Piano Roll

Notes become horizontal bars, so pitch, length and velocity share one editable grid.

Related

MIDI ProtocolVelocityDAW

A piano roll draws notes as horizontal bars, with pitch vertical, time horizontal and the left edge as the attack.

The problem

Stacked or spread chords, crossing voices and note lengths take line-by-line reading in an event list. The roll puts them on one surface, and a pitch change becomes a one-cell drag.

How it works

The vertical axis is chromatic, usually beside a keyboard, while the horizontal axis divides into beats and bars. Bar length is duration, a velocity lane sits below, and controller or pedal lanes follow. Several tracks can share the view in colours, and snap sets where a drag lands.

Settings and practice

Set the grid to the finest value the part uses, often a sixteenth or an eighth-note triplet. For legato, drag the right edge past the next attack. Check chord alignment and use a ghosted track as a reference.

What to listen for

Hear whether chords arrive together or roll open, then whether a long note is cut. After moving a note, notice the push and pull of the new attack.

Common misunderstandings

The roll serves any pitched part, not only piano, and it is not notation; slurs and phrasing are absent. Bars are not audio, so length does not change timbre.

Sources

• 钢琴卷帘的坐标、力度条与吸附设置，依通行 DAW 文档核查，未抄文本
• 音符时值、连奏与多轨叠加的编辑方法，依数字音频工作流通识核查，未抄文本

Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.