Tempo Map

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Keres
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Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2016 9:41 am
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Tempo Map

Post by Keres »

this rant is somewhere between the feature request/tips... probably belongs here, sorry if not.

Tempo seems to be a problem when importing a MIDI file. The BPM's are close, but not close enough to sequence along side of stems, and not exactly like the original sequence.

so, even when i round the tempos to an even BPM in a tempo map, when i import the MIDI file to sunvox, it never lines up quite right. it is basically running slightly slower so that i have to change about 3/4 of all BPM values up one BPM to make it work.

why would anyone do this? well i have a 42 track multi-track session file mixed in sunvox. I am using 42 separate mono vorbis files to represent each stem and mix them using sunvox effects and tricks. (don't tell my client). for example, i have the pitch follower controlling the echo of each separate background singer, and each track has its own noise-gate... you get the idea. I could slave up sunvox to something like Ardour or Reaper, but then i have to use jack and deal with system latency and only 2 tracks per input... making vorbis files of the stems is way faster. I can go back later and substitute the full wave for each one and track it down. the save file is not as big as you might expect, well under 70mb in most cases, which is totally manageable for a full multi-track session.

it seems to me that getting the exact tempo import thing to work might require a total re-design of the tempo system in sunvox, which would just then make it an obese MIDI editor like Q-bust or Cake-Drop, and that's not what I would ever want to see Sunvox become. I think the solution is an outboard script that would handle this operation by comparing the original MIDI import file to the Sunvox project it is imported into, and then making adjustments to the tempo of the Sunvox file to match. That is basically what i am doing now by hand. Understand that it doesn't have to be EXACTLY like the original tempo map, just close enough so that the metronome can play over the whole thing.

some notes for people who are totaly confused by this rant: this only applies to songs longer than 3 minutes. anything under 3 minutes can be tempo mapped by hand in Sunvox, unless there are a huge number of time changes (death metal or something overly complicated). Stems can be lengthened all the same to an even number of lines by using a sunvox output reference .wav so that they all have the same 7xxxx offset value, enabling one to use a phase slider on a single multisynth to scrub. I would much rather use the built in tool set of Sunvox over any mixing hardware or software ever made. Sure, i can do just about everything in Reaper or Ardour, but for some reason those apps are way more top-heavy. in my latest mix, i have 42 individual tracks as mentioned above, and i am hovering at about 20% CPU on my workstation (2.1 quad core intel from 2014). trying to manage a mess like that in Reaper works, but firstly it sounds more muddy. the Noise Gate plugins available for VST and the like just don't even come close to what you can do with a few amps and compressor modules in sunvox.

you don't need a tempo map to mix a mult-track session in sunvox, but it makes life nice when setting the tempo of effects and LFO's. and obviously mixing in other instruments like synths and percussion is a plus.
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