Transposing notes in the piano roll editor

You can transpose notes in the piano roll editor by moving them vertically to other pitch positions. You cannot transpose notes in the drum editor, or move them to other unpitched percussion instruments.

Prerequisite

Object Selection is selected in the Play toolbox.

Procedure

  1. Expand the instrument tracks whose notes you want to transpose.
  2. In the piano roll editor, select the notes you want to transpose.
    Note

    When instrument tracks have independent voice playback enabled, only notes in the currently selected voice appear in the piano roll editor. Selecting All voices from the Voices menu in the track header shows all notes belonging to the corresponding instrument.

  3. Transpose the notes in any of the following ways:

    • To move notes up one staff position, such as from C to D, press Alt/Opt-Up Arrow.

    • To move notes down one staff position, such as from D to C, press Alt/Opt-Down Arrow.

    • To transpose notes up a single octave division, such as a half-step (semitone) in 12-EDO or a quarter tone in 24-EDO, press Shift-Alt/Opt-Up Arrow.

    • To transpose notes down a single octave division, such as a half-step (semitone) in 12-EDO or a quarter tone in 24-EDO, press Shift-Alt/Opt-Down Arrow.

    • To transpose notes up an octave, press Ctrl/Cmd-Alt/Opt-Up Arrow.

    • To transpose notes down an octave, press Ctrl/Cmd-Alt/Opt-Down Arrow.

    • Click and drag them upwards/downwards.

Result

The selected notes are transposed according to their new pitch positions in the piano roll editor.

Note

  • This also affects how the selected notes are notated in any relevant score and part layouts.

  • When using the keyboard, you can both transpose and move notes in the piano roll editor in the same action. When using the mouse, you must release the mouse between transposing and moving.