Steinberg Nuendo 4 Operation Manual

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MIDI processing and quantizing 

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MIDI processing and quantizing
Introduction
This chapter describes the various MIDI processing func-
tions available on the MIDI menu. They offer various ways 
to edit MIDI notes and other events, either in the Project 
window or from within a MIDI editor.
MIDI functions vs. MIDI modifiers
In some cases, the result of a MIDI function can also be 
obtained by using MIDI modifiers and effects (see “MIDI 
realtime parameters and effects” on page 342). For exam-
ple, the operations “Transpose” and...

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MIDI processing and quantizing
Setting up quantize on the toolbar
At its most basic, setting up quantizing consists of select-
ing a note value from the Quantize pop-up menu on the 
toolbar (in the Project window or a MIDI editor).
This allows you to quantize to exact note values (straight, 
triplet or dotted notes) only. 
Setting up quantize in the Quantize Setup 
dialog
If you want more options than those available on the pop-
up menu, select “Quantize Setup…” from the MIDI menu 
(or “Setup…” from...

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MIDI processing and quantizing
The Quantize Setup dialog contains the following set-
tings:
The Grid and Type pop-ups
These are used to determine the basic note value for the 
quantizing grid. In other words, these have the same func-
tionality as the Quantize pop-up menu on the toolbar.
Swing
The Swing slider is only available when a straight note 
value is selected for the grid and Tuplet is off (see below). 
It lets you offset every second position in the grid, creating 
a swing or shuffle feel....

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MIDI processing and quantizing
Apply and Auto
These functions allow you to apply quantizing directly from 
the dialog, see below.
The Non Quantize setting
This additional setting affects the result of the quantizing. 
It allows you to set a “distance” in ticks (120ths of six-
teenth notes).
Events that already are within the specified distance from 
the quantize grid will not be quantized. This allows you to 
keep slight variations when you quantize, but still correct 
notes that are too far from the...

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MIDI processing and quantizing
Advanced Quantize functions
Quantize Lengths
This function (on the Advanced Quantize submenu on the 
MIDI menu) will quantize the length of the notes, without 
changing their start positions. At its most basic level, this 
function will set the length of the notes to the Length 
Quantize value on the MIDI editor toolbar. However, if you 
have selected the “Quantize Link” option on the Length 
Quantize pop-up menu, the function will resize the note 
according to the...

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MIDI processing and quantizing
Transpose
The Transpose item on the MIDI menu opens a dialog with 
settings for transposing the selected notes:
ÖYou can also use the Transpose track for transposing, 
see “The Transpose functions” on page 114.
Semitones
This is where you set the amount of transposition.
Scale Correction
Scale Correction transposes the selected notes by for-
cing them to the closest note of the selected scale type. 
This can be used for creating interesting key and tonal 
changes,...

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MIDI processing and quantizing
Freeze MIDI Modifiers
The “Freeze MIDI Modifiers” function affects the following 
settings for MIDI tracks:
 Several settings on the main tab of the Inspector (program 
and bank selection and the Delay parameter).
 The settings on the MIDI Modifiers tab (i.e. Transpose, Veloc-
ity Shift, Velocity Compression and Length Compression).
 The settings on the MIDI Inserts tab (if, e. g., you are using an ar-
peggiator and want to convert the added notes to real events).
The...

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MIDI processing and quantizing
Dissolve Part
The Dissolve Part function on the MIDI menu has two sep-
arate uses:
When you work with MIDI parts (on MIDI channel “Any”) 
containing events on different MIDI channels.
Dissolve Part separates the events according to MIDI channel.
When you want to separate MIDI events according to 
pitch.
A typical example would be drum and percussion tracks, where each 
pitch usually corresponds to a separate drum sound.
ÖWhen dissolving a part into either separate...

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MIDI processing and quantizing
Repeat Loop
With this function, the events inside the independent track 
loops will be repeated until the end of the part, i. e. the 
notes that were previously only played repeatedly are now 
actual notes on the MIDI track. Events to the right of the 
independant track loop (within the same part) will be re-
placed by this function. For more information about inde-
pendent track loops, see “The independent track loop” on 
page 369.
Other MIDI functions
The following...