<p>
- Sometimes you will want to edit MIDI data directly from a connected
- MIDI device like a music keyboard or pad controller. Sometimes you will
- want to use the mouse. Sometimes you'll want the fine-grain control,
- precision and speed of entry that comes from using a custom note entry
- dialog.
+ Entering notes in Ardour can be done by using a connected MIDI device like a MIDI keyboard or pad controller, or by using the mouse. A third option, which provides for fine-grained control, precision and speed comes from using Ardour's Step Entry dialog.
</p>
+
+<figure>
+<img class="fit" src="/images/step_entry.png" alt="Ardour's Step Entry dialog">
+<figcaption class="center">Ardour's Step Entry dialog.</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
<p>
- The step entry dialog is accessed via a right click context menu on the
- rec-enable button, because step entry is related to <em>recording</em>
- MIDI data. You cannot simultaneously step edit and record MIDI via the
- track's MIDI port.
+ The step entry dialog is accessed by <kbd class="mouse">right</kbd>-clicking on the <kbd class="menu" style="color:red;">●</kbd> (Rec-Enable) button of the <a href="@@midi-track-controls">MIDI track</a> to be edited and selecting <kbd class="menu">Step Entry</kbd> from the menu that appears.
</p>
-<img src="/images/a3_step_entry.png" />
-<p>The dialog (quite closely modelled on Logic's) contains:</p>
+
+<p class="note">
+ Step editing and recording MIDI via the track's MIDI port cannot happen simultaneously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+ The dialog (closely modelled on Logic's) contains:
+</p>
+
<ul>
- <li>
- Chord entry switch (successive notes are stacked in a chord until
+ <li>Chord entry switch (successive notes are stacked in a chord until
it is released)</li>
<li>Note length selectors</li>
<li>Triplet toggle</li>
<li>Insert a rest of the current grid step size</li>
<li>Move back to the last inserted note</li>
<li>Move forward to the next beat, or bar</li>
- <li>Move forward to the edit point</li>
+ <li>Move to the edit point</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Dynamics controls from pianississimo to fortississimo</li>
<li>Channel selector</li>
- <li>
- Explicit numerical velocity selector, for more precise control
- than the dynamics selectors offer
- </li>
+ <li>Explicit numerical velocity selector, for more precise control
+ than the dynamics selectors offer</li>
<li>Octave selector</li>
<li>Buttons to add bank or program change events</li>
<li>a full 10 octave virtual keyboard</li>
</ul>
+
<p>
- More or less all actions in the step entry dialog can be driven
- directly from the keyboard, so you do not need to keep moving back
- and forth from keyboard to mouse to do complex data insertion.
+ Almost all actions in the step entry dialog can be driven directly from the
+ keyboard, so that moving back and forth from the keyboard to the mouse is
+ typically not necessary—even for complex data entry. The default key
+ bindings are:
</p>
+<table>
+ <tr><td><kbd>`</kbd> (grave accent)</td><td>Set octave 0</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>1</kbd> to <kbd>9</kbd></td><td>Set octave 1 to 9</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>0</kbd></td><td>Set octave 10</td></tr>
+
+ <tr><td><kbd>f1</kbd></td><td>Set note length to whole</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>f2</kbd></td><td>Set note length to half</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>f3</kbd></td><td>Set note length to third</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>f4</kbd> to <kbd>f8</kbd></td><td>Set note length to quarter to sixtyfourth</td></tr>
+
+ <tr><td><kbd>a</kbd></td><td>Insert C</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>w</kbd></td><td>Insert C♯</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>s</kbd></td><td>Insert D</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>e</kbd></td><td>Insert D♯</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>d</kbd></td><td>Insert E</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>f</kbd></td><td>Insert F</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>t</kbd></td><td>Insert F♯</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>g</kbd></td><td>Insert G</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>y</kbd></td><td>Insert G♯</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>h</kbd></td><td>Insert A</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>u</kbd></td><td>Insert A♯</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>j</kbd></td><td>Insert B</td></tr>
+
+ <tr><td><kbd>tab</kbd></td><td>Insert a one note length rest</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd class="mod1">tab</kbd></td><td>Insert a one grid unit rest</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>backspace</kbd></td><td>Moves the cursor back one note length</td></tr>
+
+ <tr><td><kbd>z</kbd></td><td>Set note velocity 𝆏𝆏𝆏</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>x</kbd></td><td>Set note velocity 𝆏𝆏</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>c</kbd></td><td>Set note velocity 𝆏</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>v</kbd></td><td>Set note velocity 𝆐𝆏</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>b</kbd></td><td>Set note velocity 𝆐𝆑</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>n</kbd></td><td>Set note velocity 𝆑</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>m</kbd></td><td>Set note velocity 𝆑𝆑</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>,</kbd> (comma)</td><td>Set note velocity 𝆑𝆑𝆑</td></tr>
+
+ <tr><td><kbd>↑</kbd></td><td>Set next note velocity</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>↓</kbd></td><td>Set prev note velocity</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd class="mod1">↑</kbd></td><td>Set next note length</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd class="mod1">↓</kbd></td><td>Set prev note length</td></tr>
+
+ <tr><td><kbd>'</kbd></td><td>Toggle triplet</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>.</kbd></td><td>Set single dotted</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd class="mod1">.</kbd></td><td>Clear dotted</td></tr>
+ <tr><td><kbd>|</kbd> (bar)</td><td>Toggle chord</td></tr>
+</table>
+