The Ultimate Guide to MIDI Piano Rolls (All Major DAWs)

The piano roll is an essential digital audio interface for recording, editing, and sequencing MIDI notes. It offers granular controls over pitch and articulation that are not available for raw audio recordings.

In this article, we’ll show you how to access the MIDI piano roll in every major DAW, with tips and tricks for navigating those workstations’ unique features. This can act as a glossary of terms or as a tutorial, depending on what you’re looking for.

Tutorials for using the MIDI piano roll in any DAW

Each DAW takes a different approach to piano roll design and interaction. The following tutorials will guide you through important tasks like accessing your roll editor, changing selected note properties, using the quantize feature, and hotkey shortcuts to speed up your workflow.

Check the left navigation menu to find and skip to your preferred audio workstation.

Hookpad

Hookpad is a popular songwriting sketchpad and MIDI composition DAW that loads in a browser on any device. The piano roll can be embedded directly onto websites, as seen in the TheoryTab song database. Here’s an example below, depicting an Ed Sheeran song:

There is one important detail about this tool that sets it apart from other DAWs. Hookpad’s piano roll uses scale degrees to record your melodies. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it’s simple. There are seven scale degrees in a seven-note scale. The first note is the first degree; the second note is the second degree, and so forth.

Think of it like a musical thermometer. With this innovative design, you can transpose a song into any key. For example, you can take a song in a major key and make it minor, and vice versa.

Here are some highlights from Hookpad’s piano roll editor:

1. Program melodies and chord progressions with keys 1-7: Choose a note duration from the top left corner of the interface. Click into the melody or chord regions, using keys 1-7 to program your MIDI notes. They will be added in the same octave as the previous note.
2. Select multiple notes and chords: Click and drag to select a group of notes or chords. The familiar command/control + click or shift + click found in most programs are supported here. Hold shift and use the arrow keys to select chords to the left or right of the cursor.
3. Copy and paste: Use the hotkey “c” to copy your selection to the clipboard, or use the Edit dropdown menu to access the copy option there. Place your cursor at the desired insertion point and use the hotkey “v” to paste. The option to Paste can also be found in the dropdown menu.
4. Delete notes and chords: The delete key will remove MIDI from the editor for you. Click an individual note or chord and continue hitting delete, as you would with a text editor, to remove notes or chords that came before it.
5. Change note pitches: There are a few different ways to change the pitch value of your notes quickly
   1. Click and drag the selected notes up or down with the mouse.
   2. Use the up/down arrow keys to raise/lower the notes by a scale degree.
   3. You can hold shift while arrowing up or down to transpose by an octave instead of scale degrees.
   4. To move the pitch by a semitone, select a note and press “.” (period) to raise it or “,” (comma) to lower it. If you land on a pitch outside the scale, the note color will change to a striped blend of the two diatonic note colors.
6. Change note durations: Select one or more notes and use keyboard shortcuts h, j, k, l, ;, ‘, b to change their duration. Those letters might seem random at first, but they’re actually a convenient row of keys on the QWERTY keyboard.
7. Note edges: To resize a note manually, hover the cursor over its edge, click, and then drag it over to the right or left. Notes have an “outer” edge and an “inner” edge, with different behavior depending on which option you use.
   • Clicking and dragging the outer edge will cause the neighboring note to shrink and grow along with the note you selected. Look for the double-bracket icon.
   • Clicking and dragging the inner region will only modify your selected note. Look for the single bracket icon.
   • A full row of notes can be modified together with one action. To push or pull the selected group, hold alt/option as you drag.
8. Splitting notes: To chop up a note, click the “Split” button on Hookpad’s interface or press the “/” hotkey to toggle into split mode. The mouse icon will turn into a vertical bar, at which time you can click wherever you want to split.
9. Joining notes: Tie two or more repeating notes together, select the notes you would like to join press the “t” hotkey. Tying only works when two or more notes of the same pitch are touching. In groups of three or more, if one of them is not touching, none of them will be tied.
10. Multiple melodies: Hookpad supports four melody voices. The piano roll allows only one note at a time per active voice. You can toggle between them by holding down control and pressing keys 1 through 4. Each key maps onto a separate MIDI melody track.
11. Change time signatures and keys: Above the piano roll, you’ll find a toolbar with features like key signature, tempo, and beats. Adjust the number of beats per measure to change the time signature.

Ready to give it a try? Visit the website here and start creating music in Hookpad for free. You don’t need to sign up for an account or log in to start creating.

For paying users, export your MIDI files and import them to any of the following DAWs for additional virtual instruments and sound design.

Ableton Live

Ableton Live has one of the most advanced MIDI piano rolls on the market. To access it, use the hotkey Command + Shift + M on Mac or Control + Shift + M on Windows.

