manual/include/add-new-notes.html

<h2>Adding new notes</h2>
<p>
  In general, most MIDI editing will probably be done with the mouse in object
  mode. This allows to select notes, copy, move or delete them and alter their
  properties (see below). But at some point, <em>adding</em> notes to a  MIDI
  region using the mouse will mean dragging with the mouse. Since this would
  normally be a selection operation if the mouse is in object mode, there needs
  to be some way to tell Ardour that the user is trying to <dfn>draw</dfn> new
  notes within a MIDI region. Ardour provides two ways do this. One is to leave
  the mouse in object mode and <kbd class="mouse mod1">Left</kbd>-drag. The
  other, useful to enter a lot of notes for a while, is to switch the mouse into
  <kbd class="menu">Draw Notes</kbd> mode, which will now interpret any drags
  and clicks as requests to add a new note. For obvious reasons, Draw Notes mode
  can not be used while using region-level editing.
</p>

<p>So, to summarize:</p>
<table class="dl">
    <tr><th>Selecting, moving, copying, trimming, deleting <em>regions</em></th>
        <td><kbd class="menu">Note Level Editing</kbd> disabled, using object,
        range or other mouse modes</td></tr>
    <tr><th>Selecting, moving, copying trimming, deleting <em>notes</em></th>
        <td><kbd class="menu">Note Level Editing</kbd> enabled, and using mouse object mode</td></tr>
    <tr><th>Adding new notes</th>
        <td>enabling "Note Level Editing" and then either
          <ul>
            <li>using mouse object mode and <kbd class="mouse mod1">Left</kbd>-drag, or</li>
            <li>using mouse draw mode.</li>
          </ul>
        </td></tr>
</table>
<p>
  Note that there is also <a href="@@step-entry">a step entry editor</a> allowing to
  enter notes from a virtual keyboard and lots more besides.
</p>