamaha Tyros 2 , it had full midi multitrack recording and audio replay function , synced lyrics and chords with an external monitor capability for audience or other musicians , it did it all , but was very difficult to program , I persevered and it did the job for years , I always wished I could have a remote to control it like an iPad but iPads weren’t around, I wanted not to be behind a keyboard but more exposed to the audience.
it sounds like what you are after software that controls the keyboard using midi .
Am I warm ?
The requests you mention are pointing to a control surface that gives you lyrics but rely on external midi device to play sound , yes you can create the midi in a daw simply load it to ST and sync up the text but the sound is out of a keyboard.
Am I getting hot?

Damir

Lishy did you not read Peter’s reply? The OP has also explained on a number of occasions. If you don’t understand it/need it then you don’t need to worry about it.

Sorry I missed it ,

Kevtyler

Hi byrnj

Yes I’m sorry mate, just like everyone else I guess airing my opinion in the wrong place.

I’m gonna start a new thread to discuss my issues, all the best of luck getting what you want.

Cheers

Kev

Kevtyler

I’m going to re read this entire thread and try and understand what everyone wants, as I’m still figuring that out.

bnyrj

Kevtyler

Do you use midi for music track?
Do you use keyboard with sounds in your setup?

Kevtyler

Ok guys

I think the midi lane where flags relating to time stamped midi events appear overlayed on the waveform is a great idea. I’m sorry but if you can’t select and slide these event forward and backwards in time, well imho you are really not that much better off than just looking at the midi events with their relation to the lyric ie just before the chorus, drop a command to turn the mirror ball on or engage the fog.

I’m sorry but I don’t ever imagine going on stage and making the arrangement of a song up on the fly, so regions for me are of no use but we are all different I get that.

With relation to being able to see what bnyrj initially requested,it’s beyond me but I can’t see the point of having events visible on st4 that have to be remedied on an external piece of kit, it just seems to me that you should get it right on the daw and when you are happy, export it to st4. I’m sorry but I just can’t see how this will make life for the majority of users any better. But I’m open to an idiots guide. Ps, rather than using a dummy audio track, are there no advantages to using a recording of the audio your daw would create post export?

Cheers

Damir

Kevtyler I think the midi lane where flags relating to time stamped midi events appear overlayed on the waveform is a great idea. I’m sorry but if you can’t select and slide these event forward and backwards in time, well imho you are really not that much better off than just looking at the midi events with their relation to the lyric ie just before the chorus, drop a command to turn the mirror ball on or engage the fog.

I’m sorry but I don’t ever imagine going on stage and making the arrangement of a song up on the fly, so regions for me are of no use but we are all different I get that.

With relation to being able to see what bnyrj initially requested,it’s beyond me but I can’t see the point of having events visible on st4 that have to be remedied on an external piece of kit, it just seems to me that you should get it right on the daw and when you are happy, export it to st4. I’m sorry but I just can’t see how this will make life for the majority of users any better. But I’m open to an idiots guide. Ps, rather than using a dummy audio track, are there no advantages to using a recording of the audio your daw would create post export?

Agreed, unless it does something it has no purpose, I thought I was missing something in the request, but unless the midi is in absolute sync with audio it’s pointless , and it’s not, so it’s only useful to use for control which is fine , the only thing that would make it nicer if you could enter your commands in to a timeline and be able to manipulate the data in a timeline instead of it being in the lyrics editor. Having dimmed audio segments as a background reference to where you are in the song.

bnyrj

🙂😶

Kevtyler

Yes Damir

I totally get it, I hate critiquing anyone’s request especially when I don’t fully understand it, but if you can’t manipulate visual information, I don’t see how its presence helps to be honest, especially when you compare something created on a 32 inch monitor displayed on a 10 inch pad…

Sorry

bnyrj

Hi,

I think the discussion is still mixing multiple different MIDI workflows together, which is why the original request is becoming unclear.

I’m not sure if the misunderstanding is because:
• the request itself is not being understood clearly
or
• newer ideas and broader MIDI discussions are getting mixed into the original request.

My request was actually very small and specific:

→ Load a MIDI song track into Stage Traxx
→ Visually see that MIDI track in the timeline
→ Set regions based on that MIDI track, even when no audio file is present

That’s all.

