simple MIDI question

brett · Post by **brett** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:31 pm

how do you get DP to record entire measures and not just when it recieved notes. I want the MIDI clips to be locked to the measure so I can copy and past them. Right now when I record MIDI they are broken and the clip is only where the MIDI is recieved.

jarok · Post by **jarok** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:50 pm

Hi

For copying MIDI - or Audio tracks you have to select starting point and ending point for your selection.
Then you just paste your selection to new starting point.

jarok

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:42 am

Before DP was "DIGITAL Performer," and about 15 years ago, the Tracks Overview window showed the measures as blue rectangles, and you could drag those around to rearrange your MIDI. It hasn't done that in a long, long time, and at first it was a little awkward, since I had learned to work that way. But it didn't take long to learn the new way, which is far better. With a little practice, you can still learn how to select individual bars in the Tracks Overview Window. But even better, you can select notes in any window, then bring forward the Tracks Overview (click in its title bar in Consolidated Windows), then drag what you selected from one measure to any other, or to another track. It will assume the same position, relative to a bar, when you do it that way.

Otherwise, get used to dealing with MIDI events on the level of time; Bar time: 00/00/000. With 480 ticks (by default) in each beat, your major subdivisions are

120 (16th note)
240 (eighth note)
360 (dotted eight, or 4th 16th note
480/000 (Quarter note)

Triplets divide on
000
80
160
240
320
400

There is almost no end to what you can do with the MIDI information or how you can work with it. I suggest doing some small projects to start off, while keeping the manual close by. The manual is your best friend. This forum may be your 2nd best. Be sure to check out the DP Tips Sheet--a "sticky thread" in this forum. Lots of tricks and tips for DP users are there, and they are all from people in this forum.

By the way, one trick for rounding out a measure for copying and pasting is to insert an extra note on the downbeat, and maybe even on the next downbeat (just depends on your circumstances), then cut the measure using that (those) note(s) to facilitate keeping things on the beat. It only takes a second.

1) Just option-drag one of your existing notes to the downbeat XX/1/000.
2) Select the entire measure, dragging over that note and any others.
3) Cut; paste or merge.
4) Delete the extra note.

Good luck,

Shooshie

Dwetmaster · Post by **Dwetmaster** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:44 am

You can also press control while you drag on your track overview. It will force your cursor to make a time selection instead of data selection.

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 10:00 am

Good grief. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks. I didn't know that!

Shooshie

brett · Post by **brett** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 4:18 pm

thanks. Seems like a goofy way to do it. Every other daw on the planets lets you work in blocks.

Mr_Clifford · Post by **Mr_Clifford** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 12:41 am

brett wrote:Every other daw on the planets lets you work in blocks.

If every other DAW on the planet jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge.......

Seriously though, the problem with working in blocks is that you end up with blocks of fixed lengths (usually depending on how long you recorded for in the first place), which you then need to chop up to move around, copy etc. Cubase SX added a time selection tool so that you could just select a portion of a block and copy it, but DP just bypasses the whole blocks thing entirely, which means that you have the complete freedom to select sections of whatever size you like. Add the 'smart selections' function, which chooses notes based on what bar you intended to play a note in, and it's a very powerfull way of dealing with MIDI data on tracks.

Get used to using the selection tools and I promise you, you'll never look back.

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 12:50 am

Mr. Clifford is right. This is progress, not regress. Plus, now that I've learned that Control Key basically puts you back in blocks again, you've got the best of both worlds. (I think I used to know this... it's one of many things I've known and forgotten, only to learn again and be thrilled anew!)

You will work most efficiently in a DAW when you have available 2 or more ways to do everything. Then, if you master them both, you're prepared for situations that come up and make things harder for you. DP offers so many ways to do things that one would have to be determined NOT to make it work if they were to find it awkward. There are yet a few little features that would be nice, but by and large, DP works very well for professionals.

Shooshie