The Piano Roll

Draw and arrange MIDI clips on the beat grid.

MIDI tracks are edited in the piano roll. Select a MIDI clip and open the detail view (Cmd + ↓) to see its notes laid out by pitch (vertical) over time (horizontal).

The piano roll showing a single-bar MIDI clip.

Working with clips

Create a clip on the timeline, then open it in the piano roll to add notes.
The grid follows the project’s snap setting; notes land on the grid as you draw.
Edits take effect on the next bar during playback, so you can shape a part live without stopping.

From here you can:

Resize, repeat, and loop the clip — see Clip Editing.
Edit notes, selection, velocity, and quantize — see MIDI Note Editing.
Constrain notes to a scale — see Key & Scale.
Add expression with MPE.