Midi Editor. Love it or hate it?

heartwood · 05-14-2019, 12:32 AM

Hey folks,

Just now, while in the track/arranger screen I chose to split a track. The "s" key split the chosen item, but also glued all the other individual items together. All the work I did to color code items into song sections was gone and I didn't notice it before the project was saved.

Then, while in the midi editor screen, I couldn't grab some small notes, even when expanded all the way out. Then I got a notification sound and a message in the upper left hand corner that items on a different track had been glued together.

Any help to understand and fix these issues would really be appreciated.

domzy · 05-14-2019, 06:18 AM

sounds strange - maybe check in the action list to see if you have assigned any shortcuts or custom actions to glue, that you are inadvertently triggering

heartwood · 05-15-2019, 06:02 PM

Thanks for the suggestion. I will check it out. I was able to fix some other issues by using the event filter and recognizing that a few random notes were assigned to a different channel than they were supposed to be on. This seemed to create new edits being drawn on the wrong channel.

I am starting to wonder if some of the problems are VSTi related. I am using an electric piano that is perfect for the project, but ghost notes keep showing up that cannot be located in the event filter. Also. it will randomly hang up.

I used Reaper on an acoustic project back in 2014=15. I thought it was brilliant. But since recently returning and choosing to focus on learning how to effectively work with midi, I am experiencing countless problems. Still hopeful that it is my fault and can be worked through with help.

hopi · 05-17-2019, 01:30 AM

colors... yep when you glue multiple items they take on the color of the first item....

which is too bad.... I used cubase way back and it would glue them while letting each section in the new item retain it's own color...

we don't have that option... so IF you want to have a color guide, you should make another track with empty colored items to match the ones you want to glue... so it lives above or below the track that you are gluing...
and of course... do not glue the colored empty items!

heartwood · 05-19-2019, 04:57 PM

Thanks for this suggestion. I will implement it. I have another newer issue that has me pulling out my hair. The first bit of craziness, at least for me, was all items in a track being glued together when I used the "split" key on a single item. Now, when attempting to glue two items all midi events disappear and are replace with a straight line, a "flat line" of sorts.

I really love Reaper. But since I just recently started to use midi, I am becoming increasingly discouraged. Literally everyday is a new headache. I have spent more time in the last month trying to figure what is wrong than I have creating music. But I just don't want to give on a great DAW and incredible community.

domzy · 05-20-2019, 07:39 AM

this sounds odd. is this consistent behaviour? ie - every time you split or glue. How are you running these actions? From the menu or from shortcuts - if the latter, did you assign them yourself or are you using defaults?
maybe you could post a vid or some pictures showing clearly what the problem is.

ivansc · 05-23-2019, 03:48 AM

Hi Heartwood: How much previous experience do you have with MIDI?

The whole MIDI concept can be very daunting if you are starting from ground zero & believe me, the last MIDI sequencer I was 100% happy with was from the mid eighties, when MIDI was king.

That said, you are unlikely to find Reaper`s MIDI issues to be significantly worse than most other DAWs.

Assuming you are not a MIDI super-user, have a look at the EDIROL/ Roland MIDI e-booklet I posted in the Newbie section.

hopi · 05-25-2019, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heartwood

Thanks for this suggestion. I will implement it. I have another newer issue that has me pulling out my hair. The first bit of craziness, at least for me, was all items in a track being glued together when I used the "split" key on a single item. Now, when attempting to glue two items all midi events disappear and are replace with a straight line, a "flat line" of sorts.

I really love Reaper. But since I just recently started to use midi, I am becoming increasingly discouraged. Literally everyday is a new headache. I have spent more time in the last month trying to figure what is wrong than I have creating music. But I just don't want to give on a great DAW and incredible community.

yeah don't give up...
there are steep parts on the learning curve but you'll get past them soon

I've learned when I hit a rock, to stop and try to do a test with very simple steps...
OK so try this
on one track make two separate midi items... let them be maybe 2 bars long with 2 bars of nothing between them
open one in the midi ed. and put in two notes... nice long notes
so the same in the other one, but with different notes
ok now back in the arrange view, select both those items and hit glue
you should get one midi item that is from the start of the first item to the end of the second item and it should have all the notes in it.

Come back and tell us what you got

heartwood · 05-30-2019, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hopi

OK so try this
on one track make two separate midi items... let them be maybe 2 bars long with 2 bars of nothing between them
open one in the midi ed. and put in two notes....

Sorry for the delayed response. I just needed a break from so many non-stop issues. I was ready to go back to all acoustic instrument recordings. I recovered and still very much want to work with midi. :-)

Thanks for the suggestion. Both items glued exactly as expected. I then went back and tried again realizing that this strange gluing behavior is only happening on one track.

heartwood · 05-30-2019, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivansc

Hi Heartwood: How much previous experience do you have with MIDI?

Assuming you are not a MIDI super-user, have a look at the EDIROL/ Roland MIDI e-booklet I posted in the Newbie section.

Well, I would be closer to a midi idiot than a super user. Thanks for the reference info. I will definitely read it. Also, being so inexperienced I really needed to know so many issues were fixable through personal education. I was concerned that I was wasting my time and effort learning to navigate an editor that was somewhat broken. I should have assumed that Reaper was as good as anything else available.

Thanks for your help.

heartwood · 05-30-2019, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by domzy

this sounds odd. is this consistent behaviour? ie - every time you split or glue. How are you running these actions? From the menu or from shortcuts - if the latter, did you assign them yourself or are you using defaults?

It is consistent, but I have since discovered that it is only on one track. All other tracks are behaving as expected. I used the menu. To my knowledge everything is default actions. Although because of my vision issues, I am using a downloaded theme. I wouldn't know if it has be altered beyond the appearance that mostly works for me.