Note selection difference in selection- and percussive mode

#1

When in draw mode entering midi notes, if using
a) in selection mode
the actually single note inserted note will be selected, at least per default
b) in percussive mode
all inserted notes will get selected consecutively, hence later applied “action” will apply to all notes inserted

I checked older ardour versions, and it’s been like that in them too.
What is the reason for it?
(the different behaviour confuses me a bit, i always apply actions to more notes than i want to, as not used to the percussive-mode behaviour, and understanding why it is like that might reduce my confusion. A drummer is needed :slight_smile: ).

thanks.

#2

None of this has anything to do with playing an acoustic drum kit. Perhaps a drummer who plays an electronic kit can answer this.

#3

I see what you mean.

I do, and I can’t. I can’t see why this has anything to do with actually playing the drums as, when using an eKit, one would normally record the MIDI directly into the track.

The only thing I can think of is that it makes it easy to shift notes you have just added around to a different part of the kit.

What I mean by this is: because percussion instruments normally have multiple instruments distributed across the note range, if I had entered (say) a bunch of consecutive hi-hat hits, and I decided I wanted to move them to the ride cymbal, they are already selected to allow me to do this easily.

Other than this, I can think of no reason.

Cheers,

Keith

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#4

I also find this characteristic of MIDI note highlighting somewhat cumbersome when I want to add accents to quarter notes—for instance, when programming a hi-hat part where the quarter notes are meant to be more heavily emphasized than the surrounding eighth notes. I actually never use the percussion mode.

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#5

I do wonder if this is a long-standing bug that no-one has reported.

I had a quick look on the tracker, and I didn’t see anything.

Cheers,

Keith

#6

What i really meant was something like “perhaps the difference between both note-modes have a good reason i can’t see”, perhaps it relates to drums, of which i only know the basics. (not related to “play” drums, either real or e-kit, but the way drums are in comparison with other instruments. Say note len doesn’t seem to matter a heck lot, compared with other instruments, but perhaps even that is wrong).

I am fine with both, what confuses me is to switch workflow when going from “selection mode” to “percussive” mode.
Perhaps i’m gonna get used to that, if i do it a bit longer.

In general i think it is better have a consistent behaviour, i don’t think the confusion with workfow is only for me. If no one will stand up why it makes sense to have it like that, i might make a bug-request to change it.
otoh no one complained about it either, it seems … so … very minor.

Thanks your both insight.

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