MIDI Editor and indicating which notes belong to which track

[MDesigner]

I've looked at the manual in the section about the MIDI Editor, and can't seem to find anything relevant. If I have the MIDI Editor open, showing multiple tracks, how can I tell which note on the grid belongs to which track? I figured maybe if I clicked a note, it would tell me somewhere, but I don't see it. Or it might be nice to have a keystroke you could hit that would temporarily hide all other tracks except the one that's record enabled.

[stubbsonic]

It would be a nice feature that if a single note is selected, that it will somehow show in the track list on the side, which track it is in.

For now, make sure you color-code your tracks. That'll do a great deal of it. Also, learn some of the short cuts to hide & show various tracks you are working with.

[MDesigner]

Yeah, if there were some shortcut to only show the track that's record enabled, that would be handy.

[Dan Worley]

Yeah, I don't like that. What I do for a workaround is hit Shift-D to identify it in the Drum Editor real quick, or Shift-E to see it in the Event List. Not perfect, but it works, though the Drum Editor doesn't scroll all the way up to show the name of the track, just the note, so I use the Event List most often.

[Michael Canavan]

I've looked at the manual in the section about the MIDI Editor, and can't seem to find anything relevant. If I have the MIDI Editor open, showing multiple tracks, how can I tell which note on the grid belongs to which track? I figured maybe if I clicked a note, it would tell me somewhere, but I don't see it. Or it might be nice to have a keystroke you could hit that would temporarily hide all other tracks except the one that's record enabled.

Open the Track Selector for the MIDI Editor, the track that's fully editable has a pencil beside it, to make only that or any other track the only one visible Option click on that track, it also selects that track for editing. Conversely you can Command Click that track to hide it and make all other tracks visible. THis along with choosing different track colors for each track makes this all really quite painless.

[MDesigner]

Yeah I knew about that. It's not really what I'm looking for, because I don't want to have to option-click the one track, and then re-highlight all the tracks I was viewing previously.

I'll drop this in the MOTU suggestion box. It would be so easy for them to just show the MIDI track name of the currently selected note.

[Michael Canavan]

As a work around now anyway, highlighting notes in the MIDI editor highlights notes inside MIDI tracks in the Track Overview. so unless you have 100+ tracks of MIDI you can ascertain which track the notes belong to pretty quickly.

It would be cool if the Track inspector reacted to the selected MIDI notes in the MIDI Editor though, that would make the most sense.

[artfarm1]

Yeah, if there were some shortcut to only show the track that's record enabled, that would be handy.

Do this:
Go to:'Preferences' / 'Editing' / 'MIDI Editing /
- choose 'Open One MIDI Editor for each MIDI track
- choose 'Hide other tracks when opening to selection'

Go to: 'Preferences' / 'Display' / 'Consolidated Windows'
- then 'un-highlight' the 'MIDI Edit' window
- you can choose how you want to view the MIDI edit window from this area

This way, you can be in 'Tracks view', and then click on the MIDI track information that you want to view, and it pops up in a window all by itself.

You can do a select all, then just select the single track you want to work on, and double-click it to pop open the MIDI edit window..... or, just choose a small portion of MIDI somewhere in the Track edit window and that small portion will pop open in it's own window.

It's the greatest editing information I've learned, from someone else on MOTUNATION once upon a time.

[Shooshie]

You can set the MIDI editor for single tracks, and that's how we all used to have to work, so it's very usable. I bugged MOTU for years before they finally gave us the color-coded, multi-track, MIDI Graphic Editor Window. And it's been a blessing. I love the ability to see many MIDI tracks at once. There's no substitute for that, and I won't give up that ability, just to see the track my note is in. The coding usually works for me.

BUT... your question about how to see what track belongs to a specific note is a good one, and it's a serious deficiency, IMO. I recently sent MOTU a detailed letter asking for some specific changes to that window, and that was one of them. As is normal, they did not respond to the letter. But I've contributed literally dozens of features to DP by similar requests, and each one was a surprise when they added it. We can only hope that they'll add this one.

If you'd like to send a suggestion, please do:

MOTU Suggestion Box

Any time you can't remember how to find the suggestion box, go to the first page of the DP Tips Sheet, and you'll find the link near the top of the page.

Meanwhile, the suggestions given above are good ones. Your first method of identification should be color. If you're color blind, or if you have a lot of tracks with overlapping colors, then you may need to go the Tracks Overview Window, as I usually do, and take a peek. If I don't find it there instantly, I may use this method to highlight more of the track that it's in: invoke the command called "Move selection end to next marker."

That command doesn't come with a keyboard shortcut by default. I set mine up to use OPTION-RightArrow, and OPTION-LeftArrow (to move it to previous marker). If you're not familiar with the Commands Window, this would be a good time to learn about it. Type SHIFT-L to bring it up.

By moving the end of the selection from marker to marker and back, you generate enough movement to find the track in the Tracks Overview Window with little effort. While it changes your selection, your original note remains as the first NOTE in that selection. So, when you've found it, go back to the MIDI Edit Window and type COMMAND-D (deselect all), then reselect your note.

Sorry it's a pain in the a__, but that's one thing we've got to ask MOTU to change until they listen to us. I suggest using the suggestion box and asking for some method to ID the track along with the rest of the selection info in the header of the MIDI Graphic Edit Window. Similar information should appear in the Selection Window.

While you're at it, you might ask for a very simple way to change the track of a note, or copy a note to a track.

