Getting to Know the MIDI Editors

The following is a brief introduction to each of the MIDI editors:

• Score Editor: Used to create printed notation. Ideal if you like working with dots, dashes, and lines.
• Piano Roll: Perfectly suited for making changes to the pitch and length of MIDI note events. Note events are represented as horizontal rectangles on a grid. The length of the rectangle is directly proportional to the note length. The pitch of the note is indicated by the vertical position of the rectangle, with higher notes being placed toward the top of the screen.
• Hyper Editor: Useful for creating MIDI drum parts, and altering the levels of individual note events. It can also be used to create and edit MIDI controller information, allowing you to draw curves that result in a filter sweep in an external synthesizer, for example.
• Event List: Shows all MIDI event types as a list. This is the editor to use when you need to make precise changes to any aspect of a MIDI event.
• Transform window: This is not really an editor, in the same way that the other windows are. You use the Transform window for MIDI-processing tasks, using mathematical variables. While this might sound a little overwhelming, you can use the Transform window to create a crescendo in a region, double or halve the speed of notes in a region, and more. Many processes are available as presets, and you can create your own.