Editing Software Instrument Regions

We've already encountered one form of software instrument region editing: transposition (page 329). That's just the beginning. There's almost no end to the ways you can edit MIDI data, and unlike when you're onstage, you can always undo any disasters.

You can edit regions you record or regions that you create by dragging loops from the loop browser. And you can edit in either of two views: the piano roll-style graphic view or music-notation view. In either view, you can change notes, modify their duration, change their velocity values, draw new notes, and more.

To switch views, click the button in the lower-left corner of the track editor.

Selecting Multiple Notes

You often need to select multiple notesfor example, prior to duplicating them or adjusting their velocity. To select more than one note, Shift-click on the notes or drag a selection rectangle around them.

Editing in Graphic View

Editing is easy in the graphic view's piano-roll display.

Fixing wrong notes. To fix a wrong note, drag it up or down until it becomes the right note. If the note is very high or low, scroll the track editor or make it taller by dragging the area to the left of the Record button.

If you fumbled and accidentally hit two keys when you meant to hit just one, delete the extra wrong note: select it and press the Delete key.

Notes and Tips

Improving expression. By editing the velocity values of some notes, you can improve expression and realism. This is especially true for software instruments, such as Classical Acoustic, that change dramatically depending on how hard you play a note.

To edit a note's velocity, select it and then specify the desired velocity in the Note Velocity box. To change the velocity of a range of notes, select the notes first.

Velocity values can range from 1 (quiet as a hoarse mouse) to 127 (way loud). To give you a visual hint at a note's velocity, GarageBand uses shading:

Moving a note in time. To move a note backward or forward, drag it left or right. To zoom in for more precision, drag the track editor's zoom slider to the right. You may also want to adjust the track editor's grid sensitivity by using its grid ruler button. Or turn the grid off entirely ( -G).

Changing a note's duration. To make a note longer or shorter, drag its right edge to the right or to the left.

Drawing a new note. To draw a new note, press and then drag within the track, using the little vertical piano key legend (and your ears) as guides.

Chords in a hurry. You can create chords by duplicating notes: press the Option key, click on a note, and then drag up or down by the desired note interval. This also works on a range of notes: select the notes, then Option-drag them.

Tip

Want to create a cinematic string section? Record a series of single notes, then duplicate them and drag the duplicate up seven semitones (a musical fifth). For some heavy metal action, try this with the Big Electric Lead guitar instrument. Just warn me first.

Editing in Notation View

Read music? Want to learn? Notation view is for you. It's also an ideal place to draw new notes and edit or create sustain-pedal information.

The techniques on the opposite page also apply to notation view, with the following differences.

Adjusting grid precision. When working in notation view, you'll want to use the grid ruler pop-up menu in the track editor to specify the degree of precision you want. For example, to move a note in quarter-note increments, choose 1/4 note. If you choose a small grid increment, you may see a lot of strange and small note or rest values, such as sixty-fourth notes.

Using the arrow keys. You can move notes by selecting them and pressing the arrow keys on your keyboard. You can also drag notes with the mouse.

Changing a note's duration. To change a note's duration, select the note, then drag the green duration bar left or right.

Drawing new notes. To draw a new note, first click the note value button in the Advanced area of the track editor, and choose the note value you want.

Then, press and click within the staff to create the note.

Enlarging the notes. To make the notation view larger, make the track editor taller: drag the area to the left of the Record button upwards. Similarly, to increase the horizontal spacing between notes, drag the track editor's zoom slider.

Playing GarageBand's Keyboards

GarageBand provides two on-screen keyboards that let you audition (and even record) software instruments without having to reach for (or even have) a music keyboard.

Keyboard window. To view this simulated piano keyboard, choose Keyboard from the View menu ( -k).

Musical Typing window. This window lets you play by pressing keys on your Mac's keyboard. Choose Musical Typing from the Window menu (Shift- -k).

Note

When the Musical Typing window is visible, some of GarageBand's keyboard shortcutssuch as pressing Home to move to the beginning of the songaren't available.