newbie Midi questions

Cubase
1

I import a Midi file. It has a bunch of tracks. Each track has been automatically divided into something that I’ll call “sections”: white areas where there is activity in the track.

  1. what is the purpose of these sections?
  2. if I use the List Editor to change the time of a note so it falls outside a section, the note is there invisibly and does not play! I can grab the section and stretch it so it is long enough to cover that note, and then it plays. Again: why???
  3. how can I tell what the current value of some parameter is at some point in the piece? For instance: suppose I want to know the current value of the Main Volume on channel 7. How do I do it? Do I have to look at every track that has some Channel 7 commands in it and find every Main Volume command (this is a CC thing) and figure out what is the last instance of this? I see that, at the bottom of the Midi editor, I can select some parameter to view, such as Main Volume. But that only shows me approximate values, and it only shows anything at all if it happens to have changed IN THAT SECTION. (Again: what are these sections???) But it could have changed in some previous section…or in another track. To get the exact value do I have to find the most recent Main Volume command in the List Editor? Or: what if I want to know what the most recent Program Change value is for that channel? Etc.

Thanks for any help!

2

The sections are “MIDI Parts” (containers).
To read exact values, turn on the “Info Line” and select a data point.
The value will display there and can be edited.

3

You could do that. The volume is set to whatever the value of the last cc7 message to hit it.


I prefer not to use midi for volume. I control the audio.

If I imported a midi file I would remove all the program changes and volume messages.

Then set a track at 120 or whatever you want, then adjust the level of the generated sound after the midi hits whatever module is making the sound.

Also I pick all my own voices, unless you’re doing a karaoke thing or something and using a gm module.

A midi file is a bunch of midi events on tracks. Those container things are a cubase thing. Just takes a little getting used to but they’re good to have like for duplicating sections etc.