How to quantize individual notes by percentage

[JT3_Jon]

A friend showed me how to quantize individual notes by percentage, and its changed my world, and I want to share it with you because I didn't think it was possible in Logic!

 

For those who dont understand what I'm talking about, imagine you recorded a midi drum track, and played all the parts of the kit on a single instrument rack (e.g. bass drum on C1, Snare C2 & 3, etc) Now say you overall LOVE the feel of the drums, but some parts in the snare in particular could be a bit tighter, and instead of apply hard quantize which would ruin the feel, you want to apply a slight quantize percentage of 25% on just a few, select snare parts.

 

Since you have the entire drum kit on a single track, quantizing the region itself wont work because A) you dont want to quantize the whole drum track, just the snare, and B) you just want to quantize select snare notes. So here is what you do.

 

1. Select the snare part you want to quantize

2. Adjust the "advanced quantization" Q-Strength settings in the region parameter box

3. inside the piano roll select the quantize length (i.e. 1/4-Note, 1/8-Note,etc)

 

After selecting the quantize length, you'll notice the selected notes were quantized by the percentage selected in the Q-strength region parameter! Now, if you wanted to quantize more notes, simply select them and hit the "Q" button in the piano roll editor! BINGO, they quantize by percent!!

 

Before my friend showed me how to do this, I was having to copy-paste the parts I wanted to quantize to new midi tracks, apply quantize percentage to these new regions, and then glue them back when I was done, as I assumed region parameters only effected REGIONS, and not individual notes. Boy was I wrong! Thus this post, as I want to make sure other users understand you can indeed quantize individual notes by a percentage with a region itself, without effecting the other notes! WAY COOL!!

 

Note, I have yet to figure out how to do this with any of the other advance quantize parameters, such as Q-flam, Q-velocity, etc. So if anyone else figures out how to do this, please drop me a PM!

 

All the best,

Jon

[Joe Lonsdale]

I was looking for this very thing today - editing a complex piano part to fix a few errant notes! However if I change the quantize percentage in the region parameter box of the arrange page, won't it affects all your previous quantize movements?

[camillo jr]

Yes it will, even with unselected notes. What I've noticed is that if you change the Q-strength setting after quantizing some individual notes in the piano roll then those notes will actually return to their original position. So, once you've settled on a certain Q-strength for a particular region, don't touch that dial!

[Joe Lonsdale]

Then no game! Sounds like a very risky strategy to me! I cannot afford to spend hours editing stuff only to find I have leaving a trail of quantize strength destruction behind me! Ha ha... Still looking for a piano-roll quantize-strength solution...

[camillo jr]

Well it does work, you just have to stick with one Q-strength setting per region.

[Joe Lonsdale]

Okay, then it KIND OF works. I will try it, but If i have already quantized the entire region by say 20% and a few phrases need a bit more, then I am stuck unless I split the region into multiple regions and adjust each individually, which is what I already do and want to avoid.

[Student]

Cant you normalize once you've quantized so it sticks, and then quantize the phrases that need more? Or does that not work with this trick?

 

edit: looks like it doesn't work here - thats a real shame!! Need to submit a bug report to apple, as shouldn't normalize region parameters work in keeping the quantize amount?

[Joe Lonsdale]

Normalising is an audio process, we're dealing with MIDI! Or am I is missing something? All these suggestions are, of course, appreciated, but are versions of how I already work: cutting the MIDI into separate regions and treating them separately. This method is okay for simple loops, beats and phrases, but extremely time consuming with a lengthy piano part with overlapping notes and multiple pedal data.

[Student]

Normalising is an audio process, we're dealing with MIDI! Or am I is missing something? All these suggestions are, of course, appreciated, but are versions of how I already work: cutting the MIDI into separate regions and treating them separately. This method is okay for simple loops, beats and phrases, but extremely time consuming with a lengthy piano part with overlapping notes and multiple pedal data.

 

I'm sorry I wasn't more clear, but not "normalize" as in audio volume, but "normalize region parameters."

 

See "Fixing MIDI Region Parameters" http://help.apple.com/logicpro/mac/9.1.6/en/logicpro/usermanual/index.html#chapter=13%26section=29%26tasks=true (near bottom)

[Joe Lonsdale]

Oh, I get you. So, for example, glue the regions together so the various region quantize settings become permanently 'imprinted' to the region and the region parameter box return to '0' - sorry, I didn't know this was called "normalizing" too!

 

And just to prove I read your link, which was very helpful by the way:

 

"Fixing MIDI Region Parameters

You can normalize the MIDI region parameter settings of all selected MIDI regions and folders with the MIDI > Region Parameters > Normalize Region Parameters command.

 

This means that all settings are actually written as data, and playback parameters revert to normal values. The audible result remains the same. The Loop parameter and extended MIDI region parameters are not affected. Use of this function is effectively like saying “make these MIDI region/instrument parameter values permanent.” In most circumstances, it is better not to do this, as leaving the original data untouched provides more flexibility. This includes unlimited opportunities to change your mind about MIDI region edits."