How to get Notion ReWire Host to change time Sig

[JBC95]

I've been using Notion 4 as a rewire host to Ableton Live 9 for a while and I have noticed that temp will sync correctly, but the time signature in Live will stay stuck at 4/4 regardless of what Notion does. Live has the capacity to change time signature and receive the data for it (I believe), which means that there is a problem on Notion's end. Any suggestions?

[Admin]

Notion does not have the capability to send Time Signature data to Abelton. Abelton is the only DAW type of application that will allow Notion to run as the Host for Rewire applications.

In most DAW's, time signatures can be set linearly to match the linear style of the Notion score. However, Abelton is not a linear style of application. I would suggest finding a way to automate the time signature changes in Abelton to match what it is that you are trying to accomplish with the Notion score.

Another solution would be to run Notion as the Slave in Rewire. That is the most stable mode of operation for Rewire. I hope this helps.

Regards,

-Admin

[Surfwhammy]

I think this is a very interesting topic, and I have been doing experiments and pondering the results every day since I first read the original post . . .

So far, I have been able to verify the following bits of information with experiments, although I reserve final judgment on their accuracy until I do a few more experiments:

(1) NOTION 4 neither sends nor receives time signature information, which I think is the correct behavior for music notation (as contrasted to MIDI sequences) . . .

(2) Based on (1), it does not matter whether Ableton Live 9 is the ReWire 2 host controller or ReWire 2 slave . . .

(3) Digital Performer 8.05 (MOTU) acting as ReWire 2 host controller (which is the only ReWire 2 role it provides) correctly sends time signature information to Reason 7 (Propellerhead Software), and Reason 7 receives the time signature information and updates the Reason 7 transport, but this has no affect that I have observed on the playback of Reason 7 sequences and clips, hence time signature changes (or more correctly, "meter" change events) are supported for updating the transport display but probably are ignored otherwise, although this likely depends on the specific application and the way it is coded to respond to ReWire 2 "meter change" events . . .

(4) Digital Performer 8.05 has the ability to transform its various audio data (soundbites, tracks, clips, MIDI sequences, and so forth) based on the way meter changes are made in Digital Performer, where the various options are shown in the following dialog . . .



(5) The terms "time signature" and "meter" tend to be used synonymously, but I think they are different, where "time signature" is deeper and richer, while "meter" in the context of ReWire 2 and Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) applications is shallow and basically is treated in a way similar to the way "tempo" is treated when "tempo" is defined solely as "Beats Per Minute (BPM)", where in this context "meter" and "tempo" are limited in their uses specifically to doing simple computations in computer algorithms, some of which correctly are ignored by NOTION 4, which is evident by the way Digital Performer 8.05 does not mention "time signature", instead focusing on "meter" in its most simple definition which specifically is two-fold, (a) the number of beats in a measure and (b) the type of note that gets one beat . . .

(6) Unless I add matching meter change events to the Digital Performer Conductor lane, Digital Performer does not track the measures correctly when there are time signature changes in the NOTION 4 score, although this is not a problem, because at present I do everything in the 4/4 time signature even when "traditional" music theory suggests that the time signature should be different. Nevertheless, adding meter change events that map to time signature change events in the music notation of the NOTION 4 score makes sense, because (a) it keeps the measure, beat, and tick information in the DAW application synchronized with the music notation in the NOTION 4 score and (b) it does not require changing the music notation in the NOTION 4 score . . .

[NOTE: Something needs to be the "source document" or "defining document", and I think it makes sense for this to be the NOTION 4, which makes is a "music notation versus MIDI" consideration, and when there is music notation I think it is superior in rank to MIDI . . . ]

(7) There is no one-to-one mapping of (a) music notation to (b) MIDI, and this is the reason at present that I think NOTION 4 is correct to ignore time signature or "meter" change events in a ReWire 2 session, no matter in which role NOTION 4 is acting (host controller or slave) . . .

(8) As Admin noted, Ableton Live 9 is different in the way it handles playback of "clips", where it can be configured to play a set of clips repeatedly essentially forever, although this particular behavior can be constrained . . .

THOUGHTS

I need to do a few more experiments to discover the set of rules that match the behaviors of NOTION 4 and Reason 7 when they are ReWire 2 slaves and Digital Performer is the ReWire 2 host controller, but regardless I like the rule that makes the music notation in NOTION 4 absolute in a ReWire 2 session . . .

One of the reasons I think this is an interesting topic is that it is a bit of a puzzle with respect to determining the correct set of algorithms when one is mixing (a) music notation and (b) MIDI sequences, since there is no one-to-one mapping of (a) to (b), and some of the possible meter change events do not appear to make much, if any sense, where an example is a section of music notation done in a 3/4 time signature, which for meter maps to 3 beats per measure with a quarter notes or crotchet getting 1 beat . . .

Consider that NOTION 4 is running in ReWire 2 slave mode and Digital Performer is the ReWire 2 host controller . . .

What should happen when Digital Performer executes a meter change event that changes the meter to 5/8?

Should NOTION 4 automagically remap the 3/4 time signature section to 5/8, and if so, then what are the rules with respect to bar lines and so forth . . .

As a fraction, 3/4 is the same as 6/8, but 6/8 is greater than 5/8, so a measure that had three quarter notes in 3/4 or 6/8 will be too long by an eighth note or quaver, and this can be handled by splitting the last quarter note into two eighth notes and moving the last eighth note into the next 5/8 measure, but this requires using a "tie" to keep the total duration of the now split quarter note as written, and it moves everything that follows . . .

Another strategy might be to reduce the 3/4 measures proportionally so that the duration of a note (x) then is reduced by ([5/8]/[3/4]) or approximately 0.83, where 0.83 (x) is the new duration of a note and doing it this way does not require any changes to the existing measures and bar lines, but then what happens to tempo dynamics like ritardando, accelerando, and so forth, which also need to be adjusted, and so forth and so on, all of which looks to be a bit of a mess when everything needs to happen in a timely manner in real-time on the fly, hence the dilemma . . .

Should an event change issued by a ReWire 2 host controller be allowed to alter music notation in such a major way, and if so, then should it be done by moving bar lines or by proportionality?

I have no general problems with a ReWire 2 host controller issuing certain types of tempo change events, which can be kept arbitrarily small, but at present I do not consider meter change events to be in any way "minimal" with respect to the different ways they can be handled in music notation, which is the reason I think NOTION 4 is correct to ignore meter change events issued by a ReWire 2 host controller . . .

Lots of FUN!

P. S. Some of the observations (see above) might need to be modified depending on the results of a few more experiments, but generally I think they are correct . . .