Here’s a rundown of essential features you’ll find in Ableton’s MIDI editor:

1. Double-click or use Draw mode to create notes in the piano roll editor. Press “B” as a hotkey.
2. Use Preview mode to hear the MIDI notes as you move them around. To activate this mode, click on the small headphone icon located at the top left corner of your piano roll.
3. Use the cursor keys to move selected notes up and down by semitones. Hold down the shift key to transpose those notes by an octave instead of half-steps.
4. To auto-select all of the notes with a certain pitch value, click the corresponding key on the black-and-white piano interface (located to the left-hand side of your roll editor).
5. Access scale templates located at the bottom left corner of Clip view to limit the piano roll to a specific musical scale. This makes it easier for beginners to avoid sour notes and stay in key. Use Fold to limit piano roll further, to only show the notes you’ve programmed so far. It uses the Greek names for each modal scale, with the exception of major (Ionian) and minor (Aeolian).
6. Adjust the grid resolution to insert MIDI notes at the rhythmic intervals of your choice. Use this to create pre-quantized chord progressions or melodies.
7. For live performances, quantize notes to re-align them with the project’s metronome. The Quantize command is in your Edit menu, but you can also use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+U (PC) or CMD+U (Mac).
8. Zoom in and out of the clip region to focus on your selected notes. The “z” hotkey will zoom in while the “shift + Z” hotkey will zoom back out.
9. Double or halve your MIDI playback speed from within Notes Tab, without changing the project BPM. Click on the ÷2 or ×2 buttons to automatically adjust the position of each note, so that it’s performed at half or double time.
10. Select a collection of notes and use the MIDI stretch marker to stretch or compress the note positions fluidly. Click the roll editor’s playhead and drag it left or right for this effect.
11. The notes tab includes a duplicate note option that extends a group of selected notes quickly, without having to copy and paste. This saves time on positioning the playhead.
12. Click the Legato option in your Notes tab to extend selected notes over to the beginning of the next note. This helps created smooth, sustained sounds if they were initially more staccato.
13. Crop clips to remove excess MIDI data and tidy up the arrangement.
14. Reverse or invert notes to create melodic variations.
15. Deactivate notes to silence them without deleting. This non-destructive approach saves you from issuing a bunch of “undo” commands if you want to revert to the original state.
16. Use looping and start points to change where a loop starts within a clip.
17. Open the velocity panel to control the volume of individual notes. The notes tab also includes control for randomization in a given range, to simulate human performance.
18. Take advantage of MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) for enhanced control and expression with compatible instruments and controllers.

That’s a wrap for our favorite MIDI roll features. There’s always room to go deeper with Ableton, especially when it comes to adding virtual instruments and audio effects to the MIDI track.

FL Studio

Fruity Loops began as a beginner’s beat making tool, with an easy-to-use sequencer that would quantize your MIDI melodies and percussion. It has since rebranded as FL Studio and blossomed into a mature DAW with tons of note data customization.

Here are some of the most important concepts to learn:

1. Create notes of any length: Hold Shift while you’re in the roll editor to click and drag a note to determine its duration.
2. Select all notes in a given pitch register: Hold the Control key. Then click any note on the piano keyboard diagram at the left edge of the piano roll. Alternatively, you can click and drag from an empty region of the roll editor to select your notes, or use contro + shift while clicking individual notes. This will allow you to edit and manipulate the group of notes together.
3. Move a group of MIDI notes up or down: Hold shift and use the arrow keys to move your notes by a semitone (halfstep). Alternatively, hold control and arrow up or down to transpose the notes by an octave.
4. Duplicate chord and melody sequences: Once you’ve selected a group of notes, hold down shift, click one of the notes, and drag a duplicate set of notes anywhere on the roll.
5. Copy, cut, paste: The standard keyboard shortcuts for copying, cutting, and pasting are also available for editing notes in FL Studio. Those are Ctrl + C, Ctrl + X, and Ctrl + V respectively.
6. Duplicate and extend a selection: Use control + B to instantly duplicate an entire section of MIDI notes in the piano roll. Use ctrl/cmd + A first to select all the notes, so that the duplication includes from your phrase.
7. Quantize notes: Use the shift + Q shortcut to activate FL Studio’s quantization feature and snap the notes to grid for perfect BPM synchronization.
8. Staccato and legato: Use shift + D to shorten your notes and make them staccato, or shift + L to make them legato (continuous until the next note in the sequence).
9. Extend note lengths: When one or more notes are selected, hold the alt key and hover your cursor over the right-edge of a note. Click and drag to extend by any length.
10. Modify duration of neighboring chords: Select all of the notes in two adjacent chords and hold down the shift key. Hover over the space between the two chords, click and drag left or right to change the duration of the first chord and the starting point for the second one.
11. Audition notes: Hold Alt and right-click a collection of selected MIDI notes to preview or chord.
12. Create MIDI markers: Mark your piano roll with reference flags, using Ctrl + T to add markers. This can help create a quick visual reference during playback.
13. Riff Machine: Generate chord progressions, melodies, and rhythmic patterns with FL Studio’s Riff Machine. Use the Alt + E shortcut to open the native MIDI plugin.
14. Strum Tool: Simulate realistic strumming effects for chords by selecting them and using the shortcut Alt + S.
15. Articulator Tool: Humanize your MIDI note performance velocity and other articulation parameters. It adds expressiveness to your MIDI patterns, making them sound more natural and dynamic.
16. Randomizer Tool: Introduce variations to your MIDI levels like panning and volume. Use the Alt + T shortcut to open the window.
17. Chop Tool: Create a staccato “stutter” effect on existing notes by hitting Alt + U.
18. Arpeggiator Tool: Run up and down individual notes in a selected chord by hitting Alt + R and applying arpeggiation.

