Discussion:
[Lmuse-user] How to copy controller events in pianoroll editor
martin
2017-07-22 16:05:22 UTC
Permalink
Hello all,

I could not find a way to copy controller events inside the pianoroll editor. Is there a way to do it?

Admittedly, I never had the need to copy controller events until I did something with a bandoneon. To mimick what
bandoneon players do with the bellows, you need to do a lot with the volume controller and the volume changes act like
part of a note and should be copied with the note.

When you do pitch-bend stuff to mimick a guitar player you'll also want to copy these events with the note.
Tim
2017-07-22 16:26:39 UTC
Permalink
Post by martin
Hello all,
I could not find a way to copy controller events inside the pianoroll editor. Is there a way to do it?
Admittedly, I never had the need to copy controller events until I did something with a bandoneon. To mimick what
bandoneon players do with the bellows, you need to do a lot with the volume controller and the volume changes act like
part of a note and should be copied with the note.
When you do pitch-bend stuff to mimick a guitar player you'll also want to copy these events with the note.
Sadly, we still have no copy and paste features for the graphs.
It is a deep fundamental issue that I have intensely studied
and tried to solve several times but got side-tracked.
Hopefully the next time I visit this I can solve it.

For now there is a way but it's tedious:
Open the midi event list editor and work with the controller
events there.
In the pianoroll graph, select the desired controller events
and they will appear selected in the event list editor, and vice-versa.
Then they can be manipulated in the event list editor.

Tim.
martin
2017-07-22 19:42:18 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tim
Post by martin
Hello all,
I could not find a way to copy controller events inside the pianoroll editor. Is there a way to do it?
Admittedly, I never had the need to copy controller events until I did something with a bandoneon. To mimick what
bandoneon players do with the bellows, you need to do a lot with the volume controller and the volume changes act like
part of a note and should be copied with the note.
When you do pitch-bend stuff to mimick a guitar player you'll also want to copy these events with the note.
Sadly, we still have no copy and paste features for the graphs.
It is a deep fundamental issue that I have intensely studied
and tried to solve several times but got side-tracked.
Hopefully the next time I visit this I can solve it.
would you mind telling us, what makes this difficult to solve? Maybe someone will look at this problem from a different
angle and suggest a solution which bypasses some of those deep fundamental issues.
Post by Tim
Open the midi event list editor and work with the controller
events there.
In the pianoroll graph, select the desired controller events
and they will appear selected in the event list editor, and vice-versa.
Then they can be manipulated in the event list editor.
Ahh, that's good to know. I was wondering why you can select these events at all. Is there anything else you can do with
selected controller events?

I believe, using the event editor will be overkill unless you need *exact* duplication of the controller events.
Otherwise it's easier to just draw them again for each note. Plus, before manipulating the controller events, I would
have to duplicate them, and I don't know how to do this. But maybe I didn't quite understand the workflow you're suggesting.
Tim
2017-07-22 20:55:17 UTC
Permalink
Post by martin
Post by Tim
Post by martin
Hello all,
I could not find a way to copy controller events inside the pianoroll editor. Is there a way to do it?
Admittedly, I never had the need to copy controller events until I did something with a bandoneon. To mimick what
bandoneon players do with the bellows, you need to do a lot with the volume controller and the volume changes act like
part of a note and should be copied with the note.
When you do pitch-bend stuff to mimick a guitar player you'll also want to copy these events with the note.
Sadly, we still have no copy and paste features for the graphs.
It is a deep fundamental issue that I have intensely studied
and tried to solve several times but got side-tracked.
Hopefully the next time I visit this I can solve it.
would you mind telling us, what makes this difficult to solve? Maybe someone will look at this problem from a different
angle and suggest a solution which bypasses some of those deep fundamental issues.
Well, it's been a while but I think part of the problem was
the user interface: being able to select notes /and/ controller
pianoroll events means the window menu must dynamically change the
copy and paste entries, and the hot keys as well such as what happens
when ctrl-c is pressed, depending on what exactly is selected.
Notice how currently the pianoroll copy and paste entries do not
change when selecting controller events.

We are definitely close, a lot of the mechanism is in place,
but like a lot of things, there are tricks and traps that
force a careful deeper look and harder thought.

Also, our event list editor has no copy and paste feature !
I never got around to it, I don't recall if there were issues that
prevented me from quickly adding it. Such as where exactly to
'paste' in the event list editor. Maybe a popup with a dial-in
paste position or something...
I was at one point trying to overhaul the entire copy/paste system
to support copying/pasting anything including controller events,
but I got side-tracked. Again, it's tricky, devil is in the details,
while keeping a bird's eye view of the overall app behaviour.
Post by martin
Post by Tim
Open the midi event list editor and work with the controller
events there.
In the pianoroll graph, select the desired controller events
and they will appear selected in the event list editor, and vice-versa.
Then they can be manipulated in the event list editor.
Ahh, that's good to know. I was wondering why you can select these events at all. Is there anything else you can do with
selected controller events?
I believe, using the event editor will be overkill unless you need *exact* duplication of the controller events.
Otherwise it's easier to just draw them again for each note. Plus, before manipulating the controller events, I would
have to duplicate them, and I don't know how to do this. But maybe I didn't quite understand the workflow you're suggesting.
Well, yeah, it's sure not ideal, especially in light of the above -
no copy and paste feature.
So one or the other, or both, features (pianoroll controllers
and/or event list copying/pasting) will have to be added
to satisfy this request :-(

I am unable to jump back into this right now as I am busy
with a mini- midi engine overhaul in order to fix Andrew's
report of the 'panic' button problem.

Tim.
martin
2017-07-22 22:04:37 UTC
Permalink
Post by Tim
I am unable to jump back into this right now as I am busy
with a mini- midi engine overhaul in order to fix Andrew's
report of the 'panic' button problem.
I could live without this feature for years, so there is no need to rush it. Also, you can always write small parts (or
cut a larger part into small pieces) and then copy the pieces. This will also copy the controller events, won't it?
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