Hi all. Whenever I click play which I obviously do a lot during creation and editing, it always does the 'pre-loading' blue line at the bottom next to cpu usage. I hate that, it means I get delayed playback, albeit it's only a second. Is there something in my settings I can change so that it doesn't do this pre-loading and just plays instantly?

If you mean just during normal playback and not loading new clips or movies then it's possible that a lot of other factors are involved that can cause delay. For instance, the amount of parralel tracks that are running at once, hard drive read times and processing power could always introduce delay. Lack of memory etc. I'm runing up to 32 tracks in one project and I'm hardly getting a huccup but then my videos are also of a relatively short duration. There are buffers for audio that you can play with as well as the possibility of choosing diferent methods of video playback. Also lowering the quality of the preview may help as well as using proxy objects and lowering frame rates in playback. While I'm fairly new to video production I am used to audio workstations where problems can be similar. It also helps to use internal hard drives over external ones and to record to a drive other than your main C: drive or wherever your Magix program resides.

The other thing which is annoying is when I use timestretch/resample for tempo and pitch, the user interface is not very good because it's difficult to fine tune. When I use the dials for either tempo or pitch, they don't always go to a specific number I need. For example, if I want a half tone of 3.2, it might go to 3.3 or 3.1 and I have to fiddle for ages to get 3.2 and sometimes it just won't hit that number, it skips it. It's fiddly and hit and miss. Same with tempo. It would be better if I could type in the numbers but there doesn't seem to be that option.

I'm not sure about your version of MEP but the box with the numbers in should be clickable with the mouse and you can then just type the number you need and hit enter on your keyboard for most of MEPs slider controls that I've used so far.

Above the dials is a grid with higher, lower, slower and faster which I sometimes use instead. But when I move the white circle to change tempo, it will then change the pitch as well which I don't want, and vice versa. So it's a lot of messing around. I don't think there's any other more precise options in the software I could use?

You may be able to control those using key frames. I'm finding keyframes to be invaluable in controling various aspects of MEP but they take some getting used to. You may need to read the manual to start to get to grips with them.

@CubeAce, welcome to the Magix forums.

First, thank you for your contribution to this thread. John EB is entirely correct in his statement that the delay the OP is concerned about is inevitable, but your post adds valid suggestions on how to minimise them, as do your other comments.

BUT, as a matter of etiquette, please do not post in bold, it is considered as "shouting", not desirable at all!!😀

Also, you will see I have slightly reformatted your answer in order to make clear where you are quoting the OP and where you are responding to his questions. To avoid making your response NOT appear within the quote marks, when you start a new paragraph as a response to a quote, simply ensure you click on the "double-arrow" quote button at the top of the comment box (it will no longer be highlighted) and your answer will appear without the quote downline.

Jeff
Forum Moderator

Hi Jeff.

Sorry, no offence meant. I wasn't aware that block letters were considered shouting here. On previous forums I've been on it was just the use of capital letters that was considered shouting so I wasn't aware.

Can you please point me to a part of this site that shows how to format replies so I can avoid this type of incident again? I don't even know how to bring up the notification to alert someone I've posted.

Thank you.

@CubeAce

Hi

. . . . point me to a part of this site that shows how to format replies so I can avoid this type of incident again? I don't even know how to bring up the notification to alert someone I've posted . . . .

There is no specific part of the site which details how to format posts.

These are my tips:

• Type in normal case - never capitals as you have commented about.
   
• If you quote part of a post, see my way above where I have quoted part of yours, or use Quote button - preferably for short posts only - below the comment you want to reply to, or copy and paste the relevant part highlight it and use the Quote button above the text entry box ie the icon that looks like a Double quote with an arrow underneath. This will indent the text as shown below
   
• Use bold where you want to stress the item, as I have done just above or highlight a heading as I have below, I also use bold for giving directions/actions using menus or dialogs eg: select File, New project.
   
• For etiquette in the forum see the Community rules - link is at bottom of every page in the forum.

Indented quote:

I don't even know how to bring up the notification to alert someone I've posted

You don't, it will happen automatically unless turned off in the users profile.

HTH

John EB

Thank you John.

I'm not aware of turning anything off in my user profile and I still can't see any form or link on my replies to whoever I'm intending to reply to.

I have read the link since my last post but I'm now off topic so I'll try harder as I try to get to grips with the forum. Thank you all for your patience and please bear with me. I'll get there eventually. I am finding MEP equally impressive and frustrating in equal measure. Impressed with it's flexibility and frustrated with it's ability to trip over itself and crash.  

@CubeAce

Hi Jeff.

Sorry, no offence meant.

Absolutely none taken! 😁

And thank you for replying so courteously and considerately.

MEP is, indeed, capable of being

impressive and frustrating in equal measure

but it is also pretty outstanding for its price. (Just my opinion!)

Jeff

Thanks very much for the replies john and CubeAce. I didn't think you were shouting, CubeAce :)

Yep, I already messed with audio buffers, increased number to maximum 9, have lower preview quality and use proxy objects. I guess it's fine given that as john said it's cpu intensive.