FL Studio takes pride in its dense MIDI sequencing capabilities, so if you’re left wanting more be sure to check out the complete piano roll documentation in their knowledge base.

Logic Pro

The final DAW we’ll be covering is Logic Pro X for MacOS. As the professional version of Garageband, Logic offers better controls over MIDI note properties and their expression.

Here’s a round up of the most important features in their piano roll:

1. Creating MIDI Regions: Right-click or control-click on the timeline of a software instrument to create a new MIDI region. Alternatively, if you have a MIDI controller set up you can simply hit record and play a note. A third option is to hit command + K and record using your QWERTY keyboard.
2. Opening Piano Roll Editor: Double-click on the new region or press P to toggle the MIDI piano roll editor.
3. Snap Mode: Quantize your notes automatically with the snap to grid feature, using the shortcut Command + G. This will toggle snap mode on and off. Choose from any number of divisions, including Bar, Beats, and subdivisions of a whole note (i.e. half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes).
4. MIDI editing toolbar: Hit the “T” hotkey to access MIDI editing tools quickly.
5. Selector and Pencil: Access the pointer tool with a simple left-click to select notes, drag them up and down, and extend by grabbing and dragging the note edges.
6. Transpose notes: Pick a group of notes and use option + up/down for semitone transposition. Hold down shift to transpose by an octave just like we did in Ableton, FL Studio, and Hookpad.
7. Duplicate notes: Hold down the option key. Then click and drag a chord to duplicate and place the copy somewhere else on your piano roll.
8. Velocity Adjustments: Change the volume of a note graphically or with the velocity slider. Hold down the option key while adjusting to set all notes to the same velocity.
9. Eraser and Finger Tools: Erase notes or adjust note length without affecting pitch.
10. Scissors and Glue Tools: Separate notes using scissors tool, join notes using glue tool.
11. Mute and Quantize Tools: Mute selected notes (Ctrl + M). Quantize notes using the quantize tool.
12. Zoom Tool: Deselect your MIDI notes and click an empty space in the piano roll. Then hit Z to put all of your MIDI content into the frame. You can also use the keyboard shortcuts command left and right for horizontal zoom, or command up and down for vertical zoom.
13. Snap locator to select looping region: While your notes are deselected, click the hotkey “U” to create a looping region that snaps to the nearest barline.
14. Remove Overlaps: Clean up overlapping notes with the “/” (backslash) hotkey. Shift + Backslash will force legato, removing the gaps between notes.

To hear directly from Apple on navigating the MIDI piano roll in Logic Pro, check out their official documentation.

Origins of the MIDI piano roll

Have you ever wondered where the DAW piano roll design came from?

MIDI piano rolls are a modern take on the special type of sheet music used in player piano rolls. Dating back to the late 1800s, these large rolls of paper were programmed to perform works by the great composers. Each piano key correlated to a position on the paper graph. Holes in the paper were read by the player piano and triggered the performance of that note on the piano.

Bars, cafes and restaurants purchased these player pianos to keep music going when a human pianist was unavailable. The mass adoption of player pianos in America during the 1920’s foreshadowed a trend toward automation that has continued to transform the music industry to this day.

Nearly a century later, an engineer by the name of Dave Smith invented the MIDI standard for digital music notation in 1981. Software developers jumped at the opportunity, creating music applications with piano roll interfaces.

Traditionally, player piano rolls would assign pitches horizontally (left to right) and the paper rolled upward on its spool with the passing of time.

During the early phase of MIDI software, there was no consensus on how notes should be assigned to the X or Y axis of the graph. The 1987 MIDI software Iconix represented pitch horizontally, whereas the 1986 Total Music program assigned pitches vertically.

Today’s DAWs have unanimously decided to keep the vertical-pitch design. Music notes are represented by rectangles, and note length is indicated by the width of each box. The leftmost horizontal coordinate represents the onset time.

In the past few years, software companies have started developing audio-to-MIDI web apps and plugins to support direct edits to individual notes. This allows for losing the timbre of the instrument. This synthesis of raw audio and the piano roll could be the future of music production as the quality of stem separation improves.

We hope you’ve found this overview helpful and encourage you to explore the Hooktheory blog for more music production tips and tricks!