--- layout: default title: MIDI Track Controls ---

A typical control area for a MIDI track is shown below:

midi track controls

The MIDI track example is shown at a greater height than the other examples, as with MIDI tracks there are some control elements which only appear when there is sufficient vertical space to fit them in.

A MIDI track has the same basic controls as an audio track, with the addition of two extra elements. The set of buttons below the main track controls controls the MIDI channels that should be visible in the editor. A MIDI track's data may span any number of the 16 available MIDI channels, and sometimes it is useful to view only a subset of those channels; different instruments may, for example, be put on different MIDI channels. Clicking on a channel number toggles its visibility.

To the right of the MIDI track controls is a representation of a piano keyboard called the ‘scroomer’. This performs a couple of functions. Firstly, the scroll-bar controls the range of pitches that are visible on the track. Dragging the scroll-bar body up and down scrolls up and down through the visible pitches, and dragging the scroll-bar ‘handles’ zooms in and out, so that more or fewer pitches are visible. The piano keyboard gives a reference for the pitches that the track is displaying. In addition, clicking on the notes will generate the corresponding MIDI note in the track.