How to quantize in LPX

Hi

I have this situation:

A keyboard track with SmartQuantize set to Off. Now I want to Quantize one of the midi events, so I select it and hit Q, and the midi event is NOT quantised to the grid but moved a little bit closer.!

I wanted to attach a GIFF but it is not allowed?

Logic Version ?

LPX 10.5.1 on Catalina 10.15.7.

Works fine here.

 

 

Q Strength and Swing are set properly ?

 

Attach a GIF (not GIFF)

Well not here:

Well the difference between your gif and mine is that you have Time Quantize to Classic I have it set to Smart even though the value in the track inspector is set to OFF!

Does that mean, that if you want to use the SmartQuantize feature, you are NOT able to "hard" quantize any MIDI event?

Well, first you say you're not using Smart Quantize, now you are. re' Smart Quantize, I quote the manual:

 

Classic Quantize quantizes MIDI notes to the nearest beat, using the current Quantize setting and any advanced Quantize parameters.

 

Smart Quantize works similarly to Flex Time for audio regions. MIDI events near grid positions (defined by the Q-Range setting) are analyzed. Based on a combined weighting of proximity to the target grid position and velocity, a reference point (”center of gravity”) is set for each group, and moved to the target grid positions. All (nearby) MIDI events move proportionally to the reference point. How far each event moves is determined by the Q-Strength setting. Unlike Classic Quantize, all MIDI events keep their original order, similar to an audio region edited using Flex Time. This includes not only notes but all MIDI data types (such as Pitch Bend and Control Change events).

So if you want to hard quantize, you use Classic mode.

 

Hitting Q on an isolated note in Smart Mode makes it fit properly between the surrounding notes. If these were late, ahem, laid back, the quantized note will also be late, and match the coolness of the other notes.

I said I used SmartQuantize set to OFF. I assumed that this meant OFF, well that's wrong.

So I'm correct in understanding that it's not possible to combine SmartQuantize and hard quantize specific midi events?

If I need a MIDI event to be precisely on the beat, I will have to use the Classic mode. Quite a limitation, because sometimes I just need a part to be fully in sync with another ON the beat.

You are aware that the Smart/Classic selection is Region-specific, as are all other parameters in the Region Inspector, right ?

Yes I know that. The SmartQuantize feature is very good, and it's one of many features in Logic, that from time to time make me leave Cubase and give Logic a try again. But it is kind of limiting the use, if I'm not allowed to hard Q 1 single event if I need this. I would have to create a separat part with just this one event to be able to hard Q it, right?

If I need a MIDI event to be precisely on the beat, I will have to use the Classic mode. Quite a limitation, because sometimes I just need a part to be fully in sync with another ON the beat.

 

I don't understand why this is a limitation? You either generally want parts quantised tightly, or not - you generally don't want parts both tight *and* loose at the same time.

 

Of course, you can edit the timing of individual events to taste, but they are all going through the playback quantising you have set (which is a region parameter). If you have a section you want tight, and a later section you want loose, and you want to use realtime playback quantisation modes, then you can just split the region in two and use different quantise settings for each. If you want to use tight quantising, but then freely loosely quantise some events, you can "print" in the quantisation in one mode, and then use the other mode to shift any extra events around. And remember the different between quantising at the event level, versus the playback region parameter quantising that goes on too, and these are different things. And if you want to use a loose mode but shift notes to various hard beat positions, there are many tools to change event position - that quantise parameter is just one of them, but if you're already using a "loose" quantise mode, it can't be both loose and strict at the same time.

 

Really, there is as much flexibility as you want - I don't see these things as limitations, just different tools that you learn how to use appropriately.

Well every time I need to do something extra to accomplish what I want, it feels like a limitation.

I create backing tracks for musicals for a living, and have been doing it for 5 years now. Some sections in a track MUST start right on the beat, because otherwise the playback engine we use for live performance will not play it right. So in Cubase I play the part hit Q once - using iterative quantize, that moves the "wrong" notes towards the grid with an amount related to how much "off" they are. So every time I hit Q, the track will move more towards the "right" position. If I need Cubase to place the MIDI exactly on the spot for the start of a section I just use hard quantize.

That's why I'm asking.

I'm always on my way back to Logic, not because Cubase can't do the things I need, but because it sometimes involves far too many steps.

I said I used SmartQuantize set to OFF. I assumed that this meant OFF, well that's wrong.

Indeed, that's wrong, even if I agree with you that this behavior isn't exactly super user-intuitive. However you did not "use SmartQuantize set to OFF" as you believed. Instead, here's what happened:

1. In your Region inspector ou have set the selected region to Smart Quantize mode (instead of the default Classic Quantize mode).

2. In your Region inspector, you left the Smart Quantize value set to the default "Off" value.

3. In your Piano Roll inspector, you've changed the Smart Quantize to the "1/16 Note" value (see screenshot below).

 

That means you're not Smart Quantizing at the region level, but you're Smart Quantizing in the Piano Roll at the note level.

 

 

What I just described is the way Logic works, it doesn't necessarily mean that's the only behavior that would make sense — it's just the way it works. Because the Smart/Classic mode choice is done at the region level, if you want different quantize modes (Smart/Classic) in different parts of the track, you'll have to cut those different parts into different regions and choose the appropriate mode for each.