MIDI Input with "Note ON" message

Discussion of playback and midi issues go here.
mentalsanityoff
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2010 6:35 pm

Post by mentalsanityoff » Mon Aug 23, 2010 6:49 pm

I posed this question on Avid's Sibelius help forum, to no avail. Here's the issue:

Sibelius writes a note when it receives a "Note OFF" message. So basically, when you press a key on your MIDI keyboard, nothing is going to write until you release the key, thus sending the "Note OFF" message. However, I am writing with a MIDI drum, which does not send "Note OFF" messages. It could if I wanted it to, but the nature of a drum is such that there is no control over sustain - the drumstick remains physically on the head of the pad for the smallest fraction of a second. So having a Note OFF message is fine if I'm triggering a vibraphone, or a pizz string, or a similar struck instrument, but is not a viable option for anything else (a trumpet, an electric piano, etc.), because the resulting note will sound for about 50 ms, and then cut off. It will write that way, but the note won't sound, which just isn't going to work for me.

So when I'm only sending Note ON messages, the playback of the sounds is fine, but I can't write notes onto the manuscript, because there are no Note OFF's to write the actual notes. What I need, is a way to have Sibelius write incoming Note ON's rather than OFF's. I don't know why it records Note OFF's in the first place - it doesn't seem practical at all. Daniel at Sibelius got back to me and told me that there is no support for this sort of customization and that I'm basically SOL... but perhaps there are smarter and wiser people on these forums with other ideas?


mentalsanityoff
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2010 6:35 pm

Post by mentalsanityoff » Mon Aug 23, 2010 11:49 pm

That's too bad. I already use Logic for all my MIDI processing, as well as my Sibelius playback engine. In fact, this one problem was sort of the last step in months of customizing Sibelius, Logic, and my MIDI studio to become wholly integrated, so it's pretty disappointing that this isn't an option - particularly because it is a mind-numbingly simple request

Exporting .mid files from Logic into Sibelius is the last thing I want to do when I'm writing music - the idea here is to get both programs to work seamlessly and instantaneously. Any workflow that isn't instantaneous is just too slow for creatively writing music in the moment. I wonder if this is a problem with Finale as well? Perhaps I'm just using the wrong software.

mentalsanityoff
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2010 6:35 pm

Post by mentalsanityoff » Tue Aug 24, 2010 12:43 am

For this stuff, I'm really just creating scores. Accurate playback is important, but the end product is essentially sheet music.

I would never use Pro Tools for MIDI processing for a few reasons. Most importantly, I really don't think it can top Logic's MIDI processing environment. The environment is what's really letting me unlock the potential of my MIDI controllers. I use it all the time, and I do some pretty heavy MIDI processing while writing. Not to mention the program is just obscenely expensive - I could pay thousands on a Pro Tools system, and I still won't be able to open OMFs, I'll have a restricted track count, and I won't have the Logic environment. I use Pro Tools all the time for audio, but I just don't see it meeting my MIDI demands, as well as my film demands as an audio post mixer (unlimited tracks and OMF compatibility out of the box)

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