How to build a new midi song

How to build a new midi song

Supposing you start with a blank song in the trackwin, these are the steps you need to do in order to record some midi tracks and make your own midi song.

Turn on the metronome. Push the metronome button. This will help you keep in time when playing. Later, when you have recorded some tracks, you may want to turn the metronome off again because the other recorded tracks will support you with the necessary beat information.
Select counts per bar etc.. By default, a blank song will have 4 counts per bar with each count corresponding to a quarter note. To change this you need to invoke the Misc->Meterchange menu entry.
Select song speed. You probably have a feeling about how fast your song should be. You can try this right away by just pressing the play button. You will then hear the beats of the metronome. Change the speed to your preference by clicking into the speed field.
Define track defaults. Before you can enter music (events) into a track, you need to define track name, instrument to be played and midi channel number for that track. Do this by clicking on the track name field, starting on the second track (will invoke the Track Settings dialog). Never use the first track for recording, as this is defined to be the master track (holding events controlling the whole song like speed, meter change etc.).
- Track name. Enter a track-name that describes what you play on the track, not just the instrument name (you may want to play some other voice using the same instrument into another track at a later stage).
- Instrument. Select an instrument from the instrument list. The instruments with one number in front of the name (e.g. '5 Rhodes Piano') are the 'General MIDI' (GM) instruments, the others are extensions to the GM standard and may not be supported by your synth/sound-card.
  If this track is to play the same channel and the same instrument as a previously defined track, set the instrument to 'None' (default).
  If your track is a drum track, the instrument names are a bit misleading. To get started we recommend that you select instrument number 1 (labelled '1 Piano 1'). This will give you the 'standard drum kit' on a GM compatible synth/sound-card. You must study the instrument list in your synth documentation to see what other drumkits are available.
- MIDI channel. If the track is to play a new instrument, choose a midi channel that has not been used by another track. Start at channel 1 and increment by one for each new instrument (track). If your track is to play drums, select channel 10 (predefined by GM to be the drum channel).
Set output midi channel on your keyboard. If your keyboard is capable of sending on different midi channels, you should now set the keyboard output channel according to the midi channel of the track you are about to record. If your keyboard can only send on one midi channel (e.g. channel 1), you must use a slightly different algorithm (described below).
Note that you can also 'record' without a keyboard by manually entering events into the pianowin using the mouse.
Select some bars. Select the area of your track where you want to record. You can also select the whole track by clicking in the leftmost field of the track in trackwin (the track/channel display column).
Start recording. Start recording by clicking at the record button. JAZZ++ will then start to play one bar ahead of the selected area to give you a count-in. You can also start recording by clicking directly at a bar in the top-line of the event area (see section Record and play). While recording you will hear the metronome (if enabled), any previously recorded tracks plus your own keyboard playing.
Stop recording. Stop recording by clicking the record button again (or use one of the other 'stop-play' methods). If you played any notes, you will be asked if you want to keep the recorded events. If you decide to keep them, press 'Ok'. You can then listen to the recording. If you are not satisfied you can press the Undo button to take it away and then do a new recording (go back to previous item). You can also do a new recording by pressing right-button on the top-line. The old recording will then be silent, and any new recording will replace the old one.
Post process the recording. You may want to fix something in your recording afterwards. You may want to quantize or transpose the recording (menu entry Edit->Transpose), or you may want to fix notes that are wrong using the mouse in the pianowin.

You can record a new track by going back to the item 'Define track defaults'. You can also record more music into an existing track by going back to item 'Set output midi channel on your keyboard'.

At some point you will probably also want to edit other track defaults like volume, pan, reverb and chorus. You can do this by invoking the Mixer dialog (press the mixer button).

If your synth is GS or XG compatible, you may also want to do other kinds of part editing like adjusting sound-color, vibrato or envelope, or change the behavior of controllers like pitch bender and modulation wheel. These things and a lot more are accessible through the Parts menu.

Recording with a one-channel keyboard

If your keyboard can only send on one midi channel (e.g. channel 1) you must change the above procedure according to the following:

Always record in a track having the default channel set to 1.
When finished recording on that track, change the default track number to something else (a free channel number) by clicking the track-name-field and adjusting the slider in the "Track Settings" dialog. When you click 'Ok', the default channel and all events on the track will be converted to the new channel number (this is true if the entry 'Force channel number onto all events on track' is checked).
If you want to do more recording on a previously recorded track, change that track back to channel 1 first using the same method.

Pressing the Panic button between operations will prevent the synth/sound-card from being confused (sends a 'reset' command to the synth/sound-card).