timing MIDI events in seconds, rather than subdivisions

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tslaytor
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Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:15 pm

timing MIDI events in seconds, rather than subdivisions

Post by tslaytor » Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:29 pm

Hi,

I want to be able to time MIDI events (i.e. note on) by seconds rather than subdivisions. This is so I can create flams (grace note before an accent) on the drums that are consistent regardless of the tempo. Can anyone help me with this?

I think I have figured that a grace note 0.05 seconds before an accent makes a nice loose flam, 0.025 seconds before is a medium flam, and 0.0125 secs is a tight flam. I figured these out by experimenting around at 300 bpm (16th notes at 300bpm are 0.05 secs apart, a 32nd note is 0.025 secs, etc.) but this is much harder to do for other tempos, such as 159 bpm.

I need this for part of a paper that I am writing, therefore I need to be very precise and need to know the exact timing in seconds in examples across different tempos - therefore answers such as "shift the grace notes until they sound good" unfortunately won't work in this instance.

Many thanks in advance.

Tarekith
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Re: timing MIDI events in seconds, rather than subdivisions

Post by Tarekith » Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:56 pm

If you drag the MIDI clip into arrange page, there's a minutes:seconds timeline at the bottom of the arrange view. You still can't see it in clip view, but that's as close as you'll get unless I'm forgetting some other method.
Tarekith
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tslaytor
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:15 pm

Re: timing MIDI events in seconds, rather than subdivisions

Post by tslaytor » Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:59 pm

Cool! thanks!

yes, it works, when I move the note in the clip view it also moves in the arrange view, so I can line up to the number of seconds I want. Not the easiest thing to work with... but it works!

Thanks again

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