CALLING ALL PROTOOLS GURUS

here is my problem: say i have a 4 bar loop that i want to bring into protools i usually add a bar at the beginning so now its 5 bars and should start recording at bar 2, but it pick up mad early like 1.4.700 then i have to shift shit around so that it wont miss a hit or cut off anything before i duplicate the bars. im using the 1k and wondering is this common and just live with it or is there some setting that i missed that can prevent it from recording so early. its tedious cause if its off just a smidging it clips everytime it starts the loop. im running a PC, 2700 amd, 512mb, and PTLE mbox. its not latency(or is it) because it records early, this is killing me any help would be greatley appreciated. COOCOO i know you know the reason you helped me out before with my sampletank, hit me up or anybody who knows PTLE.

not exactly sure cause when i do track into protools everything is setup already and it starts recording on bar 1. i don't have to add that 1st bar. but normally i track with nuendo.

Nevermind

-former PT comment here-

J WALES wrote:here is my problem: say i have a 4 bar loop that i want to bring into protools i usually add a bar at the beginning so now its 5 bars and should start recording at bar 2, but it pick up mad early like 1.4.700 then i have to shift **** around so that it wont miss a hit or cut off anything before i duplicate the bars. im using the 1k and wondering is this common and just live with it or is there some setting that i missed that can prevent it from recording so early. its tedious cause if its off just a smidging it clips everytime it starts the loop. im running a PC, 2700 amd, 512mb, and PTLE mbox. its not latency(or is it) because it records early, this is killing me any help would be greatley appreciated. COOCOO i know you know the reason you helped me out before with my sampletank, hit me up or anybody who knows PTLE.

just make sure the tempo is right and midi sync record with play on yur mpc...so when the beat starts its locked in a grid...then move around the bars how ever you want...or...maybe your question is about that yur beat starts early..in which case cut it to the point u want it to start.

Power Cord thats just it it starts early and ends perfect so if i just do what you said after 2 or 3 duplications it starts to get worst. i guess i will have to live with it

Is the MPC saying tempo=EXT when you're recording? If not then that's your problem. What are you using to midi sync the MPC to PT?

After a bit of screwing around I got PT to work with my MPC, but it won't work straight out of the box. Also, which version of PT are you using?

the version iof ptle is 6.1 or .4 on the mbox and it sez EXT in the tempo so hell i dont know whats up. its not preventing me from working but its slowin me down.

i think mine does this too.. say im recording a drum loop into pro tools, the kick will miss the first part. i always assumed it was down to the swing on the mpc, but i dont know. i'll tell you how i get around it though...

say you have an 8 bar loop to record.. instead of highlighting from bar 1-9 highlight from bar 8-18... that way you have a bit of 'overhang' and can get the whole of the kick (or whatever it is).. then just delete the extra bars but keep your kick... then you can copy the first part which happens before the bar and paste it onto the end of your loop. that way when you loop it it wont clip..

its hard to explain here, maybe i can get you some screenshots

Are you using MPC OS 1.07? Apparently there were some midi sync issues fixed in it, maybe that's what's up with yours?

If you are using a 4 bar loop only, you might want to not bother with midi sync. Also, Pro tools cannot use the timing of the MPC1k, it must use pro tools midi timing as the master, which is not nearly as good as the 1k (or at least sucks for controlling it). Just record the loop in pro tools like any other audio, then in pro tools you have two options for what to do.

1. Set the tempo in pro tools to the tempo of what the loop was in the mpc, cut it at the zero-crossing, put Pt into grid mode, put the loop at the beginning of the grid and chop the end at 4.
(this gets pretty good results, most can't tell any timing discrepancies.)

2. Cut the sample at the beginning and end to where it loops exactly during playback when selected (regardless of pro tools tempo). Then make sure the loop is selected, go to the edit menu and hit identify beat (fill in the settings to match your loop size). This will calculate the tempo of the session to your exact loop tempo. Then just put it in grid and duplicate, edit, or whatever to your loop.
(this is more time consuming, but much more precise).

*to even out the tempo while staying precise (method 2), select the loop after identifying the beat and in audiosuite use time compress/expand to slightly change the loop to the nearest even tempo. Also, change the Pro tools tempo to what the sample was changed to.

thanks Bigman thats what i have been doing, i just thought it was something i missed

this is why i love cubase, i havent had ONE midi issue yet, i even start at bar 1, dont have to play any "catch up"

I second that....press record on cubase and then play and it records a perfect loop everytime from the mpc.

Yeah, the LE version of Pro Tools is not very good at midi, among other things, it's screwed people are stuck with the Digi interfaces or M-audio stuff to run Pro Tools software affordably. I prefer the Ableton software nowadays for the terrific control of loops and audio samples no matter if they are from a midi sync'd source, or from anywhere else.

From what i've heard though the new Cubase has similar control of loops and audio stretching but I haven't used it yet. And i'm definate about the better latency, conversion and clock you can get with another interface then digi's le line. So for those who have the Cubase setup with a decent interface, how is your system working for you (editing, stability, timing, conversion, etc...)?

Are you sequencing any other gear(keyboards, etc)? If you are this will cause a greater delay then if you were just syncing up the MPC. I dont have any issues when recording into PT myself but I only use it for drums so.....

Go into Setups> playback engine> make the HW Buffer 128, CPU 85% and DAE playback buffer Level 1.

Setup everything else as usual, midi beat clock to receive on the MPC, MMC to receive, etc. Set the countoff to 1 bar in PT

this is how I have everything setup and I dont have any sync issues