Quantize option in latest test build

Diamond · December 12, 2012, 11:03:51

I know it hasn't been officially announced or released, but I've been playing around with the new quantize option in the latest test build and I just have to say wow is that a great feature. I've been hoping for something like this for a long time.
Great work Saga Musix.

Saga Musix · December 12, 2012, 21:12:49

Quote from: Diamond on December 12, 2012, 11:03:51
I've been hoping for something like this for a long time.

Hopes have a higher chance of becoming true when writing them up on the issue tracker.

I'm not sure why I've postponed this feature for so long, it essentially boils down to ten lines of code (plus some supportive structures around it).

Rakib · December 13, 2012, 07:40:24

Can someone tell me how this actually works?

Diamond · December 13, 2012, 10:37:13

Quote from: Rakib on December 13, 2012, 07:40:24
Can someone tell me how this actually works?

Correct me if I'm wrong Saga Musix, but basically you select "Quantize Settings" from the pattern context menu and then choose a number of rows which controls the sensitivity of the quantization. I.E. If you select 1 row, while you're recording live notes will be quantized to the nearest row at the instant they are played. Preferably you should use ASIO drivers for this to work very accurately.

Diamond · December 13, 2012, 11:18:06

The only minor issue that I've noticed so far is that while a song/pattern is in loop mode, any notes played on the first row of the first pattern in the order list or the currently looping pattern are not captured/quantized.

Saga Musix · December 13, 2012, 18:53:33

Quote from: Rakib on December 13, 2012, 07:40:24
Can someone tell me how this actually works?

Basically what Diamond said. A quantize amount of n will quantize notes to rows that are multiples of n. If n is 1, you get a much better recording than with no quantization because the current sub-tick of a row is taken into account as well. So if you enter a note on tick 4 of 6, it will be shifted to the next row.

Diamond · December 14, 2012, 16:04:21

Hey Saga Musix,
I was wondering if you could add an option to have quantize enabled by default since I can't imagine when I wouldn't use this feature now that it exists.

Saga Musix · December 14, 2012, 23:02:57

I've been thinking about before. There have been other thoughts as well, like binding quantize to the "row spacing" value, but that could lead to some confusion and it might not work very well.

Diamond · December 15, 2012, 12:35:44

Well at least for me simply having it's last state saved in the INI file would be enough.

sso · December 20, 2012, 19:03:47

wait?

i allready put the notes, Exactly where i want them, beat or othervise. (using sdx if i need more precision.)

also when im playing live, unless the puter is stuttering because of too many effects, the notes land exactly where i want them, if not i can easily adjust it by ear.

why would i want this effect?

Diamond · December 20, 2012, 19:35:16

Quote from: sso on December 20, 2012, 19:03:47
why would i want this effect?

That argument could be made for almost any feature. I know some users prefer not to use VSTs. Does that mean we shouldn't have VST support? I personally am not the greatest musician and my timing isn't perfect so I find it extremely useful. Just because a particular feature is not useful to you, does not mean that it won't be to anyone else.

Saga Musix · December 20, 2012, 20:59:02

Quote from: sso on December 20, 2012, 19:03:47
also when im playing live, unless the puter is stuttering because of too many effects, the notes land exactly where i want them

Then you must be a very gifted composer and be lucky with the latencies you got. I for one (like most other people on this world) am not a robot who can record perfect 8th notes into the pattern from my MIDI hardware.

Quoteif not i can easily adjust it by ear.

This feature is there to exactly get rid of this extra step. Usually I'd have to move maybe half of the recorded notes, now I just move maybe one or two notes for a complete 1-2 patterns recording.

sso · December 20, 2012, 21:53:58

oh you get me wrong, i have no wish to eliminate this feature.

more curious.

dunno if im a very gifted composer, ive just been using trackers since the early 90´s, first tracker i used was the Tetra tracker or whatever it was called.

and i often like to just roll the song im working on, without any main melody and just play and play.

plus ive been working out, "where the notes" should be,programming them in , getting a feel for the "space" we use, for rather long time, i think its about 20 years all together, plus i studied the violin before that.

was hammering on a keyboard when i was 6 or even younger.

its been mostly my main hobby, or only hobby since then, really..

but im certainly going to try this feature, after i install the new version, why not, maybe it does what i do, much better.

havent tried quantizing yet.

Saga Musix · December 20, 2012, 22:16:06

Quoteplus ive been working out, "where the notes" should be,programming them in , getting a feel for the "space" we use, for rather long time, i think its about 20 years all together, plus i studied the violin before that.

Well, it's not about programming patterns, since quantize won't do anything there. It's just about improving the timing of recorded notes (taking into account if you hit a note too early or too late), kind of like autotune in the time domain instead of frequency domain.

Harbinger · December 21, 2012, 14:26:56

I know it's only experimental, but it seems the Quantize function would better be served as an icon in the Patterns tab, perhaps next to the Record Enable icon (and yes, i know of the programming nightmare this would entail for such a small feature.)