Electronic Studio Resources I: Assignment 4 — MIDI Sequencing

Assignment 4: MIDI Sequencing

What we’re trying to do

Make a very short composition using MIDI in Digital Performer. It should:

last about one minute,
use at least 4 MIDI tracks, playing sounds on the Kurzweil K2600,
include volume and panning automation,
include some pitch bend and control change messages.

What to turn in

One Digital Performer project folder, with the assignment number and your login as part of the folder name. Drag the folder into the DropBox folder for Assignment 4 on the computer in the studio.

Techniques

By the time you finish this assignment, you should have a basic grasp of the following techniques and commands.

Real-time recording
Editing notes in the MIDI graphic editing view
Moving and copying blocks of material in the Track Overview
Region commands, such as Transpose, Quantize, Humanize, Change Velocity, and Change Duration
Creating tempo changes
Inserting and editing continuous data

Basic setup

There are several ways to get MIDI data into tracks: real-time recording, step recording, using the pencil tool in the MIDI or Sequence views, and working with the Drum Editor. We’ll cover some of these methods below.

But before you enter data, you should configure your MIDI tracks.

Make sure that each track has a unique output device and channel number.
An output device is usually just the name of an instrument, such as “K2600.” Channel numbers range from 1 to 16 and are appended to the device name in the track list (e.g., “K2600-1”).
A channel can play only one program (or patch) at a time. In other words, you can’t assign two programs to the same channel. Many programs make only a single kind of sound, though there are exceptions, such as drum kits and split-keyboard programs.
Find the OUTPUT column in the Tracks view.

If the device names and channel numbers don’t look right to you, click and hold on the OUTPUT column entry for a track to get the hierarchical menu of output devices and channels. Choose the appropriate channel for the device you want (for this assignment, K2600).
Set up programs for each track.
Look for the DEFAULT PATCH column in the Tracks view. You may need to drag the divider — the dot pointed to by the arrow below — to the right in order to reveal this column.

Click and hold in the DEFAULT PATCH column.

This gives you a menu of the various banks of programs. Most banks in the K2600 have 100 programs.

When you hold your mouse over one of the bank names, you see a large menu of the programs in the bank. Choose one of those programs.

NOTE: Sometimes the large program menu covers up the bank menu. If this happens, move the DP window to a different part of the screen, and try again.
IMPORTANT: Do not use the PATCH column, because its settings are not saved with the file! Use the DEFAULT PATCH column instead.
Create more tracks, if you need them.
Use the menu command Project > Add Track > MIDI Track.
IMPORTANT: Choose a unique channel number for each new track. Otherwise, the new track will use the same patch — and other settings, such as volume and pan — as other tracks having the same channel number.

Real-time Recording

A MIDI sequencer will record what you play quite accurately, within the limits of its timing resolution. (For DP, by default, this is 480 parts per quarter note.) But if you don’t arrange for the pulses projected by your music to align with the graphical display of musical time in the editing views, then you may find it hard to locate places in the music, and certain techniques, such as rhythmic quantization, will not work.

For this reason, it’s best to record while listening to a metronome click (or to a drum pattern that you program in advance).

Here’s how to set up the metronome in DP.

Find the metronome icon in the Control Panel.
Double-click the metronome icon to see the metronome configuration window.
For Type of Click, choose Audio. The metronome sound is played by the computer (not an external synthesizer) and will enter the Mackie mixer on one of the MOTU channels.
If the metronome doesn’t work, check the Audio Click device in the configuration window, as well as the Accented and Normal sound choices. None of these menu items should appear in italics.
Press the Done button.
Click the metronome button in the Control Panel so that it turns blue.
To adjust the tempo of the metronome, click on the metronome mark in the Control Panel, and type a new BPM number.

Here’s how to record a track.

Make sure that the K2600 faders on the Mackie mixer are turned up, and that the volume control on the K2600 itself is up.
Click the record-enable button for the track you want to record. It turns red.

Until you do this, you won’t be able to hear anything when you play notes on the keyboard.
It’s good not to play in the first measure, so as to leave room for pickup notes and for synthesizer setup messages.
Set the meter (if other than the default 4/4) by using the Project & Modify Conductor Track & Change Meter command.
Press the Record button in the Control Panel to record.
You should hear the metronome as well as any other tracks you’ve already recorded. If you’ve already recorded a time-keeping track (like drums), you may want to silence the metronome by clicking its icon in the Control Panel.
Press the Stop button (or the space bar) to stop recording.
Press the Rewind button (or ‘1’ on the keypad) to return to the beginning of the sequence.
Press the Play button (or the space bar) to hear what you recorded.
If you don’t like what you recorded, either undo your recording (Edit > Undo) or choose New Take from the TAKE column menu in the Tracks view. Takes are numbered, and you can switch between them at any time to decide which take you like.

