Desperately Needed Notation Trick

[michael diemer]

Sure hope there's a way to do this. I do my editing in notation view. I'm doing large, full orchestra stuff. I frequently need to copy and paste, or move around, large groups of notes, like 10 or 20 measures worth, for example. In notation view, you can't scroll-select continuously, the way you can in the midi editor. When you get to the end of the view, it just stops. you have to select what you can, then advance the view; do it again and again, etc. When you're working with, say, double notes on the violas, and you want to copy only the top ones to the violins, it's so much easier in notation view.

So I'm hoping there is a way to do this in Reaper. It's important that I can do this in notation view. I did a feature request on this, but who knows how long it will take. I'm probably in a small minority here in the way I do things. I have looked in the manual and tried some things, but I haven't found anything that works.

This is pretty much a necessity for me. If there's no current way to do it, I may have to wait until it does get addressed in a future update. It slows me down tremendously to have to work this way. Plus, I make a lot of mistakes. I really need a fix!

[juliansader]

The notation view does not scroll when making a time selection either.

Unfortunately I do not know of quick way to do this. Keyboard shortcuts for "View: Scroll view left/right" actions do not work while the mouse is doing a marquee select.

Perhaps you can try 1) Use a shortcut to set "Loop points: Set start point", 2) scroll manually, 3) use a shortcut to set "Loop points: Set end point", and finally 4) run "Select all notes [starting] in time selection".

(If you prefer to not use "Loop points linked to time selection", you can pass your MIDI editor shortcuts through to the "Time selection: Set start/end point" actions in Main.)

[peter5992]

Can't just just copy and paste in the piano roll view - and then the notes will follow automatically?

[michael diemer]

Originally Posted by juliansader

The notation view does not scroll when making a time selection either.

Unfortunately I do not know of quick way to do this. Keyboard shortcuts for "View: Scroll view left/right" actions do not work while the mouse is doing a marquee select.

Perhaps you can try 1) Use a shortcut to set "Loop points: Set start point", 2) scroll manually, 3) use a shortcut to set "Loop points: Set end point", and finally 4) run "Select all notes [starting] in time selection".

(If you prefer to not use "Loop points linked to time selection", you can pass your MIDI editor shortcuts through to the "Time selection: Set start/end point" actions in Main.)

Seems like an awful lot to go through just to make a selection of notes. But I appreciate the suggestion.

[michael diemer]

Originally Posted by peter5992

Can't just just copy and paste in the piano roll view - and then the notes will follow automatically?

Of course I can, but that's not the way I've worked for the past 15 years. The same would be true of someone who had worked for 15 years in PRV, then suddenly was forced to work in notation view. You tend to go with what is familiar.

I'm used to working with notes. I switched to Reaper from Sonar precisely because of the addition of a notation feature. I've been able to do fairly well in everything else, but this one problem is wrecking my work flow. I may have to go back to sonar until this gets fixed. Why should users of notation view not be able to quickly select notes, like users of PRV? This has to be addressed if notation view is to work properly.

[juliansader]

The devs do not always notice Feature Requests (or they forget them). To really get their attention, go to the pre-release threads:
v5.24pre9 - August 19 2016
(Schwa hasn't posted in these threads for the past two or so weeks, so perhaps he is on holiday?)

And also:
Notation pre-release thread (part 2).

[schwa]

The next build will add horizontal autoscrolling for certain types of notation edits when in continuous view.

Unfortunately this won't include marquee (right-drag) selection, though it will include the "select notes touched while dragging" mouse modifier (control+alt+right-drag by default).

[michael diemer]

Originally Posted by juliansader

The devs do not always notice Feature Requests (or they forget them). To really get their attention, go to the pre-release threads:
v5.24pre9 - August 19 2016
(Schwa hasn't posted in these threads for the past two or so weeks, so perhaps he is on holiday?)

And also:
Notation pre-release thread (part 2).

I think you got their attention. I think it's a good idea for me to post in these threads, so I can be specific about it is I'm trying to do, and what I need for a fix.

[michael diemer]

Originally Posted by schwa

The next build will add horizontal autoscrolling for certain types of notation edits when in continuous view.

Unfortunately this won't include marquee (right-drag) selection, though it will include the "select notes touched while dragging" mouse modifier (control+alt+right-drag by default).

Thank you, Schwa. This does sound promising. I'll try to be patient!

[schwa]

Notation autoscroll during marquee selection is in 5.24pre11. The implementation is a bit technical under the hood, so it would be great it you could try it out to see if it works as expected.

[michael diemer]

Thanks! It's now working. I just discovered it, by accident, actually. This really helps me out. Much appreciated.

My version is 5.24, by the way.