My suggestion was:
1) Select the note and any controller information that goes with it.
2) Hold down the Control Key
3) Click the Active Track symbol in the selector list in the margin of the window
4) Drag that symbol to another track. The note now belongs to the other track.

5) Add the Option key to the Control Key to click and drag the selector to COPY the note to the new track.

If you were to send these suggestions to MOTU, they might listen to us collectively.

Shooshie

[Dan Worley]

Meanwhile, the suggestions given above are good ones. Your first method of identification should be color. If you're color blind, or if you have a lot of tracks with overlapping colors, then you may need to go the Tracks Overview Window, as I usually do, and take a peek. If I don't find it there instantly, I may use this method to highlight more of the track that it's in: invoke the command called "Move selection end to next marker."

That command doesn't come with a keyboard shortcut by default. I set mine up to use OPTION-RightArrow, and OPTION-LeftArrow (to move it to previous marker). If you're not familiar with the Commands Window, this would be a good time to learn about it. Type SHIFT-L to bring it up.

By moving the end of the selection from marker to marker and back, you generate enough movement to find the track in the Tracks Overview Window with little effort. While it changes your selection, your original note remains as the first NOTE in that selection. So, when you've found it, go back to the MIDI Edit Window and type COMMAND-D (deselect all), then reselect your note.

Sorry it's a pain in the a__, but that's one thing we've got to ask MOTU to change until they listen to us. I suggest using the suggestion box and asking for some method to ID the track along with the rest of the selection info in the header of the MIDI Graphic Edit Window. Similar information should appear in the Selection Window.

You may find this easier and faster:

Select the note, hit Shift-E and the track name is right there at the top of the Event List window. Hit Command-W to close the window.

You can select multiple notes from multiple tracks and it will open each list.

How this works with CW, I don't know because I don't use CW.

[Shooshie]

You may find this easier and faster:

Select the note, hit Shift-E and the track name is right there at the top of the Event List window. Hit Command-W to close the window.

You can select multiple notes from multiple tracks and it will open each list.

How this works with CW, I don't know because I don't use CW.

Dan, you're my new hero. That works EXCELLENTLY. The track is right there! Right in the title bar of the window.

I can't believe I never found that. I've been looking for the perfect workaround for years. I've been asking MOTU for a fix, and recently I sent a detailed explanation of what's needed and why. I'm just hoping it gets through. But in the meantime, this is a great solution!

Folks, if you haven't tried it, just hit SHIFT-E for the Event List, and you'll be amazed. There's your track. If you're in the Consolidated Windows, there is no need ever to close the Event List. Just leave it open in one of the side panels. (Command-W will close the Consolidated Window, you know)

Thanks, Dan,

Shooshie

[Shooshie]

I'm just sitting here selecting notes and hitting Shift-E. Shaking my head in disbelief.

Hahahaha!!! That's the best news I've had in a month or two!

Mark Of The needs to fix that. It would be so easy.

Shoosh

[MDesigner]

Thanks, that works! Great tip. But I can't leave the Event List open, if I do, when I click on different notes in the MIDI Editor, the title doesn't change to reflect the currently selected instrument. I have to always close the Event List and reopen it.

[Dan Worley]

Thanks, that works! Great tip. But I can't leave the Event List open, if I do, when I click on different notes in the MIDI Editor, the title doesn't change to reflect the currently selected instrument. I have to always close the Event List and reopen it.

Yeah, you have to hit Shift-E, the Event list doesn't update note selections live.

You actually don't have to close the window(s) if you don't want to (I often forget to). The EL will open a window for each track that you select a note from, and then it will bring each one to the top as needed.

I just now tried it with the EL in the CW. I think that's even a bit more convenient (except for multiple track selection). I'm not a CW fan, but this might work out okay.

Shooshie, I'm so pleased you find it useful. One down and 947 more to go before I pay you back.

I do think MOTU needs to work out a way where we don't have to do this.

[Shooshie]

Yeah, I use it in the Consolidated Window, and all I have to do is click SHIFT-E again, and the same window updates to the new track.

By the way, for those who want to go a little deeper in alternative methods, I've used color identification extensively for almost as long as I've used DP and P. So, it's evolved to a point that may seem complex on the outside, but it's really simple and fast. The only complicated part is the QuicKeys setup.

I created a QuicKeys shortcut for about 20 of the color sets in DP. When I find myself straining to differentiate between the colors of any two tracks, or if a track color doesn't give me the contrast I need during editing, I just hit a shortcut for a new color set. In fact, I'll go through about 20 of them in around 10 seconds, until one jumps out as having more contrast for the current set of tracks.

YouTube: Track Colors in DP, using QuicKeys for quick color browsing. Go to 2:10 for the part relevant to this discussion.

The trick is in the keyboard commands. I use all the keys on the numeric keypad, plus some function keys. But aren't those already assigned to other functions? Yes, but QuicKeys has "sticky triggers" which enables infinite re-use of the same shortcuts by prefacing them with another shortcut. So, I hit CONTROL-OPTION-COMMAND-C (for Color), and it stays active for the next five seconds while I run through the keypad shortcuts, also with CONTROL-OPTION-COMMAND held down.

So, if the colors in one set cause two tracks to look too much alike, the colors in another set will set them apart nicely. Color is still my first line of identification, so I try to keep it working. But when I just need a quick sign to tell me which track a note belongs to, nothing is as absolute and quick as the SHIFT-E for the Event List.

Shooshie