Adjusting the pitch of a note
Use the arrow tool to click and hold a note. Drag it up and down. You should hear all the notes being triggered. This is equivalent to running your finger up and down a keyboard.
Fig. 5.5.5 – Pitch editing example.
Hearing notes in the graphic editor
Most sequencers will allow you to hear any note that you select within an edit window. If nothing is heard, make sure the track you are editing is selected in the Arrange window.You may also need to enable the MIDI output button. This is a small button that is located in the edit window, which usually has a picture of a loudspeaker or MIDI plug icon on it. This button basically allows you to choose whether the sequencer will output a MIDI signal each time you edit or move a note in the edit window.
Changing the timing of a note
Now try moving a note left and right. Simply click and hold the mouse in the middle of a note and move it. This determines its location within the song and will allow you to make fine adjustments to its timing.
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Zooming in
If the note is too small to select, try adjusting the Zoom setting. This will allow you to see each note in more detail.
When moving a note left and right you may find that it only allows you to place it at certain positions on the timeline. It may jump to the nearest line or only move by a certain amount, such as 1/4 or 1/16, but not to an actual line itself. This restriction in movement is determined by the Snap value.
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The Snap value will restrict the movement of the notes by a set amount and will determine how freely you are able to move notes horizontally across the timeline.
Fig. 5.5.6 – Moving the timing of a note.
Adjusting the Snap value
Look for a Snap value in the edit window. By switching it on we can make sure that any notes we create or edit will snap into position and only move to the nearest grid line. For example, setting it to 1/4 will only allow you to place or move notes to each quarter (1/4) in each bar. For more detailed movement you will need to increase the Snap value. For totally free movement switch the Snap option off. This will allow you to ignore the grid lines and place notes anywhere.
Adjusting the display resolution
The Piano-roll-style editor is based around a grid that displays bars, beats and other subdivisions of the bar. You can change how many subdivisions are displayed by experimenting with the resolution options inside the editor. This means changing the number, which normally looks like 1/4, 1/8 or 1/16. The higher the number, the more subdivisions of the bar will be displayed.
Some sequencers allow you to hold down a key on the computer keyboard to bypass or adjust the Snap value. This provides a convenient way to tog- gle between the Snap value and free movement.
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M I D I s e q u e n c i n g e x e r c i s e s
Fig. 5.5.7 – Edit window displaying a 1/4 grid.
Fig. 5.5.8 – Edit window displaying 1/16 grid.
Figure 5.5.7 shows an example of four notes placed on the main beats of a bar. Notice that altering the display resolution or the Snap value affects the amount of grid lines on the screen. By making the Quantize 1/4 we see the bar broken up evenly by four lines. By making it 1/16 we see it evenly broken up by 16 lines.
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Changing the duration of a note
Use the Pencil to click on the end of notes. This allows us to change the dur- ation of a note. The duration is how long each note actually lasts. As with mov- ing notes, the Snap value may affect this.
Joining notes
We can also glue notes together to create longer notes. Look for a tool which resembles a glue gun. By selecting two notes and then clicking on them with this glue gun, we can merge the selected notes together to create a longer note.
Cutting notes
You may want to try other editing tools such as the scissors. These will allow you to split notes. Hence if you play a note that lasts two bars and you decide you would rather have two notes at the same pitch instead of one long note, you can use the scissors to split them. Once again the Snap value may restrict where you are able to make a cut.
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Fig. 5.5.10 – Two notes joined together.
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When editing notes within the Piano-roll-style editor, it’s easy to get carried away without listening to your adjustments in context with the overall arrangement. We therefore recommend you always listen back at regular intervals.m u s i c t e c h n o l o g y w o r k b o o k
Multiple selections
It is possible to edit more than one note at the same time by making a multiple selection. This can be achieved by holding down the shift key and selecting the notes you want to edit. Alternatively, click once and hold the mouse button down (the left mouse button on a two-buttoned mouse) and drag it over the notes you want to edit. This should resut in a wire frame box appearing that will select any notes it comes in contact with.
Fig. 5.5.11 – Selecting several notes at the same time.
Editing your selection
Once several notes are selected, try moving the notes around the edit win- dow. Notice how they all move yet keep their relative distance from each other.
Advanced editing and selection options
Often, you will find more advanced editing and selection options. These will help you make a more detailed selection. For example:
● Select all notes of similar pitch. By selecting a note in the editor and then using this function from the menu, it will automatically select all identical notes (by pitch) in the editor.
M I D I s e q u e n c i n g e x e r c i s e s
● Select all notes inside locators. This function allows you to specify which notes get selected by entering a value in the timeline ruler or transport bar. All the notes within the locator’s range will be selected.
● Select notes of similar velocity. Select a note in the editor and then use the menu function to automatically select all identical notes that have an equal velocity in the editor.
Fig. 5.5.12 – Advanced selection options in Logic.
Hopefully by now you have a good grasp of how to use the graphic editor and what it is capable of. From now on, you should be able to make small adjust- ments and edit a MIDI performance to perfection without having to become the greatest keyboard player in the world.
Additional things to try
Try opening the List editor
This will display each note in a numerical ‘list’.
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Drawing notes
The pencil tool can also be used to draw notes onto the edit window and hence into the part/region which is open. Learn more about this in Exercise 5.11.
Quantizing notes in the graphic editor
After making a selection it is usually possible to quantize a note or group of notes so they automatically move left or right to the nearest subdivision line of a bar. This allows a very detailed approach to quantizing, as you can often choose individual Quantize values for each individual note (learn more about Quantize in Exercise 5.6).
Fig. 5.5.15 – Quantized MIDI data.
Exercise 5.6 Quantizing MIDI information
This exercise will cover the following:
● How to correct the timing of notes
● Displaying Quantize
● Quantizing different rhythms
● Using advanced Quantize functions.