MIDI Pattern Editing

MIDI pattern editing can be started by loading a .MPT file in a track. Alternatively, a .MID file can be loaded and then be saved in .MPT format using the File Options Menu.

Once an .MPT file has been loaded a Pattern Bar will appear on top of the Track's editor.

Drum track with patterns

A pattern is a small piece of MIDI music. It will generally have a size that makes sense in musical terms (eg. a bar, four bars, or a verse).

A new Pattern can be created in two ways:

• Select a part of the Pattern Bar and click the New Ptn button. The Pattern Editor will appear automatically.
• Select a part of the Track (on the Track) Editor and click the New Ptn button. A new pattern will be created and all notes that were in the selected part will be moved to the pattern.

The most important feature of the pattern editing concept is that a Pattern can have multiple instances (the pattern can appear more than once on the Pattern Bar). Changing the pattern will change all instances.
A new instance of a selected pattern can be created in three ways:

• Dragging the Pattern while keeping the Ctrl button down copies the Pattern.
• Using the Repeat button
• Using Copy and Paste.

All editor buttons (Cut, Copy, Paste etc.) work as expected when working on the selected part of the Pattern Bar. You can select either a single pattern (by clicking it), or a part with all patterns that are in it (you can press the Alt button while selecting to avoid selecting a single pattern).

The Track Editor can be used as if it's an ordinary MIDI track. Patterns that are in the selected area will be moved or removed when the selected area is dragged or deleted. Editing individual notes is also possible.
If a note that belongs to a patterns is modified the modifications will be remembered by the particular instance of the pattern. If the pattern itself is changed the modifications will be applied to the note again. This works in an additive manner: the offsets (in beats) as remembered by the instance will added to the note's position and length. Similarly any offsets to the note itself and it's volume will be added.

When a pattern is selected the Edit button will invoke the Pattern Editor. Alternatively you can double-click a pattern to open the Pattern Editor

Pattern Editor

The Pattern Editor can be used to edit a pattern. On clicking the OK button the selected pattern, and all other instances of it, will be updated.

Pattern Editor (showing a one bar drum pattern)

Clicking the Menu button will bring up a menu with three items:

• Clone: Create a new Pattern that is identical to this one. All other instances of the original pattern will remain untouched.
• Import: Import a pattern from a MIDI file.
• Export: Export the pattern to a MIDI file.

The Name box contains the name of the pattern. All instances of the pattern will have the same name. This name doesn't mean anything to the program, ie. changing it to another pattern's name won't make the two patterns identical. Using the same name for different patterns obviously is a bad idea.

The This Instance box contains controls that affect the selected pattern only (it does not affect any other instances of the pattern).
Transpose can be used to transpose this instance by a number of semitones. If, for example, the pattern is in C, you can use this feature to transpose a couple of instances to F or G.
The Reset All Events button clears all changes that have been made to this instance's events, except for the ones that have been done with the Pattern Editor.

The Pattern Size bar determines the size of the pattern as it will appear in the Track's editor.