The purpose for me is simple:
I want to play my MIDI song tracks through an arranger keyboard while using Stage Traxx as the live playback/control interface.

The advantage is that regions in Stage Traxx could then control navigation of the song structure based on the MIDI track itself.

I am NOT asking for:
• DAW-style MIDI editing
• piano roll editing
• audio/MIDI alignment tools
• automation editing
• Ableton-style arranging
• turning Stage Traxx into MIDI software

The request is only about visualising an already prepared MIDI file so regions can be set from it.

The reason I keep clarifying is because when a thread gets dominated by 2–3 users discussing different MIDI concepts, a new reader may no longer understand what the original request actually was, which also affects whether they would support/upvote it.

Thanks 🙂

Damir

bnyrj The request is only about visualising an already prepared MIDI file so regions can be set from it.

But that’s the problem, technically the regions can’t be set by midi at the moment the two are not in sync.so you either have audio segments or design a midi type playback device because ST is not a midi player and it can’t play in sync with audio.

bnyrj

Damir

Peter made that clear — MIDI and audio will not sync in ST.

Before Peter explained that, I thought both could be used together. Now that part is clear.

So this is no longer about syncing MIDI and audio.

What I asked for is much simpler:
just to visually see the MIDI track on the timeline, similar to how an audio waveform is shown, so regions can be set from it when there is no audio involved.

Damir, with all respect, please don’t mix this again with MIDI/audio sync. That is not the request anymore.

Damir

bnyrj Damir, with all respect, please don’t mix this again with MIDI/audio sync. That is not the request anymore.

I don’t think you understand what’s involved and that segmenting using midi is introducing a whole new major development , good luck with it , Peter is the one that is going to decide but I already know the answer.
I would like to see some midi improvements but I know it won’t be in the near future as it’s not that simple.

bnyrj

Damir

Me too know that. Peter already said that clearly:

peter I have moved it to feature requests so that it can be upvoted. But this would be a huge effort to build. In my opinion there are more pressing matters to address before this feature

So I’m not desperate for this feature or demanding it immediately. I mainly wanted to know what other users think about the idea. But the discussion got mixed again with MIDI/audio sync and other concepts.

I also understand that the ST user base is mainly audio-track focused, and MIDI support in ST is currently more for control purposes.

This idea only came to my mind because I noticed ST was already handling the MIDI file I loaded very smoothly together with the region jumps. Since the MIDI playback worked nicely through my Korg Pa900, I thought it would be useful if the MIDI track itself could simply be displayed in the timeline so regions could be set directly from that, even without an associated audio file.

Anyway, if Peter can someday include something like this without affecting the stability and reliability of the app, that would be great. Otherwise, as he already mentioned, there are many higher-priority feature requests to consider first.

But I do think that if implemented properly, there would be arranger keyboard users and MIDI-track performers who would make good use of it — they just may not be active in this forum.

MusicMan81

bnyrj

I totally understand your point t and I see the benefit of it, unfortunately if the majority of the people don’t need it Peter won’t do it, in the end ST4 is a tool for the majority.

But, what I think people is failing to understand and I’m gonna try to explain it differently.

For a brief moment, Let’s see the Waveform representation, as a Photo right? That ST4 generates a visual representation of what the audio is doing, we all can see the waveform, and VISUALLY you can differentiate the intro, pre, chorus etc etc based on the energy of that waveform that you can “SEE”. But can you edit it? No…. You need the daw correct? The only thing you can do I’d separate it into Audio Regions, and you “CAN” visually guide yourself to place the audio regions with the beats because you can see them….

He wats the SAME, but using a midi file instead of an audio file, he is NOT asking, for midi edit tools or anything fancy, but just the ability to SEE the midi, and be able to split it into “midi regions”? why? Because you can see the midi lines, let’s assume he’s controlling 4 instruments with the midi, and that way he can see when each of them is playing exactly, he want a visual “photo” of the midi… that’s it, right @bnyrj ?

Well imagine this….

You have 2.000 songs as some of the users have, and that’s heavy as f…. Even all in mp3, it will be a lot of GB.

With a session of 2000 songs using the midi, you’ll have a full controller for all the midi instruments with a session that is not bigger than 100-200 MB.

