MIDI notes not starting at grid (SOLVED)

[swampsong]

Can someone please help me sort out this ANNOYING SH@*

Midi notes not starting at grid. When I draw a note, 0.001 seconds of a gap is left between the note and the grid.

Completely unable to drag note to grid. No matter what I do, its stuck offset from the grid.

Is this a bug

Ultimate frustration

https://youtu.be/Qr9d_cyDW8E

[juliansader]

I think that you have run into the quantize-to-tick phenomenon, which some users find quite surprising:

REAPER uses the standard specifications for MIDI files (with only a few exceptions) to represent the data in each individual MIDI item. According to these specifications, MIDI events can only fall on discrete tick positions, counted from the start of the item. By default, REAPER uses a PPQ of 960 ticks per quarter note.

So if your item does not start on a grid position, the ticks *inside* the item may not correspond to the project's grid. It is safest to always ensure that all MIDI items start on a grid position.

More info in Comprehensive ELP MIDI rounding problem thread (FIXED) and Error MIDI editor in Reaper (FIXED).

Also, beware of stretched MIDI items, as the stretching may de-sync the MIDI item's internal ticks/grid vs the project grid: Cut/Paste in ME, can someone explain this?

[Dstruct]

Preferences/Media/MIDI: Ticks per quarter note


Try with higher value ("15360" for example).

[swampsong]

Thanks guys...zzz..

[Dstruct]

Snap settings ...

[juliansader]

The best way to avoid these issues is to make sure that every MIDI item's *source* starts on the grid (even a very fine grid like 1/128).

Even if you increase the PPQ, the notes will remain ever so slightly off-grid unless you happen to select a PPQ that aligns precisely with the item's own off-grid start position.

NB: To complicate matters, there may a difference between
1) the start position of the MIDI source, and
2) the start position of the MIDI item in the arrange view, which is the visible part of the MIDI source.

When you drag a MIDI item's border, you change the visible part, but not necessarily the source position.

To correct an existing MIDI item and its source simultaneously, you can split the item at the nearest grid, after unlooping/unpooling the item and enabling Preferences -> "Allow trim of MIDI items when splitting").

[swampsong]

Solution is to never stretch midi items