Step Recording

Step recording lets you enter notes on the keyboard, but not in real time. Instead, you choose a rhythmic note value. Notes you play then have that value. To see how this works, watch Coach Hass’ video about step recording in Digital Performer.

Drum Editor

You might also try using the Drum Editor to enter parts for instruments, such as drum kits, that map different sounds across the keyboard. See the instructions on this page for help getting started with the Drum Editor.

Track Overview

Read this page to learn how to manipulate notes diplayed in the Track Overview.

Cutting and Pasting

Cutting and pasting is often best accomplished in the MIDI graphic editing view. Advice about these techniques is available here.

Region menu commands

Commands in the Region menu require that you first select some MIDI data or (depending on the command) a time range.

Some region commands you should investigate:

Transpose — transpose or harmonize notes chromatically, diatonically, or by constraining them to the nearest member of a scale.
Quantize — snap the beginnings of notes to an evenly spaced rhythmic grid.
Humanize — randomly vary the start times, velocities, durations, and pitches of notes.
Change Velocity — useful for creating crescendos and diminuendos, among other things. (Use the Smooth mode of Change Velocity for this purpose.)
Be sure you understand the difference between changing volume using the Mixing Board and doing it via note velocities. The former can change volume during a note, but the latter can simulate other changes, such as brightness, that frequently occur along with varying dynamics on acoustic instruments.
Change Duration — set or scale note durations.
Invert Pitch — invert pitches around an axis of symmetry.
Reverse Time and Retrograde — different ways of playing notes backwards.

Note that some region commands have real-time equivalents available in the Mixing Board as insert effects. You configure these just as you would for real-time audio effects. The advantage of the real-time MIDI effects over those available in the Region menu is that it’s easier to adjust them while playing the sequence, and you can play notes through them from the keyboard to try them out. The disadvantage is that they apply to the entire duration of the track (though you can apply a real-time effect to a time region using the Region > Capture Realtime MIDI Effects command).

Tempo changes

To create a tempo change, use the Project > Modify Conductor Track > Change Tempo command.

NOTE: To hear changes in tempo, you must set the Tempo Control (in the popup menu to the right of the metronome mark in the Control Panel) to Conductor Track.

Continuous Data

Continuous data is DP’s way of referring to data that changes smoothly over time. This includes MIDI controller change messages — like volume, pan, and modulation — as well as pitch bend and aftertouch. (It also contains the MIDI switch controller messages, such as the damper pedal, even though those are not continuous.) Below are some ways to insert continuous data.

You can insert volume and pan changes using Mixing Board automation. When you record automation for a track, DP inserts the appropriate MIDI messages into the track. Recording and playing automation works exactly like audio automation.
There’s just one problem. DP expects you to provide initial values for these controllers, at the beginning of any tracks that have changing automation. If you don’t do this, the volume and pan at the start of playback will be set to default values.
Though it may seem cumbersome, the best way to handle this problem is to insert an initial controller value — or adjust the start time of the first automation event — using the MIDI graphic editor, so that there is at least one controller message prior to the first note.
If you want to hear volume and pan automation, remember to play-enable automation for the track.
Record continuous data into a track that already has notes. You can record pitch bend, modulation wheel (and any other controller sliders) this way. To keep from erasing the existing notes when recording, be sure to press the Overdub button first.
Use the Region > Create Continuous Data command.
Draw continuous data in the MIDI or Sequence views. To do this, first choose the pencil tool from the Tool palette, which you can show with the Studio > Tools command.

For the MIDI view, select the type of continuous data you want to draw from the pencil menu at the bottom of the view.

Click and drag in the area beneath the piano roll to draw continuous data.

Now that you and your classmates are using controllers, do not forget to press the PANIC soft button on the K2600 to return the controllers to normal before starting your session. You may not hear a channel that has been left with volume set to zero, even if the K2600 has been turned off. It is highly recommended to begin all tracks with an initial setting for all controllers that a track uses (including volume and pan), so that your sequence always begins with the correct settings.

If your continuous data doesn’t seem to play back correctly, your sequence may not have the right setting for event chasing. “Event chasing” is the term used for what the sequencer does when beginning playback in the middle of a sequence: it looks (chases) backward to find the most recent values for each controller used, sends those out, and only then begins playing. To set event chasing, choose Setup > Set Event Chasing, press the Set All button, and then the OK button.