Incorrect Importation Of Note Values In Notion (FIXED)

[michael diemer]

Not sure if this is a bug or just something the devs haven't encountered before, but I'll post it here.

I exported an orchestral piece as a midi 1 file, and then imported that into Notion, a dedicated notation software program. Things were cool until about bar 173, when the meter switched from 2/4 to 7/4. Then, what were 1/4 notes in Reaper became 1/2 notes in Notion. They ran of course many measures ahead into other material, so it was quite a mess, which I am still cleaning up.

I have successfully imported sonar projects into Notion before, so this appears to be a Reaper problem. I have no idea what it might be, but one thing I wonder about is, the way Reaper quantifies note values. It took me a while to figure that out, as it was different from the way Sonar does it. This could be something to look at.

Here's an example of how sonar and reaper quantify a 1/4 note, as seen in the event lists of each program:

At bar 83 of my piece, Sonar quantifies a 1/4 note value as: 83.01.000.

Reaper quantifies the same 1/4 note value as: 83.1.00.

These values are taken directly from the event lists of both programs (I imported the piece from Sonar into Reaper, so I can look at both versions of it and compare). As you can see, the values are different.

Not sure if this the problem, but it's something that you might want to consider.

[pcartwright]

Not really an answer to your question, but have you tried importing/ exporting with MusicXML instead?

Edit: Also, what happens when you try to import MIDI from Reaper to Sonar?

[michael diemer]

Originally Posted by pcartwright

Not really an answer to your question, but have you tried importing/ exporting with MusicXML instead?

Edit: Also, what happens when you try to import MIDI from Reaper to Sonar?

PC, I did not know you could export in XML.

When I import to Sonar, I just get an audio track and one midi track, instead of the 20 or so that are there.

[schwa]

If you'd like to post the .mid file here or email it to support at cockos, we can determine whether the error is in REAPER's export or Notion's import.

[schwa]

And yes, if you have the notation editor open in REAPER, under the file menu you can export as MusicXML. Be aware that MusicXML export/import is much less well-defined than MIDI in general though, so the odds of things looking unexpected after importing into a another application are higher.

[michael diemer]

Originally Posted by schwa

If you'd like to post the .mid file here or email it to support at cockos, we can determine whether the error is in REAPER's export or Notion's import.

Thanks, will email it support.

Not sure exactly how to do this. I used the "Contact Reaper" feature and attached a link to the file on box.com.

[michael diemer]

Originally Posted by schwa

And yes, if you have the notation editor open in REAPER, under the file menu you can export as MusicXML. Be aware that MusicXML export/import is much less well-defined than MIDI in general though, so the odds of things looking unexpected after importing into a another application are higher.

I just figured that out. I'll try it and see what happens.

[michael diemer]

Well, oddly enough perhaps, the XML export into Notion does not seem to have the problem. I say seem, because the piece is 16 minutes long, full orchestra, but so far it looks right. At the 7/4 section, the note values are correct. So, XML may be the better choice here. I'll start working on this new import in Notion and see how it goes.

[schwa]

Originally Posted by michael diemer

Thanks, will email it support.

Not sure exactly how to do this. I used the "Contact Reaper" feature and attached a link to the file on box.com.

I'm not sure what the "contact REAPER" feature is... I was referring to literally emailing it to support at cockos dot com.

[schwa]

... we got the link but apparently box.com doesn't support RPP files, I don't see how to just download the thing.

Could you just zip and email it directly?

[michael diemer]

I just emailed it, apparently while you were typing your last note.

I'll see if I can do the zip thing.

[schwa]

Received, thanks. Can you point me to where exactly in the export it starts having problems in Notion? At bar 173 I see a time signature change from 4/4 to 9/8, but as far as I can tell this part of the score imports properly into Sibelius, at least.

[michael diemer]

It's actually at bar 87, when the meter switches from 2/4 to 7/4. In the Notion import, it's at 173, but that's because of the problem in question, incorrect note values, causing phrases to extend much farther than they should. Sorry!

[schwa]

OK. This was an obscure bug, but it was in fact a bug. As far as I can tell, it only affects Notion; the exported MIDI imports correctly into all other applications I tried, including Sibelius. But in Notion the import is incorrect from the first bar; the MIDI ppq is read as half of what it should be.

In any case, this should work properly in the next REAPER build.

[michael diemer]

Great! I'll try a midi 1 export when the new build is out. Fortunately, the XML export is working, with only the usual problems with triplets, which I think happen routinely with most, if not all DAWS. Whichever one works best is the one I'll use.

Thanks!