143 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
143 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
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title = "Recording MIDI"
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description = "How to record MIDI with Ardour"
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chapter = false
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weight = 2
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There are several ways to get MIDI into a MIDI track in Ardour apart from
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importing an existing MIDI file. Let's have a look at them one by one.
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## Real-time recording
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Perhaps the most obvious option to record MIDI into Ardour is connecting a
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MIDI keyboard to your audio interface or your computer directly and recording
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whatever you play. It's a pretty straightforward process:
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1. Select an existing MIDI track to record to or create a new one
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2. Arm that track for recording (click the button with a red circle in the track header or press **Shift+B**)
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3. Toggle the global recording mode (click the button with a red circle in the track header or press **Shift+B**)
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4. Roll the transport (**Space** bar) to begin recording.
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5. Stop the transport (**Space** bar) when you are done.
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Usually when you record a part from a MIDI keyboard, you should be able to
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hear yourself playing. If you see that everything is connected correctly and
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yet you still can't hear any sound, check what MIDI channel your MIDI keyboard
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is sending note-on/note-off events to. It is entirely possible that it's a
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channel other than 1, and your virtual instrument of choice got no patches
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loaded for that channel.
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<!-- ### Launching the recording from a MIDI keyboard
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A lot of MIDI keyboards come with a set of transport buttons for rewinding,
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fast-forwarding, playing, and recording. This is particularly convenient for
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cases when you need to record multiple takes and you don't want to swithc
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between computer keyboard and MIDI keyboard all the time.
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Pushing a transport button sends a MIDI Control Change (CC) event, but a DAW
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like Ardour needs to interpret that CC event. So Ardour comes with MIDI maps
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where a CC event
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By default Ardour is configured so that MIDI input will follow MIDI track selection. This means that when you have multiple MIDI tracks that all can produce sound when you press a key on your MIDI keyboard,
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Setup MIDI devices in Preferences: set "follow track" globally and per-device. -->
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## Step Entry
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The _Step Entry_ recording mode is convenient when a part is too complex to
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record in real time (think sweeping arpeggios of 1/128th notes at 140bpm).
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Instead of trying to achieve that live when you are on the schedule, you can
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use your keyboard to enter the notes one by one at your own pace. Ardour will
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record a note you play, move the playhead to the end of that note, then sit
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and wait for the next note you play.
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To enable this mode, right-click on **Record** button of a MIDI track, choose
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_Step Entry_ in the newly opened menu. The _Step Entry_ dialog opens.
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{{< figure src="en/step-entry-dialog.png" alt="The Step Entry dialog" >}}
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Here are the options:
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1. Chord entry mode — you can play multiple notes at once, they will be recorded like a chord and willl be above each other on the pianoroll.
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2. Note length presets, from a whole note to 1/64th.
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3. Dotted note presets
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4. Rest presets
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5. Velocity presets, from pianississimo to fortississimo
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6. Numeric inputs for MIDI data: channel, length of a note, velocity, octave (for
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entry from regular keyboard), MIDI bank and MIDI program (so that you could
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use e.g. pizzicato sample in a sample library rather than arc).
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Now you have three options:
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1. Click piano keys with a mouse
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2. Press keys on your regular keyboard
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3. Use a MIDI keyboard connected to track's input
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For option 2, the middle row of letter keys is used for white keys, and the upper letter row is for black keys:
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{{< figure src="en/keyboard-map-to-piano-keys.svg" alt="Keyboard map to piano keys" >}}
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All the settings you see in the _Step Entry_ dialog apply to the options 1 and
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2. For each note you input next, you can set:
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- Length, from a whole note to 1/64 (or any length when using the 1/Note spinbox), with optional chord input
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- Channel
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- Velocity (z through < on English (US) keyboard can be used as keyboard shortcuts)
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- Octave (keys 1 through 9 can be used as shortcuts)
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You can also insert rests which basically means that Ardour shifts the editing
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cursor to the right by the currently selected note length.
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When you use a MIDI keyboard for step entry, only a subset of settings in the
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dialog apply. Ardour will use the defined note length, but it won't bother
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with either velocity, channel, or octave settings and will use whatever you
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send from the keyboard.
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Let's try to use it.
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1. Create a new track, select Surge XT as a virtual instrument.
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3. Open the _Factory Patches_ navigator and select _Bass 2_ in _Basses_.
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3. Make sure the playhead is at the beginning of the session so that it
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matches the beginning of the first bar of all percussion tracks in the current
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project.
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4. Open the _Step Entry_ dialog
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5. Select 1/8 note length and octave 3
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5. On your regular keyboard press D,G,H,G,D,G,U,J
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6. Press 4 to switch to octave 4, press S,D,G,T,D,S, press 3 to switch to octave 3
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7. Press U,J. Then press H4ASA3H4AEDGH5A4JHGED.
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Now you have a basic bass line you can repeat.
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{{< figure src="en/initial-bass-line.png" alt="Initial bass line" >}}
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<!-- ## TODO: Drawing sticks on the piano roll
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If there is no existing region in your MIDI track, select the Draw mode,
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left-click at the position where the region should start, drag to the point
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where it should end, release the mouse button. Now you can draw and edit notes
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inside the region. -->
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Continuing
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----------
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In the next chapter, we'll talk about helping yourself to perform in sync with
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the rest of the session material, whether you are using a MIDI keyboard to
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record a lead synth part or a bass guitar.
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Next: [PERFORMING ON TIME](../performing-on-time)
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