Pianoroll Editor

The piano roll editor is a full featured editor for your midi data.

Note: If you want to edit your midi data in common european notation format (score), learn about the Score Editor.

Overview

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Commands

Mouse

Keyboard

Overview

Use the piano roll editor to manipulate midi data. Although for the classic musician the Score Editor is a better shot, much precise-work and/or low-level midi work is only possible through the piano roll, which displays the notes as boxes in a grid. The pianoroll can edit one or more tracks at the same time.

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To display the piano roll editor, select the tracks that you want to show the piano roll, then use the Track Manager toolbar to enable it (Alternatively, press the 'O' key). The piano roll is displayed for each selected track

• Tip: If only one track is selected, the pianoroll automatically is maximized to take all the available height for better editing experience.
• Tip: If you have selected 2 tracks, then 2 pianoroll controls will be shown. To be able to use a single pianoroll control to edit 2 or more midi tracks, group them first (For more, see Track Manager).
• Tip: While the pianoroll is active, you can use the Magnifier Tool (for more, see Track Manager) to adjust its height, by clicking it at the left side of the piano roll.

As stated, you can select some midi tracks, group them with Alt+G and then there is only one pianoroll for all of them.

Commands

The pianoroll commands are available through either the ribbon (See Ribbon, for Windows 7), or when right clicking at the pianoroll as a context popup menu.

The commands are:

• Insert
  • Note, inserts the note at the current cursor position. The size of the note (time) depends on the current Note Resolution (see below), the cursor is moved to the next grid line.
    Note: If you use the mouse double click to insert the note and the grid is active, the note will be inserted at the start of the grid.
  • Short Message, allows you to insert any other short midi message except a note (patch, aftertouch, controller etc).
  • Long Message, allows you to insert any long midi message. As of now, only SYSEX events are supported.
  • Select Channel,allows you to select the next channel for the next note.
    Note: You can apply the same channel for all the notes in the track by using the Track Menu (For more, see Track Manager)
• Insert Next Note at position, allows you to insert a series of notes by using the numpad's 0-9 (for up values) or Ctrl+0-9 for down values. For example you can insert a C and then pressing 0 three times will insert C notes at the start of the next grid.
• View
  • Drum List , shows standard drumkit names for midi notes 35 to 81.
  • Note List, shows a list with all the notes. You can edit the properties of each note at that list manually.
  • Velocity Toggle, shows the velocities on each note
  • Up/Down Toggle, toggles the display to be from 0 to 127 or vice versa.
  • Hex/Dec notes toggles the note numbering from dec to hex.
• Next Note Resolution decides the next note length.
• Grid Resolution decides the grid resolution. Snapping occurs to the grid vertical lines while resizing or moving a note.
  Note: The default note/grid resolution is loaded from the current beat mode of the track.
• Colors menu enables you to switch the color mode. By default, notes in the same track have the same color (so if you load a pianoroll with more than 1 track to edit, you know which note belongs to which track). You can use the colors menu to change colors depending on velocity,(in which case louder notes show bolder) or depending on channel ,in which case notes change colors depending on their midi channel. You can also select to show Layers (see below)
• Lock Selection allows you to lock tracks for editing. If you have loaded the pianoroll with more than one track, this menu is useful to select only one track to perform copy/paste etc operatons. By default, all the loaded tracks are locked for editing.
• Selected Items perform operations to the selected items:
  • Copy/Cut/Paste, performs these manipulations to the selected items.
    Note: This is an internal clipboard, it has nothing to do with Windows clipboard or audio or part copy/paste operations.
  • Paste to Grid before cursor pastes to the grid. If you use the normal paste, the data will be pasted at the cursor position without snapping.
  • Up/Down move the items up or down once, chromatically.
  • Channel Up/Down changes the items' channels.
  • Velocity Up/Down changes the items' velocities.
• Next Layer selects the next layer for the note (1-10).
• Select on Layer allows you to excluse one or more layers from the selection. This allows you to select with the mouse only notes in the layers you specify
  

TPME supports layers, which are just classes for notes. You can have up to 10 layers. Although layers in TPME only allow you to separate selections, they are much more important in the Score Editor. Note that if you edit a midi track in TPME and then pass it to TPSE, the layers might be redesigned automatically by TPSE.

Mouse

With the mouse, you can either select items (click on somewhere outside a note then drag), move selected items or resize an item. The mouse will snap to the current grid.

Using the mouse wheel when no note is selected will scroll the pianoroll up or down.

Using the mouse wheel when notes are selected will change their velocities.

Double clicking the mouse will insert a note to the current position (it will snap to current grid) with the current note resolution.

Middle click the mouse on a note and:

• If you have loaded a midi out device, the note is played to that device.
• If you have enabled the "Router button" (See Transporter) , the note is played according to your linking in the Visual Linker.

Piano Roll Editor Keyboard/Mouse Shortcuts

Mouse Actions:

• Double click on empty: Insert note, snap to grid
• Double click on note: Delete note
• Single clicn on note: Select note
• Drag note : Move note
• Drag outside notes: Select notes

Selection and manipulation applies to current track locks and current layer locks.