[Solved] REA envelope being erratically reshaped

raftsp · 08-16-2010, 06:36 AM

I work with REAControlMidi to control the midi volume and panning. Suddenly I heard some unexpected volume peaks and I noticed that some envelope points of some tracks had been moved. At first I thought I had drawn them accidentally and so I corrected them, but after a while the same thing happened. Now I am pretty sure that my own actions have nothing to do with this behavior. The strange thing is that it happens in certain tracks and in certain sections only (I can't figure out the criteria)!

One certainty I now have, is that when I stop the playback some envelope points on some tracks are redrawn erratically! This happens exactly at the moment I click on the Stop button or hit the spacebar!

Another certainty is that the envelope changes further when I move the mouse pointer inside the lane of the envelope in question, after I have stopped playback. I do not mean holding down the mouse button in order to deliberately draw or reshape the envelope. I mean all mouse buttons up (just entering the envelope lane in question, in which case a new point is added at the point where the vertical bar is)!

A third certainty is that the same thing happens when I click on the timeline atop of all the tracks (not on the specific envelope). As I click along the timeline new points of the same envelope are created!

I have attached 3 pictures demonstrating this. The first shows the envelope before I start the playback. The second one shows the erratic alteration of the same envelope after I hit the spacebar to stop playback (no other action). The third one shows what happens after the mouse pointer enters the lane.

Also please note that this happens on certain section only. In order to reproduce the alteration I have to let the piece past a point in time. It seems then, as if the envelope in question "reads" data from other envelopes and reshapes itself, but I can't be sure of that and I don't have the slightest idea about which tracks it borrows data from (if this is the case) and why this happens on certain tracks.

Finally, I noticed this (bug?) after I installed the last version of Reaper (3.66 X64). Before that I used to work with 3.55 X64. I can't remember if this happened there too. I doubt it.
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windows 7 ultimate, Reaper 3.66 X64.

gofer · 08-16-2010, 06:44 AM

Can you please attach the problem project to a post?
The most telling would be two versions, one right before and one directly after the bug has been triggered.

Is the second thing (mouse drawing without mouse buttons down) only happening when the first (reshape after playback stop) has happened or are you seeing both independently?

Eden-X · 08-16-2010, 06:49 AM

Hello Cuckos team...

I have the same issue, currently using the MacOSx 64bit version in Beta stage.

I have not tried on my PC yet.

Do you still need a project file?

All the best,

raftsp · 08-16-2010, 08:04 AM

The second happens only after the first has happened.
The third (clicking on the time line) happens independently.

How do you want me to send you the 2 projects? Each one is 2236KB. I have RARed them down to one 690KB file but it says it is an invalid file.

Ollie · 08-16-2010, 08:36 AM

Upload it to www.stashbox.org (or any other filehoster) and post the link here, please.

raftsp · 08-16-2010, 09:00 AM

https://stash.reaper.fm/oldsb/977687/buggy.rar

gofer · 08-16-2010, 09:39 AM

I don't see quite the same as you when I playback the project "before". The volume fader on track 32 jumps around, but no points are erratically created here yet. I also couldn't reproduce the mouse issues.

The main reason why your MIDI volume automation on track 32 "Violas 2" goes weird is that it receives the MIDI volume automation from track 33 "Solo Cello". Is there a reason why "Violas 2" is a folder with "Solo Cello" in it? If not, you should change that.
Folder children will send all of their signal to the parent folder track. And because you automate a plugin parameter that is built to send MIDI CC7 on both of the tracks the MIDI data is fighting against each other, both trying to set the same parameter to different values.

If you need that folder structure, you should set ReaControlMIDI to affect different MIDI channels (set the MIDI channel to something different than "all" and to different channels in both instances).

Btw, having ReaControlMIDI's channel field set to "all" means sending each value 16 times, one message for each channel.

raftsp · 08-16-2010, 11:35 AM

Thanks very much Gofer!

Yes, your suggestion solved the problem.

That folder was created accidentally and I hadn't noticed it until you pointed it out. This was obviously the cause of that issue.

What I don't understand is that since you had the same project as I did (the one with the folder) why you couldn't reproduce the same behavior, unless you tried after removing the folder.

You were also right with ReaControlMidi sending on all channels. This is my first Reaper project and I am not familiar with Reaper's approach yet. So, maybe I copied all the FXs from the first track to the others and then didn't bother to look at each track's settings to make adjustments.

Btw, I have one more elementary question, if I may (in case I need to shorten a project to post it again or for any other reason). Is there a simple method to do the job? Say I have a song 400 measures long and I want to keep only the first 20 of them and get rid of the rest. What is the simplest method to do that? A dialog entering measure numbers or time maybe? I am trying to find the answer in the User Guide but I can't.

Thank you again.

Ollie · 08-16-2010, 03:39 PM

Make a time selection over the part you want to keep, then right-click the time ruler (or empty space on a track) and select "Crop project to selection".

raftsp · 08-17-2010, 05:15 AM

Fine. Thank you Ollie.