From Mod Wheel lane to standard note lane

[tallguy]

Some soft synths seem to prefer to record their mod wheel automation in a standard note lane rather than the dedicated Mod Wheel lane. I'm guessing it has something to do with precision.

So my question is: can you transfer automation back and forth between the Mod Wheel lane and a note note lane? When I'm trying out an alternative synth, I often end up losing any automation that's already been done.

[tallguy]

I do find the lack of compatibility between different types of lanes rather puzzling. Even if there's for instance a difference in bit depth between them, surely numerical values can always be converted?

[WongoTheSane]

Once a controller (ModWheel, Pitch Bend or other) has been recorded in a clip together with the notes, there are two options to extract it. This one:

...and another I just thought of:

- Duplicate the whole track.
- Select the clip you want to extract the controller data from.
- Press F8 to show the toolbox, and in "Extract notes to lanes", select "Note Range" to "C-2" to "G8" and select "Move". It will create one lane with the notes, and another with the controllers, which you can then move to wherever you need them, provided it's a note lane and not a controller lane.
- You can then delete the duplicate track.

Be aware though that this last method will create a note lane containing only controller data, not a controller lane. The difference between those two brings us to your second question: you can convert controller clips of any controller type to any other controller type, provided that they are controller clips (and not note clips with embedded controller data), and that they only contain one type of controller data. To convert them, drag them to another controller lane, right-click them and select "Adjust alien clips to lane". If they are controller data embedded in a note clip, you must first apply the method described in the video above to extract them to a proper controller clip, then you can adjust them to any other type.

Not an easy task by any means, but at least it's doable!

[tallguy]

Thanks. I finally got around to trying this out. That's a bit of a workaround, but it does work

The lack of drag and drop support between note and controller lanes is still puzzling me. Also, why do certain synths like a Polysix insist on recording their Mod Wheels into a note lane rather than a dedicated lane?

[chaosroyale]

This has pissed me off ever since I started using Reason all those years ago.

I record a part. Go back later to copy or edit the wheels, and end up with conflicts and/or a confusing messy sequencer.

Or I record 2 different instrument parts, love the wheel performance of one; can't copy/drag parts of the wheel performance from one instrument to the other.

On the other hand, cutting and pasting parts of combinator automation lanes between different combinators works great (since reason 9 I think). I wish the wheels worked like that by default.

[sarsoura]

I do find the lack of compatibility between different types of lanes rather puzzling. Even if there's for instance a difference in bit depth between them, surely numerical values can always be converted?

Clicking with the pencil tool in an area with no Clips creates a new Clip. You can then draw data into the new Clip.

[friendlygiraffe]

has this been fixed in Reason 13?

There seems to be no way of recording a MIDI mod wheel on its own not lane, you can only copy and paste it in, or draw it in using a mouse:





I've seen a few work arounds using a combinator, but it seems crazy that this isn't possible. Makes the midi controller mod wheel almost useless

[selig]

There is a lot of weird stuff around this subject, and I'm probably confused by at least some of it (if not all of it).
For example, to record mixer automation you arm the automation rec button (assuming you already have a track) then hit record (but don't put any track in record) and it's recorded. UNLESS it is automation on a synth, where you must ALSO arm the track to RECORD in addition to arming the automation track.

And there is no editor for the automation track if it is not associated with a note track. So if you move the volume knob on the synth and record it, you can edit it along with the note data. But if you move the mixer fader and record it or record the same automation as before but in a separate lane, you cannot edit it in the same view - you edit it directly in the time line instead.

At least I THINK that's how it works, it's not totally fool proof (at least not against THIS fool…).

[ShadowMatriks]

I did a thread about this not so long ago. Mattias did respond explaining the mod and pitch wheels get recorded into the note lane as a performance by default and are unaffected by the preferences menu option. I hope this changes in future versions!

The fact you can't just drag clips around with the same data ranges is obviously an oversite by RS/Props because it just doesn't make any sense.

I think most of the workarounds have been mentioned.

[friendlygiraffe]

ok thanks for confirming

Whilst I'm here, is there a record on note trigger function? As in, the sequence starts recording once it receives a note - It seems like there isn't one