It will be reliable as f…. And you can take advantage of older models of iPad, or phones, for this and use the most powerful devices to handle the music.

This is just a few of many advantages.

This is what I’m understanding the whole discussion is.

Hope it helps.

Damir

bnyrj But I do think that if implemented properly, there would be arranger keyboard users and MIDI-track performers who would make good use of it — they just may not be active in this forum

As I said earlier I am one of those arranger keyboard users and a heavy midi user , because of lack of the things you mentioned I have gone full audio as it’s too much of a headache to use both , even just using midi control only needs to be much more user friendly for me to use it.
Good luck whichever way you go.

bnyrj

MusicMan81 majority of the people don’t need it

Yes majority in this forum use audio primarily and use midi mainly for control, and not to trigger the notes of a sound generator/keyboard.

MusicMan81 He wats the SAME, but using a midi file instead of an audio file, he is NOT asking, for midi edit tools or anything fancy, but just the ability to SEE the midi, and be able to split it into “midi regions”? why? Because you can see the midi lines, let’s assume he’s controlling 4 instruments with the midi, and that way he can see when each of them is playing exactly, he want a visual “photo” of the midi… that’s it, right @bnyrj ?

If its midi track, we can easily get the beat grid based on the bars, brand and tempo. Visual is to place the region. But I know ST is not equipped for that and it need huge work...

When people here say audio and MIDI won't sync, in my case it will sync because my audio and MIDI is exported from my DAW, so I know the tempo , time signature etc. Thats not the case of tracks downloaded or copied which is not created by the user.

Damir As I said earlier I am one of those arranger keyboard users and a heavy midi user , because of lack of the things you mentioned I have gone full audio as it’s too much of a headache to use both , even just using midi control only needs to be much more user friendly for me to use it.

I can understand
To get the midi setup working need more effort
Audio is straight forward

MarkGuitar

Damir
I have started another Feature Request which is in addition this one but aimed at simplifying the display and eventually the editing/management of midi control events. Take a look here and upvote if interested

https://support.stagetraxx.com/d/4980-visualisation-of-existing-midi-timecode-commands

bnyrj

To those who visit this thread,

Below is a summary of the feature request.
If you like the idea or feel it would improve MIDI-based live performance workflows in Stage Traxx, please consider voting/supporting the request.

1. What is being requested

1.1

A simple MIDI timeline display, similar to how audio tracks are visually represented.

1.2

MIDI shown visually in the timeline using a simple bar/beat or time-based representation.

1.3

Ability to set and adjust regions using the MIDI track itself as the visual reference.

1.4

MIDI treated like a visible playback lane/stem for navigation and alignment purposes.

2. Why this is being requested

2.1

MIDI playback already works correctly and follows regions — but the MIDI itself is not visually represented.

2.2

Regions currently depend heavily on audio waveforms, which limits MIDI-only workflows.

2.3

Without visual MIDI reference, timing, alignment, and section placement become harder.

2.4

This improves usability of an existing capability rather than introducing a completely new workflow.

3. Practical use cases

3.1

Visually setting song sections:

intro,
verse,
chorus,
bridge,
solo,
ending

in MIDI-based performance setups.

3.2

Using Stage Traxx as a touchscreen live controller for:

external keyboards,
synths,
arranger workstations,
sound modules,
and other MIDI devices.

3.3

More accurate region triggering based on actual MIDI timing instead of estimating from audio.

3.4

Managing medleys and jumping between sections inside a single MIDI file during live performance.

3.5

Running arranger keyboard styles by providing chord progression data from Stage Traxx via MIDI.

This could also help older professional arranger keyboards that do not support saving chord sequences internally, effectively giving them a modern chord sequencer-style workflow.

3.6

Controlling arranger/workstation keyboards (Yamaha, Korg, etc.) during live use.

3.7

Avoiding the need to create dummy audio files purely to enable visual region setup.

4. What is NOT being requested

4.1

No MIDI editing (no piano roll, note editing, CC editing, etc.)

4.2

No DAW-style arranger or sequencing environment.

4.3

No advanced MIDI programming or production tools.

4.4

No change to Stage Traxx’s core role as a live playback/performance tool.

This keeps Stage Traxx simple while making the existing MIDI functionality significantly more practical and performance-friendly.

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