First MIDI note sticks unless I start playback before note

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Level 1

8 points

First MIDI note sticks unless I start playback before note

The subject pretty much sums it up. I have two MIDI tracks setup in Logic. The first is routed to ARIA player v.1.62. I added the second MIDI track and routed it to the first track in the Environment, so that I have only one instance of ARIA. The first track is using MIDI channel 'All', while the second track is using MIDI channel 1.

This is the first time I'm seriously exploring the use of MIDI plug-ins in Logic, and there has been a fair amount of wonkiness that I'm discovering. The most egregious thing though is stuck MIDI notes. It always seems to happen when I start playback from the beginning of the MIDI performance in track 2. In order to avoid this, I have had to add silence at the beginning of my project and start playback before the first note. What's puzzling is that it only happens in track 2 and not in track 1. Is this a routing issue? Any pearls of wisdom? Is this perhaps specific to ARIA, in which case, is there a way to look out for non-Logic-friendly plug-ins.

I intermittently have gotten random stuck notes elsewhere, but I'd like to just address this issue first. Thanks for your help in advance.

Memory: 8G

Logic Pro X 10.0.6

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), null

Posted on Mar 1, 2015 11:23 PM

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Answer 1

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Pancenter

Level 6

14,644 points

Mar 2, 2015 1:43 AM in response to Bioloominary

Isn't the Aria Player Multi Timbrel? You should not have the output of one track set to all, set it to a separate channel.

Part of the problem, and it is indeed wonkiness, is the way Logic buffers data. Logic's noted efficiency is partly due to the fact that when the sequencer is stopped the buffers aren't active, the sequencer itself is not active, Logic releases all plugins so that CPU drops to near zero, the problem, as you've found out is when starting from a dead stop at bar one, the buffers have to fill/activate and they can't do it in time or without a missed first note or stuck note... it depends on what instrument/plugins you're using. Generally the advice is to start on bar two.

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Answer 2

Bioloominary Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 2, 2015 11:23 PM in response to Pancenter

Thanks for the input, Pancenter. Aria is multi-timbral. Having the first track set to All seemed to make sense at the time, since it was the track connected to Aria and since I'm chaining it to other MIDI tracks that will need to be sending MIDI data to the different channels of that Aria instrument. I will experiment tomorrow with your suggestion to see if switching to a specific channel makes a difference.

I really appreciate your insight re: Logic's handling of buffering. It seems like a pretty gratuitous, unworkflow-y quirk, but I guess starting from bar two is an easy solution. So far I have not encountered this with Kontakt or some of the other plug-ins I've been using, so maybe the problem is more with Logic not working well with Aria Player.

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Answer 3

Bioloominary Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 7, 2015 3:55 PM in response to Pancenter

Interestly enough, when I assign track #2 it's own Aria instrument, the issue disappears. Slightly annoying that I need multiple instances of Aria, but slightly less disruptive to work flow to be able to move tracks to the very beginning.

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Answer 4

Pancenter

Level 6

14,644 points

Mar 7, 2015 4:02 PM in response to Bioloominary

Yeah, in some ways that makes sense. Some multi-timbrel instruments are slow to respond or require more buffering the more channels are used. Good solution though.

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