Posted
I am new to Synfire and using it on OS X 10.10.
My midi keyboard is enabled as an input. Upon startup after I setup sound assignments to a plug in (e.g. Kontakt) , I experience strange delay of about 15 seconds between pressing a note on the keyboard and hearing the sound. If I paint notes then the keyboard starts working fine again.
Any idea how to fix the delay issue so that midi works fine on startup?
Sun, 2016-01-03 - 00:10 Permalink
It appears that the problem is solved by unchecking 'use audio engine for midi input' under audio & midi setup. Given this finding, any clue as to why midi timing is over 15 seconds off using the audio engine for incomming midi?
Sun, 2016-01-03 - 10:28 Permalink
This is rare and we don't have a clue yet as to why it happens.
Try Playback >> Reset, or simply play some music from Synfire. This should re-sync Audio Engine with Synfire again.
The Audio Engine adds timestamps to incoming MIDI messages before they are passed to Synfire. For whatever reason, the system clocks of both programs seem to start out of sync. Synfire is prepared for that in that it measures this drift and calibrates itself to it. I wonder why this doesn't work on your Mac.
This may or may not be related to the hardware multi-tasking configuration. Any changes you made?
Mon, 2016-01-04 - 05:42 Permalink
Andre, thanks for your response. I don't recall having this issue when I initially demo'd the software months ago. Since demo'ing the software months ago, I no longer use my RME card and I use an Apogee Symphony card. However the Apogee devise is selected as the output device under audio settings.
I am interested in understanding what is causing the problem. I am not familiar with hardware multitasking configuration or whether I have made any changes to that except as described above. Would you please explain so that I can help understand the problem? For audio I am using an Apogee Symphony I/O via Symphony 64 pcie card. For midi I use a moto Midi express XT (8x8) to receive midi from my nord piano2 keyboard. I have some other midi connected however the nord is my main keyboard, and that midi in port is the only one checked in Synfire. Incidentally other midi ports have the same problem.
Also just curious, is there a way to turn off scanning plug ins each time I initiate Synfire?
Thanks for your help.
Tue, 2016-01-05 - 19:32 Permalink
That long delay is really weird. I wouldn't be surprised about milliseconds, but 15 seconds is huge.
Since it worked for you before, I suspect the MIDI interface. It might add timestamps to incoming messages based on a different clock source than that used by Synfire's Audio Engine. Maybe you can disable this timestamping at the interface?
Also just curious, is there a way to turn off scanning plug ins each time I initiate Synfire?
It should not do that, unless files in the Plug-Ins folder have changed. Synfire remembers a checksum of all file's modification times and sizes. Please check if there's any software that touches (modifies, or adds) files in the Plug-Ins folder.
Wed, 2016-01-06 - 08:48 Permalink
So I was able ro fix the plugin scan issue by reinstalling. I believe that was some sort of installation/permissions issue that was associated with using a blank admin password. Creating a non-blank admin password and reinstalling solved the issue.
As for the midi interface I cannot find a way to disable timestamping Let me ask this question, do the attached screenshots look normal when starting up synfire? I don't recall the 'waiting for the engine' note and pause from demo and wonder if that may be related to the midi delay issue.
