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Draw and delete notes

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Mark notes

Press ⌘→ / ⌘← to mark the next or previous note, ⌘A for all of them. ⇧-drag a box to mark every note it touches.

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Move, transpose and resize notes

With notes marked, ← / → move them by a grid step and ↑ / ↓ by a semitone, Fn↑ / Fn↓ by an octave. ⌃⌘← / ⌃⌘→ change their length.

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Set velocity with the number row

Mark notes and press 1 to 0 for 10 % to 100 % velocity. The note plays once at its new level.

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Stamp chords and patterns

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Good to know

  • A MIDI clip opens as a piano roll about half the viewport tall. Press ⌥↓ once more, or the full-height button at the end of the focus bar, for full window height; ⌥↑ steps back to Focus.
  • The bare arrows move the marked notes, or the cursor when nothing is marked. ⌘→ / ⌘← move into the neighboring clip past the last or first note.
  • A plain drag marks a region, ⇧-drag marks notes. The region snaps to the grid and note rows and stays on screen; ⌘D stamps it onto the next region, ⌘E splits at its edges, Backspace carves it out, and the arrow keys move it. The ⇧ box snaps to nothing and leaves the notes it covered marked.
  • The letter keys play the track’s instrument, no arming needed, in the track’s keyboard layout. Fn↑ / Fn↓ shift their octave when nothing is marked, and transpose when notes or a region are marked. Layouts: Play with the Keyboard.
  • A stamp overwrites what it lands on. The preview draws the written notes already pushed aside (shortened, moved to the stamp’s end, or gone), so what you see before the click is what the click makes. The whole shape and everything it displaces is one undo step.
  • Right-click and drag erases every note you pass. Double-clicking an empty spot inserts a one-step note, double-clicking a note deletes it.
  • Hold ⌘ for brush mode. A ghost note appears under your cursor showing where the note will be placed. Click to create, or drag to set the note’s duration.
  • ⌘-click with notes marked stamps a copy of them. With no note selected it creates a new note, as on the timeline.
  • A drawn note yields to a note already on its row; a stamp takes it. Drawing with ⌘ where there is nothing to displace is unchanged.
  • Dragging a note or its edge snaps to the grid, to transients and to other notes. Which pitch rows a note may land on: Pitch Snap.
  • Every ⇧-drag sweep starts fresh. The moment the box starts moving it releases whatever stood marked, however it got marked, then writes only what it covers. To add a single note to what is already marked, ⇧-click that note.
  • The vertical arrows differ between clips and notes. A clip is bound to its track, so on the timeline ↑ / ↓ let go of the marked clips and move the cursor to the track above or below. A note is free in pitch, so in the piano roll they transpose it.
  • Fn↑ / Fn↓ (Page Up / Page Down) move by ±12 semitones, clamp pitches to the MIDI range 0...127, and participate in undo.
  • Note length needs ⌃⌘, because ⌃ alone is taken by macOS. It claims ⌃← / ⌃→ for Mission Control’s move one space and ⌃↑ / ⌃↓ for Mission Control and App Windows before Gridshift is asked. ⌃⌘ changes the length of the selected notes only; a marquee region on its own is not enough.
  • The number row sets the velocity of the marked notes. With nothing marked it changes the last note you played in the clip: the one you clicked, dragged, swept with the selection box, drew, or inserted with Return. The levels are those of the number row: 1 is velocity 13, 5 is 64, 0 is 127.
  • Each number-key press is one undo step; a press that leaves the velocity where it was records none, and holding the key edits once. With no such note (nothing played in the clip yet, or a letter key played since), the key retriggers the last note instead. While recording and in step entry, the keys lay down notes.
  • In the piano roll a stamp places notes into the clip; with the piano roll closed it places a whole clip. Pitches only show in the piano roll, where you pick the row you click. What the picker holds: Patterns.
The complete grid, with every modifier: Focus Mode Shortcuts.
Last modified on October 22, 2026