Grouping Sections

By now you may have just a few tracks or many. You may have a simple setup or lots of controller tracks and pattern switching going on. Either way, this is a good time to start organizing your Sequencer tracks by grouping them into chunks that can be moved around and duplicated in the Arrange window.

Grouping lets you take segments of a track and turn them into self-contained objects that can be easily moved and edited. It also minimizes the risk of leaving "orphaned" notes and controller data behind when you move sections from one place to another.

To group a section of a track

1.	In your Sequencer, choose the track and section you want to group together and set your grid to the best value to select it. When working with large sections or tracks with controller or pattern data, use the Arrange windowReason will then automatically select all controller data when you make a selection.
2.	Drag-select the track section or notes you want to group using the arrow tool (Figure 10.1). Figure 10.1. Even though the blue Controller lane is not being selected, all controller data are gathered into the group anyway.
3.	Use the Edit > Group command to create a new group. Your grouped data will now appear as a colored box in the Arrange window (Figure 10.2). Figure 10.2. A grouped section of a track shows up as a colored box.
4.	You can quickly check your group in Edit mode by double-clicking it in the Arrange window. Do this before moving or editing your group, just in case you missed controller or pattern data crossing from one section to the next. That way, you know the group is "safe," or self-contained (Figure 10.3). Figure 10.3. Though this track has a lot of controller data, the group is self-contained because the controller changes don't cross the measure boundaries.