MIDI editor: Channel dropdown menu, and Option: Selecting note sets new channel[DONE]

[juliansader]

Two of the useful features of the notation editor are:

• The voice dropdown menu at the bottom that shows the voice in which new notes will be drawn - but does not filter out notes in other voices.
• The option: Drawing or selecting a note sets the new note length.

It would be great to build on these features to get:

• Option: Selecting a note sets the voice for new notes. (In which case the voice menu will change to indicate the new voice.)
• Option: Selecting an event sets the channel for new events. (Inserting events in the wrong channel is an all-too-easy mistake to make, particularly after switching the active track. With this new option, the user can switch to the correct channel by simply clicking a note of the new track.)
• Change the channel filter dropdown menu into an indicator, similar to the voice menu. Perhaps with a checkbox to toggle filtering on/off. (Using the channel filter menu is rather awkward in multi-track, multi-channel editing. Currently, in order to show the channel for new events, without filtering out all other channels, the user has to keep the Filter window open, or add 16 'channel indicator' buttons to the menu bar.)

[John Novak]

+1

Also, there should be an option to assign a MIDI channel to a track (or maybe media item), so all newly created MIDI events will be using that channel, no matter what. Some kind of a "hard override", that overrides any other current MIDI channel settings in the editor.

In a sane workflow normally you don't want to mix MIDI events from different channels on the same track/within the same media item. You just assign different tracks to different channels and then everything is straightforward.

[ceanganb]

+1, agreed.

[juliansader]

I have uploaded three new scripts to ReaPack that will hopefully make it easier to set the appropriate MIDI channels for new events (and for track sends):

* MIDI editor: js_Option - Selecting single note or CC in active take sets channel for new events.lua

* MIDI editor: js_Option - Switching active take sets channel for new events to channel of existing events.lua

* Main: js_Set MIDI send channel of selected tracks to channel of existing MIDI events in track.lua

More details are in the Simple but useful MIDI editor tools: warp, stretch, deselect etc thread.

EDIT: Another useful script for multi-channel editing: js_Deselect all MIDI except in active channel of active take.lua
(This script can be used to quickly limit selection to active channel after, for example, selecting all CCs in a lane. It is intended to complement the new multi-channel editing features introduced in REAPER v5.28)

[John Novak]

^^^ Cheers, looks great man! Good work!

[Masi]

Originally Posted by John Novak

Also, there should be an option to assign a MIDI channel to a track (or maybe media item), so all newly created MIDI events will be using that channel, no matter what.

It's hidden in the action list. I've added the first few channels to my MIDI toolbar. Unfortunately the icons show all "Set chan" [sic!]. The actions are called "Set channel for new events XXX".

The icons could be improved to show the channel number. And yes, I also want a drop down.

Masi

[juliansader]

Originally Posted by Masi

It's hidden in the action list. I've added the first few channels to my MIDI toolbar. Unfortunately the icons show all "Set chan" [sic!]. The actions are called "Set channel for new events XXX".

These actions are indeed useful for changing and indicating the default channel for new events. (They are the 'channel indicator' buttons that I vaguely referred to in the original post.) Unfortunately, they apply to all tracks in the MIDI editor, not only to the track that was active when the action was run.

Originally Posted by Masi

The icons could be improved to show the channel number. And yes, I also want a drop down.

To change the text that is displayed inside the icon, you can go to Customize Toolbars, then click the "Icon" button at the bottom and select "Text icon".

[juliansader]

Originally Posted by juliansader

I have uploaded three new scripts to ReaPack that will hopefully make it easier to set the appropriate MIDI channels for new events (and for track sends):

WARNING: I have encountered a bug in REAPER's actions for changing the default channel for new events ("Set channel for new events to 1 [...16]"): These actions may inappropriately activate the MIDI editor's event filter (as set in the Filter window). Changing the default channel via a script (or by running the actions directly) may therefore render some notes or CCs invisible until the filter is deactivated.

Bug Report submitted in the thread The "Set channel for new events" actions activate the event filter.

EDIT: These bugs are fixed in v5.25

[juliansader]

DONE!

* In v5.24, the channel filter dropdown has been separated into a channel selector/indicator and a separate filter checkbox.

* The scripts provide the requested options to set MIDI channels for new events.

* The FR for an "Option: Selecting a note sets the voice for new notes" has not yet been implemented, but I will make this a separate FR for the notation editor.

* The bugs in which setting the channel activates the Event Filter have been solved in v5.24 - v5.26.

A final thought: it would be nice if the filter checkbox could activate a Channel filter instead of the full-on Event Filter. The fact that the checkbox is located next to the channel dropdown menu, and that the checkbox disappears when "All channels" is selected, makes it intuitively seem like it should be a channel filter.

[hamish]

Originally Posted by juliansader

Option: Selecting an event sets the channel for new events. (Inserting events in the wrong channel is an all-too-easy mistake to make, particularly after switching the active track. With this new option, the user can switch to the correct channel by simply clicking a note of the new track.)

I REALLY want this option. Have you got a seperate FR somewhere?

[juliansader]

Originally Posted by hamish

I REALLY want this option. Have you got a seperate FR somewhere?

No - my script seems to work well, so I haven't pursued this further as a FR for a native, built-in option.

[hamish]

Oh, I see, I'll just refresh via ReaPack then. Uh, guess I better donate soon...