Tracktion MIDI Editing Feedback

[Stuttaton]

My only request, and the thing I think is most important:
Change the pencil behaviour to draw the notelength - not just place notes based on the length of the last note. Dear god, if you have to allow for the latter, make it a switchable option, please. I haven't used the pencil tool since the behaviour got changed in T2, because it is so useless. I've compensated by using a midi keyboard. Holding shift to increase/decrease note length from the previous note's length is just rubbish. Look at T1, look at reaper. Both get it right.

Well, you can directly change the length by dragging the end of the note that you just created. Another neat trick is to click on an existing note with the desired length before you create a new one. Then you automatically get the correct length. Note: you can do all this with the pencil tool.
I think this is much less tedious than to drag every note to the correct length, while entering them.

[skipscada]

…place/choose note with space bar…

How would T differentiate between PLAY/STOP (default behaviour of the space bar in almost all DAWs) and selecting MIDI notes?

/Joachim

Toggle control_within_midi_editor/general_control behaviour with a button placed on the piano roll. I.e. add a button to lock all/certain keys to midi editing while the button is pressed, thereby creating a sort of midi editing mode.

[skipscada]

Further ideas for my suggestion: add the ability to define chord structure (major, minor etc) and let the marker assume the shape of parallel notes on the piano roll with the correct intervals as defined by the chord. Make this movable as for single notes and add the whole chord by pressing the same key as for single note entry.

The marker could have the shape of notes as they are now, but with a different colour and transparency to see existing notes. When no note under the marker, pressing the new/select_note key (space?) creates new note. When existing note(s) under the marker, note(s) are selected when pressing the new/select_note key.

With active marker:
1-9 selects velocity of notes to be entered.
ctrl + 1-9 selects predefined note lengths of notes to be entered (and shape/length of marker).

With notes selected (inactive marker):
1-9 redefines velocity
ctrl + 1-9 redefines length

----

Let marker only jump to notes with assigned sounds. Play sound when marker jumps to new note (or play the sound of the active note by hitting a key or combination of keys, e.g. ctrl + space). I'm thinking mainly in the context of drum plugins, where only a limited set of keys/notes are relevant and the ability to preview sounds quickly would be an advantage.

[Spitfire31]

…place/choose note with space bar…

How would T differentiate between PLAY/STOP (default behaviour of the space bar in almost all DAWs) and selecting MIDI notes?

/Joachim

Toggle control_within_midi_editor/general_control behaviour with a button placed on the piano roll. I.e. add a button to lock all/certain keys to midi editing while the button is pressed, thereby creating a sort of midi editing mode.

Hm, pardon me for be skeptical of a scheme where I have to click a mode button to modify a basic behaviour. I have to toggle Space key mode every time I want to play an edit and then toggle again to modify it?

I think that you have to figure out something a little less kludgey.

/Joachim

[SJ_Digriz]

I haven't tried traktion in years. I plan to rectify that soon. So excuse of some of these are actually already possible.

Make sure things are tied to mod keys to the mouse so that primary edit functions always work in the context of the editor. For example, default in the MIDI editor would be something like :no mod-selector :alt-painter :ctrl-delete :alt+ctrl-mute :shift-group action etc... do that in conjunction with the left and right clicks and you'll have a huge array of directly available editor functions.

Additional "painter" options. For example, paint by key/scale. Paint arp (Reaper has a cool arp edit function).

Relative quantize. Groove quantize.

[skipscada]

…place/choose note with space bar…

How would T differentiate between PLAY/STOP (default behaviour of the space bar in almost all DAWs) and selecting MIDI notes?

/Joachim

Toggle control_within_midi_editor/general_control behaviour with a button placed on the piano roll. I.e. add a button to lock all/certain keys to midi editing while the button is pressed, thereby creating a sort of midi editing mode.

Hm, pardon me for be skeptical of a scheme where I have to click a mode button to modify a basic behaviour. I have to toggle Space key mode every time I want to play an edit and then toggle again to modify it?

I think that you have to figure out something a little less kludgey.

/Joachim

Hm ... How about when mouse is over midi clip, qwerty midi edit mode is activated? Or to make it less error prone, when qwerty midi editing button is pressed, mouse over midi clip activates qwerty midi edit mode. I'm just throwing ideas around. Basically I just want to be able to edit midi clips without using the mouse.

[Stuttaton]

…place/choose note with space bar…

How would T differentiate between PLAY/STOP (default behaviour of the space bar in almost all DAWs) and selecting MIDI notes?

/Joachim

Toggle control_within_midi_editor/general_control behaviour with a button placed on the piano roll. I.e. add a button to lock all/certain keys to midi editing while the button is pressed, thereby creating a sort of midi editing mode.

Hm, pardon me for be skeptical of a scheme where I have to click a mode button to modify a basic behaviour. I have to toggle Space key mode every time I want to play an edit and then toggle again to modify it?

I think that you have to figure out something a little less kludgey.

/Joachim

Hm ... How about when mouse is over midi clip, qwerty midi edit mode is activated? Or to make it less error prone, when qwerty midi editing button is pressed, mouse over midi clip activates qwerty midi edit mode. I'm just throwing ideas around. Basically I just want to be able to edit midi clips without using the mouse.

To truly enter music without mouse, you'll have to resort to something like Lilypond notation:
c'4 d'8 creates a quarter note C1 and eight note D1. <<c4 d4 e4>> creates a quarter note chord with C, D and E.

Speaking of Lilypond: why not add an export function that would export midi-clips to Lilypond notation? Then you would have score printing "for free".

[skipscada]

Basically I just want to be able to edit midi clips without using the mouse.

To truly enter music without mouse, you'll have to resort to something like Lilypond notation.

You'd still run up against the problem of qwerty keys being tied up to certain general functions.

