Edit notes, hands, expression and structure

In Editor, vertical position represents pitch and horizontal position represents time. The length of each rectangle shows its duration.

Opening material to edit

1. Import a MIDI file or open a recorded session.
2. Switch to Editor with Cmd+3.
3. If the start screen appears, choose Import Current MIDI. To start from scratch, choose New Empty Project.
4. Find the passage in the piano roll.
5. Turn off playhead following if you need to keep that area in view while playing back.

Selecting, moving and changing duration

1. Turn on the Move Tool (V) with V.
2. Click a note to select it, or drag from an empty area to select a group.
3. Drag a note to change its position in time or its pitch.
4. Drag its edge to change the duration.
5. Play the passage and check the change.
6. Press Cmd+Z if you want to undo it.

Turn on Audition Notes (Audition Notes) to hear notes as you draw or move them. To delete, select the notes and press Delete/Backspace. You can copy with Cmd+C and paste with Cmd+V; check where the playhead is before you paste.

Marking the hands

The hand isn't a separate track: it travels with each note, and you can change it at any time. In the piano roll, left-hand notes are drawn in their own color.

1. Select the notes you want to change.
2. Press L for left or R for right, with no modifier, while the piano roll is active.
3. Or use the context menu on a note: Left Hand / Right Hand.
4. Or use Edit > Left Hand (Cmd+Option+L) and Edit > Right Hand (Cmd+Option+R).
5. Check the result in the visualizer with Tell the hands apart turned on.

If you right-click a note that wasn't selected, that note becomes the selection before the change is applied. Marking the hand can be undone with Cmd+Z, and it's only recorded if at least one note actually changes hands.

Hands are also split when you import the MIDI file and kept when you export it: the file comes out with a Right Hand track and a Left Hand track. To choose their colors, go to Visualization.

Drawing notes

1. Select the Pencil Tool (B) with B.
2. Choose the division of the snap grid (Snap Grid).
3. Turn on snapping if you want to place notes at exact musical positions.
4. Draw notes at the pitch and position you want.
5. Switch back to Move to adjust their lengths.
6. Listen to the result.

Snapping and quantizing

Snap affects moving and drawing. Quantize fixes notes that already exist. Their divisions are set separately.

1. Select the notes you want to fix.
2. Open the Q options.
3. Choose the note value and, where needed, dotted or triplet.
4. Choose the strength: 100% moves the note all the way to the target; a lower percentage keeps part of the original offset.
5. Press Q to apply it to the selection.
6. Listen, and use Undo if the result loses the feel you were after.

The Quantize While Recording option applies the correction as the take comes in. Turn it off before recording if you want to keep the original rhythm.

Swing, humanize and groove

In the quantize options you can adjust Swing and Humanize. Swing changes the rhythmic relationship between subdivisions; humanize adds timing variations.

To transfer the rhythmic feel of one group of notes to another:

1. Select the reference notes.
2. Open Q > Groove > Extract from Selection (Extract from Selection).
3. Select the target notes.
4. Decide whether to apply velocity too, using Apply Velocity.
5. Choose Apply to Selection and listen to the result.

Editing velocity, pedal and other controllers

1. Show the velocity lane (Velocity) to change how hard the notes are played.
2. Adjust the values in the passage and listen to the effect with your chosen instrument.
3. For other controllers, click Add Automation Lane.
4. Choose CC64 for sustain, another CC number, or Pitch Bend.
5. In a CC or Pitch Bend lane, double-click to add a point and drag it to adjust its position and value. You can also draw values with the Pencil tool.
6. Play from before the change to check how it behaves.

CCs range from 0 to 127, and their effect depends on the instrument. Sustain is CC64; pitch bend changes pitch continuously within the range the instrument accepts. If a pedal stays down longer than expected, also check the event that releases it.

You can hide lanes and change their height to give more room to the one you're editing.

Getting organized with markers

1. Place the playhead at a point you want to label.
2. Press M, or the M+ button, to add a marker with its name ready to type.
3. Double-click the marker to rename it.
4. Click to select it; Cmd-click jumps to its position.
5. Use the marker list to review the sections of the piece.

Names like "Intro", "Theme" or "Ending" make it easy to get back to the same spots while you edit.

Inserting empty bars

1. Stop the transport and disarm REC.
2. Open Events > Insert Bars….
3. Set the start and length of the space you want to add, or use the loop range.
4. Check the exclusive end: it's the start of the bar right after the range.
5. If the new bars need a different time signature, turn on that option and set it.
6. Confirm the insertion.
7. Play across the join and check the shifted events.

For example, a range from the start of bar 5 to the start of bar 7 is two bars long. Inserting adds that space before the starting bar; it doesn't copy the range's content.

Deleting bars and closing the gap

1. Stop the transport and disarm REC.
2. Open Events > Delete Bars….
3. Set the range and check the start, exclusive end and length.
4. Confirm.
5. Listen to the join between the parts that remain.
6. Press Cmd+Z if you need to get back to the previous state.

These operations shift later MIDI events and event lanes. They don't edit the reference audio track or readjust the loop points: check their alignment afterward. Partial loop ranges are expanded to whole bars, as the dialog explains.

For tempo, time signature and key, continue with Musical maps and audio. To turn the chords into a readable sheet, go to Charts.