How to copy paste midi data to another track budifferent channel number to it

[Andrew Pettitt]

Hi basically I want to  copy  and paste midi data  to another track but assign a different channel number so I can have 2 different instruments or devices playing an identical melody which I can then individually edit.  For example if I create a melody in say track 5 piano (midi channel 5) and  copy it to track 6 organ (midi channel 6) all the note values, and data is copied correctly to track 6 but the midi channel assignment doesn't automatically change to 6 so I have to manually edit each individual midi item in the event viewer to change the midi channel from 5 to 6.

Is there a simple way of doing this? Am I missing a simple method to define what channel to assign the pasted data or am I missing a concept here? 

Thanks as you will save me hours!

Andy

[Promidi]

What I do is set the Channel of the MIDI track in the inspector and in Preferences | File | Initialization File add the entry RechannelMIDI to 1

This has the effect of forcing al MIDI data on that track to send on that forced channel regardless of what channel the individual events in that MIDI track are set to.

It also must be noted that when you bounce MIDI clips in a given track, it changes the channels of the bounced MIDI events to match forced channel of the track itself.

Controller events will also change, which is important when selecting which channel to view in the controller lane.

[Nigel Mackay]

Just copy and paste.

Then route each MIDI track to each instrument. Each instrument gets a set of 16 channels anyway, so just use channel 1 for everything. The output of the piano track gets routed to Piano:Channel1. The output of the Bass gets routed to Bass:Channel 1.

You only need worry about channels when you use a multi-timbral instrument such as TTS-1. Or the Kontakt player which can hold 16 instruments.

Go to the Tutorials section and search using "start" or "beginners" and learn some basics. It will make a big difference in your life. ?

[slartabartfast]

Your example identifies the track number as the same as the channel number ie track five (MIDI channel 5). That raises the question of whether this is just your customary channel assignment, or whether you think that each track is automatically assigned to the same number MIDI channel as its track number. It is not. Each track can be assigned a MIDI channel number independent of its  track number. So if you were to copy track 5 (MIDI channel 7 say) to track 6 and assign track 6 to MIDI channel 8 say then the two tracks would play on different MIDI channels and you could set up your device to play on the particular MIDI channel being sent from each track. That is what you would normally do if you are controlling a chain of outboard synths or keyboards. Nigel's kludge will work if you are assigning softsynths, but not if you are sending outboard to several devices over the same MIDI cable. 

[Nigel Mackay]

Don't even think about channel numbers being the same as track numbers. There is no relationship at all. You could have the left-hand of a piano piece on track 4, going on channel 2 to your piano. And the right-hand part of the melody on track 5, also going on channel 2 to the piano.

Many people do the MIDI for drums on numerous tracks - kick, snare, hihat, toms, crash cymbals, ride cymbal. They all have to be on the same channel because the drum is expecting the data on a specific channel.

You have to manually assign channel numbers on each track.

If you move a track up or down the list of tracks, the track number changes. Nothing else does.

[Andrew Pettitt]

Thanks guys for your responses. Yes I'm using a multi-timbral keyboard which has a different 'material voice' on each channel hence the need I think to route each instrument on a different channel. I  understand that tracks and channels do not relate directly for example I have tracks 10 and 12 both sending drums on midi channel 10 routed via in the inspector.  I shall digest and experiment and may follow up with further questions!