Midi Workflow

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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Soundtrackband
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Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:16 am

Midi Workflow

Post by Soundtrackband » Tue May 23, 2017 12:39 am

I like Ableton generally, but I cannot stand editing midi in it. Every other DAW and application does not have this blank microscopic piano roll that makes it near impossible to do anything quickly. Are there any max or third party plugins that turn the piano roll into something that allows click on click off, etc. Who came up with the workflow to constantly have to trade backwards between writing and editing midi notes, as well as the constant need to zoom in or out? Its horrendously inefficient and nearly a deal breaker, since this is supposed to be a midi-intensive application.

[jur]
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Re: Midi Workflow

Post by [jur] » Tue May 23, 2017 1:06 am

You can extend the window and zoom in the piano roll's height.
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Soundtrackband
Posts: 36
Joined: Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:16 am

Re: Midi Workflow

Post by Soundtrackband » Tue May 23, 2017 1:15 am

I know I can zoom in, but I want bigger buttons to start with. I am constantly having to zoom in and out, and scroll right and left. The b key to go between draw move, and delete, extend etc is really inefficient. I want a plug-in like a midi step sequencer, which exists in reason, logic. Ableton is also light years behind fruity loops when it comes to lightning fast midi editing.

Scherer
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Re: Midi Workflow

Post by Scherer » Tue May 23, 2017 6:12 am

There is a cool thing you can do: Just drag the midi window to full size. To exit just use SHIFT + TAB. That way you can simply double click any midi or audio clip, edit in full size and won't have to drag the window small again. For me that was a lifesaver when I found that shortcut.

channelite
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Re: Midi Workflow

Post by channelite » Fri May 26, 2017 4:58 am

Since Live introduced Drum Racks, Impulse seems forgotten.

jlgrimes
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Re: Midi Workflow

Post by jlgrimes » Fri May 26, 2017 11:18 am

Soundtrackband wrote:I like Ableton generally, but I cannot stand editing midi in it. Every other DAW and application does not have this blank microscopic piano roll that makes it near impossible to do anything quickly. Are there any max or third party plugins that turn the piano roll into something that allows click on click off, etc. Who came up with the workflow to constantly have to trade backwards between writing and editing midi notes, as well as the constant need to zoom in or out? Its horrendously inefficient and nearly a deal breaker, since this is supposed to be a midi-intensive application.
To me Ableton have one of the best piano rolls but I probably use Piano Rolls a lot differently than others.

I do a lot of my Drum programming in Piano Roll and seldom write melodies in Piano Roll.

I hate Reason's and Logics Piano Roll as they make Drum programming more of a chore.

We even had a seasoned Logic user come over to work on a track. After he seen us use Ableton to program hats, he said that he can't think of a good way to program drums that fast in Logic.


That said I do think Ableton could make the piano Roll better but It is definitely not the worst Piano Roll I've used.

ObtuseMoose
Posts: 146
Joined: Sat Dec 17, 2011 2:51 am

Re: Midi Workflow

Post by ObtuseMoose » Fri May 26, 2017 3:15 pm

Scherer wrote:There is a cool thing you can do: Just drag the midi window to full size. To exit just use SHIFT + TAB. That way you can simply double click any midi or audio clip, edit in full size and won't have to drag the window small again. For me that was a lifesaver when I found that shortcut.
I always wonder how it is that I can use something for years and not discover useful things like this myself. This is great, thanks for posting it!

--
Moose
"all the musical ability of a blocked nostril"

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