Also, you'd depend on an off-screen, mental frame of reference instead of the visual reference of a marker moving around on the screen - you'd have to say "enter c4" instead of "enter a note where the marker is now".

Perhaps "numbers lock" (being by nature an on/off switch) could be used to toggle qwerty midi editing?

[Stuttaton]

Basically I just want to be able to edit midi clips without using the mouse.

To truly enter music without mouse, you'll have to resort to something like Lilypond notation.

You'd still run up against the problem of qwerty keys being tied up to certain general functions.

Also, you'd depend on an off-screen, mental frame of reference instead of the visual reference of a marker moving around on the screen - you'd have to say "enter c4" instead of "enter a note where the marker is now".

Perhaps "numbers lock" (being by nature an on/off switch) could be used to toggle qwerty midi editing?

You'll need to specify note, note length, velocity and position. That's four different parameters for each note. How would you control all that without using the mouse or any of the keys that are already used for other functions?

[skipscada]

Basically I just want to be able to edit midi clips without using the mouse.

To truly enter music without mouse, you'll have to resort to something like Lilypond notation.

You'd still run up against the problem of qwerty keys being tied up to certain general functions.

Also, you'd depend on an off-screen, mental frame of reference instead of the visual reference of a marker moving around on the screen - you'd have to say "enter c4" instead of "enter a note where the marker is now".

Perhaps "numbers lock" (being by nature an on/off switch) could be used to toggle qwerty midi editing?

You'll need to specify note, note length, velocity and position. That's four different parameters for each note. How would you control all that without using the mouse or any of the keys that are already used for other functions?

New notes default to the length and velocity of the last note created, isn't that current behaviour? As an innovation I've suggested to make it possible to edit the velocity and length of the the active note (i.e. the last created note or selected note) by hitting a key or key combination.

Note and position would be determined by the position of the marker (which could have the same rectangular shape as notes, but a different colour + transparency), moved by arrow keys. So the method for creating a new note would be:

- Open midi clip
- Go to qwerty midi editing mode, marker appears
- Use arrows to move marker to where you want to create a note
- Create a note, note is active
- Modify velocity and length of active note with number keys / ctrl + number keys

Additional chord function

- In active midi clip, shift + C opens list/diagram of chords
- Choose chord, close chord list
- Marker becomes parallel notes in intervals according to chosen chord
- Create new chord the same way as you create new note

The problem is interference between normal functions for the qwerty keys. The questions are 1) Is it possible to switch to make qwerty keys affect only the active midi clip? 2) Is it desireable (i.e. will the end result be overall improved workflow)?

If it's possible to, say, use the NumLock key to switch the functions of the qwerty input, I'd say it's useful and non-intrusive. You select a midi clip, push NumLock to go into qwerty midi editing mode, edit using arrows etc, and push NumLock to be go back to normal behaviour to play back or whatever. You'd be able to go in and out of qwerty midi editing in an instant. I suggest NumLock because it's normally out of the way and not a key you normally press by error, plus it usually has an indicator that says when it's active.

I'll stop ... got a bit carried away there.

[Rock]

How about making it possible to change the MIDI note colors to ones that look ok with your Tracktion skin? Those bright colors look hideous with subtle skins. Also maybe some kind of shading and/or shadows on the notes to make them look more like objects.

[metamorphosis]

Well, you can directly change the length by dragging the end of the note that you just created. Another neat trick is to click on an existing note with the desired length before you create a new one. Then you automatically get the correct length. Note: you can do all this with the pencil tool.
I think this is much less tedious than to drag every note to the correct length, while entering them.

No, it really does slow everything down horribly.
It's bad for anything bar repetitive house music.
Good luck making realistic faux-orchestral parts with techniques like the above.
There is zero reason for doing the current approach. If you want one-click notes, make it happen when you turn on snap and bind to current bar/beat/zoom level.

[Stuttaton]

Well, you can directly change the length by dragging the end of the note that you just created. Another neat trick is to click on an existing note with the desired length before you create a new one. Then you automatically get the correct length. Note: you can do all this with the pencil tool.
I think this is much less tedious than to drag every note to the correct length, while entering them.

No, it really does slow everything down horribly.
It's bad for anything bar repetitive house music.
Good luck making realistic faux-orchestral parts with techniques like the above.
There is zero reason for doing the current approach. If you want one-click notes, make it happen when you turn on snap and bind to current bar/beat/zoom level.

Having to chance snap/zoom everytime you want to change note length? Now you're talking tedious! It reminds me of sequencer packages I used before Tracktion.
For me, the current note-entering system works fine. I don't see a problem entering orchestral scores. Look at J.S. Bach's music: lots of repeating same length notes.

[kejkz]

I've worked a little bit more with editor yesterday, and one thing that really bothers me is that I am not quite sure when working with higher zoom factor which quantize snap function is currently in power. Also, generally working with snap turned on is... I don't know, a bit broken, because it is always snapping relative to recorded note position, not according to grid. I see a point of that option, but it would be nice to also have absolute snapping to grid.

[rpc9943]

concerning the qwerty midi editing, well this could be all resolved if we had a tab or something that we could change to. If we even had that option as well as a rudimentary tracking option it would be so awesome... All could be set up in an alternate tab.

What I mean by rudimentary tracking:

Note Volume
... ..
C-5 99
... ..
E-2 45

This could also work not only with the computer keyboard but with midi inputs as well.

Just an idea, feel free to discard it. I think the more bases you cover in the sequencing aspect of the software for micro (note by note midi clips) all the way to macro (song structure), we'd all be satisfied and it would bring tracktion way up a notch.

Another idea would be to look into older sequencing software such as on ATARI ST, as I've heard (never used) that it was rock solid and gave many options and ease of use...

RonC