Quantizing a MIDI region, usually one recorded from a MIDI instrument, consists in perfectly aligning the notes with the grid by shifting the notes positions to the closest grid line. The result is a perfectly timed MIDI region, allowing to correct rhythmically poor performance.
This dialog is accessed via the Region > MIDI > Quantize... while having a MIDI region selected, or by right clicking a MIDI region, Name_Of_The_Region > MIDI > Quantize... or with the default 5 shortcut and includes:
| Snap note start | If checked, the start of the notes will be aligned to the grid as defined in the following combo-box (see below) |
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| Snap note end | If checked, the end of the notes will be aligned to the grid as defined in the following combo-box (see below) |
| Threshold (ticks) | Defines how close from a grid point a note must be in order to be quantized. Notes farther than this number of ticks will not be affected. |
| Strength | Defines how close to its new position the note must be moved, as a percentage of the nominal distance (allowing for a non-perfect quantization, i.e. just making the performance rhythmically better without giving it a machine-generated feel) |
| Swing | Applies a swing to the midi notes, i.e. delays every 2nd note by this amount, to e.g. simulate a groovy drummer |
The grid selection combo boxes allow a choice between the current main grid, or many beat subdivisions.
Both note start and note end can be selected at once, resulting in a 2-pass quantization: the note starts are aligned to the grid (with or without the swing and Strength parameters), then their ends are aligned.
The swing is a value between 0 and 130, and is relative to the user-selected grid type: every note which is considered a second note (i.e. close enough to an odd grid line as per the threshold value) will be delayed by this number of ticks.