Piano Roll: Quickly transpose notes within selected key.

Share what you’d like to see added to Ableton Live.
Post Reply
Slow Hand
Posts: 35
Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2020 7:54 am

Piano Roll: Quickly transpose notes within selected key.

Post by Slow Hand » Sun May 15, 2022 1:34 am

So here's an idea that I found a need for recently: I propose a keyboard shortcut on the piano roll that would allow me to select multiple notes and only transpose them up or down to notes that share those same pitches.

For example: If I highlight a chord that consists of three notes (spelled from low to high: C, E, and G). Then I hold a key command and when I drag them down it only transposes them to the next lowest note that is a C, an E, or a G. So my C in the bass transposes down to the G beneath it and the E and G in my chord transpose down to the C and E just below themselves as I drag down them in the piano roll.

The idea is to avoid transposing notes up or down chromatically (as is the default), but to transpose them within the range of pitches that are selected. This would allow users to quickly re-voice chords with different notes in the bass and find the right register.

Another example: If I highlighted an arpeggio I could transpose the notes up or down and they would only transpose to the next nearest pitch that is included in the group that I've highlighted.

Whaddaya say?

jonljacobi
Posts: 887
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 3:36 am

Re: Piano Roll: Quickly transpose notes within selected key.

Post by jonljacobi » Wed May 18, 2022 12:00 am

I never use the scales and not near a computer. It doesn’t do this when it’s restricted?

Slow Hand
Posts: 35
Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2020 7:54 am

Re: Piano Roll: Quickly transpose notes within selected key.

Post by Slow Hand » Thu May 19, 2022 2:13 am

jonljacobi wrote:
Wed May 18, 2022 12:00 am
I never use the scales and not near a computer. It doesn’t do this when it’s restricted?
No. That's not the same thing as what I'm describing. If I turn on 'scale' in the piano roll and then drag a C major chord (C, E, G) down one click the chord would now consist of notes B, D, and F.

Instead, what I'm looking for is a shortcut to re-voice the chord-voicing and retain the same pitches, but now in a lower register. So when I drag down my chord of C3, E3, and G3 one unit in the piano roll it would now be spelled as G2, C3, and E3. If I dragged it down one more click, those notes would then shift down and go E2, G2, C3. Finally if I dragged those notes down a click they would now be spelled C2, E2, G2 one octave lower from where I started.

Does that make sense?

jonljacobi
Posts: 887
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 3:36 am

Re: Piano Roll: Quickly transpose notes within selected key.

Post by jonljacobi » Thu May 19, 2022 10:27 pm

So you basically want to invert chords? I know of no way to do this by restrained movement, other than simply dragging the uppermost voice an octave to the bottom, or vice versa. Not a very difficult operation. I just look at all this stuff as a way to hone my musical comprehension. And the piano roll is already starting to get a bit bloated.

Slow Hand
Posts: 35
Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2020 7:54 am

Re: Piano Roll: Quickly transpose notes within selected key.

Post by Slow Hand » Fri May 20, 2022 11:15 pm

jonljacobi wrote:
Thu May 19, 2022 10:27 pm
So you basically want to invert chords? I know of no way to do this by restrained movement, other than simply dragging the uppermost voice an octave to the bottom, or vice versa. Not a very difficult operation. I just look at all this stuff as a way to hone my musical comprehension. And the piano roll is already starting to get a bit bloated.

You're not wrong about simply moving the top note to the bottom of the voicing, but that only works if the notes of the chord all start and end at the same time. What I'm looking for is an operation that preserves the timing relationships of the notes.

Let's say I play a chord by arpeggiating the notes and then holding them to form a chord (see attached photos). I want to be able to select these three notes and then drag them up and down and only have them transpose to the next nearest C, E, or G while retaining their timing relationship.

Image

Image

Image

You see where I'm going? If I was playing a larger chord (6 notes or more) it would be very tedious to drag the lowest note down to the next pitch and then drag down the second note down, and then drag down the 3rd note down, etc...

So what I'm proposing is a quick and elegant way to re-voice chords or clusters of notes such that they only snap to a pitch if that pitch is a part of the selected notes.

Post Reply