MIDI automation - square shape not square

[Studio Llama]

Hi all

Hope this day finds you well.... I have an issue I can't solve, I want to draw a set of square pulses in the volume edit layer of MIDI, when I click pencil, then the shape next to it and drag across, it shows squares, when I release the pencil the squares are now quite sharp diagonal ramps.. IS there a simple reason why this happens? It must be possible to draw a bunch of pulses and drag across the entire length of a sequence no?

Thanks in advance for any advice...

[bayswater]

Well, I get perfectly square pulses on volume edits using the square shaping option, even when zoomed in as far as DP goes. Maybe post the versions etc of what you're using and a little more detail. Whatever we're doing, it's not the same thing.

[Shooshie]

You are probably using LINES mode in the MIDI Graphic Edit Window. I'm going to give you a link to a post about control points in the DP Tips Sheet (2nd page).

Now, I'm going to quote the parts of that post which I think you need to examine in order to understand why that is happening. What follows is from that post in the DP Tips Sheet:

• Basics
  There are three display modes for the control points themselves. They are points, bars, and lines. You must understand how they work, or you might think that it's gone crazy on you. I'll demonstrate:
  
  _____ _____
  
  Ok, that seems simple enough. Why am I telling you about it? Because if you do not understand how these work, you may think that things have gone terribly haywire. Take a look at the square wave in the following example. It's the same square wave in each example, constrained to 32nd notes, but the different display modes give you quite different results:
  
  _____ _____
  
  Here's an example of what is going on with LINES mode. It uses just a few control points to represent a LOT of control points.
  --
  
  A lot of people never use LINES! I'm sad to think that such a powerful feature of DP for every day use is neglected! That's like neglecting graphic editing windows or something. Let me demonstrate:
  
  --
  
  The Drawing Tools
  So, now that we have the basics down, let's talk about techniques. The power of Control Point creation and editing lies in five keys: Shift, Command, Option, Control, and Escape*. They work a little differently here than in other places. Their basic functions are described on page 416 of the DP5 manual [Page 349 for DP7], but the description alone does not tell you how to use them. I'll give you some hints:
  
  First of all: if you need to constrain the shapes to a grid, use the Edit Grid toggle.
  
  
  Now, I'm going to constrain the Edit Grid to a Quarter Note and create a Triangle Wave over and over, but each time I'm going to add a modifier key until I'm using all four of them, to show how you can modify that wave. NOTE: the modifier keys do not make the choices for you.
  First: draw a whole wave, without releasing the mouse.
  Second: add the modifier key and drag backward or forward until the desired result is achieved.
  Third: Once that key's job is done, release the key and continue dragging the mouse until you have completed your wave.
  Also, note that the modifier keys are constrained by the Edit Grid if it is toggled on. The last step will de-toggle the grid with the COMMAND Key. Ok, here goes:
  
  --
  --
  --
  

I hope that helped you.

Shooshie

[Studio Llama]

Ok wow. Thats amazing, many thanks to you both... I was 'stuck' in 'lines mode' hence that result, but yes, works great now

Regards

Gareth

[Shooshie]

Just to be clear to everyone reading this, using LINES mode doesn't actually change the wave shape. It just changes the way it's displayed. The line is merely connecting the dots.

Shooshie