What is the problem?
TL;DR: It’s difficult to determine which notes are which in piano roll view when the root note is out of view.
When the scale filter is turned off, i.e., if a project is set to be able to utilize the entire chromatic scale, it’s difficult for a user to determine where they are in the piano roll, particularly because of the fact that all twelve notes of an octave don’t fit on the eight-row pad matrix in a single view. A user has to often scroll up or down to reach remaining out-of-view notes in the piano roll, and when that occurs, it’s quite easy to lose track of note positions and values, especially when the illuminated root note is off the grid both from above and below.
What should this feature achieve?
TL;DR: Illuminate the black keys in piano roll view when the scale filter is off.
When the scale filter is turned off, enable users to identify the notes of the chromatic scale on first glance no matter what scroll position the piano roll view is in by illuminating the C major scale accidentals (i.e., the black keys of a piano) in either: (1) the same pink color and intensity used for the root note illumination when the scale filter is turned on, which would require that the root note is no longer illuminated when the scale filter is turned off; (2) the same pink color used for the root note illumination but in a less-intense brightness, which would allow for the root note to remain illuminated normally; or (3) a user-definable color and intensity and optional root note illumination.
Are there any workarounds?
TL;DR: Counting pads, trial and error, use the scale filter momentarily or permanently, input guide notes.
There are multiple ways of dealing with this issue: (1) Count. Manually count the number of pads up or down from the root note to the desired note, sometimes counting scroll wheel clicks to compensate for the need to change the scroll position in order to reach originally out-of-view notes. (2) Trial and error. Place a note approximately on the correct pad, press play, listen, adjust as necessary. (3) Use the scale filter. When the scale filter is turned on, the entire octave of notes at a user’s disposal fits into any single piano roll view position, However, this defeats the ability to perform key changes within a project, so the scale filter needs to be changed as often as key changes are desired and then turned off again when a user desires to preview their work. (4) Write around the limitation. Simply commit to a particular scale for a given project and turn the scale filter on and keep it on. (5) Input pseudo black key illumination by pressing the pads of the C major scale accidentals, select the track this was placed on along with an empty track, and activate piano roll view to see the illuminated notes behind the working pattern. There is only enough space for about three octaves of these notes within a given piano roll view. There are likely many other ways that users have gotten around this issue, each with their own costs and benefits.
Any links to related discussions?
Piano roll suggestions have appeared often in this forum, one of which would help to alleviate this issue: Note preview: Note Preview for piano roll - This would allow users to immediately hear the note they place, effectively making the process of workaround #2 above much more efficient.
Any references to other products?
This is a feature included in most every software product that contains some sort of piano roll, e.g., Cubase, Logic, Live, FL Studio; however, it seems to be nonexistent in the hardware world.
Click this link to see a quick mock-up of this feature request:
