MIDI Event Editing

The Pianoroll, Notation and Drum editors are capable of editing individual notes. The Controller Editor can be used to edit controller events.

Pianoroll, Notation and Drum editor: common properties

All editors are capable of selecting either a part of the track (or stream in the case of multiple stream files) or individual notes.Notes can be dragged using the mouse. The editor will scroll automatically if the mouse approaches any of the four sides of the editors.You can select a note by clicking it. Selected notes appear in red, only one note can be selected at a time.
Notes that are being added, dragged or selected are audible. This feature can be turned on/off in the Preferences window.

If a note is selected clicking the Edit button will pop up the Note Editor. Alternatively you can double-click a note to open the Note Editor.
If the Time Scale is set to bars the Position of the note is expressed in bars and beats, and the Length of the note is expressed in musical notes (ie. 0.25 is a quarter note). Values like '1/4' can be typed in the Length box as well. The small button below the Length box can be used to select a value from a predefined list.

Note Editor

Right clicking a note pops up a menu offering Edit and Delete functionality. Right clicking in 'empty space' pops up a menu to add notes.

Mouse Modifiers

Many operations on single notes can be performed quickly by keeping a key pressed while clicking the note (for example: the note's volume can be edited using the V key):

• V: Volume of note
• D: Duration of note
• S: Sharpen note (one semitone up)
• F: Flatten note (one semitone down)
• Q: Quantize note (move it to the current grid)
• R: Remove (delete) note
• T: Transpose note one octave up or down
• X: eXpand to chord (eg. click a C and select major: an E and a G will be added)
• 1: make it a whole note
• 2: make it a half note
• 4: make it a quarter note
• 8: make it an 8th note
• 6: make it a 16th note
• 3: make it a 32th note

Some mouse modifiers will pop up a small selector, which will disappear when you release the mouse button. You can select an item by moving the mouse while the mouse button is still down.

Note Volume

Duration

Expand to Chord

Pianoroll Editor

Pianoroll editor

You can draw notes by moving the mouse horizontally while keeping the left mouse button down. Notes can be dragged or resized using the mouse as well. Clicking the mouse without dragging it will add a note having the same length as the last one.
You can select a part of the track by moving the mouse vertically while selecting a part. If the mouse ends on the same horizontal line as it started a new note is created, if it ends higher or lower a part of the track is selected. If the notes in the part you're selecting constitute a chord which is recognized, then the name of the chord is displayed in the editor.
Right clicking a note pops up a menu to (among other things) split the note or to join it with the previous note.

Step Recording

The Pianoroll editor can be used for step recording. If the vertically oriented piano on the left is clicked while the Ctrl key is held down, the corresponding note will be recorded at the current transport position. Also, the transport position will move to the end of the new note. The length of the new note equals one step of the current grid. The right mouse key can be used to add a rest instead of a note. Ctrl-Shift-Rightclick steps one step to the left, Ctrl-Shift-Leftclick steps one step to the left and then adds the note.

Notation Editor

Notation editor

The section on the left shows the clef being used. It can be changed by clicking it, possible values are Bass, Treble, both Bass and Treble, Tenor and Alto. Next to the clef section the Key Signature is shown. This value can be changed to a value ranging from 6 flats up to 6 sharps by clicking it. The Key Signature is stored in the MIDI file.

Notes can be added by leftclicking the mouse. Keeping the S or F key down while clicking the mouse adds or subtracts a semitone ('Sharp' or 'Flat') , so you can add notes that are not in the current scale directly.
Right clicking a note pops up a menu to (among other things) join the note with the previous note.

The Notation editor has a resolution of 1/32th note. It's recommended to turn on Gridsnap when using the Notation editor. Although it is possible to use the Notation editor when the time scale is set to seconds, this obviously doesn't make sense.

Triplets are recognized automatically. Triplets can be added easily by dragging them from the Shelf's Midi Notes section. Alternatively the EDIT button can be used to modify a note's position and length.

The Settings button pops up the notation editor's Settings window:

Notation Settings

Display Resolution, Reduce Rests and Ties and Hide All Rests can be used to reduce the number of small notes and/or rests.
Split Point determines which notes appear on either the Bass or the Treble staff. It has no effect if there's only one staff.

Drum Editor

Drum editor

The Drum Editor features a separate Drum Instrument Editor for each instrument used. New instruments can be added using the New Inst button. The Instrument's name is shown on the left hand side of the Drum Instrument Editor. A different instrument can be selected upon doubleclicking it. Every instrument corresponds to a MIDI note (eg. C3 is a bass drum, E3 is a snare and B4 is a hihat in General MIDI). The note corresponding to the instrument will be shown in case no name is available. Drum Instrument Editors work like any other MultitrackStudio editor. In addition you can leftclick the mouse (without dragging it) to add a note. The note's volume is indicated by a small black dot (the higher the dot the higher the volume).
You can select a part of the track by moving the mouse vertically while selecting a part. If the mouse ends on the same instrument as it started only this instrument is selected, if it ends on a different one all instruments are selected. The Select All button selects only the instrument if a part of an instrument is selected, it selects all instruments otherwise. You can switch from 'one instrument' mode to 'all instruments' mode and vice versa by clicking an instrument's name.
If audio is pasted on an instrument editor only beats are detected (no pitch), so you can record hand claps etc. in an audio track, and drag them to a Drum Instrument Editor. It's best to make sure there are at least two instruments, so you can select a part of one of them and thus ensure the data goes to the instrument rather than to the Track.

Mouse Modifiers

The Drum Editor doesn't support mouse modifiers which don't make sense for percussion instruments (like Duration, Sharpen, Expand to chord etc.). Some modifiers, however, can operate on similar notes in similar bars as well using the F3 key:

• F3 Del: Delete similar notes as well.
• F3 V: Modify Volume of similar notes as well.
• F3: Drag similar notes as well. Keep this key down while dragging a note.

Controller Editor

MIDI Synths can use controller events to alter the sound they generate. The Controller Editor can be used to edit these events. This editor can be shown by clicking the Track editor's CONTR button.

Controller Editor

All controllers are supported except the data entry and RPN controllers (#5, #38 and #96...101).

Using the Controllers button a particular controller's editor can be made visible or invisible. By default only controllers that are actually being used are shown.

Switching Controller Editors

Controllers #64..#69 are 'switching" controllers: they are either 'on' or 'off'. The Sustain and Soft controllers are of the switching type. A switching controller's editor is a horizontal line that can be up or down. Up means off, down means on (just like a piano sustain or soft pedal). After selecting a part the On or Off button can be used. Alternatively the Alt key can be held down while selecting a part. If the mouse is over the upper half of the editor the selected part will be turned off, if the mouse is over the lower half the selected part will be turned on.

Continuous Controller Editors