Mind Over MIDI

By Joe Gore

Last time around we explored virtual instruments — ones that exist entirely in the software realm. As an example, we downloaded demo versions of Battery drum sampler, B4 organ, and Pro-52 synth, all from Native Instruments. This month we'll use the same instruments and MIDI files to take a deeper look at how Pro Tools handles MIDI. You don't need a MIDI keyboard for this lesson — you'll be making music via mouse.

But first, a few words about the MIDI "philosophy" of Pro Tools: The program is not the most in-depth of MIDI sequencers. Its architects made a deliberate decision to keep the program's MIDI features as streamlined and simple as possible.

Yet Pro Tools' MIDI features are not as stripped-down as you might suppose. If you've plumbed the arcane depth of other MIDI sequencers, you may sometimes miss particular features absent from Pro Tools. But if you tend to focus on such basics as recording and playing MIDI tracks and performing standard edits, you may find that you actually prefer PT's relatively simple system.

Let's return to last month's practice session as our jumping-off point. Download a slightly modified version (Windows, Macintosh). Demo versions of the three Native Instruments programs are available here. If you haven't yet attempted last month's lesson, I strongly recommend doing so before attempting this one.

Get On the Grid
Open the demo session and make it go. If you don't hear a trippy percussion loop, a synth bass, an organ, and a drum kit, retrace the setup steps from last month's column.

Let's focus first on the Battery drum module track. The tiny hatch marks on the MIDI track depict the sequence data. Listen to the track in isolation by pressing the solo buttons on both the "BatteryMIDI" and "BatteryAUX" tracks.

This view doesn't show much detail — let's adjust the view so we can actually see something. Expand the height of the Battery MIDI track by click-holding on the keyboard icon at the far left of the track and selecting the "jumbo" option. The drum pattern is essentially a two-bar loop. Zoom in on a single loop cycle by dragging the selector tool across bars five through seven, and then using the Option/Alt + F command to fill the screen with the segment.

The relative altitude of the notes reveals where they reside on the MIDI keyboard. This drum part contains only four notes: a kick drum sound at B0, a sidestick at C#1, a tambourine at F#2, and a closed hi-hat at G2. See for yourself: Open the Battery interface by clicking on the "N" icon in the inserts column of the BatteryAUX track, press play, and watch how the cell for each drum sound lights up as it appears in the sequence.

You can also adjust the "fatness" of the note symbols in the MIDI display. You could do so with the MIDI-view control in the edit screen's upper-left-hand corner, directly beneath the word "AudioSuite." But I'm confident that a Pro Tools ace like you will use the key commands instead. (Command/Shift + [ and ] on Mac, Control/Shift + [ and ] on PC.)

The fastest way to adjust the MIDI view is to drag the magnifying glass "zoomer" tool across the section you want to scrutinize, just as you would with an audio region. (Remember, you can zoom back out by clicking with the zoomer while holding down the Option (Mac) or Alt (Win) key.) There's a visual tradeoff here: As you zoom in closer, you may not be able to see the entire vertical range of the MIDI track. In this view, for example, you can only see the kick and sidestick portion of the sequence. However, Pro Tools provides a visual clue that some notes aren't visible: the small notes along the upper perimeter of the track.

You can scroll up and down within the track via the arrowhead symbols at the top and bottom of the keyboard graphic. In this view, I've scrolled up, and the hidden notes are indicated by tiny note symbols at the bottom of the MIDI track.

Like Audio, Like MIDI
Pro Tools uses the same tools to edit audio and MIDI data. As you already saw when we looped the drum pattern, you use the selector tool to highlight entire portions of a MIDI track. To select individual notes, you use the grabber tool. Try it out: Click directly on the pattern's first kick drum note and drag it up a half-step from B0 to C1, thereby triggering a different bass drum tone. You should hear the B0 sound when you first click on the note, and the C1 sound when you drag it to the higher key. (If you don't hear anything, make sure that the "Play MIDI note when editing" box is checked under Setups>Preferences>MIDI.) Play the loop again, and note the contrasting kick sound.

You can also use the grabber tool to select an entire group of notes, lasso-style. Try, for example, encircling all the B0 notes and dragging the whole lot up to C1. (If it's too tight to maneuver, increase the view magnification.) Now try selecting all the C#1 sidestick notes and dragging them up to D1 and E1, where snare sounds reside.

Try these other MIDI moves:

• Set the grid control at the upper-right-hand corner of the edit screen to 1/16th note and then drag a few notes from left to right and vice-versa. Holding down Option (Mac) or Alt (Win) while dragging creates a copy of the note at the new location. Note how the notes snap to grid — unless you change from grid to slip mode, in which case you can slide them between the cracks.
• Set the nudge control to Min:Secs>10 msec. Now you can select any note or group of notes and nudge them in small increments. For example, select all the drum pattern's backbeats by shift-clicking only on the C# sidestick notes that fall on beat two and four, and then tap the numerical keypad's + key three or four times. This makes these notes arrive slightly late — a good technique for imparting a human feel to sequenced drum parts.
• If the rhythms get a little too loose, select the notes in question and select Windows>Show MIDI Operations, which opens the control panel you use to quantize MIDI notes and adjust such parameters as velocity and swing factor. Make sure the "Quantize" tab is selected at the top of the window.

Consider this setting: The "Strength" box is checked and set to 100%, so clicking "Apply" will lock the notes to grid. However, "Random" is also checked. At this 20% setting, the placement of each note will drift by several milliseconds, another technique that can generate a more complex and human feel.

Now let's check out some of the MIDI edits you're likely to use on less percussive material. Solo the Pro-52MIDI and Pro-52AUX tracks, loop a two-bar segment, and magnify the view as we did with the drum tracks.

Now you can see how, for better or worse, the notes are not locked to grid. Try fixing that: Select "Grid" mode, a 16th-note grid setting, and the grabber tool, and snap the phrase into strict time by clicking on each note and dragging it to the nearest grid line.

Conversely, you adjust note length by click-dragging on note symbols with the trimmer tool. For example, try selecting "Slip" mode and crafting a more staccato bass phrase by shortening the notes in this manner. Again, the edit behavior varies according to whether you're in "Slip" or "Grid" mode.

You can also make similar adjustments via the aforementioned MIDI Operations window. With the "Change Duration" tab selected, you can alter the length of selected notes by percentage or absolute value.

Now try composing a hipper bass riff by dragging the notes to new pitches and shifting them around in time. You can input new notes without a MIDI controller by clicking on the MIDI grid with the pencil tool. The "Grid" setting determines the note length, while the velocity defaults to a medium-strength 64. Again, you can alter velocities in the MIDI Operations window if you select the "Change Velocity" tab.

Pro Tools offers an additional MIDI editing tool: the MIDI Event List, which you open from the Windows menu or with the Option/Alt + = key command. The Event List window displays every MIDI event in your session. You can input note, duration, and velocity values by double-clicking on the appropriate digit.

Whew. As you've just seen, Pro Tools' MIDI features are actually quite deep. We'll be returning to these functions in future columns. In the meantime, play with it. Make these sequences sound cooler. Or better yet, write some of your own, especially if you've sussed out the OMS configuration and managed to connect a MIDI controller. (Hint: Make sure the box is checked next to your controller's name under MIDI>Input Devices.) And don't forget to torture the controls of the virtual instruments. You probably won't break anything, but that shouldn't stop you from trying.

Click here to read previous columns.