Useful keyboard shortcuts

MIDI editor shortcuts

In the midi editors Pianoroll and Drumeditor there are a number of keyboard shortcuts that might be hard to understand their usefulness without some explanation.

Edit toolbar

So, without further ado let's first list the shortcuts commonly available in the midi and drum editors.

Edit toolbar shortcuts:

• A - Pointer tool Allows to select and move already existing notes with the mouse

• D - Draw tool Draw new notes by clicking on the canvas or resize existing notes

• E - Eraser tool Delete notes by clicking on them

• F - Line draw tool Can be used to manipulate values in the controller view at the bottom by drawing lines over several notes to create ramps.

• U - Cursor tool Only available in the drum editor, see the following chapter about drum editing using cursor.

• P - Pan tool Scroll view vertically (not very useful in this day and age, scrollwheel or mouse pad scrolling is recommended)

Snap shortcuts:

• 1 - Snap grid 1
• 2 - Snap grid 2
• 3 - Snap grid 4
• 4 - Snap grid 8
• 5 - Snap grid 16
• 6 - Snap grid 32
• 7 - Snap grid 64
• , and . - Toggle dotted snap
• T - Toggle triplets

Drum editing using shortcuts

The drum editor in MusE supports a keyboard based editing mode dubbed CURSOR Mode. CURSOR Mode is somewhat a relative to trackers but still applied to a common drum matrix editor. Basically it enables drum editing without using the mouse.

To get into CURSOR Mode press U or click on the [] tool icon.

In CURSOR Mode the following relevant shortcuts are available:

• Arrow keys - move cursor
• 9 - cursor step down The number of steps to jump between added notes
• 0 - cursor step up - "" -
• V - add note with LV1 velocity (usually lowest)
• B - add note with LV2 velocity (next lowest)
• N - add note with LV3 velocity (next higher)
• M - add note with LV4 velocity (highest)
• DELETE key - remove note

Step by step example, making a four by four beat:

1. First create a drum part that is four bars long and open it.
2. U to enter cursor mode
3. 3 to set set snap grid to 4 snaps per bar
4. Press 0 until cursor step is 4
5. Navigate with the arrow keys to the first beat of the kick drum
6. Press N four times to place 4 kick drums each spaced four steps apart
7. Navigate to the third beat of the snare drum
8. Press N four times to place 4 snare drums each spaced four steps apart
9. Navigate to first beat of the hihat 10.Press on 9 until cursor step is 1 11.Press B 16 times to add hihat on all beats

The result should look something like the following:

----------1---2---3---4---5---6
Kickdrum: x---x---x---x---
Snare:    --x---x---x---x-
Hihat     xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx