Feature Request: Step Input

[davidhealey]

A step input mode would be very helpful when entering ostinatos or drum sequences that are difficult to play in real time and very slow to enter with the mouse.

[rncbc]

can you elaborate on what exactly you mean with "step input"?

is it just about the same as in old h/w sequencers where you enter (in "our" case, key in MIDI note-on events) and advance immediately to the next entry location by a fixed amount (eg. the snap-to-beat setting?) and as long playback or recording is stopped/not rolling?

what benefit could you have in this while you have MIDI overdub (ie. Clip > Record) at you disposal, may I ask? and, if still what you wish is to enter notes in the quickest way, no matter playback is rolling or not, doing it with simple mouse-clicks under Edit Mode?

[davidhealey]

Hello,

Yes your first definition is the one that I'm referring to. You set a note length and press a MIDI key and a note of that length with the played velocity and channel will be added, then it will advance to the next position. It should also be possible to change the length between notes.

Recently I've been converting some notated drum loops to MIDI. I started in qtractor entering them with the mouse one note at a time but it was taking so long. I went to Ardour instead for the step input and it is much faster (but I prefer the rest of the MIDI workflow in qtractor). One main advantage is I can control pitch and velocity with the MIDI keyboard, but with the mouse I only get pitch. Also the drum VST has the samples spread over a few octaves so to move around with the mouse was again slower than putting two hands on the keyboard and sight reading the notation.

[rncbc]

what about the overdub method (Clip > Record) while playing in a loop?

this is one method already there; the so called "step input" is not and probably will be only after the next season (just probably ;)

cheers

[davidhealey]

I'm not talented enough to get the timing accurate when playing live :) I could probably use it though and quantize, I'll give it a try. But if a step input appears in the future I think it would be excellent!

[Alextone358]

Another vote for step input, in the manner David describes, and for the same reasons. I'm not the player i was, and scrambling semiquavers live, then spending a lot of time fixing the mess takes as much time as step inputting the data. And i'll add, in the workflow of step inputting we can add all the other stiff, like CC data, as we go.

[rncbc]

theres something brewing in this front:

please, beg your time, check out this [xmidistep] branch

MIDI Step Input is being implemented and is somewhat functional

hint: Clip > Record : when playback is not rolling, step input is on; input starts on the playhead location, quantized/incremental to current session snap-to-beat setting (yes, for the time being this is the rule); once playback is rolling, overdubbing is back in charge (ie. no step input, obviously)...

you may test this over the virtual piano right away from a MIDI clip editor, or from external/incoming MIDI input--provided you arm the designated clip for recording (Clip > Record)

hope and eagerly awaiting for your comments... tia.

[rncbc]

there's a caveat though: in order to have chords well detected in this so called "step input" mode, advancing to next step is only effective after the designated step period of time is actually elapsed (realtime here:)); so, hitting keys somewhat quick in succession might just get them recorded at the very same time-step (or time-slot). just saying ;)

[rncbc]

the aforementioned xmidistep branch is no more...

qtractor >= 0.9.34.23git.6a7dbe is on master/develop

please test && tell cheers

[davidhealey]

Thanks, this sound very promising. I'm very busy with work at the moment so unfortunately won't have time to test until the end of next week.