The Melody Events are available in the Melody, Riff and Bass tracks.  They are placed into melody segments.

There are seven different melody event types, and each one has a tool which creates the events on a melody segment sheet.  The first is for simple note events, while the others add special effects or Midi controllers.

Some of the advanced events can be formed by Songtrix when importing Midi files or recording from a Midi keyboard, based on the controllers found.

Each event has a set of properties, which appear and can be edited in the Event Properties table of the segment sheet, when the event is selected.  You can change properties for more than one event at the same time with a multiple selection.

When a segment tool is active, but no events are selected, the Tool Defaults table appears instead.  This displays, and allow you to change, the default properties that will be applied when new events are created.

Properties

All melody events, regardless of type, have the following properties in common.  There are also some type-specific properties, as described in the sections below.

Type	One of the seven event types shown above.  Events can easily be converted from one type to another.
Note	The pitch (horizontal line) on which the event is placed.
Location	The starting location (left hand edge) of the event, in bar.beat.tick format.
Duration	The time length (visual width) of the event, in qtn.tick format.
Velocity	The strength, or loudness, of the event, shown as a Midi value or percentage.

Notes

The Note is the standard melody event.  It is placed on a line (Note), it starts and finishes at specific locations (Location and Duration) and is played at a particular strength (Velocity).

As with all melody events, a darker color indicates a higher velocity.  You can move melody events in any direction, or stretch them horizontally, by placing the mouse over the event, or the handle blocks on each side or corner.

Dynamic Notes

The Dynamic Note offers the ability to change loudness while it is playing.  This is implemented in Midi using the Expression controller.  You can visually see the loudness as a change in color darkness across the width of the event.

The dynamic effect reduces, or attenuates, the loudness of the event, so for example, a Dyn Depth of 50% makes half volume at the lowest point.  If you want the dynamic high to be louder than the surrounding notes, then increase the velocity of this event to compensate.

Dynamic	The shape of loudness change over the duration of the note. • Flat (no effect) • Rise (gets louder) • Fall (gets softer) • Peak (louder then softer) • Valley (softer then louder)
Dyn Depth	The maximum reduction in loudness of the dynamic effect, as percentage.

Slide Notes

The Slide Note offers a the ability to slide to the specified pitch from another at the start of the event.  It is similar to a trombone effect, but it has several other uses.

It is implemented in Midi using the Portamento controller.  You can visually see the slide effect as a line (or double line) drawn over the top of the event.

Interval	The pitch to start the slide on, expressed as a positive or negative interval from the pitch of the event.  For example, an Interval of (-) b2 starts the slide from one semitone below. If set to From Prior, the slide will begin at the pitch of the previous event, and a double slide line is displayed.
Slide Rate	Specifies, as a percentage, how fast the slide effect should be.  Low values may never reach the final pitch, while high values may make the slide unnoticeable.

Vibrato Notes

The Vibrato Note adds a vibrato effect, which is a low frequency variation in pitch.  This is very effective for realism and to soften the monotony of long notes.

It is implemented in Midi using the Modulation Wheel controller.  You can visually see the vibrato effect as a wavy line drawn over the top of the event.

Dynamic	The variation of vibrato depth over the duration of the note. • Flat (constant) • Rise (increases) • Fall (reduces) • Peak (increases, reduces) • Valley (reduces, increases)
Dyn Depth	The maximum depth of the vibrato effect, as a percentage.

Bend Notes

The Bend Note adds a very flexible mechanism for varying the pitch of the event across its duration.

A bend line appears on top and can be stretched to your desired shape, by dragging its manipulation handles vertically with the mouse.  The bend is shown to scale, so that dragging the bend line to the centre of the segment sheet line above raises the pitch by a semitone.

It is implemented in Midi using the Pitch Bend controller.  Pitch bend is enormously helpful for creating realistic performances, particularly for simulating natural vocals and wind instruments, where the pitch often has a start up and tail off effect.  It is also useful to simulate bending and sliding guitar strings.

Bend Limit	The maximum pitch bend of the event, expressed as an interval.  Normally (±) 2 (ie. 2 semitones up or down) is adequate, but this can be increased to an octave.
Precision	The number of manipulation handles on the bend line.  More handles give better control, but take more effort to adjust.

Note Rolls

The Note Roll plays several short notes with one event.  It creates an effect similar to a mandolin trill, and has several other uses.

You can visually see the individual notes within the event, and they can have dynamic loudness, which is indicated as a change in color darkness.  The dynamic effect is a reduction in loudness, so you may need to increase the velocity of the event to compensate.

Timing	Specifies the length of time between each note, in qtn.tick format.  A larger value makes fewer, longer notes.
Dynamic	The change of note loudness over the duration of the roll. • Flat (no effect) • Rise (gets louder) • Fall (gets softer) • Peak (louder then softer) • Valley (softer then louder) • Human (random for realism)
Dyn Depth	The maximum reduction in loudness of the dynamic effect, as percentage.

Sustain Notes

The Sustain Note adds the Sustain Pedal controller to edges of the event.  The pedal movements are indicated on the event with black triangles (for pedal down) and white triangles (for pedal up).

Sustain allows the sound of the event (and other events played at the same time) to continue even after they have ended.  Instead of sustain events, you can also use automatic sustain at each chord change, with the Auto Sustain option in the track setup.

Sustain

There are six options which control how the sustain pedal is operated at the start or end of the event: • On At Start • Off At Start • On At End • Off At End • On Then Off • Off Then On

Combinations

You should use caution when placing events with effects vertically above each other (that is, at the same location) on the segment sheet.

The Midi controllers used to implement most of the effects apply to the whole track, so events may interfere with each other.  This applies to Dynamic Notes, Vibrato Notes, Bend Notes and Sustain Notes.

Sometimes this is convenient.  For example, the three events below are playing a chord, and only one of them needs to be made into a Vibrato Note for all of them to get the vibrato effect.

On the other hand, it can lead to unexpected results.  The two pitch bend effects shown below will clash with each other, and instead of sounding like two independent bends, one of them will override the other.

There is a handy trick if you want to apply more than one effect to a single event.  By setting a zero velocity for an event, you effectively remove the sound, leaving only the effect.  This is indicated by a transparent event with only the frame and effect drawn.

By placing it above or below another event you can add its effect without adding its note.  The example above shows pitch bend and vibrato being used for a single note.