A couple of questions, how do I get a section to loop? I can't figure out what the blue ruler thing is that you can stretch and shorten, (just above where the red playback marker track red arrow is) but I thought it was for looping sections though it doesn't seem to do that for me. Also, when I click play and then hit the spacebar or left mouse button, it stops and starts again from the playback marker position which is fine. But is there a way I can pause it so that when I unpause it continues rather than starting from the marker position again? Thanks.

@Merlin55

Hi

. . . . I can't figure out what the blue ruler thing is that you can stretch and shorten . . . .

This is the Range bar and can also be set by right and left clicks in the range bar or, using the I and O keys moving the timeline cursor to where you want the In/Out points to be .

The Range bar has 3 main functions:

1. Sets the range that is played when you use the Range playback button on the Preview monitor, and it loops continuously.
    
2. Sets the range to be exported when Export selected range only option is checked in an Export video as . . . . dialog.
    
3. Selecting a section of video to import to the timeline - play the video from the media pool and press the I and O keys to set the start and end point to be imported stop playback (spacebar) and then drag the video clip from the Preview monitor to the timeline, rinse and repeat as necessary if you want more sections of the same clip.

Note:

1. the start (left click or I ) cannot be set after after the end (right click or O)
    
2. there are also Jump to start of range (in point) and Jump to end of range (out point) buttons at the bottom of the preview monitor

HTH

John EB

...Also, when I click play and then hit the spacebar or left mouse button, it stops and starts again from the playback marker position which is fine. But is there a way I can pause it so that when I unpause it continues rather than starting from the marker position again? Thanks.

Hi,

To change the behaviour of the spacebar, go to File, Setting, Program (or shortcut Y), Playback tab, under Arranger, put a checkmark beside Spacebar Behaviour and the playback marker will now stop at its location when you hit the spacebar.

Alternatively, leave the default as is, and use K to stop playback at its location, that way you have both possibilities.

John CB

Hi all. Whenever I click play which I obviously do a lot during creation and editing, it always does the 'pre-loading' blue line at the bottom next to cpu usage. I hate that, it means I get delayed playback, albeit it's only a second. Is there something in my settings I can change so that it doesn't do this pre-loading and just plays instantly?

Hi,

Have to tried setting the audio buffers and video playback optimisation to a minimum?? They can be found under the FIle>Settings> programs menu 'Program settings".

This may be not a good idea, as JB mentioned it would make audio/video out of sync and introduce stuttering on playback. But it is just be a tad faster starting a playback.

john, browj2, excellent, thanks! I got those things working as you described, looping and pausing. I can now jump between where my red track position is and where my looped position is, and I noticed I can also continue after the loop by pressing the forward arrow with one bracket. Very cool.

wongck, thanks. Very interesting. Lowering the audio buffer number to minimum 2 has definitely made the preloading super fast. The preview size is 4096 and the multitrack size is 16384, and lowering those didn't improve anything. So audio buffer seems to be key here. Thanks.

I've always just used the basics of this software to get my jobs done, but having just looked at the keyboard shortcuts I never realised how many other things I can do like playing in reverse at different speeds by pressing J several times. Never realised that the play arrows in between brackets that you showed an icon of was for the looping. One thing I can't do that would have been ideal is assign the space bar to pause instead of K and assign the left mouse key to start normal play and stop instead of pressing the play button, but it's not the end of the world.

Going back to CubeAce, there doesn't appear to be a clickable box to manually type the numbers. I made a mistake in the title, I have MEP Premium 2017. My version is 16.0.3.63 https://s15.postimg.cc/foc9sv8cb/tempo_pitch.png

By the way, for your 'possible' entertainment, here's a video and audio 'mashup' I just created completely with MEP Premium 2017. It's not perfect but I I like the way MEP has let me fine tune frames by sliding them around where I was able to align random video moments to fit almost perfectly to the audio :)

@Merlin55

Hi

. . . . .One thing I can't do that would have been ideal is assign the space bar to pause instead of K and assign the left mouse key to start normal play and stop instead of pressing the play button . . . .

The spacebar should already be assigned to start/stop playback, the only change you have to make is in the program Settings, Playback tab - Spacebar stops at current playback position - if not checked, the timeline cursor goes back to the beginning when you stop playing.

Using the left mouse key will cause an issue - when you go to select an object, playback would start !!!!

Other shortcuts which may help are the keys on your keyboard:

1. Up/down stop/start playback
2. Left/right move back or forwards one frame per press
3. Ctrl + Left or Right move back/forwards 5 frames per press

If you have not seen it there is a complete of keyboard shortcuts in the PDF manual available under Help - you may have to download it.

HTH

John EB

Thanks john, that was a slight misunderstanding on my part. Also, thanks for the up/down tip, very useful.

@Merlin55

You can always get a Contour ShuttlePro and program the buttons the way that you want.

https://www.magix.info/us/forum/contour-design-shuttlepro-useful--1205483/

John CB

@browj2

Hi John

. . . . You can always get a Contour ShuttlePro . . . .

Funny you should say that I have asked my sons for one for Christmas!

John EB