If you want to edit a lot of notes, I recommend you use Process | Find/Change.  This is much faster and works in Staff View as well as anywhere else.

This example, for simplicity, assumes you have a resolution of 120 ticks per quarter, but it will work with any resolution as long as you know how many ticks are in the longest and shortest note.   it also assumes you have quantized durations.
 
• In this example, pretend you are editing half notes (240 ticks), quarter notes (120 ticks), eighth notes (60 ticks), and sixteenth notes (30 ticks).  Assume you want to shorten the notes by 2 ticks.
• Select the range you want to change.
• Go to Process | Find/Change.  Click ALL on the first screen.  Then enter  30 and 240 in the two duration boxes.  (You will need to precede the numbers with 0 and space, like 0 30, to make sure you get ticks and not beats).
• On the second screen Click ALL and then enter 28 and 238 in the duration boxes to shorten all the values by 2 ticks.

Find/Change used to be called Interpolate which is a more accurate description of how this works since it edits intermediate values proportionally.  You will be amazed what you can do with this function: change crescendos/decresendos, scale pitch wheel movements, edit velocities, and many other things.

Bristol_Jonesey

Hey Scott, you shouldn't be here!!!
 You should be writing X2........

Ha! I'm one of those people that can multitask... well, not really... so I guess I better get back to work. 


Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

gogreen


So you're talking about doing this work in Sonar X1 Essential, right? Or can it be done in all its versions? This information would help me decide which Sonar X1 version to purchase. Thanks.

the midi editing is the same in all versions of Sonar X1

Thanks, Loptec.

To SToons: I work primarily in Finale in concert band scores with Garritan sounds. Digital preciseness of instruments' start and stop times creates what's been described as "midi organ effect." To make playback sound more real, I want to alter each instrument's start and stop times in various passages. Of course, musicians in real ensembles start and stop together according to our hearing, but rarely is it ever digitally precise. Timbre and pitch differences also affect the outcome. The problem seems to be more profound in Garritan Concert & Marching Band sounds than in other Garritan libraries. My initial concern was whether this work could be done in Sonar X1 Essentials. Apparently, midi effects editing is the same in all Sonar products. I'd like to know how to accomplish this task (start and stop times) in Sonar, although I'm guessing there are several ways to accomplish the same thing. I apologize if this question seems naive, and even laughable, to some. But Sonar and DAWs are a new world to me. Thanks.

One way is to go into the PRV, one track at a time, disable Snap and just nudge a few notes either side of the bar line, but not in a completely random fashion, make your adjustments more consistent, ans this is what would really be happening if a trumpet player was lagging a few ticks off the beat.

Sooo... using that as a premise, you can simplify the task by grabbing a selection of notes (in time and note value) and moving them en masse.

Again you need to introduce variation and it wouldn't sound at all natural if this idea was carried throughout the complete length of a track. Split it up.

One thing I always notice when listening to high school band and orchestra concerts is that the beginnings of passages do not start together.  You can hear all the players easing into the notes at different times.  In professional symphonies, this is much less of a problem.

My point is that people used to work very hard in studios to get timing tight: multiple takes, click tracks, etc.  Then, as soon as drum machines provided tight timing, some people start working to make it sloppier and more "human-sounding."  Yet, if a DAW or sequenced keyboard has latency or buffer issues that makes timing loose, suddenly that's a problem again.

I try to make everything on time.  If the passage is legato, I only break the legato between phrases.  But to each his own.

A real easy way to accomplish the OP's task is to (in Track View) Cntrl+A (select all) and then quantize to the appropriate value for the score and set the quantize value to somewhere between 90-95% (depending on tempo) and click on Audition. This will randomize the note-on events (aka attacks) in a very user-controllable fashion and can easily be undone and redone.

  Thanks for the great suggestions! I'm getting some really good ideas here!

gogreen


To SToons: I work primarily in Finale in concert band scores with Garritan sounds. Digital preciseness of instruments' start and stop times creates what's been described as "midi organ effect." To make playback sound more real, I want to alter each instrument's start and stop times in various passages. Of course, musicians in real ensembles start and stop together according to our hearing, but rarely is it ever digitally precise. Timbre and pitch differences also affect the outcome. The problem seems to be more profound in Garritan Concert & Marching Band sounds than in other Garritan libraries. My initial concern was whether this work could be done in Sonar X1 Essentials. Apparently, midi effects editing is the same in all Sonar products. I'd like to know how to accomplish this task (start and stop times) in Sonar, although I'm guessing there are several ways to accomplish the same thing. I apologize if this question seems naive, and even laughable, to some. But Sonar and DAWs are a new world to me. Thanks.

So I guess the question is do you already have Sonar or are you testing the waters before purchase. My assumption here is that you are (or would be) exporting as a MIDI file and then loading into Sonar. Each stave would now have it's own Track, in other words each stave will be seperate alowing for easier editing. There is nothing in Producer or Expanded that will make editing easier as the MIDI editing capablities are virtually identical (someone correct me if I'm wrong). The more expensive versions just come with more stuff - more audio effects, more sample libraries, ability to add (paid for) expansion modules (they do release the odd free one).
 
There is no question this is easy in Sonar depending on how you want to approach it. For example do you want to stagger just the beginning of phrases or do you want to offset the whole track (stave/instrument). So you could select an entire track and then "Slide" the track a few ticks which might be a fraction of a second. There are also CAL routines, for example, which would allow you to Randomize each note by a few ticks forwards, backwards or a combination; this can also help "humanize' the tracks.