---
description: Edit MIDI notes for AI Instruments in ACE Studio.
---

# Editing Notes

## Tools for Notes

There are 2 tools that you can play with for instrument MIDI note editing:

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### Note Mover

Note mover is the default tool for create, selecting, moving, and adjusting notes. (shortcut key <kbd>V</kbd> )

* Double click on grid to create a note with a default length of half a cell. Drag before releasing your mouse to adjust its length.
* Click on a note to select it. Drag out a selection box to select multiple notes and create a selection, you can also select multiple notes by clicking the first note and the last note while holding <kbd>Shift</kbd> . Then you can move, adjust, delete, cut, copy, duplicate them.
* Drag on any note or selected notes to move them.
  * When moving notes, they will snap to grid by default. Hold <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> / <kbd>⌘ Command</kbd> to move without snapping.
  * You can also use arrow keys <kbd>↑</kbd> <kbd>↓</kbd> <kbd>←</kbd> <kbd>→</kbd>  to move notes. (hold <kbd>Shift</kbd> and use <kbd>↑</kbd> <kbd>↓</kbd> to move notes by octave)
* Drag on the left/right edge of a note to adjust its duration (shortcut key <kbd>Shift</kbd> + <kbd>←</kbd> <kbd>→</kbd>). It snaps to grid by default, hold <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> / <kbd>⌘ Command</kbd> to move without snapping.
  * When selecting multiple notes, you can adjust their durations together.

### Note Brush

Note brush is a tool for drawing notes. (shortcut key <kbd>B</kbd> )

* Drag to create a note with specific dimensions. It will snap to grid by default, hold <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> / <kbd>⌘ Command</kbd> to move without snapping.
* Draw within the range of a note to create a melismatic note.
* Drag on an existing note to move it.



### Grid and Snap

The Grid and Snap feature allows you to control how notes align with the timeline. This ensures precision when editing your melody.

* Auto-Narrow: Automatically adjusts the grid size to narrow spacing based on the zoom level of the piano roll.
* Auto-Medium(default): Automatically adjusts the grid size to medium spacing based on the zoom level of the piano roll.
* Auto-Wide: Automatically adjusts the grid size to wide spacing based on the zoom level of the piano roll.
* 1-16 Cell/Beat: Divides each beat into 1-16 grid cell.
* Snap off: Disables snapping to the grid. Allows free placement of notes and events without alignment to the timeline.

{% hint style="success" %}
Tips: You can input triplets by selecting 3 Cell/Beat.

<p align="center"><img src="https://3596338706-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2Fsn71WYzecYYQw3KkF40b%2Fuploads%2FCCQCysJ8tQQcnTUdaOOh%2Ftriplets_gif.gif?alt=media&#x26;token=aa9c611a-c4a5-43a2-b37e-12d0be75f217" alt="" data-size="original"></p>
{% endhint %}

## Chords/Scale Background

#### Scale

* Click on the scale button to turn on/off the background.
* Click the little triangle at right side to show the settings, where you can set up the scale and fold all notes out of this scale.

#### Chord

In the settings of background, you can switch to chord mode from the first drop down menu.

With chord background mode, it shows all notes under current chord with color. To learn about creating a chord progression, please refer to [chord-track](../../project/arrangement-in-canvas/chord-track "mention").

## Preview Sound

When the piano keyboard is clicked, or when a note is clicked, moved, or created, the default preview sound of the current instrument will play. You can click on the speaker icon on the upper left of the piano keys to turn off the sound.

## Shortcuts

| Action               | Shortcut Key                                        |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| Use Note Mover Tool  | <kbd>V</kbd>                                        |
| Use Note Brush tool  | <kbd>B</kbd>                                        |
| Use Note Slicer tool | <kbd>X</kbd>                                        |
| Move notes           | <kbd>↑</kbd> <kbd>↓</kbd> <kbd>←</kbd> <kbd>→</kbd> |
| Move notes by octave | <kbd>Shift</kbd> + <kbd>↑</kbd> <kbd>↓</kbd>        |
| Adjust note duration | <kbd>Shift</kbd> + <kbd>←</kbd> <kbd>→</kbd>        |
| Dismiss snap         | Hold <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> / <kbd>⌘ Command</kbd>         |
