kizoxef Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 So I have a quick question.. I recently got a copy of Pro Tools LE from the interface I bought and I've been wanting to experiment with it. However I quickly saw that MIDI functionality was really crappy on Pro Tools. What I'm trying to do now is sequence my midi in Cubase, export each individual track as audio, and import into Pro Tools to mix. I am using Kontakt 4 right now with the midi tracks. Here are my questions: 1. Since I'm mixing in Pro Tools, I should turn off reverb and any other effects preset in the Kontakt 4 instruments right? I should then apply reverb/effects on the audio track later in Pro Tools? 2. Before I export the individual audio tracks from Cubase, should I change the levels to get the loudest waveform possible without clipping? I'm not sure about this at all.. Should I maximize the volume in Kontakt (while in Cubase) and then mix in Pro Tools, or should I increase the levels of default volume Kontakt audio tracks (generated in Cubase) while in Pro Tools? I might have some big misconceptions here.. so I'd really appreciate it if someone could help educate me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidd Cabbage Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 1) Yeah, you should apply the reverb in Pro Tools, so that you can always go in and change it without having to go all the way back to Kontakt and re-export everything. 2) It doesn't matter that much, especially if you're mixing at 24-bit. If I were you, I'd probably give myself a little headroom on each track, just to be safe - normalize the wav files at -6db. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozovian Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 2. Before I export the individual audio tracks from Cubase, should I change the levels to get the loudest waveform possible without clipping? I'm not sure about this at all.. Should I maximize the volume in Kontakt (while in Cubase) and then mix in Pro Tools, or should I increase the levels of default volume Kontakt audio tracks (generated in Cubase) while in Pro Tools?I might have some big misconceptions here.. so I'd really appreciate it if someone could help educate me Depends on what you mean by maximize. Of course you shouldn't let it clip, and as long as you're using high-quality files, you can get away with using fairly low levels on the tracks. Like Ibby already said. Maximizing is sometimes used to refer to all kinds of loudness-boosting techniques. You'd want the tracks out of Cubase as clean as possible, not with a plethora of harmonic enhancing and rms maximizing and stuff. Which I think you know, just making sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicThHedgog Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 These guys covered all that stuff! *but midi mixing is not bad in protools imo* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidd Cabbage Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I think it's pretty much universal consensus that Pro Tools is an amazing program for recording live audio and mixing, but its MIDI programming sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicThHedgog Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 I think it's pretty much universal consensus that Pro Tools is an amazing program for recording live audio and mixing, but its MIDI programming sucks. true dat, but i feel the midi function is around the same with ableton, but what are the down falls of the midi system in protools? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidd Cabbage Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 I haven't really used it enough to say, hence why I referred to the "general consensus," as opposed to my own experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moseph Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 When I used Pro Tools five-ish years ago, the MIDI editing issues were things like no dedicated piano roll view (in-track editing only), a lack of ways to filter MIDI data while editing, awkward editing tools, and so forth. I don't know if the MIDI editing has been improved since then or not, but at the time Pro Tools would have been pretty painful (for me, at least) to do complicated MIDI projects with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 As far as MIDI writing in a piano roll goes, Cubase also isn't so great. The fastest piano roll that takes the least getting acquainted to is FL Studio. However, since that's not an option, I would suggest writing your MIDI tracks in Cubase and exporting THE MIDI and import into Pro Tools. Load up Kontakt 4 and channel the MIDI accordingly in Pro Tools. That way it won't be a finite render and you can edit realtime without having to go back into Cubase and rerender every change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidd Cabbage Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 The MIDI editor in Cubase is perfectly fine - I dunno what you're talking about. The only program I've used that has MIDI programming that's exceptionally better than the rest is Digital Performer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 The MIDI editor in Cubase is perfectly fine - I dunno what you're talking about. The only program I've used that has MIDI programming that's exceptionally better than the rest is Digital Performer. I disagree, but I'm not gonna argue. All I can say is that I own Cubase LE 4 and if I try to write something it takes exceptionally longer than in FL Studio. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicThHedgog Posted February 7, 2011 Share Posted February 7, 2011 Ableton<All. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabeel Ansari Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Ableton<All. ... off topic? I was talking about FL Studio's MIDI editor because it pertains to the topic at hand (that is, an alternative to sequencing MIDI in Pro Tools). I was explaining that Cubase isn't the best on the block for MIDI editing and that I prefer FL studio's piano roll. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishy Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 I just want to point out that pro tools is not really anything special for mixing. It's strengths are tracking live audio, and then editing that audio. It's plugins are pretty good I suppose, but I really see no reason to move it over from cubase for mixing. I use it pretty much daily at work, but I mix just as well in Logic, or on a mixing console. It's way more to do with the plug-ins and outboard-hardware you have then the fact it's in pro tools. If you wanted to do time-manipulation, or drum fixing also, then pro tools wins hands down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avaris Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 I just want to point out that pro tools is not really anything special for mixing.It's strengths are tracking live audio, and then editing that audio. It's plugins are pretty good I suppose, but I really see no reason to move it over from cubase for mixing. I use it pretty much daily at work, but I mix just as well in Logic, or on a mixing console. It's way more to do with the plug-ins and outboard-hardware you have then the fact it's in pro tools. If you wanted to do time-manipulation, or drum fixing also, then pro tools wins hands down. agreed! Also having to bounce down channels and work between two different programs at once can severely slow down your work rate. Anything that hinders your musical process cannot be a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanthos Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 agreed!Also having to bounce down channels and work between two different programs at once can severely slow down your work rate. Anything that hinders your musical process cannot be a good thing. @the OP: The only way you'd even want to consider this, in my opinion, is if both your virtual instruments and your audio tracks and audio effects use up most/all of your processor and RAM. For example, if you're writing orchestral music on only one computer and are doing a lot with the mixing, your sample sets might be too big or use too much CPU to really load any effects, so you might export the individual audio tracks into a mixing template, and at that point, doing the mixing in another program wouldn't be that bad. But if you don't need to do that, it's probably simplest to keep everything in one project and in one DAW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kizoxef Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 Thanks for all the input guys! Yea I guess I just wanted to try out mixing in Pro Tools for the plugins (I haven't actually tried yet). It does seem like quite a hassle having to export/import again every time I want to make an edit.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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