Part 4 - Working with MIDI

MIDI, which stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, plays a pivotal role in the realm of music production, particularly when working with software like Ableton Live. MIDI is a protocol that enables electronic musical instruments, computers, and other devices to communicate musically relevant information with one another. In the context of Ableton Live, MIDI is extensively utilized for creating, controlling, and manipulating musical elements (like drums, chords, and melodies). What's really important to us now is that MIDI allows you to write your own parts, rather than just work with manipulating audio like loops.

Users can enter MIDI notes with a keyboard and mouse, or employ MIDI controllers, such as keyboards or drum pads, to trigger virtual instruments and manipulate parameters in real-time. Ableton Live's compatibility with MIDI allows for dynamic and expressive performances, facilitating the seamless integration of hardware and software components. Whether it's recording MIDI data, programming intricate sequences, or controlling various aspects of a performance, understanding MIDI is fundamental for unlocking the full creative potential within Ableton Live's versatile music production environment.

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You might like to watch this video overview from Ableton on how to sequence MIDI. Note that the session view (instead of the arrangement view) is shown in this video, but all of the MIDI clip editing tools are the same.

Try this in Ableton Live. We're going to start by clicking in (with the mouse) notes for a drum pattern. To make get a virtual instrument and a blank MIDI clip to start with:

1. Make sure you have a blank MIDI track (if not, Create > Insert MIDI track)
2. Navigate to the "Drums" section of the browser
3. Find a preset set of a sound you like, then click and drag it on to a MIDI track
4. In the arrangement view, highlight one bar (check against the ruler at the top) then add a blank MIDI clip: Create > Insert MIDI Clip(s)
   
   

To add notes into that blank clip to write your pattern:

1. Double click the title bar to view the contents of that clip in the "clip view" at the bottom of the screen (AKA the "piano roll").
   
2. Create a drum pattern! If you're not sure where to start, focus on the kick and snare first to arrange the major accents of the rhythm (then embellish with other sounds).
   
   
3. Your basic editing tools:
   
   • Double click to add notes (or turn on pencil tool, shortcut "B", to click once)
   • Select and drag notes from centre to reposition
   • Select and drag from edges to adjust duration (not so important for drums)
   • Click and drag the pink stalks at the bottom of the piano roll to adjust velocity (this typically represents how hard the note was hit / how loud it will be)
4. A reminder that you can find the options to change the grid size you are working with by right clicking the empty space in the MIDI clip. Adaptive grids will change as you zoom, fixed grids remain fixed to a bar length, or subdivision of a bar.
   

If you want to adjust the length or number of repeats of your clip:

1. We started with a 1 bar long MIDI clip, and typically this will be set to loop by default. So if you click and drag the right edge in the arrangement view (when your cursor turns into a square bracket) it will create additional repeats (marked with the small notch in the coloured bar at the top of the clip):
   
2. You could adjust the length of the loop by clicking and dragging the coloured loop brace in clip view
   
   or the loop length value in the clip tab, or alternatively disable looping by pressing the loop button (when you do this, extending/trimming the clip in the arrangement view will adjust its duration instead of making more repeats).
    

Take a pause from the instructions here to complete practical task 1 (creating drums by manual entry/mouse clicking). Once you've got some drums you like, experiment with adding other complimentary parts. You can add in different software instruments on new MIDI tracks, or combine this with some loops from the installed packs.

When you are ready, move on to the next steps.

• To complete the next step, you'll need a way to record MIDI input.
• Ideally, you will have access to a MIDI controller like a MIDI keyboard.
• Alternatively, you can enable the "Computer MIDI keyboard" option in the top right of the screen:
  
• This allows you to use your QWERTY typing keyboard as a MIDI keyboard.
• The row "A" across is the white keys, the row "Q" across is the black keys. Z and X go up/down octaves. C and V adjust a fixed velocity level.

If you're attempting this from home without access to a MIDI keyboard yet, this is a good alternative for getting started. Later, make sure you try this task in the labs on campus (remember you can access these once enrolled any time the building is open, so long as there is a free seat)

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Now we're going to add a melodic part to compliment your drums by recording your playing on a MIDI keyboard.

Add a new blank MIDI track (Create > Insert MIDI track)  Navigate to the "Sounds" section of the browser Find a preset of a sound you like, then click and drag it on to a MIDI track Make sure the track is armed (tracks normally are by default when an instrument is loaded)

5. Make sure you have something to play along to, such as your drum part and/or the metronome. To enable the metrone, press this button in the top left of the screen:
   
6. If you begin recording whilst the track is playing, your recording will start immediately. If you begin recording whilst the track is stopped, you can get a count in from the metrone first. To adjust the count in settings, press the drop down arrow next to the metronome button:
   
7. Press the arrangement record button to record in a melody on your MIDI keyboard
   
8. 
   

Don't worry if you aren't a great keyboard player, just make sure you understand the process for now. See the next step for some tools that might help... 

Here are some tools that might help you refine what you record:

Inside the MIDI clip you can enable scale mode to visually highlight the notes within a chosen scale (chosen in the drop downs). You can also Highlight Scale with the checkbox above the piano roll. This doesn't move anything into scale for you, but it will help highlight what is/isn't in your chosen scale.
There is also an option to Fit to scale inside the basic pitch and time utilities with a MIDI clip. This is a quick solution for making sure all notes are in your chosen scale (but you could also move them manually, especially if you don't like the adjustments it made).
Select notes that are poorly timed and go to Edit > Quantise Settings to see options to nudge them back on grid. Keeping the amount less than 100% will retain some of the human performance. If you use the Quantise (rather than Quantise settings) option, shortcut Cmd/Ctrl+U, this will immediate apply the last chosen settings.

Take a pause from the instructions here to complete TASK 2 (creating melodies by recording with a MIDI keyboard). Once you've got your melody in, try adding other parts that might continue to develop this musical idea. Maybe that's some new layers, or figuring out a transition to a new section of the song form. Try to build out an idea for a rough music demo.