Multiple automation controller lanes

The Controller pane in the multi-track Piano Roll view (not the Inline Piano Roll) is split up into multiple lanes—one lane for each unique event type in the track.

You can freely create new lanes to display and edit MIDI data such as velocity, modulation, pitch bend and CCs (Continuous Controllers) and events can be moved and copied between lanes.

To show the Controller pane, click the Piano Roll view View menu and choose Show/Hide Controller Pane, or press ALT+C.

To toggle between showing a single lane or multiple lanes, click the Piano Roll view View menu and choose Show Multiple Lanes.

A. Velocity lane B. Wheel lane C. Remove lane D. CC92 lane E. Add new lane F. Edit Filter G. Scale pane H. Controller pane

 

See:

Working with MIDI data lanes.

To create a new lane.

To delete a lane.

To assign an Event Type to a lane.

To copy events between lanes.

To move events between lanes.

Working with MIDI data lanes

The Controller pane allows you to display and edit non-note MIDI data, such as velocity, modulation, pitch bend and continuous controllers (CCs), in multiple lanes at the bottom of the Piano Roll view.

When you open the Piano Roll view, Sonar will automatically create a separate MIDI data lane for each unique data type that is present in the selected track(s).

While the Track pane can show multiple event types simultaneously, each MIDI data lane displays only a single event type. MIDI data lanes allow you to easily show only the parameters you are interested in, without cluttering up the interface with numerous overlapping events.

MIDI data lanes cannot be reordered or resized. The height of all MIDI data lanes is determined by the height of the Controller pane.

 

See:

To assign an Event Type to a lane

To create a new lane

1.	Make sure the Controllers pane is shown at the bottom. If it is not displayed, click the Piano Roll view View menu and choose Show/Hide Controller Pane.

2.	Click the Plus button in the bottom left corner of the Controller pane.

A new lane is inserted below the lane that was clicked. Sonar will try to automatically assign the lane to any event type that exists in the track, provided the event type is not already assigned to another lane. Existing event types are assigned based on the following priority list:

1.

Velocity

2.	Continuous Controllers (same order as in the MIDI Event Type dialog box)

3.

Wheel

4.	Channel Aftertouch, starting from channel 1

5.

RPN

6.

NRPN

If no event types exist in the track, the MIDI Event Type dialog box appears, which lets you specify the desired event type.

To delete a lane

To delete an existing lane, click the Minus button in the top left corner of the lane.

The button is not available if there is only one lane open. To remove the last lane, simply hide the Controller pane (click the Piano Roll view View menu and choose Show/Hide Controller Pane).

Note: Deleting a lane does not delete any MIDI events from the track.

To assign an Event Type to a lane

1.	Click the lane’s Edit Filter.

2.	Select an existing event type in the pop-up menu, or select New Value Type to specify a new event type.

The name of the current edit type is displayed in the lane.

 

See:

Displaying notes and controllers (Piano Roll view only)

To copy events between lanes

When you copy events from one lane to another lane, the MIDI data is transformed to match the edit type in the target lane.

1.	Select the event types you want to copy to another lane. See Selecting controllers for more information.

2.	In the Scale pane, right-click the lane you want to copy the selected events to.

The lane context menu appears.

3.	Click Copy selected events to this lane.

The selected events are copied to the destination track.

Note: It is impossible to copy selected events to a lane that has an edit type of Velocity; the type of event to transform to would be Note and the pitch could not be specified in this case. In this case, the Copy selected events to this lane menu command will be disabled and appear grayed out.

A. Scale pane B. Right-click the lane in the scale pane

To move events between lanes

When you move events from one lane to another lane, the MIDI data is transformed to match the edit type in the target lane.

1.	Select the event types you want to move to another lane. See Selecting controllers for more information.

2.	In the Scale pane, right-click the lane you want to move the selected events to.

The lane context menu appears.

3.	Click Move selected events to this lane.

The selected events are moved to the destination track.

Note: It is impossible to move selected events to a lane that has an edit type of Velocity; the type of event to transform to would be Note and the pitch could not be specified in this case. In this case, the Move selected events to this lane menu command will be disabled and appear grayed out.

To convert MIDI controller events to automation envelopes

1.	In the Piano Roll view Controller pane, click the name/label of the CC type that you want to convert to an envelope.

2.	Right-click the highlighted CC name/label and select Convert MIDI to Envelopes.

Sonar converts the Piano Roll view controller data to a Track view envelope that controls the same parameter.

 

See also:

Converting MIDI controllers to envelopes

To convert MIDI automation envelopes to MIDI controller events

1.	In the Clips pane, show the envelope that you want to convert to MIDI controller events.

2.	Select the time range that contain the controller data you want to convert, or clear the selection if you want to convert the entire envelope.

3.	Right-click envelope and select Convert to MIDI Events.

Conversion uses the current Snap to Grid setting as a resolution for discrete CC events:

If Snap is off, the resolution is the last selected snap setting.

If Snap is not set to a musical value (e.g. samples), the resolution is 1/32nd note.