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Hi, clueless noob here.

Basically, I am doing some sketches involving creating grooves using Band In a Box 12, exporting those tracks as MIDI, then importing them into Garage band. From there, I add some real instrument tracks. Overall, it seems to be working fairly well. I like the BIAB tracks much better than the Apple loops.

But I have a situation. I have these two fretless bass tracks (both MIDI). Quite by accident, I discovered that by playing both I get a really great Jaco-esque fretless bass part for the chorus. Problem is, in a few spots, there are too many simultaneous notes. I'd like to edit those out. However, in GB I can only view one track at a time in standard notation. I'd love to be able to merge those two MIDI tracks, then display the entire (merged) part in standard notation so I could delete those extra notes and make the part sound more authentic.

Can anyone recommend a freeware MIDI editor for the MAC that will handle merges?

Have a hit a GB limitation early?

Maybe I should consider upgrading to Logic Express. Will LE handle the sort of MIDI editing I am describing?

Thanks in advance.

Comments

pr0gr4m Tue, 01/13/2009 - 14:45

Alright dude...dont get all antsy.

I love answering questions about MIDI. However, I don't use a MAC and have zero experience with Band In A Box and GarageBand. I read the first part of your post and stopped reading before I got to the end because I figured...I don't know anything about those programs so I can't intelligently answer the question.

Your prodding here has pushed me to read the rest of the post and I think this should be easy to do...

Here's what I would do. Copy all the MIDI notes from one track. Select the other MIDI track and paste in the copied notes. Hopefully the paste doesn't overwrite your existing notes. Now you should have 1 track with the MIDI notes from both. Make sure you align them up correctly. From there you can go through whatever MIDI editor GB has and remove the duped notes.

Logic has good if not great MIDI implementation and probably has a 'logical' editor that would allow you to script the duplicate note removal.

ouzo77 Tue, 01/13/2009 - 15:12

hello mlt

i don't wanna be a smart ass but a 1-minute google search with "garageband manual" might do the trick.

in the manual it says:
Joining Regions
You can join multiple regions into a single region. To be joined, the regions must be
adjacent to each other on the same track, with no space between them.
Real Instrument regions from loops (blue) can't be joined. Recorded Real Instrument
regions (purple) can only be joined to other Real Instrument regions, and Software
Instrument regions (green) can only be joined to other Software Instrument regions.
1 Make sure the regions are the same type, on the same track, and adjacent to each
other.
2 Select the regions.
3 Choose Edit > Join Selected.
When you join Real Instrument regions, a dialog appears asking if you want to create a
new audio file. Click Create to join the regions in a new Real Instrument region.

just put your two regions on top of each other on one track and join them

or

copy the notes in one region and paste them into the other:

Selecting Notes
Before editing notes in notation view, you must first select them.
To select a note:
m
Click the notehead (the round part of the note). You can select multiple notes by Shift-
clicking or by dragging around the notes to enclose them.
Moving Notes
You can move notes in time in notation view, in the same way as in the editor’s graphic
view.
To move a note in time:
m
Select the note, then drag left or right. You can also move selected notes by pressing
the Left or Right Arrow keys.
Above each note in the beat ruler is a beat guide. As you move a note, the beat guide
moves to help you see the note’s exact position in time.
Copying Notes
You can copy notes in notation view.
To copy a note:
m
Option-drag the notehead to a new position.

hope this helps.

anonymous Tue, 01/13/2009 - 15:47

Who knew...

Seriously, the only "manual" I got with OS X was the online help and it mentioned NOTHING about this. Seriously, I write manuals for a living. The first thing I do is RTFM.

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

ouzo77 wrote: hello mlt

i don't wanna be a smart ass but a 1-minute google search with "garageband manual" might do the trick.

in the manual it says:
Joining Regions
You can join multiple regions into a single region. To be joined, the regions must be
adjacent to each other on the same track, with no space between them.
Real Instrument regions from loops (blue) can't be joined. Recorded Real Instrument
regions (purple) can only be joined to other Real Instrument regions, and Software
Instrument regions (green) can only be joined to other Software Instrument regions.
1 Make sure the regions are the same type, on the same track, and adjacent to each
other.
2 Select the regions.
3 Choose Edit > Join Selected.
When you join Real Instrument regions, a dialog appears asking if you want to create a
new audio file. Click Create to join the regions in a new Real Instrument region.

just put your two regions on top of each other on one track and join them

or

copy the notes in one region and paste them into the other:

Selecting Notes
Before editing notes in notation view, you must first select them.
To select a note:
m
Click the notehead (the round part of the note). You can select multiple notes by Shift-
clicking or by dragging around the notes to enclose them.
Moving Notes
You can move notes in time in notation view, in the same way as in the editor’s graphic
view.
To move a note in time:
m
Select the note, then drag left or right. You can also move selected notes by pressing
the Left or Right Arrow keys.
Above each note in the beat ruler is a beat guide. As you move a note, the beat guide
moves to help you see the note’s exact position in time.
Copying Notes
You can copy notes in notation view.
To copy a note:
m
Option-drag the notehead to a new position.

hope this helps.

x

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