Midi Quantify
The process named Midi quantify receives MIDI notes at in and schedules their starts and endings before sending them to MIDI out. Put it between a live MIDI source and an instrument to constrain note timing. Non-note MIDI messages pass through unchanged.
This page describes version 2.
Grid and Tightness
Grid sets the spacing between possible note starts. Its free range is 0–4 seconds, default 0.125 seconds. Zero lets notes start as they arrive. Use the time chooser for straight, dotted or triplet note values.
- A free grid is measured from the playback origin in samples.
- A synchronized grid follows the timeline’s musical position, so it remains aligned to the beats when playback starts elsewhere in the score.
Tightness ranges from 0 to 1, default 0.8. At 1, an off-grid note waits for the next grid point. Reducing it allows a note played just after a grid point to start immediately: the acceptance window is (1 − Tightness) × half a grid step. At the default 0.8, this is 10% of a step. This is causal processing: it never moves a live note backwards in time.
Length and Duration
Length determines how note endings are handled:
| Choice | Behavior |
|---|---|
| UntilNoteOff (default) | End on the incoming note-off. If a note is released before its delayed start, it still plays for the duration it was originally held. |
| FixedDuration | End after Duration measured from the scheduled start, regardless of the input note-off. |
| EndOnGrid | End at the next point of the Duration grid after the scheduled start, regardless of the input note-off. |
Duration has a free range of 0–8 seconds, default 0.25 seconds, and its own independent time chooser. For example, synchronize Grid to 1/8, choose FixedDuration, and set Duration to 1/16 for eighth-note starts with sixteenth-note lengths. Duration is not used in UntilNoteOff mode.
A repeated note-on for the same channel and pitch replaces a waiting note and ends an already sounding one before rescheduling it. Transport discontinuities release sounding notes and discard pending starts rather than leaving them queued for a later position.
Older saved processes
Midi quantify (old) remains available to load existing scores with its earlier quantification and duration controls. It is not automatically replaced with v2. Re-create the intended settings and connections in a new Midi quantify process to use Grid, Length and the two time choosers.
See MIDI Utilities for other note transformations.