Piano Roll Microscope mode

 

Note: This feature is not available in SONAR Home Studio.

The Piano Roll Microscope mode makes it much easier to edit MIDI data without constantly needing to change zoom settings. This is especially useful in the Inline Piano Roll where track heights are typically sized such that MIDI notes become very small.

When Microscope mode is enabled, a transparent rounded square centered on the mouse cursor shows a zoomed in region of the Piano Roll data underneath it:

Only the work area under the mouse is zoomed in while the rest of the data retains its normal size.

Here is an example of dense MIDI data that is difficult to edit at the current zoom level:

 

With Microscope mode turned on, the area under the mouse looks like this:

 

Microscope mode also works with Drum Maps:

To enable/disable Microscope mode

To enable/disable Microscope mode, do one of the following:

Click the Piano Roll view View menu and choose MIDI Microscope.

Click the Track view View menu and choose MIDI Microscope.

Go to Edit > Preferences > Customization - Editing and select the Microscope check box.

How Microscope mode works

Position. The Microscope is always centered on the mouse position.

Size. The size of the Microscope is configurable. The default diameter is 100 pixels. See Configuring Microscope mode options for more information.

Transparency. The Microscope maintains a certain level of transparency so that the real-sized data can always be seen.

Zoom Factor (vertical). The amount of vertical zoom varies with the existing zoom level of the data. Generally, the note height under the microscope has a minimum height of 8 pixels and scales up from there depending on the existing zoom of the data. The microscope data will always be bigger than the original regardless of how far it is zoomed in.

Zoom Factor (horizontal/time). The microscope will provide some horizontal magnification when the view zoom is such that notes become very narrow.

Tip: Use Fast Zoom in combination with Microscope mode if you want to quickly zoom around the current mouse position. See To zoom using the mouse wheel (Fast Zoom) for more details.

Configuring Microscope mode options

There are several settings that let you configure the size and zoom level of the microscope.

To Configure Microscope Mode Options

Go to Edit > Preferences > Customization - Editing.

The following options are available:

Microscope. Use this check box to enable/disable Microscope mode (enabled by default).

Diagonal Size. Use this numeric entry box to specify the diameter size in pixels of the microscope. The valid range is 20-250 and the default value is 100.

Show When Note Height Less Than. Microscope mode will only be enabled if the note heights (in pixels) are equal or less than this number. The valid range is 2-20 and the default value is 6.

Magnifying Time. Use this check box to enable/disable horizontal magnification when the Piano Roll view zoom is such that notes become very narrow.

In addition to these options, there are some other parameters that can be configured by adding the following INI variables to the WinCake section of Cakewalk.ini (see Cakewalk.ini):

 

Variable	Type	Default value	What it does
MicroscopeHZoomThreshold=<1..20>	Integer	8	By default, the Microscope mode begins horizontal magnification when a 32nd note is narrower than 8 pixels. This line lets you specify the horizontal zoom threshold (1-20 pixels).
MicroscopeHZoomMax=<2.0 - 8.0>	Integer	3.0	This line specifies the highest horizontal magnification that will result when using Microscope mode.