User guide

430 Chapter 16 Editing MIDI Events in the Piano Roll Editor
Protecting the Position of Events
There are times where you will want to protect certain events from being moved. As an
example, several note events may be used to trigger footstep samples that match an
actor walking down a corridor, in a video soundtrack.
You have already created the music for this scene, but have been asked to increase the
tempo to match several cuts of different camera angles in the corridor. Obviously, a
change in the tempo will move the events, resulting in out of sync footstep samples.
Thankfully, Logic Express has a feature that preserves the absolute time position of
events.
To protect the position of one or more selected events:
m Choose Functions > Lock SMPTE Position (or use the corresponding key command).
This ensures that events that fall at a particular absolute time position: 1 hour, 3
minutes, 15 seconds, 12 frames, for example, will remain at this position when tempo
changes are made.
To unprotect the position of one or more events:
m Choose Functions > Unlock SMPTE Position (or use the corresponding key command).
Changing the Velocity of Notes
Note velocity is usually tied to the level of the note, and given the use of color to
indicate different velocities, you can quickly identify the “loud” and “soft” notes in a
region.
Note: Velocity can also be used as a controller for other synthesizer parameters, such as
filter resonance or cutoff, either alone or in conjunction with level. As such, you may
find that changes to note velocity not only affect the level of the note, but also tonality.
To alter the velocity value of a note:
1 Choose the Velocity tool.
2 Click-hold, and vertically drag on a note.
A help tag will indicate the velocity value of the note you have clicked on. This value
changes as you drag.
If the MIDI Out function is switched on (and it should be!), the note will be output as
you alter the velocity.