Note Creation and Editing

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Main Page > REAPER Documentation > MIDI Editor


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Note Creation and Editing

Overview

The MIDI Editor uses a Piano Roll interface to display and edit MIDI information. Notes are displayed vertically according to their corresponding value on a Piano Keyboard, and horizontally according to the duration of each note and their location within the MIDI Item or the Timeline.

Preview Keyboard

The Preview Keyboard at the left of the screen provides a visual representation of the value of the notes on the Piano Roll, and allows you to audition a note without having to enter or edit it first. Clicking a key on the Preview Keyboard will send a MIDI note of the corresponding value to the MIDI Instrument that is connected to the Track.

The Preview Keyboard is velocity sensitive. Clicking on the far left of a key will generate a soft note, while clicking on the far right of a key will generate a loud note.

Pianorollmodevelocity.png

(The darker colours represent lower velocities, the red is mid, and the yellow are the highest velocities.)


Entering / Editing Notes

MIDI notes can be recorded as part of a performance. Alternatively they can be entered one by one using a midi interface. They can also be imported from an existing MIDI file, or they can manually entered using the MIDI Editor. This section describes the various methods for creating and editing notes by using the MIDI editor.

Using the Mouse:

Notes can be entered by dragging your mouse from left to right across the Piano Roll. The duration of the note will increase as you drag the Note. If Snap is enabled, the duration will Snap to the nearest Grid Line (depending on the strength of your Snap settings).

Notes can also be entered by double-clicking on the Piano Roll (in a space not already occupied by another note). In this case, the duration of the note is determined by the value of the Grid Setting. As of the 1.7x releases, you can also move the note up and down whilst entering it.

Notes can be deleted by double-clicking on the Note.

The duration of an existing note can be altered by dragging the edge of the note. The Flash File below shows the entry of a note -- the first example is one click -- while holding it, you can drag the note out, move it up and down, etc. Then you can let go and double click notes in accordance with the snap setting.



Notes can be moved by dragging in any direction. Dragging left or right will change the location of the note in the Timeline, while dragging up or down will change the note value.


Right-Click Menu

Rightclick.png

Insert note at mouse cursor

A very quick way to insert notes. It will insert notes according to the current snap values wherever your mouse floats over.

Insert note at edit cursor

Similar to previous, but wherever the edit cursor is.

Copy/Cut/Paste/Select All/Delete/

all pretty self explanatory

Split Events

Notes can be Split at the Edit Cursor by selecting Split events (S) from the right-click menu. All notes that are under the Edit Cursor will be Split.

Split event under mouse cursor

Notes can be Split at the location of the Mouse Cursor by selecting Split event under mouse cursor (Shift+S) from the right-click menu.

Note Properties

Noteprops.png

This gives a way to alter the various values attributed to a midi note by entering the values into text boxes. You can change the velocity, Note pitch, Channel, even the position/length can be altered in this way.

Note Channels 1-16

if you right click a note and select "channel", in this instance, choosing channel 8, and it will only show up under channel 8 -- and will send that note to the vsti or midi instruments channel 8. It colours the note differently, as you can see.

Channel8.png

that was just channel 8 selected, here all channels are selected, we can see the different coloured midi notes:

Allchannels.png

read more about midi channels here MIDI_Channels

Using the Keyboard:

Notes can be entered at the position of the Edit Cursor (the red line in the picture above) by using the Keyboard Shortcut I. The duration of the note will be determined by the value of the Grid Setting.

The Edit Cursor position on the Timeline is adjusted by using the Keyboard Shortcuts NumPad 4 (back) and NumPad 6 (forward).

The note value is edited by moving the highlight bar using NumPad 8 (higher note) and NumPad 2 (lower note) to select the note on the Piano Roll. The note will be created at the point where the highlight bar and the Edit Cursor cross (C5 in the picture above).

Use F1-F12 as step sequencer:

When 'Use F1-F12 as step sequencer' is selected, the Function keys F1 through F12 can be used to enter notes. The Function keys are mapped to the 12 Semitones of an Octave, with F1 having the lowest pitch and F12 having the highest pitch.

The starting pitch for F1 is determined by the location of the highlight bar. In the example above, the starting pitch for F1 is C5. F5 has been pressed in sequence, creating an E note. By using the NumPad keys to move the position of the highlight bar and Edit Cursor, together with the Function keys to enter notes, complete arrangements can be quickly created using the Keyboard alone.

now, normally this mode will also advance the cursor according to the snap settings, in other words, if you press F5 normally in that example, it will advance 1/8 of a beat since that is the snap setting. You can bypass this though and not advance the cursor by holding "shift" and pressing the Fkey you want.

Note Properties:

The Note Properties window is accessed by selecting a Note, then selecting Note Properties (Crtrl+F2) from the right-click menu.

The Note Properties window displays and allows you to edit the current Note Value, MIDI Channel, Velocity, Timeline Position and Length of the selected Note.

Selecting / Editing multiple Notes:

Multiple notes can be selected by holding down the Ctrl or Shift keys while selecting notes with the mouse, by drawing a Marquee (Right-click+Drag) around a group of notes, or by using Select All (Ctrl+A).

The values of all selected notes can be adjusted by dragging one of the selected notes.

The duration of all selected notes can be adjusted by dragging the edge of one on the selected notes.

The note velocity of all selected notes can be adjusted by dragging the Velocity handle (when active) of one of the selected notes.

NOTE

The default Velocity value for notes created in the MIDI Editor is taken from the last selected event - e.g. if the Velocity of the last selected event was 70, then the Velocity value for the next created note will be 70.

Scaling Notes

One very cool feature of the Reaper midi editor is the ability to move notes by scale! Lets say you have this:

Firstresult.png

and want to turn it into this:

Endresultmidiscale.png

Simply select all the notes you want to scale by holding alt and left click dragging over the notes you want.

Then after those notes are selected, simply hold down ctrl and drag the edge out. Below is a flash showing how it works, very cool, huh?.

Below is a flash file showing an example of scaling notes. you may need to right click it and select "play".



Main Page > REAPER Documentation > MIDI Editor

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