Can't edit MIDI generated by Chords to MIDI in Cubase 14.0.10

Cubase
,
1

After generating MIDI data on an instrument track using Project/Chord Track/Chords to MIDI in Cubase Pro 14.0.10 (on Windows 10), attempting to edit the MIDI data in the Key Editor (both lower zone and full screen) did not work.

For example, I selected all the notes generated, then tried Shift-UpArrow (I needed to transpose the notes up 2 octaves to fit the range with a virtual guitar plugin that interprets chords from notes in a specific range), and nothing happened. I then tried manually dragging, and it looked like it would move the notes, but after releasing at the right point, nothing happened again. I even tried just moving a single note at one point, again with the same result – no change.

I finally ended up working around the issue by moving the generated MIDI to a new MIDI track, transposing it there, then moving the MIDI back to the instrument track (which was now empty since I moved the data rather than copying it). After that, I could edit the data.

Thus, short of some fluke with my specific project, or the specific Cubase session, it looks like there is something funky about the MIDI generated by the Chords to MIDI function. (I was looking for any sort of unusual visual indication, such as a lock icon on the clip, that might give a hint, but I didn’t find anything unusual.)

2

I’m not sure if I answer your qustion, but I do the following and it works ok:
1.created an empty project
2.Created a chrod track and an instrument track (Padshop in my case)
3.wrote 4 chords onto the chord track.
4.selected the chords and draged them onto the intrument track.
5.They appered as midi event on the intrument track when I released the mouse.
6.Selected the midi events, and
7.opened the lower zone key editor and the midi was fully editable.
JonB

3

Same here.

Perhaps some screenshots of the impacted Track’s Inspector and also a Selected Part exhibiting this behavior making sure to include the entire Info Line might help.

4

As I indicated in my original post, I am Project/Chord Track/Chords to MIDI (i.e. from the project view menu). I just tried this again (same project and Cubase session, but adding another instrument track to serve as the target), and I get the same behavior as I mentioned earlier.

However, if I do it with drag and drop as you suggested, the notes do move. The problem, of course, is it’s much harder for me to just recreate the chords for the whole song in the right position with drag and drop – when I tried selecting all the chords and dragging them, they came in at a different position, even if I was holding down Ctrl while dragging.

It might be that I could turn on the snap to grid at a bar line and be careful in my mouse positioning and do it, but the menu version is just so much more straightforward, and, I’d think, should work and leave things editable, so I think this is likely a bug.

I’m not sure what specifically you’re wanting to look at, so here’s a screen shot of the entire project window with the selected track (VG-AMBER2 02) selected and all notes from the clip selected in the lower zone editor:

image
image1906Ă—975 115 KB

It may also be of interest that, after selecting all notes and attempting to move them up an octave with Shift-UpArrow, here is what edit history shows for the steps starting with the addition of the instrument track:

image

In particular, it looks like it is showing the move operation for the octave, but no move actually occurs. If I just try to move up a half step with just the up arrow, it shows Up instead of Add Up, but again the data doesn’t actually get moved up a half-step.

5

Rick,
if you use the menu function then the target track will automatically be switched to follow the chord track. You’ll have to switch off this setting in the InspectorChords section of the target track:

grafik
grafik184Ă—214 3.14 KB

It’s a feature, not a bug. TM

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6

Well, THAT’s intuitive. LOL!!! The Chord section of the properties wasn’t even showing in my Inspector setup (I pretty much never use the Chord Track to drive an actual instrument, just for my visual reference when tracking to help me remember what the changes are, similar to how I’d use a lead sheet.)

I do see, though that the extra step does make the data editable, so thanks for the tip. Honestly, though, I think next time I need to do this, I’ll just do it with a blank MIDI track and Click-Drag the data to the instrument track I want it for then delete the MIDI track. It’ll likely be a lot quicker than remembering this “workaround” (for a “feature”). :slight_smile:

7

BTW, when I sarcastically say, “that’s intuitive,” what I mean is why would I (or anyone) convert chords to MIDI if they wanted to tie the MIDI to the Chord Track? Isn’t the whole point of converting them to MIDI so you can edit the data afterward, rather than just having a track follow the chord track?

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8

I don’t know the specific use case, if there’s any, but if you want to keep the automatic following of the chord track and adjust the pitch to cater a specific instrument you can also set up the Voicings range in this dialog:

grafik
grafik488Ă—596 27.4 KB

or use Transpose on the track or the MIDI part:

grafik
grafik172Ă—194 2.25 KB

9

It’s for use with a virtual guitarist product, UJAM Amber 2 in this case, that reads the notes you’re playing/programming, detects the chord, and plays patterns (e.g. strumming patterns) against it based on key switches. I’d usually just track the parts to generate the chord recognition manually, but, since I had a chord track that was pretty accurate, I thought I’d just generate that part automatically, allowing me to edit it for timing, changes of mind, etc., later. But the notes played need to be in specific ranges for the chord detection and key switches, and the ones the chord track generated were a few octaves too low.

While I could potentially have used a Transpose MIDI Modifier to help, I don’t want it to actually follow the chord track – I mainly use the chord track to help me track various parts as I’m overdubbing other tracks – and the timing in the chord track isn’t 100% accurate, plus I’ll want to voice some instruments differently than what a chord track might pick (e.g. I might simplify a guitar chord compared to what I’m playing on the piano or organ).

I initially tried generating with the guitar voicing, but the notes needed for the chord detection don’t really correspond to guitar voicings, so I switched to the basic chords (I think I’d initially tried with the default, which may have been piano voicings).

Bottom line, though, was I was just trying to save some time on getting the initial notes for chord detection by “copying” the chord notes to MIDI. When I track notes myself, I might play some wrong notes, get the timing less optimal, not get all notes from a chord hitting at the same time (thus potentially changing the chord that gets triggered), etc., so there is a fair bit of cleanup (e.g. to quantize notes so they line up properly for all notes in a chord). And, if I just program the chords manually, it takes a long time. Getting the notes from the chord track is a least a little more efficient to get a starting point, then I’ll edit chord timing, overdub CCs, and either overdub or write in key switches later.

These kinds of virtual guitar products are especially helpful for strummed parts when you’re a keyboard player who doesn’t play guitar worth beans. :slight_smile: (When I’m doing lead guitar parts, or finger-picked parts, I usually just play them from a keyboard.)

10

I meant to refer to this:

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