User guide
Tracktion 4 Reference Manual
110
4.4 : The MIDI Editor
The MIDI Editor
When MIDI clips are of sufcient vertical size, they display a MIDI editor, or “piano roll.” You can
switch to the MIDI editor very quickly by either double-clicking on the clip to be edited, or pressing the Z
key when a MIDI clip is selected. Figure 4.4.1 shows the MIDI editor, and associated tools.
To create a new MIDI clip from scratch:
• Select the track on which you wish to place the clip.
• Click the
insert new clip button, and choose insert new MIDI clip. Alternatively, you can use
the keyboard shortcut G.
The location and size of the new clip will be dependent on a few factors. If the option make new
clips the size of the marked region is enabled in the options menu (see Chapter 3.5), and the in/out
markers are currently set around a region of the edit, the new clip will be positioned such that it ts
between the markers. If, on the other hand, no region is marked (the markers are both located at the
same time point), or the make new clips the size of the marked region option is disabled, the new
clip will be positioned at the play-head cursor, and will be sized such that it lls approximately two thirds
of the horizontal display.
The MIDI editor is made up of a number of lanes that run horizontally along the clip. Each of these lanes
represents a note on the musical scale. A piano keyboard to the left of the clip shows the relationship
between a given lane and the note it represents. As you can see, this arrangement is similar to a staff in
standard musical notation.
The amount of notes currently visible can be changed by dragging the piano keyboard with the right
mouse button. A default range can be set by clicking the options button in the control section, and
choosing one of the options under the default midi editor vertical scale sub-menu.
To change the octave shown in the editor, drag the piano keyboard vertically with the left mouse but-
ton. When the ALT key (CTRL for Mac users) is held down, you can drag anywhere in the MIDI editor
to adjust the currently visible octave.
The length of the note in the editor controls how long the note will be held for. Effectively this is
equivalent to the length of time that a key would held down for on a piano. Be aware though that it is up
to the MIDI instrument to decide how to represent sustain, so you may nd that for some instruments,
increasing the length of a note beyond a certain point has no effect.
The vertical divisions are the current time-line ticks. As such, by zooming into and out of the edit, you
can change the snap resolution in the MIDI editor.
Figure 4.4.1