Recording

How to record phrases and parameters and live-detect incoming chords

Video Tutorial

Converts captured MIDI input into a Phrase or individual Parameters. MIDI input is captured in the Take parameter and subsequently Figure Recognition is run to create a Figure.

Workflow

  1. Select Container and Instrument of the phrase to record into.
  2. Select a starting position or span, if the recording shall be limited to a particular area (more on this below).
  3. Press and perform whatever you want to record on your external MIDI keyboard.
  4. Press . Synfire converts the Take into a Figure, based on the last used settings for figure recognition.
  5. Press Figure Recognition Settings to return to the Take, if you want to try the process with different settings until you are satisfied with the result.

Selective Recording

You can limit a recording to a particular span inside the phrase. If prior to recording a starting position is selected with zero duration (vertical line only), the recording will replace everything thereafter. If a span with some duration is selected, content outside the selection is protected from being overwritten.

This way you can work your way through a longer phrase incrementally, one short take at a time.

Note: Keep in mind that only the most recent recording is kept in the Take parameter. If you record multiple times, previous takes will be replaced.

Latency

Synfire compensates for MIDI latencies if you enable Compensate Latency During Recording in Playback > Audio/MIDI Setup > Inputs and use the Audio Engine for MIDI input.

Latency compensation is based on timestamps in the MIDI messages being received. Only the Audio Engine is capable of passing MIDI timestamps to Synfire.