Recording MIDI in GB

Objective:

In this lesson you will use the GarageBand piano keyboard to work with pitches and rhythms into a project.

By the end of the activity, you will have demonstrated these skills:

1. Create a new instrument track (hopefully you can already do this)

2. Use the onscreen music keyboard to record a simple melody (pitches and rhythms).

3. Use the Track Editor to edit pitch and rhythm.

Step 1: Preparation

1. Create a new GarageBand LOOPS project and call it MIDIkeys_last name.

2. You are going to be recording in “real time”, so you want to turn on the metronome. The metronome will provide a steady beat as you record.

Metronome:

- - - Turn on the metronome (Control > Metronome from the menu or shortcut Control+U) and you should be able to hear the click in your music.
    - NOTE: If you still cannot hear the metronome, choose GarageBand>Preferences from the menu and then select “During playback and recording.”

Step 2: Create a New Instrument (green) track

Create a new instrument track by selecting the track button (the plus) on the bottom left of the screen. You can also click Track > New Track in the menu.
Select Software Instrument. The default instrument track is a Grand Piano, but you can change the instrument.
To change the instrument, double click the Piano icon, or click the view/hide Track info icon on the lower right of the screen

4. The Track Info pane will appear, with a list of instruments. Choose a category of instrument (Guitars, Horns, Mallets, etc.) and then choose a specific instrument.

Step 3: Using the Onscreen Music Keyboard (Piano) You can use this keyboard to compose and record new pitches for your project.

Show the onscreen music keyboard by choosing Window > Keyboard from the menu. A piano keyboard will appear. You can actually play the notes on the piano keyboard by clicking the keys. Try it.
To make the size of the onscreen keyboard larger or smaller, Control > drag the lower right corner of the keyboard.

There are two different views, depending on how you prefer to use the piano. Use the icon on the top left of the piano to move between the different views, and experiment with both.

Keyboard view:

In the keyboard view, you can actually play the notes on the piano keyboard. This view is fine for recording simple pitches and rhythms.

Musical Typing view:

In the musical typing view, keys on the computer keyboard correspond to pitches on the piano. This will take some practice, but is useful when recording more complex pitches and rhythms.

Experiment with using both views.

Step 4a: Record a Melody Using the Onscreen Piano Keyboard

You are going to record part of a melody using the Onscreen Piano Keyboard, in either Keyboard View or Musical Typing View - whichever is easier for you.

What kind of melody? It's up to you.

It only needs to be about 10-15 seconds in length. The idea is for you to demonstrate that you know how to use the keyboard to record pitches and rhythms.

Here are the pitches for some short melodies:

Mary Had a Little Lamb: E D C D E E E D D D E G G E D C D E E E D D E D C
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star: C C G G A A G F F E E D D C G G F F E E D G G F F E E D C C G G A A G F F E E D D C
Go, Mighty Gamecocks: A_____ G E G__ A (A[low], A G EGE, C) :||

First, make sure the piano works...

Select your Instrument track by clicking on the green area in the track.
Open the onscreen music keyboard, if it’s not already on the screen.
Play a few notes on the piano and watch the status light to the right of the LCD (bottom of screen). If GarageBand is receiving the signal from your music keyboard, the status light briefly lights for each note you play.

To Record...

First, you want to have the metronome set the tempo (speed) before you actually start recording.
Click the space bar to hear the tempo (speed) of the metronome. The tempo needs to be slow enough that you can play with the beat. If it's too fast, you can change the tempo on the LCD screen. Here's how:

Now you are ready to record.

Choose Control > Count In to have the metronome play for one measure before recording starts, or set the playhead a few beats before the point where you want to start recording to give yourself time to start playing.
When you are ready to record, click the Record button (red circular button) to start recording.

Record your melody using the piano keys. As you record, you will see little rectangles appear in your instrument track. These represent the pitches and rhythms that you play on the piano.
When you are finished playing, click the SPACE BAR to stop recording.
If you are not happy with what you have just played, you can press CTRL+Z and do another take.

Step 4b: Record a Melody Using the MIDI Controller

You are going to record part of a melody using the 2-octave Oxygen8 v2 keyboard MIDI controller.

Make sure that "Count-in" is still selected, then hit the RECORD button when you are ready to begin.
Record just like you did using the on-screen keyboard, only this time use the piano keys on the MIDI controller. If you need to record in a different octave (higher or lower), use the TRANSPOSE buttons on the MIDI controller.
Hit the SPACE BAR on the computer keyboard when you are done recording.

Step 5: Editing the Pitches and Rhythms

You can use the Track Editor to adjust pitches (notes) and rhythms in your music. This is useful when you want to add intros, endings, and change or edit pitches and rhythms.

Open the track editor by clicking the scissors icon at the bottom left of the screen.

Two buttons at the lower left will allow you to move between Piano Roll view and Score view.

Piano roll view shows the individual notes in a graphic format with a piano keyboard stretched along the left side of the window. This is what we used to edit MIDI data in our Minimalism project.

Score view shows the actual pitches on the staff in traditional music notation.

In both views you can move and re-size notes to adjust their pitch, where they start playing, and how long they play.

Take some time to experiment with note length and position in both piano roll and score view.

The controls on the left side of the piano roll and score screens provide some useful editing tools:

Perfect Your Rhythms If your rhythms don’t quite line up with the beat, you can fix it!

Open the Track Editor by double clicking the green region of the instrument track or clicking the scissors icon at the bottom of the screen.
In the Track Editor, select the area you want to edit by clicking and dragging around the pitches.
From the Enhance Timing pop-up menu on the left of the screen (it might say Align To or Quantize Note Timing), choose the note value you want to use to enhance the timing. For example, you could choose ½ note. GarageBand will make all of your half notes line up with the beat so that even if you weren’t perfectly on the beat when you recorded your melody, you are now.
If you don’t like the results after you enhance the timing, choose None from the Enhance Timing (or Align To or Quantize Note Timing) pop-up menu to return the selected items to their original timing.

Notice, in the same area on the left of the screen, you can also change pitches and rhythmic values. Experiment with these useful tools.

Step 6. Save your file as an mp3 (filename: MIDIscreenkeys_lastname) and upload to Google Classroom.

THIS ACTIVITY IS WORTH 20 points:

Create an instrument track (green) – your choice of instrument. [5 points]
Record a short melodic idea (your choice) using the Onscreen Music Keyboard. [10 points]
Perfect the rhythms using Enhance Timing (Align To). [5 points]

Thanks to the Music Tech folks at Brandywine Heights High School for the above project idea and information. http://bhmusichome.wikispaces.com/

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