Mixcraft ideas

[Danthomasmusic13]

I just thought of this idea for mixcraft for possible future updates and am curious as to if anyone else would find it useful.

What if there were an adaptive metronome where say you record a guitar track and after set the adaptive metronome to automatically follow along and calculate different time signatures instead of a constant 4/4 timing and then be able to lay down a more consistent drum track in return.


My problem is if I record a song with a 4/4 timing starting off on the intro and verse and want the chorus bridge etc. in a different time signature while recording drums with a metrome to the other instruments I get thrown off with the out of sync metronome for those particular parts of the song.
In the past I've rehearsed a song back to back for weeks on end to get around recording with a metronome and still find inconsistency here and there. I think it would be very efficient and a useful tool for all musicians who find it hard working with a metronome and playing or recording a song with multiple time changes
I would love to see this on an update very soon
It would help me and others trim the fat on a lot of wasted time in the studio room dealing with confusion and common mistakes.
Id like to think if they can make melodyne then they should be able to implement an adaptive metronome into the software hell just as long as it gets me in the ball park I'd be cool with it.

Let me know what you think....

[cactus-head]

Hi,

A while ago i tried something similar to what you seem to be saying. I used mixcrafts midi learn to learn the cc of a pedal i had connected to my keyboard and mapped it to the tap function to control the BPM on the transport. I tapped the pedal with my foot and played along with my guitar. So the recording generally followed the time i was tapping.

It was a fun experiment, but i was too inconsistent. I think the idea could be taken further.

Not really answering your question but anyway, another idea, you could play without a metronome and then use the warp function on your recorded wave file to tweak it to precise playback.

[Danthomasmusic13]

Thanks for the reply cactus-head!
I'll definitely give it a try it sounds like a really great idea!


For a little back story on my setup I run everything with an instrument cable to the mixer then to my interface to the computer. (Edrums, bass, guitar)

If your curious as to how my setup sounds for reference you can search for "Acoustic Rhythm Theory" on all streaming platforms(spotify, Apple, youtube) or check out my music page on fb "dan thomas music 13" for some more raw demo tracks to hear you can probably hear a lot of inconsistency in the drums on certain songs I didn't follow a strict 4/4 timing

[cactus-head]

I just tried the pedal thing again. I thought I had been able to record that way but it seems it won't work when the transport is running. I may have remembered it wrong.

It works fine when the transport isn't running.

Your adaptive metronome idea sort of exists in other software so it would be a cool addition to mixcraft. In a music notation program called Notion, there is a staff that is called Ntempo. Basically, this track allows you to tap a key or something as the music is playing and it will speed up or slow down the music according to your tapping. The design in this program is so that you could conduct a score to playback with human nuance.

So the idea of controlling the BPM on the fly exists and it would be an interesting addition to Mixcraft.

[jwarv]

I find myself bypassing the metronome altogether and laying out drum loops. Then I change the time signature on the marker. Then add a new loop to match. I find it so much better to play guitar along with a drum groove than a click.

[unclemeat]

I find myself bypassing the metronome altogether and laying out drum loops. Then I change the time signature on the marker. Then add a new loop to match. I find it so much better to play guitar along with a drum groove than a click.

I do the same thing. Having said that, I'm getting better at using the metronome and sometimes I find the problem with using a simple drum loop to start is that it can unintentionally become "the sound" of the tune your working on. I also find the metronome useful for isolating a midi track such as bass to really hone in on the timing.

On a related topic, I was wondering if it's possible to use the metronome in a standalone mode instead of only on playback and/or recording? When starting a new project and trying to figure out the ideal tempo, I think it would be helpful.

Sorry Danthomasmusic13 I guess my post here isn't totally related to your original question, but in your situation I think I would ignore the metronome and use a simple drum loop to keep your time changes in check. Or as jwarv suggested, can't you change the tempo using markers? There's a tempo setting in the markers. Doesn't that change the metronome?

[cactus-head]

I could be wrong but I think the issue is Danthomasmusic13 is playing live drums and there are tempo and time changes in the song. A guitar or some other instrument may be recorded first and trying to play in time with that instrument becomes tough because of the time sig changes and the inconsistency of that instrument track.

I think they are hoping that an automatic click track could be created from the irregular instrument track that was already recorded that would make it easier for the live drums to follow so the final recording is more precise and there isn't a bunch of editing to do on the recorded drum track after the fact.

Now that I'm writing this an idea popped into my head. On a copy of the instrument track that was recorded first that you want to keep time with, maybe use a gate or a filter and/or eq just to emphasize the main beats and filter out the residual noise and tones of the guitar. Then use melodyne in rhythmic mode to convert the beats to MIDI. Use the midi to drive a bass drum or clave or whatever you want to create the click track. You are likely to get a lot of beats, but maybe without the extra sound of the instrument, the click track would make it easier to play along with.

On a related topic, I was wondering if it's possible to use the metronome in a standalone mode instead of only on playback and/or recording? When starting a new project and trying to figure out the ideal tempo, I think it would be helpful.

Have you tried using the tap function on the transport to find your tempo before you start your project?

[unclemeat]

Have you tried using the tap function on the transport to find your tempo before you start your project?

Yes but I only have two hands to play guitar with!

[cactus-head]

Yes but I only have two hands to play guitar with!

Guess you gotta use the nose to laptop method

[unclemeat]

Yes but I only have two hands to play guitar with!

Guess you gotta use the nose to laptop method

I've actually been thinking about getting a midi foot pedal to start and stop recording. I wonder if I could use it for tapping as well...

[cactus-head]

You can.

I use the soft pedal or the sustain pedal from my keyboard, MIDI learn , and assign the pedal to the TAP on the transport. It allows me to play guitar or keyboard and figure out what BPM to set all at once

[Htos_Drol]

It would be neat if there was a track size option that allowed the name of the track to be listed out above the track controls. (i.e. use the full width of the track control area)

[hpharley90]

Yes but I only have two hands to play guitar with!

Guess you gotta use the nose to laptop method

I've actually been thinking about getting a midi foot pedal to start and stop recording. I wonder if I could use it for tapping as well...

there is the app to use on phone.

[TrevsAudio]

Yep, the app is great. Just press record then you have both hands free!
But then similarly, you could just press R on the keboard,

[hpharley90]

If keyboard is in convenient location to instrument.