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Xequence 2 and AUM playback issue
Been scratching my head about this one .. wondering if anyone has any insight here, maybe @SevenSystems or otherwise …
I included a video to illustrate the problem, but it’s basically this:
I have 3 different sequences in X2, all going to the same instance of Nambu synth in AUM on channel 1. When I play the sequences together, the first 2 sequences play as they should but the third sequence plays out of whack.
Only through trial and error, I realized I can get the 3 sequences to play properly together but only after stopping playback, changing the beat unit in Xequence from 1/4 to 1/16, restarting playback again and then changing the beat unit to 1/8 and then back to 1/4 (where I want it to be).
After doing this, the three sequences usually play nicely together, as the video shows, until I push stop and play again - then I’m back to square one where sequence 3 isn’t playing right. The end of the video is how I want the 3 sequences to always be playing together from the get go..
Does anyone know why this is happening? Or, more importantly, how to stop it from happening?
Comments
To me it looks like the sequences are never played back as they seem in the clips, neither in the first nor second version. By changing the "Beat Unit" setting, you're merely changing the playback tempo (you can see this immediately by the different speed the playhead moves).
I'm assuming this is either a bug in Nambu, or the patch you're using in Nambu has an active arpeggiator, or the notes in the 3 tracks overlap and thus the behavior of the receiving app is not well-defined.
Thanks for the response. I do have an arpeggiator running in Nambu .. but when I run the exact same Nambu patch in a step sequencer with all the same notes, durations, sequences and timing, I have no playback issues, they only come up in Xequence 2. Ideally, I’d like the project to be in Xequence, rather than the step sequencer because it gives me far more control and, frankly, I just prefer to work, Xequence.
Is the step sequencer running as an AUv3 inside AUM? Then this might be the reason -- you will get more precise timing that way. This is a limitation in AUM: It currently cannot use the precise timestamp information from external MIDI apps (in this case, Xequence), only from internal (AUv3) ones. So the reason you're getting different notes etc. is probably because of tiny timing differences between your step sequencer and Xequence.
I'd love to investigate this myself but currently stuck in a partly burnt-down holiday home in Spain. But likely be back up and running on Saturday 😊
Oh whoa!
Yeah Auv3 step sequencer (mKer) in AUM
But maaaan .. take care of your situation there .. my midi issues can certainly wait
Hey @SevenSystems .. hope you got your fire situation sorted!
Just wondering if you had anything else to say about the above issue or if you’ve had a chance to investigate it further.. no worries if not, just thought I’d ask
Thanks!
Hey... sorry for the delay! Yes, the problem is as described, it's due to the inaccurate timing when using a plug-in in AUM. If Nambu can be run standalone, it would be worth (just out of curiosity) trying to run it standalone with the same patch and then selecting it directly as the MIDI destination in Xequence. (although an additional complication is that many apps also do not implement receiving timestamps correctly in their standalone (CoreMIDI) implementation. Worth a try anyway!
@SevenSystems Thanks for the response and suggestions .. I’ll play around and see what I can learn. Thanks also for such a great app .. Xequence is my go-to sequencer in iOS .. psyched to see where it goes from here.
Thank you, appreciate the feedback and let me know if there's any other issues 😊