[sdiy] [Polluriel détecté] Re: Reliable MIDI recording app for PC.. Or my Sonar X3 Pro DAW is not set correctly..

Wed Oct 29 20:23:17 CET 2025

Thanks for your nice support here..

To answer some of your questions:

>> Do the hesitations happen in the same way each time when you start playback?  

Yes. Same way, same places. The lags are recorded on the MIDI track.

>> I don't know what number of samples that translates to because the sample rate is not specified.

>> At 44.1kHz SR, that's 2800 samples which seems like plenty for playback.

44.1Khz

>> I'd watch the Performance tab to see that your disk and/or CPU is not maxxing out.

I have a Intel Core Ultra 7 265K running with 32gb of RAM

So there are no maxing out here..

The thing remains:

Why the Yamaha module behaves correctly on reading the stream
while Sonar recording sometimes fails ?

Hmmm..

De : John Speth <johnspeth at yahoo.com> 
Envoyé : 29 octobre 2025 15:07
À : jpdesroc at oricom.ca
Objet : [Polluriel détecté] Re: [sdiy] Reliable MIDI recording app for PC.. Or my Sonar X3 Pro DAW is not set correctly..
Importance : Faible

Yep, that's a weird one. I use the new free Sonar so I'm familiar with your sequencer (pretty much the same, I think).

It looks like you're filtering MIDI well. It appears like Sonar is somehow loading up your MIDI output stream with useless output data or perhaps the MIDI data is triggering some sort of errant behavior (everybody who uses Cakewalk/Sonar a lot should be accustomed to the occasional failure due to bugs). I can't imagine what could be happening in that regard. If it was me, I'd be eager to see the MIDI data.

You could change your MIDI block size. Large blocks lead to smoother playback but higher latency. Small blocks lead to stuttering playback but lower latency. For debug purposes, use a larger block size. It looks like your block size is configured for 64 msec. I don't know what number of samples that translates to because the sample rate is not specified. At 44.1kHz SR, that's 2800 samples which seems like plenty for playback. I would turn off "Always Echo Current MIDI Track" during playback for testing to eliminate one variable.

Do the hesitations happen in the same way each time when you start playback?  If so, take a look at the event list view of your output tracks. You might see built-in gaps. I'd take a look at the event list regardless of when the hesitations happen. 

If that doesn't reveal anything, try this proposal: Send output to a MIDI monitor, and take a look at the time stamps. You will need to compare the timing you desire (exactly what you see in your event list) with the time stamps your MIDI monitor tells you. I can't advise on which MIDI monitor you should use as I rarely use them. I use one I wrote myself. They are simple to create if you have the right skills and tools.

Also, take a look at loopMIDI by Tobias Erichsen. LoopMIDI is a virtual MIDI port to which you can send MIDI output and then also supply the loopMIDI virtual input port to your MIDI monitor.

I wonder: Does anybody know if there is a good MIDI Spy program that can monitor a MIDI stream without breaking/inserting MIDI connection during normal use?

If everything looks good at this stage, I'd watch the Performance tab to see that your disk and/or CPU is not maxxing out.

Beyond that, I dunno.

Good luck.

JJS

On 10/29/2025 9:37 AM, Jean-Pierre Desrochers via Synth-diy wrote:

Hi lists,

A while ago I built a MIDI piano roll player
that can read old piano rolls and play them through its dedicated MIDI out.

The unit has 2 parallel MIDI outputs. 

The first MIDI output is wired to a small Yamaha P50m MIDI piano module with speakers.

The second MIDI output is sending the same signal
to my Sonar X3 Pro DAW to record all the played MIDI notes
so I can save the song in a .MID file. Fine.

Here is my problem:

When I listen and look at a fast playing piano roll
I can see all the notes on the paper roll are correctly playing
on the Yamaha module with no lags.
That means that my player CPU is doing its job correctly
and the MIDI output is reliable.

But after recording a roll in my DAW and playing it back
using a piano plugin and noticed intermittent lags
recorded in the MIDI track.
I use a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB audio device with MIDI.

It’s connected in a USB3 connector on my PC.

And the settings in my Sonar X3 Pro are set to ASIO USB.

I thought this could be caused by some kind of timing precision
or ‘Snap’ option selected that should not be..

The set timing was at ¼ in my last MIDI recordings

And maybe should be much higher (like 1/32 Triplet) ?

I don’t know what to do with this issue..

I was thinking of using a separate app that would be easy and reliable
outside my Sonar.. But I think it’s not the way I should take.

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