Note tracks output MIDI notes, and have special capabilities compared to other track types. One difference is that note tracks allow adjacent steps to be tied together in order to form notes longer than one step. Another difference is that many modulation types can only target note tracks. By default, a note track outputs a constant note, selected by its note property. The simplest way to make a melody is to create multiple note tracks and assign them different notes. However it's also possible to make a melody with only a single note track, by using another track to alter the note, in a process called note modulation. Another more advanced method is to modulate the note track with a combination of scale modulation and index modulation, and possibly also chord modulation. A note track can only output one note at a time. To make chords, create multiple note tracks, each playing a different note.
The placement of notes, their durations, and their velocities are all determined by a note track's steps. If a note is tied, meaning it occupies multiple adjacent steps, the first of its steps determines its velocity. Note placement and duration are edited using the track steps pane. To edit note velocities, use the velocities pane or the step values bar; for other methods, see steps. To offset all of a track's note velocities by a constant, enter a non-zero value for the track velocity property. Note tracks can be limited to a specified range of notes via the range properties.
Tied notes
Notes longer than one step are created by joining two or more adjacent steps. Steps joined in this way are said to be tied. Each step has an attribute called a tie bit, and if a step's tie bit is set, that step joins itself with the next step. If the next step is occupied, it extends the duration of the existing note by a step, instead of triggering a new note. If the next step isn't occupied, the tie bit has no effect.
Note tracks display tied and untied steps differently: a tied step fills the entire rectangle allocated for it, whereas an untied step only fills the left half of its rectangle. The following example shows four adjacent steps, all of which are occupied (not empty) and untied. Assuming the track's quant is a sixteenth note, these steps output four consecutive sixteenth notes.
| ▌ | ▌ | ▌ | ▌ |
In this example, the same four steps are shown, except that the first three have their tie bit set. This joins the four steps together so that they output a single quarter note.
| █ | █ | █ | ▌ |
A note may be extended past the end of the track, in which case the track's last step must be tied. Assuming the track is four steps long, this example shows a quarter note triggered by the third step.
| █ | ▌ | █ | █ |
At least one of a note track's steps must be either empty or untied, otherwise the track will be silent. Tying only applies to note tracks; for all other track types, the tie bit is irrelevant and isn't shown. You can specify whether steps are initially tied or untied, using the Tie Notes command.
Triggering samples
Tied notes are more likely to be useful with melodic or chordal parts, because the instruments associated with such parts are typically sensitive to note duration. Tied notes may be irrelevant when triggering drums, because drum sounds commonly play their entire sample, regardless of the triggering note's duration. Many hardware and software drum machines ignore note duration, including the drum channel (channel ten) of a General MIDI synth, such as the GS Wavetable Synth that ships with Windows. If you're writing drum parts for a device that ignores note duration, you may find it convenient to use only untied steps, so that setting consecutive steps always retriggers the sample.
Note off
It's sometimes desirable to cut off an existing instance of a note, for example in order to "choke" a high-hat or cymbal. This can be done by creating a note with a velocity of zero, which sends a note off command, as explained below. The note off command instructs the output device to release the specified note. This technique can be used to create more complex mutual exclusion groups, and can be applied to pitched instruments as well as percussion.
A normal note with a velocity greater than zero starts by sending a note on command, and ends by sending a corresponding note off command, after the note's duration expires. But if a note's velocity is zero, the note off command is sent at the start of the note, and no action is taken at the end of the note, hence the note's duration is irrelevant in this case.
There's a trick to creating a note with velocity of zero. The velocities pane doesn't let you drag a note's velocity below one, but you can work around this by using a negative track velocity to offset the note's net velocity down to zero. The method with the least impact is to set the track's velocity offset to −1; this causes notes with velocities of one to send note off commands, while notes with higher velocities behave normally. If you want a track to always send note off commands, regardless of its note velocities, set its velocity offset to −127. Negative velocity modulation can similarly offset note velocities down to zero.